8th October 2021
Finger of God Reigns Supreme over Every Evil Power
Joel 1:13-15; 2:1-2
Psalms 9
Luke 11:15-26
• Jesus’ contemporaries were amazed. They wondered how it was possible that He performed such miracles and signs. They concluded that Jesus was using the power of Beelzebul: “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.” Luke 11:15.
• But Jesus is the Son of God who reigns supreme over every force and power, including the demons: It is by God’s finger (power) that he performed miracles and signs and drove the demons away: “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.” Luke 11:20.
• Jesus' reference to the 'finger of God' points back to Moses' confrontation with Pharoah and his magicians who represented Satan and the kingdom of darkness (Exodus 8:19). Jesus claims to be carrying on the tradition of Moses whose miracles freed the Israelites from bondage by the finger of God. God's power is clearly at work in the exorcisms which Jesus performed and they give evidence that God's kingdom has come.
• The finger of God protects and guides us. It dispels the evil forces at work to scatter us away from God’s Kingdom.
• Jesus came to free us from the greatest danger of all – the corrupting force of evil which destroys us from within and makes us slaves to sin and Satan (John 8:34).
• Jesus declared that he came to overthrow the power of Satan and his kingdom (John 12:31). Jesus' numerous exorcisms brought freedom to many who were troubled and oppressed by the work of evil spirits. Jesus himself encountered personal opposition and battle with Satan when he was put to the test in the wilderness just before his public ministry (Matthew 4:1; Luke 4:1).
• Jesus makes it very clear that there are no neutral parties in this world. We are either for Jesus or against him, for the kingdom of God or against it. There are ultimately only two kingdoms which stand in opposition to one another – the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness which is under the rule of Satan.
• If we disobey God's word, we open the door to the power of sin and Satan. If we want to live in true freedom, then our "house" (the inner core of our true being) must be occupied by Jesus where he is enthroned as Lord and Savior.
• The Lord assures us of his protection from spiritual harm and he gives us the help and strength that we need to resist the devil and his lies (James 4:7): "Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your habitation, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways" Psalm 91:9-11.
• May we allow the finger of God to protect and guide us. May we allow Jesus to be the Ruler of our hearts and master of: our lives, homes, work places, businesses, our parish, country and the entire world.
• May we put everything in our lives under his Lordship.
• If we do so, true peace and security, which only comes from God, will always be ours.
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