Mark 3:22 Commentary and Bible Study

But it got worse because: ‘The scribes, which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub’, who they took to be the prince of the demons, the devil himself. ‘He hath the devil.’ In fact, the way they put it: ‘he hath Beelzebub’; this is an insult worse than saying, ‘He is demon possessed.’ A demon possessed person is a hapless, hopeless creature. He has been taken over; he is not in the least responsible. The way they put this with Christ is worse, ‘He hath Beelzebub.’ They mean, he is Satan's agent; he is Satan's man, he is satanically empowered.’ This is much worse than demon possession. He is the representative of all the powers of darkness. What a terrible thing to say! This is unbelief at its peak. Suppose I am a scribe, a Pharisee, a chief priest. I push to the front of the crowd. I see close-up these amazing healings, astonishing things. I see a withered limb, and life poured into it, and the hands and the fingers fill out, and the wrinkles and the dried-up appearance disappear. I see things never seen before. I see the blind restored with their sight; in due course the dead are raised. And I harden my heart, and I say, ‘No. There's an explanation; there’s a trick.’ What is the explanation? ‘He is the devil incarnate.’ How unreasonable a conclusion is that? What an extreme of hardened, wicked, determined unbelief is that? He hath Beelzebub, not just a demon.