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Luke 11 v 20. “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come to you.”

One would think that Christ’s miracles would be unopposed because they were so self-evidently supernatural. But not so. Some people accused him of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebub. Who is Beelzebub? This was another name for the devil. The name derives from ancient beliefs regarding a Philistine god or idol. It came to mean the Lord of the Flies. Baal Zebub, as this god was also known may have been considered to have some healing powers (see 2 Kings 1 vs 1-3). The point is that when Jesus was accused of healing by the power of Beelzebub, he was accused of being in league with the devil.

This was a dangerous hardening of the heart. It illustrates how darkened human understanding could become and how strong the power of unbelief is in the hearts of some people. The people then asked him to do another miracle – a sign from heaven. In other words they were saying to him: “We do not trust this healing you have performed on this dumb man. You could be in league with the devil. Show us another sign and make sure we can see it comes from heaven”. This was a dreadful act of defiance and it is no wonder it is described as a “test” in v 16. It was another indication that these doubters themselves were captives in Satan’s Kingdom. But now another Kingdom had broken through to them (Luke 11 v 20). God’s finger was touching them. They had witnessed a powerful demonstration of the Holy Spirit and they were required to make a response to it. They were on the verge of making a decision which once deliberately made would be irreversible and would make deliverance for them impossible.

How many people do you know who make terrible statements about Jesus, God and salvation and live in continuous and stubborn hostility to Christ? They are on dangerous ground.

Every time we hear the Gospel in one way or another the Kingdom of God is coming to us, and our response should be one of glad welcome and embrace.

But when we reject all overtures from God, call good evil, and the Truth a lie and we reject all truth that could bring us to repentance, God then ceases to speak to the soul. Instead there is an awful eternal silence. This is an unthinkable danger. Let us make sure that by God’s grace we never stand in that place.