 Kingdoms Divided
Jesus upon being accused of casting out demons with demonic power logically shows that the accusation is not only baseless, but Jesus has the evidence of His ministry before Him, the newly exorcised man is well and in His right mind. Jesus begins to argue on that basis;
-- Click To Expand/Collapse Bible Verses -- Mat ch12:v25-30
Mat 12:25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:
Mat 12:26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?
Mat 12:27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.
Mat 12:28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
Mat 12:29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
Mat 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
(KJV)
Jesus begins with questioning the motives of one whom would accuse Christ of casting out satan with satan. Every worldly kingdom that is not united is subject to internal infighting and can not mount an effective defence against other kingdoms which are able to conquer; being themselves united.
Clearly If satan's kingdom were not divided He could indeed mount a proper defence - yet since satan is divided against himself he may not: If Jesus were to cast out demons by beelzebub, then satans best defence is not enough; as the healed man is evidence itself that satan has lost a victim. That Jesus asserts that He successfully cast out the demon, Jesus asks by whom the pharisees' proselytes cast out demons by: For we may assume they do so unsuccesfully - showing that satan has mounted an adequate defence of his kingdom against those pharisees' "children". Those children that know their own lack of success are those whom may logically decide the matter - that it is a baseless accusation; and against a miracle plainly performed by Christ.
Jesus asserts that the kingdom of God has come near to them and they have ignored it, because Jesus casts out with the spirit of God: Though at this stage Jesus is not asserting that as fact: He will logically deduce that this is the case before the multitude. The subject moves from those pharisees to the whole house of Israel. For it, as Jesus began is a house clearly divided against itself in accusing their only saviour in Jesus Christ.
If the Lord God of Israel is the "strong man" in verse 29 whose house is the nation of Israel, then it should be obvious that if Israel was in favour before God then God would not permit Israel to be "spoiled" by a stronger - for a stronger does not exist. If Jesus is successfully spoiling God by practicing secretly the works of the devil then Jesus needs to show that doing such demonic acts are ultimately unsuccessful - but that will be dealt with in the following pages. What we need to state now is that if Jesus successfully casts out demons He does not do so demonically; rather it is Israel that is under the dominion of satan, and Jesus is the "stronger" whom spoils the kingdom of the enemy and gathers Israel to Himself.
The choice of the listener is clear - either reject Christ and scatter what was "Israel" to be under the authority of satan, or accept Jesus and be gathered into the house of the stronger man (God). It is common sense then to know that Jesus in performing miracles and winning converts is either doing the works of a "stronger God", or that the God of the pharisees is no God at all.
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