Reflective Bible Study

As we continue moving through the gospels looking at miracles Jesus did to help people, we come to a miracle where Jesus helps someone, but where He receives pushback from those present. While this isn’t new at this point in Jesus’ ministry, and our next several miracles include pushback from people who were present, the way Jesus receives pushback in this miracle is interesting. Also, the specific pushback Jesus receives is fascinating when we look at how Jesus responds. After Jesus has responded, those present who opposed Him have only one logical response, even if the logical path is the one they had predetermined they would never take.

Let’s read what happened. Our passage is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 11, and we will read it from the Contemporary English Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 14, Luke tells us that:

¹⁴ Jesus forced a demon out of a man who could not talk. And after the demon had gone out, the man started speaking, and the crowds were amazed. ¹⁵ But some people said, “He forces out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons!”

¹⁶ Others wanted to put Jesus to the test. So they asked him to show them a sign from God.

Let’s pause reading here to first look at the claim that was being made against Jesus. On the surface, this argument does make sense. It is logical to conclude that the ruler of the demons would have the power and authority to force the demons out. However, this argument breaks down because it would not be logical for the ruler of demons to intentionally shrink his dominion by willingly sending demons out of people unless there was a greater purpose or deception in mind. Looking at Jesus’ life and teaching, we don’t see any greater deception present because Jesus kept pointing people back to God and Jesus kept telling people to give glory and praise to God.

It is along these lines that Jesus responds to this latest angle of challenges. Continuing in verse 17, Luke tells us that:

¹⁷ Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he said:

A kingdom where people fight each other will end up in ruin. And a family that fights will break up. ¹⁸ If Satan fights against himself, how can his kingdom last? Yet you say that I force out demons by the power of Beelzebul. ¹⁹ If I use his power to force out demons, whose power do your own followers use to force them out? They are the ones who will judge you. ²⁰ But if I use God’s power to force out demons, it proves that God’s kingdom has already come to you.

It’s interesting in this event that Jesus turns their own words, and their own allies against them. No one present questioned God’s greater strength and ability to force demons out, and because of this, Jesus has unlikely allies in the religious leaders who were able to cast demons out of people.

In a partially humorous way, Jesus strengthens His argument by breaking apart the unified front of the religious leaders. The religious leaders claimed Jesus was a rogue demon bent on breaking apart the demonic forces (which isn’t logical at all), while Jesus shines light on this fallacy before separating His accusers from those in their own midst who could also cast out demons. In essence Jesus says He is on the same side as those in their midst who cast demons out, and this is on God’s side.

This angle leaves only one option for His accusers, and it is not one they are willing to take. The option that is left is that they have sided with Satan and that Jesus is Someone God sent to grow God’s own kingdom. Since these people have already accused Jesus of being one of the demons, I have no reason to believe that they immediately would correct themselves and apologize when the flaw in their argument is revealed. People changing their opinions or beliefs in a debate rarely happens, and the only places we find examples of it happening are in people who are very mature, in people who are still deciding what they believe, or in situations where the belief or idea being debated is insignificant.

I don’t see maturity, open mindedness, or an insignificant idea present in this situation, and I also don’t see any hint of these people changing their opinion of Jesus. Instead, when faced with logic, they harden themselves to their illogical beliefs.

Some people probably believe Christians hold onto illogical beliefs, and I would agree with them. Some of our beliefs don’t make any logical sense at all. However, not all things are logical, or even understandable by us.

Probably the biggest illogical idea in all of Christianity is Jesus Himself. It is illogical that God would send Himself to take the punishment of a bunch of rebels when it would be much easier to simply wipe the slate clean and start over. The only answer we have defies all logic, because it is the key description we have of God’s character. The answer we have is love.

Love in its very nature is illogical. Lust, procreation, and a number of other ideas that are often linked to love have some elements of logic, but selfless, other-focused, enduring love that looks past faults and past the negatives is not logical at all. However, God’s love for us can only be described as selfless, other-focused, and looking past all our negatives in order to see us as the people we were created to be.

Jesus came into this world to die for sinners in the least logical way, but historical records all confirm Jesus did in fact die and that He did rise from the dead on the third day, regardless of how illogical or impossible this is.

God defied all logic because He loves us. It was illogical to come and redeem us from sin, but that logic didn’t stop God from coming to save us.

However, just because God sometimes defies logic doesn’t mean our faith should be illogical or that we should throw out logic when we become followers of Jesus. Instead, we should be willing to accept that some things we will have to take on faith because they simply cannot be understood. It also means that sometimes God steps in to history in supernatural ways that also cannot be explained.

We are called to have a logical faith, pressing forward to understand all that we can and having the faith that God will help us understand the things we don’t yet understand as we intentionally grow closer to Him. We also admit and look forward to the time when all our questions will be answered as we stand face to face with Jesus. Some questions simply cannot be answerable before heaven, and in the case of these questions, we have faith that God knows what He is doing moving the world towards eternity and the end of sin.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Always seek God first and trust that even if we don’t have all the answers, He still knows what He is doing. Instead of distrusting God because of an unanswered question, claim, or idea, choose to trust in the truth that He is smarter than we can even imagine, and that His picture of history is bigger than we could ever think or dream. God’s ultimate goal is you, me, and as many people as possible redeemed with Him in heaven, and we can trust that with whatever happens on this earth during the reign of sin, it happened now so it will never have to happen again.

Also, always be sure to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each and every day. Trust that God is able to keep you safe for eternity, and that if He wants us with Him forever in eternity, He is more than capable and willing to keep His Word the Bible safe for a few thousand years. Distrusting the Bible is almost like distrusting God.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Picking up where we left of in our last episode, Mark continues his gospel sharing about a conversation Jesus has with several of the disciples who came to Him with a question. In our last episode, as Jesus and his disciples left the temple, Jesus makes a statement in response to a comment from one of the disciples about the temple being destroyed. As we look at how Mark frames the events in his gospel, it is likely that the disciples, on remembering Jesus’ prediction from earlier in the day, decide to ask Jesus about the event He predicted.

Let’s read the disciples’ question and Jesus’ response. Our passage is found in Mark’s gospel, chapter 13, and we will read from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 3, Mark tells us that:

³ As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives facing the temple buildings, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, ⁴ “Tell us, when will this happen? What will be the sign when all this will come to an end?”

Pausing briefly, I want to point out that the disciples’ question is a much bigger question than what they may have even realized. On one hand, they likely are thinking about the destruction of the temple and are asking about when that will take place, but they are also asking when the world will come to an end as well. In their minds, these two events may have been thought to be one single event, but as history has shown, the destruction of the temple happened long before the return of Jesus and the end of the world as we know it.

Let’s continue in verse 5 and read Jesus’ response:

⁵ Jesus answered them, “Be careful not to let anyone deceive you. ⁶ Many will come using my name. They will say, ‘I am he,’ and they will deceive many people.

⁷ “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don’t be alarmed! These things must happen, but they don’t mean that the end has come. ⁸ Nation will fight against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes and famines in various places. These are only the beginning pains of the end.

⁹ “Be on your guard! People will hand you over to the Jewish courts and whip you in their synagogues. You will stand in front of governors and kings to testify to them because of me. ¹⁰ But first, the Good News must be spread to all nations. ¹¹ When they take you away to hand you over to the authorities, don’t worry ahead of time about what you will say. Instead, say whatever is given to you to say when the time comes. Indeed, you are not the one who will be speaking, but the Holy Spirit will.

¹² “Brother will hand over brother to death; a father will hand over his child. Children will rebel against their parents and kill them. ¹³ Everyone will hate you because you are committed to me. But the person who endures to the end will be saved.

¹⁴ “When you see the disgusting thing that will cause destruction standing where it should not (let the reader take note), those of you in Judea should flee to the mountains. ¹⁵ Those who are on the roof should not come down to get anything out of their houses. ¹⁶ Those who are in the field should not turn back to get their coats.

¹⁷ “How horrible it will be for the women who are pregnant or who are nursing babies in those days. ¹⁸ Pray that it will not be in winter. ¹⁹ It will be a time of misery that has not happened from the beginning of God’s creation until now, and will certainly never happen again. ²⁰ If the Lord does not reduce that time, no one will be saved. But those days will be reduced because of those whom God has chosen.

²¹ “At that time don’t believe anyone who tells you, ‘Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘There he is!’ ²² False messiahs and false prophets will appear. They will work miraculous signs and do wonderful things to deceive, if possible, those whom God has chosen. ²³ Be on your guard! I have told you everything before it happens.

Let’s stop reading here for this episode and save the rest of Jesus’ message for our next podcast. While reading this first part of Jesus’ response to the disciples’ question, a couple things stood out in my mind that are worth drawing our attention to.

The first thing to jump out in this portion of Jesus’ response is how it opens and closes with a warning against being deceived. Jesus opens His response warning about people coming in His name and claiming to be Him, and in the last section of Jesus’ response that we read, we are warned against believing people who tell us the Messiah has arrived.

Jesus warns His followers that miraculous signs and wonderful things are not the marks of Jesus’ return. While Jesus performed miracles and did many wonderful things while He was with them, part of me sees Jesus telling all His followers that His return will be distinctly different from His first coming. Jesus’ original entrance into this world marked God coming to earth for His people.

Through Jesus and what He accomplished for us on the cross during His first coming, God opened the way for Jesus’ second coming. While Jesus’ first coming is God coming to be near His people, Jesus’ second coming will usher in God’s people leaving earth to be near God.

However, Satan is more than interested in tricking people out of realizing this truth. Jesus’ repeated warning in this end-time message is about not being deceived when another “messiah” appears. Jesus’ return will not be marked by Him staying on earth to win people over to Him. That wasn’t even part of Jesus’ original first coming goals.

Jesus’ return, also known as His second coming, is to take God’s people to be home with Him. While Mark’s gospel doesn’t include this promise, John includes in his gospel, chapter 14, verses 2 and 3 that He is going to prepare a place for us, and if He prepares a place for us, He will come again and receive us to Him, because He wants us to be where He is.

When Jesus returned to heaven, God the Father gives Jesus the honored position. When Jesus returns to earth, it will be to bring God’s people home to be with Him forever.

These details mark the first big thing I see in Jesus’ response to the disciples, which we could simply say is a warning about being deceived by Satan.

The other big phrase in Jesus’ response is in the first part of verse 13, where Jesus directly tells His followers that “Everyone will hate you because you are committed to me.”

While it isn’t pleasant to think about, if Satan can’t trick or deceive us into leaving God, he will openly have us mocked, ridiculed, and hated for choosing to stay with God. This truth is evident for God’s people throughout history and especially today as we look out across the world and culture.

However, Jesus includes a powerful promise while talking about being hated. Jesus finishes this verse off by telling us that “the person who endures to the end will be saved”.

One word in this promise stands out to me. This word is “endure”. We shouldn’t expect Satan’s hate to go away, and we see no indication that we should fight back against the world hating us. Instead, we should see the hate this world throws our way as both a distraction and as a litmus test that we might be on the right path. Satan will use hate to try to pull our focus off of God, and those who are focused on following God and Jesus can understand that hate directed their way is because Satan hates God’s people.

However, Jesus’ challenge remains: “The person who endures to the end will be saved.” This is a challenge for all of us to keep pressing forward and to stay committed to God regardless of what Satan throws our way. Look forward to Jesus’ return, the end of sin, and our trip to heaven. Don’t let Satan deceive you and stay committed to God and endure to the end!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

Continue seeking God first in your life and choose to stay connected, dedicated, and allied to Him regardless of what Satan throws your way.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn the truth God wants to teach you first hand from the pages of His word. Don’t assume the Bible says something. Instead, study it out for yourself and let the Bible direct your understanding of truth!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or be tricked into leaving where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!