Jesus Answers the Accusing Leaders in the StreetBible World
3:24Mark 3:24
And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
It was spoken after Jesus healed for the second time a man who was possessed and blind and unable to speak, when His accusers repeated their earlier charge against Him. It answers the accusation that He expels evil spirits by the power of the ruler of evil spirits, attributing works of divine power done by the Holy Spirit to Satan. The same history in which it stands also teaches who are Christ's true brothers and sisters.
Deliberately rejecting the evidence of the Spirit's work and declaring that work to be from hell and Satan is rejection of the Holy Spirit and is the unpardonable sin. This is because God works on the heart by the Spirit, and willful rejection cuts off the channel by which God communicates. It leaves the soul where repentance and faith cannot come and where God can do nothing more for it, cutting men off from the fountain of blessing. Speaking against Jesus Himself without discerning His divine character can still be forgiven, because through the Spirit the sinner can be led to see the error and repent. Whatever the sin, if the soul repents and believes its guilt is washed away by Christ's blood.
As a general principle it teaches that a kingdom torn by internal division will fall, so Christ does not work against Himself. In its original setting it belongs to Christ's repeated teaching about the conflict between Himself and Satan, setting Satan's kingdom in opposition to God's kingdom, and it calls for being on the Lord's side.
Applied to the church, it calls Christians to serve in unity of the Spirit for the good of the whole body, with confidence that the Spirit can bring even the most discordant into harmony. Applied to Christian mission, it warns that the gospel is misrepresented as divided when Christian societies compete for influence, promote their own sects, and act in antagonism toward one another, since such party spirit undermines united work for Christ and contradicts Christian liberality and union. Applied to God's people, it warns that disunion weakens them, dishonors God, and hinders their work for the salvation of others, so that unity with Christ and with one another is their safety, especially in the last days.
It was spoken after Jesus healed for the second time a man who was possessed and blind and unable to speak, when His accusers repeated their earlier charge against Him. It answers the accusation that He expels evil spirits by the power of the ruler of evil spirits, attributing works of divine power done by the Holy Spirit to Satan. The same history in which it stands also teaches who are Christ's true brothers and sisters.
Deliberately rejecting the evidence of the Spirit's work and declaring that work to be from hell and Satan is rejection of the Holy Spirit and is the unpardonable sin. This is because God works on the heart by the Spirit, and willful rejection cuts off the channel by which God communicates. It leaves the soul where repentance and faith cannot come and where God can do nothing more for it, cutting men off from the fountain of blessing. Speaking against Jesus Himself without discerning His divine character can still be forgiven, because through the Spirit the sinner can be led to see the error and repent. Whatever the sin, if the soul repents and believes its guilt is washed away by Christ's blood.
As a general principle it teaches that a kingdom torn by internal division will fall, so Christ does not work against Himself. In its original setting it belongs to Christ's repeated teaching about the conflict between Himself and Satan, setting Satan's kingdom in opposition to God's kingdom, and it calls for being on the Lord's side.
Applied to the church, it calls Christians to serve in unity of the Spirit for the good of the whole body, with confidence that the Spirit can bring even the most discordant into harmony. Applied to Christian mission, it warns that the gospel is misrepresented as divided when Christian societies compete for influence, promote their own sects, and act in antagonism toward one another, since such party spirit undermines united work for Christ and contradicts Christian liberality and union. Applied to God's people, it warns that disunion weakens them, dishonors God, and hinders their work for the salvation of others, so that unity with Christ and with one another is their safety, especially in the last days.