Divisions, Sins, And Signs (Matthew 12:22-37)

After healing the man with the withered hand (12:9-14), the Lord Jesus continued His work of healing the sick and teaching the Word. Now the people brought before Him a man who was not only demon-possessed but also suffered from blindness and the inability to speak. Jesus immediately cast out the demon and healed the man. The crowd began to wonder if He could be the Son of David, the Promised Messiah of God. The Pharisees, who had witnessed these obvious miracles of God, reacted not with praise and gratitude, but instead responded by saying a foolish and spiritually dangerous statement. They attributed Jesus’ miracles not to God, but instead to the prince of demons, Beelzebub , “ lord of the flies”; an idol that ruled over dung. This was an insult of the lowest type.

We can be shocked at this brazen outburst of rage, but we have to remember that humanity has insulted and downgraded the Holiness and Majesty of God ever since the Fall (Genesis 3). In our arrogance and defiance of God’s will, we have essentially given Him the middle finger and dared Him to do something about it. Even when we put on robes of religious behavior, we do so with the thought that our works and abilities are sufficient to meet what we think is a quota system for Divine approval. Scripture says otherwise (Isaiah 53:4-6, 64:6; Romans 3:10-18, 23).Jesus responded to this outlandish accusation by showing them the irrationality of their accusations. Demons do not drive themselves out of people, and Satan does not cast himself out of anyone. There would be a “ civil war” within the kingdom of darkness. Jesus then asked the Pharisees that if He cast demons out of people by the power of the demons, then by whom do “your sons” (fellow rabbis) cast them out? They attributed their exorcisms to God. Shouldn’t He as well? It made no sense for the Pharisees to say what they had said. This encounter is a forerunner to the teaching concerning “ the unpardonable sin”. Jesus brought forth His point. If demons were cast out of people, it is by the Spirit of God, which meant that in the person of Jesus Christ, the kingdom had come to Israel. This chapter centers on the Spirit-empowered miracles of the Lord Jesus, which should have viewed as evidence of His authority as the Messiah, who has the power to forgive sins on the earth. All of this was slandered by the spiritual blindness and rage of the Pharisees. They slandered the Spirit’s ministry by accusing Jesus of collaborating with the very forces He is overpowering. This is the unforgivable sin. Verses 31-37 describe it in further detail.

Blasphemies against the Lord are unfortunately all too common in this fallen world. The Holy name of God has turned into a term of cursing. This is the nature of an unredeemed person until their lives and tongue come under the control of Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Lord’s forgiveness expands many boundaries, but to equate His work with that of the devil cannot and will never be forgiven. The Pharisees had crossed that line by declaring that the work of the Lord Jesus was of demonic origin. These same Pharisees who consigned Jesus’ work as being from the devil also crossed the line when they declared before Pontus Pilate that they had no king but Caesar(John 19:12, 14-16), rejecting God and violating the First Commandment (Exodus 20:1-2). They had been exposed as hateful and spiteful, willingly and deliberately blind to the obvious presence of God’s Promised Messiah. Their fruit was rotten and worthy of nothing more than the fires of eternal judgment (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:11-15).

Look at the fruit (vv. 33-37). Either a tree and its fruit are good or bad. There are no patches of both (James 3:11-12). The Pharisees were compared to a brood of vipers, full of poison, the most unclean of all animals. Jesus also called their attention to the fact that their words and actions do not coincide with the actions of godly people. Foolish and malicious words and their evil harvest will be the evidence used in their final judgment from God at the end of the ages. The Pharisees, as well as all unrepentant people across history will have to give an account of what they have said and done. Every idle word is the stored evidence against you and I when we face God at the end of our lives (Hebrews 9:27). If you are not redeemed by repentance for your sins and surrendering your life to Jesus Christ before your life ends, then your fate will be like that of the Pharisees and all the enemies of God. Please do not ignore what you have just read. Your soul lies in the balance as to what you will do with the Lord Jesus Christ today (John 14:6; Acts 4:12, 16:31; Romans 10:9-10, 13; 2 Corinthians 5:10, 6:2).

donaldwhitchard@outlook.com

https://ocosbe.org/ Donald-Whitchard/