It was an unusual reaction to such a tremendous feat. On yet another occasion Jesus had cast out unclean demons possessing the lives of innocent people, a deed that was pure evidence of His divine power and nothing else. Righteousness displayed its power over the forces of evil and everybody knew it. Or did they? In response the scribes that had come down from Jerusalem, unwilling to accept that He was God, charged Him saying, “He hath Beelzebub, and, By the prince of the demons casteth he out the demons” (Mark 3:22).
Now how much sense would that make? I mean, really? Why would evil fight against evil? Are they not on the same side? And what’s more is that Jesus called them out for their ignorance. “He called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan hath risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end” (Mark 3:23-26). Evil would not fight back against evil. If evil were to fight back against evil only good could come. Why? Because a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.
That fact had already been firmly proven in the mind of the Jews, or at least it should have been. In 1 Kings 12 their ancestors had divided themselves. The result was the fall of the kingdom from which they never recovered. That kingdom divided against itself could not stand.
Why does the kingdom of God (the church) assume that any different will be the case today? The principle is universal and is true. And yet so often Christians forget just how devastating it is to the kingdom of which we are citizens when we are divided. When we fight amongst ourselves unnecessarily and shine a light of discord into the world we will fail.
We will fail in our attempts to shine the light of God to His glory (Matthew 5:16).
We will fail in our attempts to teach and disciple others to the truth (Matthew 28:18-19).
We will fail in our attempts to love God (1 John 4:20).
We will fail in our attempts to snatch precious souls back from the fire (James 1:20).
We will fail in our hope of heaven (Romans 16:17-18).
A kingdom divided is no small thing. Paul felt it was a big enough deal to write an extended letter to a church who was suffering through just that (1 Corinthians 1:11). Why? Because he knew it would be to their destruction. Why do we assume it will be no less for us?
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1).
-Andy