(Study Outline sourced from “The System Bible Study” – “The Book of Life” [Zondervan])
(10). The Disciples Prayer Repeated With The Parable Of The Persistent Friend
As in Matt.6:9-13, there are six petitions included in the prayer – “hallowed [holy; sacred] be your name”; “your kingdom come”; “Give us…”;“Forgive us…”; “..lead us not (..deliver us)” – this is the model of our prayers.
We must understand that when we pray we are entering the sacred presence of a holy God, a place where only the Lord Jesus can stand: we are there only through Him, and by His precious blood which covers our sinful nature from a righteous God. Secondly, we must align ourselves with His priority – the establishment of His kingdom – this must also be our priority. Then we present our individual requests: the supply of our daily temporal needs; the forgiveness and cleansing of our daily sins which is necessary for our continued communion with God ; and for deliverance from the “evil one” and all his temptations .
The Lord Jesus further illustrates prayer by a parable of a bold or persistent neighbour that goes to the home of his friend at a very late hour of the night with a request for “three loaves of bread” because he had nothing to offer his guest who had travelled from afar to visit. The neighbour at first would not grant the request “yet because of the man’s boldness”or persistence in asking, gave him what he needed. So we are encouraged to be persistent in our prayer . Thus we are to “ask….seek….knock…”.
“If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”Matthew emphasizes the giving of gifts by the Father, but here Luke emphasizes the greatest gift of all; namely, the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer .
(11). Jesus Accused Of Being In League With Beelzebub
“But some of them said, “By Beelzebub, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.”
“Baal-Zebub, which means “lord of the fly,” was “the god of Ekron” — the name under which Baal was worshiped at the Philistine city of Ekron. This god was worshiped as the producer of flies, and consequently as the god that was able to defend against this pest. In the New Testament, reference is made to Beelzebub, a heathen god considered the chief evil spirit by the Jewish people <Matt.10:25; 12:27; Luke 11:18-19>. The Pharisees called him “the ruler of the demons” , and Jesus identified him with Satan”. [(from Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary) (Copyright (C) 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers)]
The Lord Jesus accuses them of hypocrisy since their followers would be also casting out demons by Beelzebub, but He adds “…if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.” – indicating that the evil powers were being defeated and overthrown by the power of God, He being God Himself. “But when someone stronger….” – that someone must be stronger than Satan and all the forces of evil, and can only be God. “When an evil spirit comes out….” – our Lord is saying here that if an evil spirit is cast out and not replaced by the Spirit of God, then the “unoccupied life” of the person is open to re-occupancy by the devil – while it is not possible for a genuine believer to lose salvation, the blessings and rewards of such salvation will definitely be lost.
“Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven.” – no other sign will be given to a wicked or sinful generation than the sign already given in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ , they had the signs of all the prophets including Jonah and Solomon, and He being greater than all the prophets, including Jonah and Solomon, was among them and they did not recognize Him. “Your eye is the lamp of your body.” – if they were open to the light that had shined upon them they would have seen “the miraculous sign” that stood in their presence . The secret to overcoming the evil that blinds our spiritual eyes to the sign that is in our presence is – “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” .
(Continued….)