Luke 11:19-24

Luke 11:19 (KJB)
And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges.

Then Jesus turns the table on their thinking. He states that if He is casting out the devils by means of Beelzebub, then who are your children casting them out by. During this time, there were Jewish exorcists who had traveled throughout the land. (Acts 19:13 KJV) Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. Jesus was referring to these sorcerers. Jesus basically states that it shows an inconsistency in their philosophy to ascribe His exorcism to the devil and the Jewish exorcists to another power. Jesus was not speaking of the physical children of the Pharisees but to other Pharisees or to others in the Jewish population. The Pharisees were doing the exorcisms and were not condemned by the other Pharisees. The fact that they accepted these exorcisms, made them culpable to the judgment at the last day. If they believed that the Jewish exorcists were using the power of God but Jesus was using the power of the devil, then they will come face to face with these false beliefs on Judgment day. Their own condemnation of Jesus will be their condemnation.

Luke 11:20 (KJB)
But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.

(Mat 12:28 KJV) But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Now Jesus turns the tables on them and states that if He was casting out the devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come unto them. They were ascribing the works of Jesus to Satan and never considered the fact that the devils were being exorcised by the power of God. Their hatred of Jesus caused them to not only accuse Him of being under Satan’s power but it lead to their eternal condemnation with no chance of salvation. The Pharisees may have gained a following but they also gained condemnation. They also did not realize that the Kingdom of God was personified in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 11:21 (KJB)
When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace:

The strong man is in full armor and has with him the appropriate armaments to protect his home. When he is in this state of armed readiness, all the goods in his home are safe plus all his family members are safe too. Now in this verse Jesus is speaking of Satan who guards his house with all his evil temptations and the fiery darts he throws at people to snare them. He guards his house and makes sure none of his prisoners escape. (Isa 14:17 KJV) That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

Luke 11:22 (KJB)
But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

He likens Satan to the strong man and those who are devil possessed as his goods. This would also refer to the unsaved who are the goods of Satan. Those who are devil possessed have no will of their own as we saw in the Gadarene Demoniac. The only way that one can affect the change in a person’s life is that the strong man must first be bound. This means that a stronger man than he is required to do the job. Once the strong man is bound, then his house will be able to be spoiled without any intervention on his part. This happened at the cross where Satan was bound and could no longer stop a person from being saved or hinder prayers like he did to Daniel. (Rev 20:2 KJV) And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, The thousand years is symbolic of the entire New Testament as Satan is bound for the entire duration, until such a time that he is released right before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is telling these people that He is stronger than Satan and therefore His power is of God. Jesus is that stronger man who is going to plunder the house of Satan.

Luke 11:23 (KJB)
He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.

There is no middle ground concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Either you are with Him, that is saved, or you are against Him, that is, unsaved. Gathering and scattering has to do with the life of a shepherd. (Ezek 34:12-13 KJV) As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. {13} And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. Those who are teaching the true gospel are those what are gathering in the sheep as they become saved they are gathered to the chief shepherd. Those that scatter, are teaching a false gospel and are causing the sheep of God to be scattered that they might find pasture. (Jer 23:1 KJV) Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.

Luke 11:24 (KJB)
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.

Then Jesus changes the subject and apparently had aimed this particular parable at the Pharisees and their exorcists, of course always remembering that the crowd assembled was listening. The Jewish exorcists would face a serious dilemma whenever they would excise a demon from a person. Keep in mind these Jewish exorcists had rejected their own Messiah so their exorcisms were limited and that limitation is as follows. Jesus then begins the parable by stating that a man has been exorcised and the evil spirit has left his body and looked for another host to indwell but he was unable to find one. A dry place may have reference to the desert or another dry place or it may refer to other unsaved people. (Jude 1:12 KJV) These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; The words “without water” in Jude 7 is the same word used here for “dry.” The “rest” spoken about in this verse has to do with the fact that the devil seeks rest in a body where he can wreak havoc on his host. So the devil is unable to find another body to indwell so what he does is he decides to return to the body which he had left.

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