What do these three images from Luke 11:14-28 have in common; a divided kingdom, a burglary, and clean, but empty house? What was Jesus teaching us with these word pictures?
All three of these word pictures describe the strategy of Satan. He seeks to divide, he seeks to steal, kill, and destroy, and he will fill a vacuum. Jesus was being accused of working by the power of the devil, but the work of the devil is to divide the people of God, to steal from the people of God, and to creep into and fill any space he can in our lives.
The devil knows the downfall that occurs where there is division. It is God’s people who do not know how serious divisiveness is. Proverbs 6:16-19 tells us that sowing discord among brothers is one of the things the Lord hates. He hates it because it destroys unity.
Jesus would overpower a demon when He would cast it out. He would rob the demon of what the demon had stole from the person; their health, their mind, their relationships.
And the image of the clean but empty house is a warning that a person needs more than just help, they need to be occupied by the Strong Man, Jesus Christ.
The central teaching of Jesus in this section of Luke is that God’s Word, when revealed to a person, is powerful to liberate, to take back what the enemy has stolen, and to fill with holy power the life that receives that Word. Head knowledge of the things of God will not cut it. But receiving the revealed truth from God, through faith, will.
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