Casting out demons
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2013 · 21 April 2013
Let us read Matthew 12:22-30, “Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” 24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”
“25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.”
“28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.”
Let us study this important passage, where we see the climax of the rejection of Christ. Let us begin with verse 22, "Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute," and we can assume that he was also deaf, because the dumbness might indicate that. "He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw."
Jesus has done healing miracles perhaps thousands of times in His ministry. But now He shows another side of His healing power because it involves dealing with demons in addition to a physical disability. At this point, the people cannot deny the power of Jesus. They know that this is supernatural power. It is instantaneous and total with permanent results!
They were saying to themselves, this man is meek, humble, gentle, compassionate, and He runs around with poor people. He won't argue, wrangle, or get angry. Can this be the Messiah? Sure, He can do amazing things, but maybe there is an explanation. That is the ambivalence they felt, and that is precisely why last week’s sermon about who Yesus really is, is so important.
And people now still are ambivalent. Educated people with all kinds of degrees have become so smart in their own eyes that they in fact have become dumb and they influence all the other people. In Luke 10:21 the Lord says, “thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes.” So called scientists are still trying to explain who Jesus is and God’s incredible creation of the universe is still explained as evolution.
But let’s get back to this miracle. Do you know that demons can possess people? They can live in people, the Bible is clear on that. They can affect people in many ways, and in ways we might not even know. There are demons who may cause people to flail around and froth at the mouth. There are demons who may create in people physical illnesses, blindness, deafness or dumbness as in the case of this person. And no MRI machine can detect them.
Jesus approaches this individual, delivers him from the demon, and instantly, not only does he have spiritual deliverance from demonic control, but he is physically totally whole. He was blind, and instantly, he sees; he was dumb, and immediately, he talks; he was deaf, and immediately, he hears everything. Wow, only God can do that!
Matthew 12:23, "And all the multitudes were amazed and said, 'Could this be the Son of David?'” Now this was convincing, everyone was amazed, they were blown away. It was overwhelming. You could translate it this way, "This can't be the Son of David, can it?" In other words, there is much ambivalence.
'Son of David' is a title for the Messiah in 2 Samuel 7:13, where God said He would raise up a Son of David who would have an everlasting Kingdom. When Jesus came into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, they cried out, "Son of David," which was a Messianic title. It meant the ultimate King who would reign on David's throne. When the Pharisees hear that question, they go into an instant panic; they must stop that process fast.
If the people think He might be the Messiah, it is going to be real bad for the Pharisees, because Jesus has already criticized them in Matthew 5-7 and said that their righteousness does not equal that which is necessary for the Kingdom, and the way they teach and act out every dimension of life, religious and secular is in violation of God's original intent.
So look at what they say in verse 24, "Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, 'This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.'" The phrase 'this fellow' is a derisive term, it means a 'nobody.' They are saying, "This can't be the Messiah. We can't even tolerate such a thought. He is nothing and what He does is by Satan's power.”
The Pharisees were actually separated from Jesus by some distance, and they began to poison the crowd. They are saying this to the people, not to Jesus face to face. But in verse 25 it says, "Jesus knew their thoughts," which means that He didn't hear what they said, but He doesn't need to hear, because He can read their minds. Do you see that His enemies, who hated Him the most, were forced to conclude that what He did, He did by supernatural power?
You cannot come along with some patronizing stuff about Him being a nice guy or a good teacher. His friends won't let you, and neither will His enemies. You must conclude that He is supernatural, and then the only issue left is whether you think it is from God or from Satan, because those two are the only two supernatural kingdoms that exist.
The Pharisees, in fact have become defenders of the supernatural character of Christ. Obviously, they weren't going to say that He was from God, so they only had one alternative. They say, "He casts out demons by Beelzebub.” That is originally the name of a Philistine god, Beel which comes from Baal. And the ancient word for lord is 'Zebub' which means 'flies.' So Beelzebub means lord of the flies.
Jesus knows this, because in verse 26, He answers using the word 'Satan' in response to their word 'Beelzebub.' They have already said, "Demons are in Him," in John 8:48, and that He was the Devil in person in Matthew 10:25, and now they are saying the Devil is in Him. They had only two options: God or Satan, and they chose Satan.
Watch how Jesus answers their accusation by telling them that there are three things wrong with it. Matthew 12:25, "But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them." 'Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.'" So Jesus first says, your reasoning makes no sense!
He then makes the application. Verse 26, “If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?" In other words, do you think Satan is so stupid that he is going to commit suicide? Is he having demons cast out other demons, defeating their purpose? Don’t forget that outside the Trinity, the devil is still the most intelligent being in existence.
Satan is not going to try to destroy his own work; Jesus on the other hand spent His entire ministry casting out Satan. But there will be inconsistencies in Satan's kingdom. And the reason is very simple, Satan is total evil, and evil like that will always be chaotic. So within Satan's domain, there will be discrepancy, because he is not omnipotent, so he can't control everything.
Secondly, their reasoning was prejudiced. It showed the evil predisposition of the Pharisees' hearts. Verse 27, He says, "If I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out?" In other words, "Don't your disciples do the same thing?" There were followers of the Farisees who were involved in exorcisms; they were going around with strange incantations and activities, trying to cast out demons.
We even meet a gang of them in Acts 19; they were totally unsuccessful, and trying to usurp the Jesus movement and get it on their side. They were trying to use His name because it seemed to have so much magical power. But listen to what the demons said to them in verse 15, "Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who in the world are you guys?" Yes, the demons knew they were counterfeit.
So Jesus is saying, "You've got your own disciples doing the very same thing. Why would you say that I do it by the power of Satan unless you are totally prejudiced against Me? Because when they try to do it themselves, you ascribe it to God, but when I do it and the evidence is irrefutable that God did that, you ascribe it to Satan. It just shows how prejudiced and biased you really are.”
People do not reject Jesus Christ because of a lack of evidence that He is God; they reject Him because they love darkness more than light because their deeds are evil. They don't want the intimidation that Christ brings into their sinful life. In their bias, instead of being open to receive Him, they reject Him and therefore have to conclude absurd and prejudicial things about Him.
Jesus even takes them a step further and says at the end of verse 27, "Why don't you let your sons be your judges?” Let the ones who are doing it be your judges. What do you think they are going to say, is this by the power of God or of Satan?
If they say they do it by the power of Satan, they'll betray the whole religious system and condemn themselves. But if they say they do it by the power of God, then they'll affirm that Jesus is doing the same thing; He must be doing it by the power of God too.
Thirdly, Jesus says that they were rebellious. Verse 28, "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you." Jesus, in His incarnation as a servant, did not have the use of His own powers, He was obedient to the Father and energized by the Holy Spirit. So the Spirit was doing this through Him.
What does that mean, “surely the kingdom of God has come upon you?” The Kingdom is wherever the King happens to be, and He is saying, "I am the King, and because of that the Kingdom is near you." The Kingdom is near, but these Pharisees are so far away. They are worse than the people of Korazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum; those cities were indifferent, but the Pharisees are not indifferent, they are full of hate and blasphemous.
There is a future Kingdom, in the millennial Kingdom; and beyond that, in the eternal Kingdom of the new heavens and new earth. But we also believe that the Kingdom is wherever the King is. I believe that the King lives in my life, so the Kingdom is here, the sphere of His rule is in my life and hopefully in yours as well.
Hasn't He demonstrated the powers of the Kingdom, healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, freed the demonized, raised the dead, pardoned the sinners, preached the truth and unmasked the hypocrites? He's done everything to demonstrate who He is, and there is no other explanation than that He is supernatural and that His supernatural power comes from God. So then the Kingdom is wherever Jesus is.
He demonstrates that marvelously in verse 29, “Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.”
He is saying, in effect, "The Kingdom of God is overpowering the kingdom of Satan. In binding up the strong man, I have demonstrated My power over the kingdom of Satan, or else, how can I cast out all these demons?”
Jesus is saying, "Haven't I demonstrated to you, by My ability to tie up Satan, that I am greater than he? Haven't I shown you that My ability to control his hosts, to throw out his demons, to deliver men who are captive to his system and free them from their diseases, haven't I shown you that I have power over his house?
Some people go around saying, "I'm going to bind Satan." Forget it, you are not strong enough to bind that fallen angel. There is only one who can bind him, read Revelation 20. At the beginning of the millennial Kingdom, the Lord binds Satan for 1,000 years. This is a little taste of the Kingdom. Christ can tie Satan up because He can enter his house and steal men who are captive to his system.
Christ is still doing that, did you know that? Once, we were all Satan's property, weren't we? We were children of wrath, like the Jews in John 8:44, "Sons of your father, the Devil." We were ruled by the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2), and Jesus took us out of his hand and delivered us, just as He delivered the soul of that man on that day.
In Luke 10:19, the Lord Jesus even says, "I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy (Satan).” The death-blow to Satan was struck at the cross, where “Jesus Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14).”
Presently, Satan is still running around, but his power is limited, his doom is sealed, and his time is short. Jesus is saying, "If I'm the King, then the Kingdom is here." This means that the kingdom is available to you too; please enter it by faith in Christ.
Then He tells them they have to make a decision. Verse 30, "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad." He used a similar phrase in Mark 9:40, but He had a whole different meaning in mind. There, He was talking about service; here He is talking about salvation.
It is very simple: Jesus says you cannot be neutral. You either gather or scatter; you either say, "Jesus is of God," or, "Jesus is of Satan." There are only two options because you can't deny His supernatural power. Brothers and sisters, you can only affirm Jesus Christ as who He claims to be. You are either with Christ or against Christ.
So verse 30 deals with personal relationships and your effect on others. It is those kinds of people that Jesus addresses in verses 31-32. Who are those that commit this unpardonable sin? When can it be committed and how? We'll see that the Sunday I come back from Indonesia. Don't miss it. Let us pray.