The Third Plague

Well, that was a short reading from Exodus 8, but those are the verses we're looking at this morning. Relatively short plague the third plague compared to the fourth plague which will take up the rest of chapter 8 next week.

The Structure and Severity of the Third Plague

So we're working our way through these plagues. And if you remember there's various ways that one can understand the structure of the plagues. There's I don't think one way we're meant to understand them, but we can just appreciate the sophistication of how Moses is writing this account.

We have a way of understanding. Sort of a series where there's parallels between the first and the tenth the second and the ninth the third and the seventh and so on. We can see it as divided in a half where One through four and five through nine each sort of begin and end on a similar theme and ten is off on its own.

Perhaps the most popular way of understanding the ten plagues is to see a series of threes. So we have plagues one through three.

Four through.

Six seven eight nine and then ten is off on its own and in every account the significance of The tenth plague is preserved.

Now.

Whatever scheme we adopt we we do want to appreciate the fact that if this third plague it's coming all of a sudden. Every plague is God dialing up the intensity of his judgment upon the evil Empire and with that we'll see continually this expansion and devastation all the way up until the tenth plague which finally Causes Pharaoh to cast the Israelites out of his Empire.

And with this third plague it comes without warning that would be true of the third and the sixth and the ninth plague. There's no preamble. There's no condition stated. There's no warning the plague just comes.

And so we're gonna look at these verses first, we'll see the dust of the land in verses 16 and 17 and we'll see the finger of God in verses 18 and the first half of 19 and then The second half of 19 we'll see the response of Pharaoh.

Of course a major emphasis with every plague. The way that every plague ends is how is Pharaoh going to respond? And so that's been the conclusion of each plague and we're gonna look at that response Briefly this week next week in a lot more detail.

The Dust of the Land and Creation Reversed

So first the dust of the land verses 16 through 17. So the Lord said to Moses say to Aaron stretch out your rod and strike the dust of the land. So that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt and they did so.

For Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth and it became lice on man and beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt and just in saying that you can see the repetition and again repetition equals emphasis all of the land of Egypt both man and Beast all of the dust in all of the land of Egypt became lice upon man and beast.

Pharaoh last week where we left him was begging for intercessory prayer. Go to Yahweh and intercede for me. He was ready to send the Israelites out. It seemed like Moses was about to break out the champagne.

But that was all premature. We read as soon as he saw relief he turned aside and hardened his heart and so this may be a direct response to Pharaoh's lack of response it may be that Aaron in response to Pharaoh's defiance in Response to his sort of deceitful maneuver is now striking the ground.

Immediately bringing judgment upon the land without warning without condition. When it comes to broken resolutions one point we could make here when it comes to broken resolutions. Every time someone makes a good resolution and then breaks that resolution.

It only becomes harder and harder to follow through. How many people have begun with one diet fad and followed that through for the last 13 years? You break one you break one every year and it gets harder every year to follow through.

You follow it through for less and less and less. When you make a good resolution and then you break it it becomes harder and harder to follow through. Well when it comes to breaking resolutions with God.

That person every time is tempting God to act in a sudden way without warning. God does not owe warnings. God does not owe delays and Pharaoh's experiencing that for the first time. He always thinks maybe I have a little room to barter with God as they're giving me the Word of God as they're reminding me Of the condition of God, maybe then I can make a sort of fast and loose decision about what I'll do.

Well, this third plague comes with no warning and it comes with no condition. Pharaoh looks and Aaron's rod is striking the dust of the earth and all of a sudden there's lice or we'll get to. What other insect that might be in a moment and that's everywhere covering man and beast.

So I want you to appreciate the significance of what's different with the third plague. It comes without warning. It comes without prologue. It comes without condition. It comes without opportunity to negotiate.

It comes without opportunity to.

Repent.

That is significant for those who break resolutions. They've made toward God. It may be that his judgment will come without a chance to repent. We see that in the third plague God's Word does not come as a warning it rather is an immediate judgment.

Psalm 105 31 and recounting this says he spoke so it's still his word. He's still speaking his word, but instead of speaking his word as a warning. He's speaking his word as a judgment. He spoke and there came a swarm of flies and gnats in all of their territory.

Now I noticed someone of five has gnats in translation and here in Exodus 8 we have lice. What's going on with that? Well, the third plague is a plague of in the Hebrew canine. Canine could be translated as lice could be translated as gnat.

Really anything that could be a small insect. Maybe even a small flying insect or hopping insect that means gnats are often a preferred. Translations. Sand fleas mosquitoes. What's common in the land of Egypt?

Some translations or some commentators even argue it could be ticks. And maybe none of you really thought about this plague in any great detail until you think about it as a potential plague of ticks.

The other week.

Alicia and I on one day, I think we found four or five ticks. And Alicia was beside herself. Yeah, you know, you find one or two and your skin is crawling. And so we go around and we say this to everyone.

It's a bad year for ticks. This is the worst year for ticks. No, no, no, that would be a bad year for ticks. Swarming on every man and beast. That is a bad year for ticks.

The word.

Translated lice that's following after the Aramaic and interestingly a first century Jew named Josephus who wrote antiquities. He argued that this most certainly was lice. But the Greek and the Latin traditions and their own historians of the time saw it as gnats.

And that word gnat in Greek could also be translated mosquito. They were very familiar with the region and the insect life of the Nile Delta origin. On his homilies on Exodus. Said whatever it was. Having wings and flying in the air when it lit upon a body.

It stung most bitterly so that what a man could not see flying he would at least feel stinging. What an awful plague that would be. Some of you have maybe gone to the beach. I think that was winger sheer beach where you see it's a beautiful beach, but there's all these horse flies.

You don't see him flying, but you feel them stinging. And so you're looking around on the beach you can't see anyone but just beach dwellers sitting on their towels under their umbrellas. And you'll see most of them randomly throughout the day.

That's what it would have looked like throughout the land of Egypt. There's people convulsing and writhing about as they were being stung by these little tiny creatures. We read all of the dust of the land.

Became lice throughout all of the land. What's the last time you've dusted a room maybe that's been neglected every now and then. I Take out the old feather duster and go across the top of my books. And especially that top bookshelf in my study by the time I get to the end of the row the clumps the cascading clumps of dust.

Can you imagine what it would be like if all of the dust that accumulated in this dry? region of Egypt were to become lice or gnats. And of course, there's an idiom there in Hebrew dust is often a Hebrew description of Enormity.

We saw that throughout Genesis. It was told to Jacob as it was told to Abraham your descendants will be like the dust of the earth. That means innumerable beyond measure and here the plague is coming like the dust of the land innumerable without measure swarming every living thing and.

Then also that choice of the word dust may have even more Evocative meaning we see later in Scripture that term dust is often used to denote grief or shame. And so you if you're grieving a loss or maybe you're ashamed from some great evil or others are ashamed of your evil.

What do they do? They lay down in sackcloth and dust or they put ash upon themselves. It's a sign of great shame or great grief. Humiliation in the book of Job is those who lie down in the dust. Defeated enemies those who are humiliated and defeat are those who lick the dust.

So here also you have this imagery being unloaded in the term and of course God Through his judgment through these plagues is going to raise his people up from the dust. Another idiom of God. Bringing restoration and showing favor.

One of the points he made last week was all of these plagues. Imbue the Creator God with his definitive rights over all that he has made. All of the pagan nations Attributed different aspects of creation to different gods.

They were pagan polytheists. There was a god of the river a god of the Sun a god of the sky a god of animal life a god of fertility. And so forth. Here is the Creator God Showing forth his sovereignty over all that he has made in contest against the idols of fallen man's imagination.

Here also were brought back not only to the Creator but to the account of creation because God formed man from the dust just as easily as God can form man from dust and Make him the crowning triumph of creation to rule with him over all that he had made.

Exercising dominion so God can take dust and turn it into a plague into a judgment into a defilement of the land. What was the result of the fall? Well, it brought death upon the world. And how is that described?

From dust you came to dust you shall return. So here the judgment imagery of dust is certainly being evoked. What was the curse upon the serpent in part? It was to consume dust for the rest of its life.

An image of defeat an image of decay an image of creation reversal. Rather than being formed into something good and glorious you're being deformed. Decreated back from which you came and so we have this reminder of judgment as decreation and even here Turning the dust into gnats or lice is a picture of that cosmic good order of God being Overturned and undermined in God's judgment and be reminded as Pharaoh was to be reminded.

He can use one sliver one splinter one Aspect of the endless variety of what he has made and just by putting that out of order He can bring the greatest empire of the ancient world to ruin. He can do it by causing stars to fall out of their orbit or he can do it by Increasing the amount of lice that is the power of God.

He has everything at his disposal. He can choose to use their water. He can choose to use the teeming frogs. He can choose to use little flying insects to break down the proud arrogant empire of evil.

The Finger of God and the Failure of the Magicians

That brings us to the finger of God. Secondly verses 18 and 19 we read. Now the magician so worked with their enchantments to bring forth lice. But they could not. So there were lice on man and beast and the magician said to Pharaoh.

This is the finger of God the magicians. These sort of clowns that we've been tracing for the past two plagues. Have been trying to mimic each plague and we've noticed the irony of their mimicry is actually Furthering the plague because they also can turn freshwater to blood.

They actually spread further the plague upon the Nile because they also can make frogs increase. They only add to that plague but here they're trying to mimic their casting spells. They're working their enchantments are doing all sorts of ritual rites and none of it is to avail.

We read simply they could not. I Don't know what they tried. The text doesn't tell us. I think you can do some things to train insects. I Was amazed this week to see a video clip of I don't know where these facilities exist.

But it was a facility where they used bees and trained them to detect Explosives and it showed this very incredible operation of these bees that would be put in these little sort of plastic collars and put in this machine and they would begin training them to go after sugar water laced with certain traces of Explosives and eventually they would be trained to associate food with explosive chemicals.

And then they would release these bees and they would be able to ascertain where explosive traces might be found far more sensitive than Trains dogs or any other animal? Well, I don't know if they were training gnats or lice.

I don't know what they attempted but you can do a lot with bugs apparently but you can't make all of the dust of the land turn into bugs and that's what God did and That was enough for them to realize.

This is the finger of God. We can manipulate things that are we cannot create things that are not this is the finger of God. I I see that phrase and we'll see it in more ways than one at the very least.

Admitting there's something unique about this God. Something unique to his ability to create not to manipulate or effect. But actually to bring something out of nothing and that is unique upon God. Arguably not even Satan with all of his counterfeit signs and wonders can bring something out of nothing.

This is unique to the Creator God. It's common for scholars, especially in the past century to go to these Ridiculous lengths to argue for a naturalistic explanation of the plagues. They say this was an unusual phenomenon an incredibly dense rainy season a red algae bloom that caused a Nile to look Like blood which killed the fish and then the frogs seeking to come out of that toxic River ended up Swarming the land and then they died most likely because of natural occurring toxins from the algae bloom and that led to flies and maggots infesting them and they just want to have a sequential order to how these things happen and It doesn't take long before you actually run out of logical explanations even in that train of thinking.

I prefer to take the testimony of these magicians. They knew far more about the cycles of the Nile over their time Than any ivory tower academic and they said this is the finger of God. We've had rainy seasons.

We've seen algae blooms. We know the difference between blood and swarms and plagues and the finger of God. They essentially acknowledged to Pharaoh as his divine counsel. We have no answer. Neither. Can we bring any relief?

We have no answer. Neither can we bring any relief? Now it would seem like they're on the cusp of total surrender. But they are not. Because the magicians don't describe the plague to the finger of Yahweh.

But simply to the finger of Elohim and Elohim is reserved as God, but it's also in the plural. Depending on the context and this is a legitimate context. It could be translated gods. So Elohim is used to speak of the Lord God but God has already revealed himself according to his covenant name.

Yahweh and Pharaoh had Begged Moses and Aaron to intercede to Yahweh. Here the priests don't say this is the finger of Yahweh. But rather reserve some legitimacy to their power. Well, we're not saying this is the God of Moses and Aaron.

We won't dare bring up Yahweh's name, but this is above our pay grade. This is the finger of God. Deity, maybe the gods some unknown God or the gods in general. They're essentially acknowledging a higher power than they have access to but they fall short of acknowledging Yahweh.

Believing in a higher power is not the same thing as believing in the Lord. If you go on the street and you ask a lot of people About their spiritual state or if you're you know, you have a moment to talk about the Bible.

You usually the first thing they'll say especially if they're trying to get rid of you fast is I believe in God. It's like go away and you're thinking well if you believed in God, you'd love to sit and talk to me about him.

He wouldn't be using that as a as a way to get away from me. I believe in God. Leave me alone. I believe in God too. Let's talk. You know, where do you worship? But usually what they mean by that is yeah, yeah, yeah, I believe in some higher power.

I'm just not interested in whatever spiel you have they believe in God, but they don't believe in the Lord. And that's what these magicians are like. They believe in the supernatural. They've had their hands in the middle of it.

They believe in their pantheons. They believe in divinity. But when it comes to the actual truth of God, they will not bend their knees to Yahweh. Though clearly everything that Moses and Aaron are doing is in light of Yahweh having utter power Over all of their enchantments over all of their land.

There's nothing they can do to prevent it. And it's interesting that they along with the whole priestly class would have been uniquely struck by this plague. Frogs hopping about is one thing. Water that's turned to blood is another but to have insects crawling all over your skin and all over your animals.

That disrupts your ability to be ritually clean in worship and the Egyptians were notable in antiquity for being Shaven that was the imagery they used they would literally scrape their bodies. They didn't want hair follicles or grime or louse or anything to be impure as they went through their religious ceremonies.

Well now they're completely corrupted. We'll see that again in chapter 9 the priests and the magicians are not able to come to Pharaoh. Because they have these boils they're ritually unclean for worship and the sacrifices are unclean.

They're covered with all sorts of Infested insects. That's not something you can offer to the gods. So in Contesting Pharaoh in the Empire God is contesting his idols. Contesting the false gods. Well, the phrase finger of God is very rare.

This is the finger of God they say. It only occurs in a few places in Scripture. And when you come across Details like that it it raises questions. Why might that be if it's only a few places why here and why there?

Later in Exodus and The only other time it appears in the book of Exodus. It's when an Exodus 31 we read that God With his own finger writes the Ten Commandments upon the tablets of stone written by the finger of God highlighting the intensity of their importance the intimacy of that act.

Not speaking through a prophet to give these Ten Commandments to his people but giving them to his people by his own finger. We have it in the most intimate terms the tablets of testimony. That would be in the Ark of the Covenant and therefore in the presence and worship of God.

Thereafter for the Israelites not only in the most intimate Moments in Scripture, but also in the broadest details of Scripture. We read in Psalm 8 when I consider your heavens the work of your fingers.

The moon and the stars which you have ordained. What is man that you take thought of him? So here we see not so much the intimacy but the power of The finger of God there it's almost like it's it's just his fingertip that can affect the heavens.

That's how powerful he is. It's effortless. The work of his fingers is that which man can never comprehend in Contrast to Pharaoh's counsel and the gods of the Egyptians. What's emphasized is their powerlessness?

Again, what stands out is this little phrase. They could not. They could not. We saw this with Pharaoh's wise men already in Genesis 41. When these perplexing dreams came upon Pharaoh and he gathered all his wise men all his magicians.

Maybe some of these were their great great great great grandfathers and they could not. We see it again in Daniel same Situation. Strange dreams a strange writing on the wall gather all of why my wise men all of my sages and astronomers.

What do these things mean? They could not Isaiah 1912. And a great prophecy against Egypt in the days of Isaiah. Where are they? The Lord says where are your wise men? Let them tell you now let them know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.

Do they know are they so wise. Let them tell you what I'm going to do to you. He says later on in a judgment against Babylon. Isaiah 47 stand now with your enchantments with the multitude of your sorceries in which you've labored from your youth.

Perhaps you'll be able to profit. Perhaps you'll prevail. You're wearied in the multitude of your counsels. Let all the astrologers all the stargazers stand up and save you from what I'll bring upon you.

So we find throughout the prophets the mocking of these wise men of the Council of Kings. Who boast as though they understand all the mysteries of life and can read through history and have the strong gods at their disposal.

Pharaoh’s Hardened Heart and the Foolishness of Pride

And God in contest says you cannot you cannot. The response of Pharaoh. Exodus 819. Pharaoh's heart grew hard. He has not only the testimony of Moses and Aaron saying thus saith the Lord.

But.

Now he also has in a different tone the testimony of his wisest men His most powerful men the sorcerers and magicians of the palace and they to say This is the finger of God. You're better off with Moses and Aaron than us.

We can't even keep up anymore. This is the last time they try to mimic what God is bringing upon Egypt. But instead of heeding them saying if my wisest men say that this is the finger of God then surely I must bend here.

Surely I must at least admit Moses and Aaron have some unique understanding of something that I don't some unique power that I am at the disposal of. But instead Pharaoh's heart grew hard. He did not heed them.

Just as the Lord had said it's the last time we'll read this phrase just as the Lord had said. It's been this fourfold reminder. This is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our sight and yet it doesn't make Pharaoh a puppet.

As You can plainly see he is fully responsible for his condition before God. Pharaoh is now fully irrational. If he had been clinging to some semblance of a reason why he would resist the testimony of Moses.

It was because he could rely on the magicians. But now even the magicians have turned and admitted we have no answers we can bring no relief and Pharaoh has committed himself now to Irrationality if he seemed to be reasonable taking the counsel of his wise men.

Now he is rejecting the counsel of his wise men who will only get more aggressive with their demands. Just send the people away. What are you doing to the land? What are you doing to your empire? He gets more on loose from reality.

The finger of God of course was not more evident in lice than it was in frogs or than it was in the bloody waters of the Nile. The point is that what is obviously the finger of God to all who can see in here is Not the finger of God or at least not the finger of God to be feared for a blind heart of unbelief.

What we take away from this little moment with the magicians. I find to be a great encouragement when Moses 40 years in the Midian ragtag robes entered into the presence of Pharaoh and saw the wisest most powerful men Flanking the court of Pharaoh.

He must have had butterflies in his stomach. His heart must have been pumping and over the past Two weeks some of us went to these town hall meetings some of us braved going up to that microphone. Maybe you have some Nerves about it all and all of a sudden you have to stand up and stare down the the town board and you weren't nervous.

But as soon as you get up on the microphone you get that hundred-yard vision and you start to feel light-headed. And your heart start pumping. Well, that's just the town council. Can you imagine what it would have been like to go before Pharaoh and to see these wise men scowling mocking?

They know 13 different languages. They have all the wisdom of the world and the treasures of the world at their disposal. They're looking at you a shepherd. What a joke you have no idea what you're talking about.

We can do everything you can do we can do it better. They have no fear utter confidence. Moses is already showing a complete lack of confidence. He has his brother speak for him. I'm a stuttering fool.

What could I even say before them and you see all of that unravel here at the third plague? So here's the great encouragement. One time or another sooner or later All lying mouths will be stopped. Isn't that an encouragement for the people of God?

One day or another sooner or later all Lying mouths will be stopped. Of course unbelief loves to be kept up and propped up by smooth lies and. So unbelievers surround themselves with liars. Who they parade as truth tellers?

But even when those truth tellers are exposed as frauds when the lies become evident to all with hearing and sight. That unbelief will not all of a sudden become belief. Do you see it with Pharaoh even when the lies are exposed?

Even when the fraudulence is apparent to all. When the foolishness and the folly is obvious. Unbelief will not become belief even when lying mouths are stopped. And what does that point to the reality in Pharaoh's heart.

The reality of an unbelieving heart? What's the cement? That's hardening that heart more than anything. Pride. Pride. I read a great article this week by a medical student out in Texas. If you ask me after I'll try to send you the link and I don't.

I don't agree with everything that he framed in the letter, but he basically as a seven-year med student is owning up to the fact that there was no consensus and many of the voices that were arguing against the machinations of government.

Forced.

Vaccination were short-sighted. We're denying and muzzling legitimate and valid concerns were turning into a Political bludgeon that which had a democratic basis and so forth and he's just owning up to it all and saying we've lost our credibility.

We've shot credibility in the face. We're seen now as untrustworthy and it was just like yes.

Yes.

Finally, you know someone who's owning up to the lies and the fraudulence and they're exposing things and it was refreshing to read it again. I don't agree with everything the way it was framed but it was honest enough to say we really didn't know what we were talking about and when there were valid counterpoints and valid voices.

Pushing against the evidence. We didn't listen to them. We wouldn't give them a hearing. We doubled down our on our own stance in our own efforts and we went really beyond any reasonable data. And it was just refreshing to read that.

But all those.

Intractable people on the other side. Not for a moment convinced or persuaded by that neither will they say We were wrong. We are untrustworthy. We kind of blew it all. Lying mouse will be stopped sooner or later one day or another.

But that doesn't mean that unbelievers become believers. Even when the liars and the lies that they spew fall away the hardened heart of unbelief remains. Why. Because it's been hardened by pride. Pharaoh's pride is the cement of his heart.

So we shouldn't think that people are so easily dissuaded by lies. So much as they want to be lied to. Because of the blindness and the hardness of their own heart. C .s. Lewis captures this point really well in mere Christianity.

He says with God you come up against something which is in every respect Immeasurably superior to yourself unless you know God as that and therefore, you know yourself as nothing in comparison. You do not know God at all as Long as you are proud.

You cannot know God as Long as Pharaoh is proud. He cannot know the Lord and even the magicians who admit that they're bankrupt. Will only know a God they don't know. They won't actually come to know the God whose testimony And signs are right in front of their face.

Why would that be. It's because of pride it's because these magicians are proud men. They can admit they're bankrupt and they have no answer and they can't bring relief, but that doesn't mean they'll bend their knees to Yahweh.

So Lewis says a proud man is always looking down on things always looking down on people. And of course as long as you're looking down you cannot look up. In short Pharaoh refuses.

To hear.

What is being said to him and to see What is being done to him? Pharaoh refuses to hear what has been said and to see what has been done. So here's the two points of application.

God Must Be Known by Word and Deed

First.

God must be known by word and by deed. God must be known by word and by deed. Pharaoh will not hear the word and he will not see the deeds. Therefore he cannot know he will not know God even unto his own ruin.

God must be known by his word and by his deeds in Acts chapter 2 great parallel to Jesus own ministry in this respect. Where the part of Pharaoh and his magicians is played now by the leadership of Israel and the Pharisees and the scribes.

In an Acts chapter 2 as Pentecost is breaking out Peter cries out men of Israel. Hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by miracles wonders and signs. Which God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know.

So he's speaking to the leaders who for three years have rejected the ministry and the teachings of Jesus and to this point still Reject him, but now as these disciples are being filled by the Spirit Peter in preaching to this multitude outside of the Temple Mount of Jerusalem.

He says men of Israel Hear these words right. God must be known by his word hear the word hear the message hear the testimony and what is a testimony? God himself attested this Jesus to you by signs by miracles by wonders.

You know this already you saw this already. You can't pretend that you didn't hear what you've heard and what you're hearing now. You can't pretend you haven't seen what you saw but pride. Cements your heart and unbelief so that you will not believe.

John chapter 11 in the days of the ministry we read many had seen the things that Jesus did and they believed in him. That's the proper response to God attesting a man with great signs and wonders. That's not something ongoing.

You don't get to demand God give you a little private miracle show. You have Moses and the prophets listen to them. Even if God were to raise a dead man in front of your eyes, you wouldn't believe him.

So you don't get a little private showing but God in history. Does these wonders and signs to show that he is doing something authoritative and his message is to be heard? His word is to be believed. Many had seen the things Jesus did they believed in him?

That's the proper response to the revelation of God whether in word or in sign. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things that Jesus did. These were the holy men. These were the leaders of Israel.

They were looking for affirmation. This is wonderful. We saw with our eyes. Is this right? Is this true? John 11 47. All the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and they said what are we going to do?

This man works many signs and if we let him alone, everyone will believe in him. And then the Romans will take away our place and our nation. That's like these magicians. They gather together amongst themselves Janice and Jambres and whoever is part of their motley crew and they say what are we going to do?

This man is able to do many signs. But if we follow him, we're gonna lose our place and our nation. They recognize this man. That's Jesus is doing many signs. And if we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him.

That's a problem for them. Instead of it being instructive to them. Maybe we too should believe in him if God is doing signs through him. So they don't have an appropriate response why. Because they don't recognize the finger of God in their midst and That draws Exodus 8 in this whole parallel all the way through Jesus ministry when we come to Luke chapter 11.

And I mentioned how rare this phrase is the finger of God and I think Luke In recording. This is not lost on the significance of Exodus 8 and I hope I can show why. So in Luke chapter 11 beginning in verse 14 Jesus is doing the very signs that we just read about from Acts chapter 2 in John 11 He was casting out a demon.