Luke 11:11-26

11 The secret of acceptable prayer today is conformity to the will and purpose of God at this present time. If we ask amiss, He is not so unkind as to grant our requests, neither can He change His purpose to suit the whims of His erring children. To pray intelligently we must understand what He is about, and fall in line with His plans. No amount of importunity will swerve Him from His course, or pleading of His promises to others divert Him from His present operations. He cannot follow the advice offered by those ignorant of His ways and unresponsive to the transcendent grace which He is lavishing upon them. Those who know Him never advise Him.

17 Few signs were so impressively suggestive of spiritual power as the casting out of demons. That they were the emissaries and subordinates of Satan is implied in our Lord's argument, and every one compelled to leave its victim was sign of the ejection of Satan himself when the kingdom is set up. Indeed, the most important factor in the millennial reign is the absence of Satan, who will be bound during the entire period (Rev_20:1-3). From the primeval temptation in Eden up to that time, man's enmity to God is largely the result of wicked spiritual influences from without. Man is the pawn, played by Satan, in his efforts to overthrow God's sovereignty. To release mankind from this thralldom is the first essential to the establishment of a righteous government. Men's efforts are a dismal failure chiefly because they do not reckon with this unknown influence and could not cope with it even if they were aware of its presence. Satan's influence over mankind will culminate when he is cast down to earth and, as the seven-headed dragon, assumes the leadership of man's campaign against God at the time of the end. Then it is that Christ will descend and cut his career short by confining him for the thousand years. Every time He or His disciples cast out a demon it was a foretaste of that blessed kingdom. Only a stronger One than Satan could invade his realm and defeat his deputies. When they could not question the reality of His miracles, and must give some adequate cause, they became desperate, and committed the sin which could not be pardoned even in the coming eon. To attribute the work of God's spirit to Satan's power is the limit of iniquity.

24 Israel as a nation is here pictured as a man out of whom the unclean spirit of idolatry has been cast. Ever since the Babylonian captivity they have been held back from breaking the first commandment. But freedom from idolatry has not been followed by the worship of God.

The place once occupied by idols is empty. At the time of the end the unbelieving nation will be forced to worship the image of the wild beast, and their state will be far worse than their previous plight.