AP

Luke 11:20  But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

All three Synoptic Gospels contain this account of the leaders of the people trying to explain away the implications for them of Jesus’ miraculous healing ministry by attributing his power to Beelzebul, ‘the prince of demons’.  But only Luke mentions Jesus’ use of the phrase ‘the finger of God’ to drive home to them the clear implication that he was ushering in the Kingdom of God.

Yet his use of this phrase has some significance in the light of two particular OT references.  In Exodus 7-11 the LORD God is demonstrating the power of his Kingdom over Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt by sending destructive plagues upon them.  The first two of these (turning the water to blood and the frogs) the magicians of Egypt, agents of Beelzebub, were able to duplicate, just as they had already done with their staffs becoming snakes.  But when it came to the third one, the plague of biting insects (gnats?), they were beaten and had to admit to Pharaoh: “This is the finger of God.” (Exodus 8:19)

In spite of Pharaoh’s persistent arrogance and the ‘hardening of his heart’, it was ‘all over bar the shouting’, and all the events that followed established without any doubt whose Kingdom ruled.

The second mention of ‘the finger of God’ is in connection with the two tablets of stone given to Moses outlining the manifesto of God’s Kingdom, and ‘written with the finger of God’ (Exodus 31:18).  So Luke is reminding us that this was a very solemn warning Jesus was heralding to the religious leaders of his day, and to us, about ‘the Kingdom of God coming among us’, and the necessity of our making the appropriate response with our whole lives.

It is not surprising that the model prayer Jesus taught us contains the plea: ‘your Kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven’, and his command in the middle of Matthew’s account of his Sermon on the Mount about not being anxious about anything, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)  The Sermon on the Mount is really Jesus’ manifesto for life in his Kingdom.  The phrase “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” occurs at both the beginning and the end of the Beatitudes that introduce this manifesto.

“The Lord is King!  Who then shall dare resist his will, distrust his care; or murmur at his wise decrees, or doubt his royal promises?  The Lord is King!  Child of the dust, the Judge of all the earth is just; holy and true are all his ways:  Let every creature sing his praise.  He reigns!  You saints, exalt your strains; your God is King, your Father reigns, and he is at the Father’s side, the Man of Love, the Crucified.  Come, make your wants, your burdens known; he will present them at the throne; and angel bands are waiting there his messages of love to bear.  One Lord, one empire, all secures; he reigns, and life and death are yours; through heaven and earth, one song shall ring: ‘The Lord Omnipotent is King!’” (Josiah Conder.)

– Bruce Christian