Jesus says that Satan’s kingdom cannot stand if he is driving out himself to counter the lie that he was driving out demons by Satan’s power. If Jesus has driven out demons by his own power, the Pharisees should be rejoicing, but instead they attack Jesus’ work of liberation. At the most, they should be leaving Jesus alone if Satan is attacking his own kingdom through Jesus.
This statement in Matthew 12:26 must be understood against the backdrop of the false accusation that Jesus was driving out demons by the power of Satan (Matthew 12:24). When Jesus casts out a demon from an otherwise unmanageable man, this constitutes an act of war in the struggle against Satan. This was no domestic quarrel among demons, but a decisive act of liberation in the midst of God’s people. An Israelite was healed, now walking with his eyes opened to behold God’s creation. Satan had been driven out—and that was cause for joy. If, however, Satan were driving out Satan, then no one need be concerned. It would simply mean that Satan’s end had come, that his kingdom could no longer stand. Why then should people seek to kill Jesus and interrupt what would only be the process of satanic self-destruction?
Jesus’ words are profound and penetrating. They reveal that the Pharisees’ deliberations against him were, in reality, directed against nothing other than the liberation of God’s people from the grip of Satan and his demons.1
26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?