Post by Mark on Jan 16, 2010 6:14:57 GMT -8
Messiah Yeshua had been healing bunches of people: people with uncleanness, people with diseases, people possessed with demons. He was healing so many people that they thronged upon Him and His disciples, so much so that they couldn’t even eat in peace.
Those who were once close to Him, the friends of the family, heard about what was going on, all the spectacle and activity surrounding Him, and naturally concluded that He must be nuts. This understanding was only perpetuated by the rabbinical scholars who began accusing Him, that He was demon possessed and thus coercing demons through that dark power.
It is in this context that he confronts these antagonists together, saying,
“How can satanas (the accuser) cast out satanas?” Can anyone pick themselves up into the air and throw himself out the window? The statement is nonsensical and demands a negative answer: he can’t.
“If a kingdom (basiliah: the ruler of a kingdom) is in disunity, it (he) cannot stand.” This idea is similar to what He had said earlier to His disciples in the lesson on the mount (Matthew 5-7), “No man can serve two masters…” An old proverb that fits is the saying that a man who does not stand for something will certainly fall for anything. A ruler who has no vision, principle or agenda is no leader and the nation will inevitably fall into chaos. It’s the same way within any family unit: “And if a house be divided against itself, it cannot stand.” Something that the whole audience could relate with, regardless of how they understood national politics, is that an indecisive father or a wife who contradicts her husband is easy to spot as a home that is in constant turmoil.
Can satan stand in the way of satan to prevent him from doing anything? He can’t purposely do such a thing. At most he can render himself hapless and ineffective by his own confusion; but he can’t purposefully stand in his own way.
There are not three different stories in the parable that Messiah is telling in Mark 3:23-29. He isn’t telling a story about satan, then another about divided kingdoms, then a third story about a thief who wants to loot the home of a strong man. There is a single message that Messiah is speaking to us, and the end is to understand what it means to blaspheme (to vilify) the Holy Spirit.
How can a thief overcome a strong man in his own house? How can he bind the strong man? He has given the answer already: divide his focus and confuse his agenda. Should you come into my house to loot and destroy, my singular focus is going to be to get you out of there. But, if you set fire to the curtains, then go to rob the silver, suddenly my focus is confused. I become easy prey for you to overpower.
Messiah is revealing the agenda of the scribes: to confuse, to divide and to overpower. He is, in effect, saying, “I know what you are trying to do and you’re not getting away with it.” Then He leaves them with the strongest of warnings: “All sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and all insanities, no matter who they vilify; however, any vilification of the Spirit of Adonai will receive no forgiveness, and is liable to everlasting condemnation.”
Isaiah gave a similar warning to the religious leadership of his day:
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: That say, Let him make speed, [and] hasten his work, that we may see [it]: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know [it]! Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto [them that are] wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
(Isaiah 5:18-21)
It’s important for us to understand whose side we stand on and what agenda we are trying to defend, else we find ourselves trying to tie up God with cords of confusion, in our attempt to make off with our own convictions or understanding.
It’s important to recognize this tactic in the manner we discuss theology and perspectives. Am I trying to confuse my opponent or am I trying to reveal the truth?
If the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Truth are one in the same, as I believe they must be, any time we are trying to cause confusion, we are in effect, blaspheming the Spirit of God. We are attempting to bind the strong man. Messiah reminds us, as we will need to be reminded over and over again, we’re not going to get away with it.
Those who were once close to Him, the friends of the family, heard about what was going on, all the spectacle and activity surrounding Him, and naturally concluded that He must be nuts. This understanding was only perpetuated by the rabbinical scholars who began accusing Him, that He was demon possessed and thus coercing demons through that dark power.
It is in this context that he confronts these antagonists together, saying,
“How can satanas (the accuser) cast out satanas?” Can anyone pick themselves up into the air and throw himself out the window? The statement is nonsensical and demands a negative answer: he can’t.
“If a kingdom (basiliah: the ruler of a kingdom) is in disunity, it (he) cannot stand.” This idea is similar to what He had said earlier to His disciples in the lesson on the mount (Matthew 5-7), “No man can serve two masters…” An old proverb that fits is the saying that a man who does not stand for something will certainly fall for anything. A ruler who has no vision, principle or agenda is no leader and the nation will inevitably fall into chaos. It’s the same way within any family unit: “And if a house be divided against itself, it cannot stand.” Something that the whole audience could relate with, regardless of how they understood national politics, is that an indecisive father or a wife who contradicts her husband is easy to spot as a home that is in constant turmoil.
Can satan stand in the way of satan to prevent him from doing anything? He can’t purposely do such a thing. At most he can render himself hapless and ineffective by his own confusion; but he can’t purposefully stand in his own way.
There are not three different stories in the parable that Messiah is telling in Mark 3:23-29. He isn’t telling a story about satan, then another about divided kingdoms, then a third story about a thief who wants to loot the home of a strong man. There is a single message that Messiah is speaking to us, and the end is to understand what it means to blaspheme (to vilify) the Holy Spirit.
How can a thief overcome a strong man in his own house? How can he bind the strong man? He has given the answer already: divide his focus and confuse his agenda. Should you come into my house to loot and destroy, my singular focus is going to be to get you out of there. But, if you set fire to the curtains, then go to rob the silver, suddenly my focus is confused. I become easy prey for you to overpower.
Messiah is revealing the agenda of the scribes: to confuse, to divide and to overpower. He is, in effect, saying, “I know what you are trying to do and you’re not getting away with it.” Then He leaves them with the strongest of warnings: “All sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and all insanities, no matter who they vilify; however, any vilification of the Spirit of Adonai will receive no forgiveness, and is liable to everlasting condemnation.”
Isaiah gave a similar warning to the religious leadership of his day:
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: That say, Let him make speed, [and] hasten his work, that we may see [it]: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know [it]! Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto [them that are] wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
(Isaiah 5:18-21)
It’s important for us to understand whose side we stand on and what agenda we are trying to defend, else we find ourselves trying to tie up God with cords of confusion, in our attempt to make off with our own convictions or understanding.
It’s important to recognize this tactic in the manner we discuss theology and perspectives. Am I trying to confuse my opponent or am I trying to reveal the truth?
If the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Truth are one in the same, as I believe they must be, any time we are trying to cause confusion, we are in effect, blaspheming the Spirit of God. We are attempting to bind the strong man. Messiah reminds us, as we will need to be reminded over and over again, we’re not going to get away with it.
