The scribes created the trouble again this time by condemning Jesus of casting devils by the prince of the devils. The prince of the devils, or Beelzebub, is Satan indeed. How much do we know about Satan?
 

In John 16:11, Jesus names him as “the prince of this world”. In Ephe 2:2, Paul describes Satan as “the prince of the power of the air”. In I John 5:19 it reads, “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.” (KJV) (NRSV, “We know that we are God's children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one.”)
 

Don’t you know that the whole world is subject to the control of the prince of the evil kingdom of Satan? All the people in this world are classified into two categories: children of obedience and children of disobedience. Although there are more than a hundred nations in the world, in God’s eyes there are only two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Christ and God (Ephe 5:5) vs the kingdom of Satan. We are either the children of God or the children of Satan.

Paul says in Ephe 2:2-3: “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” In Paul’s words, those who belong to the Satan’s kingdom are called ‘the children of disobedience’ or ‘the children of wrath’ . The reason why they are called “the children of wrath” is because God’s wrath is going to come upon "the children of disobedience" (Ephe 5:6). Are you on God’s side or on Satan’s side?

According to the quotation of Matthew Henry’s commentary, the Bible makes it clear that Satan is followed by a host of angels who give allegiance to him rather than to the Lord. The obscure reference to Satan in Rev 12:3,4—where he is pictured as a “great, fiery red dragon” drawing to earth “a third of the stars of heaven”—is taken by many to indicate that about a third of the angels God created followed Satan in his rebellion. Rev 12:7–9 describes war in heaven and says that Satan and “his angels” were cast out of heaven “to the earth”. This is also expressed in Isaiah 14:12-15, which says of Satan, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer (明亮之星), son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.” There is no space for Satan in heaven. He is only allowed to make trouble on earth till the end of the world.
 

In order to combat the power of Satan, we must first understand and strongly believe that God has the mighty power to overcome any form of Satanic power. In Ephe 1:19-22, Paul said of God’s mighty power in his prayer for the saints: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him…And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church.”

Now we know that God’s power has raised the Lord Jesus and put him above all powers throughout the centuries. Then we must learn to exercise God’s power by putting on the armour of God and getting ready to fight the spiritual battle. (Ephe 6:11-20)
 

The author of Hebrews at the beginning of the Book immediately showed us proof that Jesus Christ is superior to all the angels of God. As stated in the following verses of Heb 1:5-8: “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.” The author kept saying in Heb 1:13-14, “But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”
 
 

As stated above, angels are “ministering spirits”. They not only bow down and worship the Lord Jesus, but are also “sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Heb 1:14). Heb 2:5-11 continued, “For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified (Psalms 8:4-8), saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.” We as God’s sons shall be brought unto glory like Jesus and all things shall be subject to our management. Shall we not be superior to the angels then?

The author explained why Jesus was qualified to be the one under whom God put everything in subjection. Since he has tasted death for us and God has raised him from the dead by His mighty power and crowned him with glory and honour, we are also delivered from the power of death and become his brothers. As a result, we who are also lower than the angels are brought unto glory and become superior to the angels like the resurrected Jesus.

Satan is at best a fallen angel; there is no need for us to fear him at all. Yet we must beware of his crafty schemes, just as Jesus warned his disciples to beware of the “leaven” (implying false doctrines) of the Pharisees (Mark 8:15).

Here in Mark 3:20-30, in response to the scribes’ condemnation of him, Jesus brought out three points—the first two points with a parable:

In 3:24-25, he says, “if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.” To condemn him of fighting against the devils by Satan’s power, it is like the internal warfare within a country or a family. In the end, that country or family will break apart. Thus, there exists contradiction in the condemnation. How can Satan fight against his own kingdom and destroy it? The statement that the scribes make simply doesn’t make sense. Jesus refuted in Matt 12:27, “if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.” Of course, the scribes will not admit that their followers cast out devils by Satan. However, if they presume Jesus this way, they will also be challenged by others to behave the same way.

Jesus says in Mark 3:27, “No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.” Jesus is making the point that he is actually doing the opposite of what the scribes said of him. The strong man’s house refers to Satan’s dominion or kingdom. When he casts out demons, this miracle of his signifies the downfall of Satan’s power as if a strong man were bound. Even though the whole world is subject to the power of Satan with God’s permission, God still has the final say in everything. Jesus wants us to know that the strong man, Satan, is going to be bound by him and thrown into the lake of fire one day. (Rev 20:10)

Jesus said in Matt 12:28, “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” When Jesus began his preaching ministry by proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God, he cries aloud to everyone, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” (Mark 1:15) He is actually announcing that God’s kingdom is soon to conquer Satan’s kingdom. His obligation is to rescue us from Satan’s hands. As stated in Colossians 1:13, God “hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.” Jesus Christ sits enthroned as the “King of kings, and Lord of lords”. (Rev 19:16) And now we already belong to Him and His Kingdom! To cast away our fear, all we need is to believe and uphold all these truths.

The third point is a serious warning against the scribes who condemn Jesus. “Verily I say unto you” is a strong emphasis. He said, “All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.” (v28-29) He added in Matt 12:32, “And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” Jesus now makes a very strong distinction between blaspheming himself and blaspheming the Holy Spirit. The main difference is whether their sins can be forgiven. Why is the sin of blaspheming Jesus forgivable but the sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit is not?

When Jesus was bound and arrested for court trial, the Roman soldiers “mocked him, and smote him…blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee? And many other things blasphemously spake they against him.” (Luke 22:63-65) The people of the Jews also accused him of “perverting the nation” (Luke 23:2). Even the chief priests and scribes “stood and vehemently (violently) accused him” (Luke 23:10). King Herod “mocked him, and arrayed him a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate” (Luke 23:11). Listen to how Jesus reacted to all these people while he was being crucified, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) Thus, he had a forgiving heart toward all those who knowingly blasphemed against or offended him.

Nevertheless, for those scribes who said to Jesus, “He hath an unclean spirit.” (v30), Jesus spoke very strongly about their fate: “he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.” (v29) From Jesus’ wording, the scribes are not blaspheming against the person of Jesus alone but directly against the Holy Spirit within the person of Jesus. They are openly and viciously condemning the Holy Spirit to be an evil spirit. They not only refused to believe the Son of God but maliciously called God’s Spirit a demon! Their hearts were darkened to the extent that they had utterly no sign as well as no hope of repentance. These ungodly people belong to the class of human beings destined for eternal destruction. Jude, the brother of Jesus, spoke of these ungodly people and said, “there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Jude 1:4) Jude further said of the destiny of the fallen angels: God “hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” (Jude 1:6) Just like the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah who were destined to suffer “the vengeance of eternal fire”, “likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.” (Jude 1:7-8) These ungodly people undoubtedly have the same fate as Satan and his fallen angels—being thrown into the lake of fire.

Can people commit this unpardonable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit today? Some Bible commentary doubts that people today will commit this sin. According to one of these commentaries, “it was a sin committed when Jesus was on earth performing miracles. Since He is not physically on earth today, casting out demons, the same possibility of blaspheming the Holy Spirit does not exist. People who worry that they have committed the unpardonable sin have not done so. The very fact that they are concerned indicates that they are not guilty of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.” ^[1]

In my opinion, it is not unusual for the kind of ungodly people that Jesus and Jude describe to exist today. Jesus’ warning is still effective for each generation.

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