Mark 3:23-27 (NIV): So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.
The teachers of the law were exactly wrong in their assessment of the source of Jesus’ ability to cast out demons. Their reasoning went like this: All demons are subservient to the king of demons. The demons are subservient to Jesus. Therefore, Jesus must be possessed by the king of demons.
But Jesus pointed out the glaring flaw in their reasoning. If the king of demons was working through Jesus to cast out demons, then he was intentionally tearing apart his own kingdom brick by brick, setting his own slaves free, and even giving God glory in the process. Jesus knew (and so did the teachers of the law, really) that satan was too smart to ever cut his own legs out from under himself on purpose. So their conclusion, no matter how logical it might seem from a human standpoint, was deeply flawed.
The better, more accurate (and ultimately more logically satisfying) answer was that Jesus was simply more powerful than any demon, than even the prince of demons. He could only take back satan’s slaves because He had overpowered and outmastered the “strong man” on his own territory. He was not a demonstration of satan working against his own self-interest, but of God’s overwhelming mastery over a being that mere humans had no ability to fight against on their own.
Luke included Jesus’ final statement in his gospel account of this encounter: “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.” (Luke 11:20) Jesus’ effortless victory over satan and his demons showed clearly the victory that the people of the kingdom can have over satan and his forces in the new economy that Jesus made real by His death, resurrection, and ascension. No longer would God’s people have to be victimized by this powerful, unseen enemy. Much more power, and complete victory is theirs in Christ!
Father, thank You for this victory. It is real in my own life, and I see it working powerfully in the lives of so many of Your people. Help us all become satan’s worst nightmare by realizing and living in the victory that You have purchased and made real for us. Amen.
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