As we continue in a study of the life of Jesus, we see Him about to be attacked.

Mark 3:20-23

20 And He came home, (Capernaum, where He and His family had relocated after Joseph died) and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal.

21 When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses."

“His own people” is a reference to His family. They were saying that He was EXSISTEMI, or crazy. Nobody loves you like your family, huh? Jesus’ family caused Him a great deal of grief, but that’s not today’s message.

22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons."

23 And He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan?

Jesus is in Capernaum, His home, surrounded by huge crowds, so that they could not even eat. His family is trying to have Him committed. The Pharisees are also there, wanting to discredit Jesus, because His ministry was way too popular and they were losing their influence.

Now I want to look at a parallel passage to see Jesus’ response to this ridiculous charge.

Matthew 12:22-24

22 Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw.

This is simply a miracle. It’s an exercise of divine omnipotence to VALIDATE who the Savior was and what He taught.

23 All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?"

They don’t really believe it yet, but they are starting to consider it! (One interesting point – the word “amazed” here is the same word EXSISTEMI from above.) They were absolutely falling down amazed!

Remember, the Pharisees are present. There is no denying what Jesus has just done. The man had been blind and mute, and now was not. It was a miracle! They couldn’t deny it, so they simply attributed it to Satan:

24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons."

As Jesus talks about later, this is actually blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. They are attributing the work of God the Holy Spirit to Satan. Look what Jesus says a few verses later:

Matthew 12:28, 31-32

28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

…

31 "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.

32 "Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

Jesus is talking very specifically about blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. These miracles were done in the power of the Holy Spirit to validate Who and what Jesus was, and His message. When the Pharisees attributed these miracles to Satan, that was unforgivable blasphemy. (Don’t worry, you can’t do this today! God the Holy Spirit does not perform these same miracles for validation purposes, but that’s another subject!)

Back in:

Matthew 12:24

24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons."

Not only do they flatly reject Jesus Christ, they blaspheme God the Holy Spirit. They also put Jesus on the same team as Satan!

Of course, Jesus could have simply snapped His fingers and made their heads explode. But instead, He presents a calm and logical argument.

Matthew 12:25-29

25 And knowing their thoughts (that always scares me a little!) Jesus said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand.

26 "If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? (Why would Satan cast out his own demons? How can that possibly help his kingdom?!)

27 "If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges.

The Pharisees actually had some “sons” who were exorcists. According to the Pharisees own teachings, they relied on fallen angels to reveal to them a special saying to cast out the demons! Unsurprisingly, they were not very successful.

28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

29 "Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

In this analogy, Satan is the strong man, and the house is the possessed believer’s body. Nobody could cast out a demon unless He had the power to bind Satan! And only God has that power.

And that’s exactly what Jesus had just done! He had bound the strong man, and plundered his house! I have to believe that Jesus won this debate.