[14] "Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. [15] But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.”
[17] "Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. [18] If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. [19] Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. [20] But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you."
The final verse I quoted above is the one that grabbed my attention. I used to read this verse and think the finger of God was possibly some mystical saying that the Jewish followers were familiar with at that time. Anyway, today as I was reading it I was thinking it was more of comment on how much more power there is in the Kingdom of God, than there is in the demonic. In the Old Testament, there are several references to the mighty hand and outstretched arm of God, and a few references to Him baring His holy arm, and all of those have to do with His mighty power to save. Here Jesus says simply that God's finger is what drove out the demon - not the hand or arm, but just a single finger! Praise God for His mighty power!
Secondly, I like the fact that Jesus specifically ties this act to demonstrating that the Kingdom of God was present and had come upon them. This was not just a random encounter and healing but was an example of Kingdom of God overcoming the kingdom of the enemy. This was not just a one-on-one battle, but was representative of the overwhelming power of God, compared to the strength of the demons. This is not like Starwars and the dark side of the force compared to the good, where the two are somewhat evenly matched, but where the dark-side always seems to have the overwhelming strength and the good side of the force is championed by a poorly trained but lucky individual. This is the exact opposite of that, for we have the Son of God, present in a special way, encountering a demon, and casting him out with nothing more that the finger of God, clearly showing the superiority of the Kingdom of God.
This morning I am encouraged the the Lord is so much powerful than we imagined. He can break the grip of the enemy with a simple word. Lord let Your Kingdom come in our lives.
Amen!.
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