12:25,26
“Jesus knew their thoughts”. This is a phrase that crops up on a number of occasions. It might be through supernatural knowledge, or just insight into how people think, of sometimes one and sometimes the other. However, nothing is hidden from God. Jesus points out the absurdity of the Pharisees position. If satan is driving out satan, then the devil’s kingdom is divided, and a divided kingdom cannot stand. When people are refusing to accept the obvious truth they will quite happily come up with ridiculous ideas.
12:27,28
Moreover, the Pharisees were not against driving demons out. Josephus’s Antiquities refers to cases of “exorcism. So if others did it, were they doing it by demonic power? Again Jesus is highlighting the inconsistencies in what the Pharisees were asserting. Then He turns to the truth and its consequences. What does it mean if Jesus is driving demons out by the Spirit of God? (Which is what He was doing.) Then that means that the kingdom of God is among them, and they had better pay attention!
No comments:
Post a Comment