Pastor John,
We read from the Gospel of Mark this evening , and in there, I noticed the use of the names “Beelzebub”, “prince of demons”, and “Satan”, and it stood out to me (Mark 3:22-26).
(Originally, it stood out because in this scene it appeared that Jesus and the scribes were in agreement that Satan was evil. That just seemed to be a “given”, based on their dialogue. I understood it to be that they were all in agreement that Beelzebub, the prince of demons, and Satan were all the same being. So, I was going to ask you if the scribes having the knowledge of Satan being evil was possible , since Satan had not yet been revealed as evil. But, as I put the email together, I noticed something new…new to me….and my question has changed)
In this scene, the scribes are speaking evil of Jesus for doing good. The scribes in Verse 22 had accused Jesus of working under the influence of, and also being possessed by, an evil creature that they called “Beelzebub” and the “prince of demons”.
What the scribes did not do, is call that evil being Satan. Only Jesus, in the next verse, went on to call this same creature Satan, when He said, “How can Satan cast out Satan?”
My Question: Did the scribes know they were actually speaking of the Bible character Satan (the one that those scribes would have known from Chronicles, Job, Zechariah and Psalms), when they spoke of this evil being called Beelzebub and the prince of demons in V22 ?
I am thinking, “no”, since Satan had not yet been revealed as evil. Right?
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That is right. Nobody but Jesus knew Satan was evil because the Son was not yet revealed.
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If any or all of what I have said is correct, would they (the scribes) have understood in the next verse (verse 23) that Jesus had just identified, perhaps for the very first time, that “the prince of demons” they had just referred to, was Satan from the scriptures, the same Satan that was God’s servant in the Old Testament scriptures. Would they have understood what He just said to them, would they have cared?
Thank you.
Jerry
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The scribes and other elders of Israel did not understand Jesus. For that matter, not even Jesus’ disciples understood him. Besides, even if the scribes had understood what Jesus was saying about Satan, they would not have trusted his judgment of that powerful heavenly creature. The wicked nature of Satan’s character was a revelation to mankind, part of the revelation of the Son. But nobody comprehended that revelation until after Pentecost, when humans received God’s kind of life, the only kind of life that enables humans to understand the things of God.
Thanks for the question, Jerry.
Pastor John