SOMEONE STRONGER - LUKE 11:14–28

SOMEONE STRONGER

LUKE 11:14–28

 “But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up the spoils.” (Luke 11:22)

A DIVIDED KINGDOM (LUKE 11:17–20)

He then made a statement that may have turned the religious leaders inside out: “But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you” (Luke 11:20).

Christ’s brief discourse suggests two origins of supernatural power: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. If Christ’s power didn’t originate with Satan, it obviously came from God. They were staring the Messiah in the face (Luke 7:20, 22).

The phrase “the finger of God” is used only a few times in Scripture. One of them appears in the Book of Exodus. We find that Pharaoh’s magicians were able to imitate some of the miracles wrought through Moses. However, when the magicians could not duplicate the plague of gnats, they declared to Pharaoh that “this is the finger of God” (Exodus 8:19). In essence they said, “Nobody but the living God could have done that!”

I love the reference to the finger of God. It says to me God is so powerful, all He has to do is point and His intended work is accomplished.

We have to trust that God not only knows what to point at but also when.

Satan knows he can hinder God’s kingdom by provoking division among Christ’s people. We desperately need to make unity in the body of Christ an ongoing pursuit.