Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Happened to the Devil? | The Gospels | Luke 11:14–32

Episode Date: April 20, 2026

Why has belief in the devil and spiritual evil faded in modern thinking? Is there more happening in the spiritual world than we tend to realize? What does Jesus reveal about the reality of evil and his authority over it? In today’s episode, Keith shares how Luke 11:14–32 shows that while darkness is real, it is not ultimate; Jesus is stronger and his kingdom has come. Read the Bible with us in 2026! This year, we’re exploring the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passage: Luke 11:14–32

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. You don't see the devil or Satan talked about much in the news media. That's one reason I paid close attention to an interview the late Supreme Court Justice Antonine Scalia did with New York Magazine. One reason this interview got a lot of attention is because it gets into faith. And Scalia says that he believes in the Bible, he believes in heaven and hell. he even said, I believe in the devil.

The person interviewing him asks, you do? And Scalia says, of course, yeah, he's a real person. And the interviewer asks, have you seen evidence of the devil lately? And Scalia says, you know, it is curious. In the gospels, the devil is doing all sorts of things. He's making pigs run off cliffs. He's possessing people and whatnot. And that doesn't happen very much anymore.

It's because he's smart. Again, the interviewer asked a question. He says, so what's he doing now? And Scalia says, what he's doing now is getting people to not believe in him or in God. He's much more successful that way. I mean, come on, that's the explanation for why there's not demonic possession all over the place. That always puzzled me. What happened to the devil used to be all over the New Testament?

What happened to him? Well, he got wiler. Again, the interviewer asks, isn't it terribly frightening to believe in the devil? And Scalia says, you're looking at me as though I'm weird. My God, are you so out of touch with most of America? Most of which believes in the devil? I mean, Jesus Christ believed in the devil. It's in the gospels. You travel in circles that are so removed from mainstream America that you are appalled that anybody would believe in the devil. Most of mankind has believed in the devil for all of history. Many more intelligent people than you or me have believed in the devil. Just as Scalia was correct in

saying that Jesus believed that the devil was real. And he was also correct when he said that most Christians around the world believe the same thing. But what about you? Do you believe in the devil? I mean, you're not smarter or more sophisticated than Jesus, are you? If you do believe in the devil, what do you think he's like? How would you describe him? What's he up to in the world? And how should you respond to him? I bring up the devil because Jesus does in our passage today in Luke 11. Let's pray before we dive in. Father, I pray that you would open your word, that we might see truth in it, and that you would open our heart so that truth might do its work in our life. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

We pick up in Luke chapter 11, verse 14. It says Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. So this man is physically unable to speak, and Luke tells us that was caused by some sort of demonic oppression. When Jesus drove the demon out, the man spoke, the crowd is amazed. The amazement is not the same as faith. In fact, here it seems that their amazement led them to want more miracles, more signs. Ironically, it ends up leading them away from Jesus. Verse 15.

Some of them said, by Beelzebel, the prince of demons he is driving out demons. Beelzable is probably a reference to the Old Testament Canaanite God of Bale. In just a few verses, it will become clear. that when Jesus says Beelzebel, he's referring to Satan. But I don't want you to miss that Jesus' opponents don't deny that he cast a demon out. They don't deny his authority to cast out demons. They acknowledge as miracles, but they try to discredit him by saying that Jesus cast out demons by the power of Beelzebel or Satan, not God.

Verse 16. Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. People often say that if they saw a miracle, they'd believe in God. but that's clearly not the case. These people have seen miracles. Not only did Jesus cast out a demon, but he healed the man of being mute. But they still don't believe in Jesus. One group says he's aligned with the evil forces,

and another group demands a sign from God. If this sign of healing a mute man didn't compel them to believe, why should we think the next one will? In this situation, the demand for a sign from God is actually a sign of unbelief. Verse 17. And Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined and a house divided itself will fall. So Jesus counters with some basic common sense. He says a government divided against itself won't last. A family divided against itself will fall apart. A team divided against itself will lose. So of course, a kingdom divided against itself will fall. He then

unpacks that. He says, if Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand. I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebel. Now, if I drive out demons by Beelzebel, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. That last statement is the most important. When he says, if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God comes upon you, he's not saying, oh, it will be easy. Like it will be so easy win this fight that I won't have to lift a finger. That's not the point. The finger of God refers to an Old Testament story about the Exodus. Moses is trying to get Pharaoh to free Israel from slavery.

And since Moses is a nobody and Pharaoh has all the power, God gives him signs to do in front of Pharaoh so that he will let the people go. The Egyptian magicians were able to do Moses's first two signs, but not the third. Egypt's magicians couldn't repeat the sign of the Nats. Pharaoh, said, this is the finger of God. In other words, this is the power of God at work. So when Jesus says he drives out demons by the finger of God, what he's saying is, is that if he drives out demons by the power of God, then God's kingdom has come upon them. Jesus is the king, and he's bringing God's kingdom to earth. Verse 21, when a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted

and divides up his plunder. The strong man is Satan, and he has his own armor or his own guards. Satan's possessions are the human beings he holds captive and oppresses. Jesus says that Satan looks tough until someone stronger comes along to defeat him and takes away his possessions. Jesus is the strong man who delivers human beings from Satan's bondage. Starting in this next verse, it gets a little scary, or if not scary, at least a little sobering. Jesus says in verse 24, when an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places, seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, I will return to the house I left. When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order.

Then it goes and takes seven other spirits, more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. and the final condition of that person is worse than the first. So what's Jesus saying? The arid places refers to desolate wilderness where the demons were believed to live. And it speaks of seven demons. Seven is the number of completeness. So when one unclean spirit, one rabid, plodding, malicious, destructive spirit leaves, it will try to return and take over a person's whole life.

Jesus is pleading for us not to underestimate the demon's power. He's saying, don't mess with the spirit, but he's saying even more than that. He's saying that we must not just stop surrendering to the evil spirit. We must surrender to Jesus, to the Holy Spirit. We must replace the bad with the good. Verse 27, as Jesus was saying these things, woman in the crowd called out, Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you. And Jesus replied,

blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it. Jesus affirms this woman, paying a tribute to his mother, but then Jesus redirects the blessing. He says the people who are truly blessed are the ones who hear the word of God and obey it. See, following Jesus isn't just about eliminating bad habits. It's about filling your life with Jesus, hearing and obeying the word of God. Because when you're full of Jesus, you're hanging out a no vacancy sign. You're saying that no other spirits, no other kingdoms, no other authorities, no other

principalities may enter. Jesus is here. The way to fight your spiritual enemy is to surrender to Christ. Father, I pray that we would surrender every area of our life to Jesus and that you would drive out all demonic spirits, all dark forces from our life, that we might live in truth and in light. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.