Matthew part 19
The Will of God
Actions and Words reveal the Truth | Matthew 12:22-37
Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Matthew 12:22-37
Matthew gives us another miracle healing, but this time the Pharisees’ criticism of Jesus escalates to a level that Jesus says is blasphemy. The Messiah is called an agent of Beelzebul. The name Beelzebul has a bit of a convoluted history, but the Pharisees are essentially saying Jesus is only able to drive out demons because he works for them.
Jesus replies with the famous, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” (No, Lincoln didn’t originate this saying.) How can Jesus be an agent of Satan if he is attacking satanic beings? And if Jesus is driving out demons by Beelzebul, then how are the Jewish exorcists driving out similar spirits? Their reasoning is flawed, but it is flawed because they refuse to see the truth.
Jesus then drives home the Pharisees are actively working against God’s mission. Even more, they have gone from being critics of the Messiah to blaspheming the Messiah. And in their blasphemy, they are blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Jesus is able to drive out demons because the Holy Spirit is working in Him. If they blaspheme the miracle of Jesus, they blaspheme the work of the Holy Spirit, and that is a sin that will not be forgiven.
The Pharisees have condemned themselves to God’s wrath for their blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
It is one thing to criticize the people of God who are serving the Lord faithfully. It is a whole other matter to characterize their work as Satanic. We must be extremely careful when tossing around the adjective ‘satanic’. Just because the people are serving differently than we would expect, it does not necessarily mean the work is Satanic. If they are working for Jesus and obediently following Him, it is blasphemy to attribute their work to the devil.
So, how do we know the difference? Jesus is clear: take a look at the fruit. Just as he said in Matthew 7, we will know a person by their fruit. If they are working for the devil, they will produce demonic fruit. If they are for the Lord, they will produce godly fruit.
Vindication comes by the Fruit of a Person
When you serve the Lord, do so with gladness, and know that if a critic arises, your fruit will vindicate your work.
The Sign of Jonah | Matthew 12:38-45
Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
Matthew 12:38-42
Jesus’ statement has gotten their attention! Now they seek a sign from Jesus. But Jesus says, “nope.” The only sign they will see is the sign of the prophet Jonah. The sign of Jonah is his burial and resurrection. They have enough signs already, but they refuse to believe them. The last proof Jesus will give that he is the Messiah is the resurrection. After three days, Jesus will arise from the dead, and the Pharisees will either believe it or be forever condemned.
Jesus adds more by saying the people of Nineveh will arise at the judgement and condemn that generation. They heard Jonah’s message and repented. The queen of the South, the queen of Sheba, will rise up against that generation because she learned godly wisdom from Solomon, but now the Messiah who is greater than Solomon is standing in front of the generation. There is a principle at work here that shows God judges more harshly those who should know better.
There is no excuse for sin in the Bible, but there is especially harsh judgement for those who know the Bible.
We must never forget that Jesus’ harshest words were against the religious leaders not the crowds of people or even the Gentiles. In fact, throughout the Bible God routinely sends prophets against those who lead. Kings and priests need to be held accountable. They are the ones leading others astray.
I once had a conversation with a man who was what some call “unchurched.” He had grown up in the church, but as an adult walked away. He still had remnants of belief, but he just couldn’t stand going to church. One of the tangents he brought up in our conversation was how in his area the people believed it was sinful to hang their laundry to dry on Sundays. Sometimes he would be doing laundry on the weekend, and his clothes would be hanging on a Sunday. He caught grief for this. Now, what struck me was that he didn’t disagree that hanging laundry on Sunday was a sin. He was just mad that everyone stuck their nose at him.
I tried to explain that hanging laundry really isn’t that big of a deal, and while I applauded their willingness to honor the Sabbath, their attitude was not honorable. He believed the clergy in the area reinforced this attitude and belief. That was the point I quit being annoyed at the Christians and got mad at the clergy. And, the man reinforced why I was mad. He said to me, “How are we supposed to know hanging laundry isn’t that big of a deal if the ministers are teaching it is?”
My reply to him was twofold, and it goes to the point Jesus is making here. First, the people have an obligation to read the Bible for themselves. Unfortunately, many traditions hold that Christians should allow the church to tell them what’s in the Bible, but I (and all the Reformers before me) would argue Christians have an obligation to know the Bible for themselves. Second, even more importantly, the church leaders have an obligation to know and teach the Bible well. If they have gone astray, it is inevitable for the people to follow.
This reason is why James writes,
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
James 3:1
We are obligated as Christians to know our Bible well, so that we can teach others well.
The next verses we will examine appear to break this line of thinking, but Jesus is reinforcing his earlier argument about casting out demons through demonic power. He is about to pull together the latter part of the chapter into a new teaching that appears out of place at first. Hopefully, it will not be so when we finish.
An Unclean Segue | Matthew 12:43-45
“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”
Matthew 12:43-45
In our modern world, many people get nervous about exorcisms and talks of demons. Outside of a horror movie, we just don’t like talking about it. For skeptics, it seems like a lot of superstitious mumbo jumbo, and for Christians, it is a reminder of our supernatural faith—which unnerves us in our very natural society. But regardless, we must understand and embrace the fact that, as Christians, we do believe in the spiritual realm. After all, if we believe God exists, then we must believe heaven exists, and if we believe the Bible is the Word of God, and the Word of God accepts the fact of evil spirits, then we must accept it as well.
But, if you still have trouble with the idea of demon-possession, take heart, because even psychologists have noted the truth behind this verse. If a person is able to kick a habit, or behavior, but then one day they return to their old ways, it can actually be more difficult to kick the habit again. The more times someone fails, the more likely they will be to just accept this problem as part of their nature and unfixable. They are worse off than before.
With that said, the point Jesus is making here is less about the nature of demons and more about the nature of those first century Jews. Jesus has come to sweep the house. Quite literally, he will head to the Temple and turn over tables and send out the riffraff! He is driving out demons and false teachings right and left. But, if the people do not prepare to defend themselves from demonic influence, or in the case of the Pharisees, if they choose to reject Jesus, then they will be susceptible to even greater demonic influence.
More and more rejection of the Truth can lead to harder and harder hearts.
So, what is the solution? We must have something in our hearts that can withstand the powers of Satan. John writes,
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
1 John 4:4
In order to overcome the influence of demonic forces, we must surrender to the One who has power over them. Jesus did not drive out evil spirits by the power of Beelzebub. He drove them out by the power of the Holy Spirit. And when we surrender to Jesus for forgiveness and salvation, he promises to send that same Spirit in our hearts to guide and protect us!
But if we choose to reject Jesus, then whatever good has occurred to us will be rendered void because the evil that will come later will make us worse—whether evil in this life or being condemned for eternity.
The Family of God | Matthew 12:46-50
While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
Matthew 12:46-50
As we close the chapter, Jesus reminds us once again the old connections matter far less than the connection we have with each other through Christ. We know he is not outright rejecting his family, because later on the cross, Jesus tells John to take care of his mother. We also know he did not reject his brothers because later they would come to faith in him. His point is that the family of God consists of those who do the will of the Father. The family of God is not biological, it’s spiritual.
The Family of God consists of those who do the will of the Heavenly Father.
So, what is the Father’s will?
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
2 Peter 3:9
The Father desires for humanity to repent from their sinful ways. The Son came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) which drive us into sin. Repentance means turning away from sin. While turning away from sin, we also turn toward Jesus.
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:40
It is the Father’s will that we look to the Son and believe in Him so that we may have eternal life and be raised up on the last day.
The will of the Father is for us to believe in Jesus and receive everlasting life.
As we look back at chapter 12, we see how fulfilling the will of the Father is not tied to how people commonly believe it is.
It is not tied to following a rigid structure of rules. Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath and reminds us the Sabbath is meant for rest and to alleviate the suffering of this world. We are not fulfilling the Father’s will if our religious devotion adds to the burdens of the world or prevents us from resting in God. We cannot allow ourselves to fall into the trap of legalism when people are in need of mercy.
It is not tied to family connections. The Pharisees were adamant their tribal connections put them in right standing with God, but their attitudes and actions were against God’s very mission. We cannot allow ourselves to fall into the trap of believing because our parents or grandparents were faithful, we are automatically in right standing with God.
Fulfilling the will of the Father is surrendering to His mission. It is aligning our lives with His values, His character, and His desires. Way back in Genesis 1, we read how humans were created in His image. Our design is to reflect the very character of God. We can only do that by turning from sin and turning toward Jesus.