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Wednesday 16 January 2013

Mark 3:22-34 - Accusations

Jesus' family thought He was out of His mind, and the teachers of the law tried to accuse Him of being demon possessed. Beelzebub is the prince of demons. It is derived from Baal-Zebul, meaning "exalted Baal", and Baal-Zebub was used as a term of mockery, meaning "Lord of Flies".
Jesus saw every attack on Him as a means of either attacking His opponents or as a teaching opportunity, or both. First He draws attention to the lack of logic in their argument. Why would the prince of demons be driving out demons? If this was happening then Satan's kingdom is truly collapsing. There is usually a fundamental flaw in the arguments used by atheists against Christianity. 
Conversely, it is entirely reasonable for the kingdom of God to cast out demons. Jesus had come to build the kingdom of God, to bring salvation. This involved saving individuals, as well as corporate salvation. So if an individual was to be saved and they were demonised, the demon needed to be kicked out.
Now He warns the teachers of the Law of the dangerous territory they are stepping on, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. All manner of sins can be forgiven, except blasphemy against the Spirit. So this raises the question of what blasphemy against the Spirit is. Verse 30 shows that here Jesus means attributing to Satan the work of God. 
His family had now arrived and wanted to bring Jesus to order! Jesus declares that He has a much wider family, and it consists of those who do the will of God.

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