Matthew 12

 

Lord of the Sabbath

1At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on a Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pick heads of wheat and eat them. 

 

According to the Mosaic Law, owners of the land were to leave grain on the corners of their fields for the poor. This was God’s divine poverty program. Everyone had to work for their food. There were no free welfare checks. This verse shows that the Messianic King was living in poverty. 

 

2But when the Pharisees saw this they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is against the law to do on the Sabbath.” 

 

According to the man-made Oral Law of the Pharisees, plucking wheat from its stem was reaping, rubbing the wheat heads between one’s palms was threshing, and blowing away the chaff was winnowing. However, the written Word of God stated that It was lawful to pick grain from another’s field to satisfy hunger (Deut. 23:25) but not to do regular work on the Sabbath (Ex. 20:10). Therefore, picking grain on the Sabbath was not a violation of the Mosaic Law, since it was not regular work.

 

3He said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry – 4how he entered the house of God and they ate the sacred bread, which was against the law for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests? 

 

When David and his men were hungry, they ate the shewbread of the Tabernacle. This was against the Mosaic Law, but God permitted it, because David and his men were hungry and had not eaten for days. God was Lord of the Sabbath, so He could permit this one-time violation if He wished.

 

5Or have you not read in the law that the priests in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are not guilty? 

 

The priests worked in the Temple on the Sabbath, but it was not considered unlawful. Jesus was a prophet, priest, and king.

 

6 I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 

 

Jesus is God in human flesh, so He is greater that the temple and its ritual.

 

7If you had known what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

 

Jesus quoted from Hosea 6:6. Showing mercy and kindness is more pleasing to God than just keeping the letter of the law.

 

 8For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

 

God was the Master of the Sabbath. God can break the Sabbath if He wishes to do so. Jesus was claiming to be God.

 

9Then Jesus left that place and entered their synagogue. 

 

The synagogue was the place of Jewish instruction and worship.

 

10A man was there who had a withered hand. And they asked Jesus, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” so that they could accuse him. 

 

The Pharisees were setting a trap for Jesus.

 

11He said to them, “Would not any one of you, if he had one sheep that fell into a pit on the Sabbath, take hold of it and lift it out? 

 

All of them would pull the sheep out of the hole on the Sabbath. Jesus knew it and the Pharisees knew it.

 

12How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 

 

A man is more valuable than a sheep, so he should be pulled out of the hole as well. Ignoring the sheep in the hole is evil. Rescuing the sheep in the hole is good.

 

13Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out and it was restored, as healthy as the other. 

 

Jesus is God. He is omnipotent. He healed the hand and did good on the Sabbath.

 

14But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him, as to how they could assassinate him.

 

Jesus had broken the man-made Oral Law of the Pharisees. There was no written Mosaic Law about healing on the Sabbath. The Pharisees were hoping that Jesus would go along with them. Since He refused, they began to plot His murder.

 

God’s Special Servant

15Now when Jesus learned of this, he went away from there. Great crowds followed him, and he healed them all. 

 

Jesus knew that the Pharisees were attempting to arrest Him, so He left the synagogue. Great crowds followed Him everywhere He went. Jesus healed every single person who came to Him. The purpose was to authenticate that He was the Messianic King of Israel. 

 

Charismatics cannot heal every single person who come to them. They can only heal those in which demons make sick. The demons simply remove the sickness to make it appear as though the charismatic is performing a miracle. Whoever attends a healing service is trafficking with demons. Charismatics are the local medicine men of today. Charismatics are very superstitious, because they rely on receiving their information from supernatural sources outside the written Word of God. They think they are receiving divine information. They do not have enough Biblical information to understand that tongues and prophecies have passed away. The written Word of God is the only source of divine information today.

 

16But he sternly warned them not to make him known. 

 

Jesus healed everyone, but they were warned to be silent about the healing. This is the opposite of faith healers. They want everyone to know that they heal, so that they can bring more revenue in to their pockets. Jesus did not come to earth to become a celebrity magician. He came as Savior.

 

17This fulfilled what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet: 

 

Matthew quoted Isaiah 42:1-4.

 

18“Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I take great delight. I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. 

 

Jesus was predicted to become the Servant whom Jehovah had chosen. While Jesus was on earth, He placed His deity powers aside. He trusted the Holy Spirit to guide Him. He only performed the miracles that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit allowed Him to perform. Salvation of the Gentile was in the plan of God.

 

19He will not quarrel or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. 

Jesus did not cry out or argue with anyone about his own injustice. He spoke in the streets, but most people did not listen to Him.

 

20He will not break a bruised reed or extinguish a smoldering wick, until he brings justice to victory. 21And in his name the Gentiles will hope.”

 

Jesus will not break a bruised reed, but He will bind it. His judgment will become a consuming fire that Jesus will not extinguish, because man has a free will.

 

Jesus and Beelzebul

22Then they brought to him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute. Jesus healed him so that he could speak and see. 

 

The Pharisees taught that only the Messiah could cast out a blind and mute demon.

 

23All the crowds were amazed and said, “Could this one be the Son of David?” 

 

The Son of David was the Messianic King who would be born from the line of David. The Son of David would rule Israel forever. The crowds were asking if Jesus could be the Son of David.

 

24But when the Pharisees heard this they said, “He does not cast out demons except by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons!” 

 

The Pharisees heard these questions and gave their official answer. Instead of recognizing and worshipping Jesus as the Messianic King, the Pharisees used their leadership position to falsely identify Jesus as being an evil man who was possessed by Beelzebul. Beelzubul was the ruler of all demons. Beelzubul was the Lord of the flies. He was a disgusting fly god that lived in cow dung. 

 

25Now when Jesus realized what they were thinking, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed, and no town or house divided against itself will stand. 

 

Jesus is omnipotent. He knew their thoughts. Civil war divides and collapses a kingdom.

 

26So if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 

 

If demons cast out other demons, then Satan’s kingdom will fall.

 

27And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 

 

The Pharisees would never say that they cast out demons by Beelzebul.

 

28But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has already overtaken you. 

 

The Messianic Kingdom was in their midst. The evidence was that Jesus was casting out demons.

 

29How else can someone enter a strong man’s house and steal his property, unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can thoroughly plunder the house. 

 

Satan is the strong man. His house is the satanic world system. Jesus entered into the house of Satan, which is the satanic world system. He tied Satan up and plundered his house. The plunder was the casting out of demons. The demons were controlling men in order to keep Satan in power.

 

 

30Whoever is not with me is against me and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 

 

Jesus will not allow these Jewish leaders to sit on the fence. They are either with Jesus or against Jesus. If the Jewish leaders were not helping Jesus gather disciples, then they were guilty of scattering the flock.

 

31For this reason I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 

 

Blasphemy is calling good evil and evil good. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit was hearing the teachings and seeing the miracles of Jesus, and then calling them works of demons. The blasphemy of the Holy Spirit was possible only for the Jewish eyewitnesses who were living in that day.

 

32Whoever 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.

 

The Son of Man was the messianic title of Jesus. The Jewish religious leaders rejected this title and called Jesus demon possessed. The Holy Spirit reveals to all men the identity and saving power of Jesus. He does this by making a general call to all men and an irresistible call to the elect. Those who reject these calls from the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven of their sin. Notice also that there is no second chance in eternity.

 

Trees and Their Fruit

33“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is known by its fruit. 

 

A tree can be recognized by the fruit that it produces.

 

34Offspring of vipers! How are you able to say anything good, since you are evil? For the mouth speaks from what fills the heart. 

 

Jesus was not a seeker-friendly pastor. He called the Pharisees names. Jesus called them and their fathers poisonous snakes. They were spreading false doctrine which was poisonous and fatal to the Jewish people. Not only that, but Jesus called these religious leaders evil. The heart is the personality of the individual. The personality is where information is stored in their soul. The mouth speaks what is in the soul.

 

35The good person brings good things out of his good treasury and the evil person brings evil things out of his evil treasury. 

 

The treasury is the soul. The soul is the personality of the individual. The personality of the individual is formed by the information that it intakes. If the soul intakes Bible doctrine, then it will output divine good works. If the soul intakes teachings of the satanic world system, then it will output human good works, which are works of the devil.

 

36I tell you that on the day of judgment, people will give an account for every worthless word they speak. 

 

People will be responsible for the words which come out of their mouths. This is why it is important to feed the personality with Bible doctrine on a daily basis.

 

37For by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned.”

 

The words which come out of one’s personality will either justify or condemn a person. The personality is strengthened or weakened by the quantity and quality of Bible doctrine that it intakes.

 

The Sign of Jonah

38Then some of the experts in the law along with some Pharisees answered him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” 

 

Jesus had already shown the people many messianic miracles to authenticate His identity.

 

39But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

 

Jesus was not a seeker-friendly teacher. He called His congregation evil. He accused them of adultery. Because they were so evil and adulterous, He will only give them one more sign. 

 

 40For just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. 

 

The sign of Jonah is the sign. Just as Jonah was dead in the belly of the fish for three days, then Jesus will also be dead for three days. During this three day death period, Jesus will descend into Hades, the place of the dead. The sign of Jonah was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

 

41The people of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented when Jonah preached to them – and now, something greater than Jonah is here! 

 

The people of Ninevah were the Assyrians, who were one of the most evil and brutal societies on earth. However, after hearing Jonah preach, they repented and changed their attitudes about God. Jonah did not want to preach this message to Ninevah, but he did. An entire city repented and turned to God. 

 

Jesus was greater than Jonah, because He was God in human flesh. The Jewish leaders rejected the message of God in human flesh, so the evil Assyrians will condemn them.

 

42The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon – and now, something greater than Solomon is here!

 

The queen of the south traveled across the world to hear Solomon teach of the one true God. God Himself came to the Pharisees in human form to teach of Himself, but He was rejected. The queen of the south will accuse the Pharisees of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

 

God called Solomon the wisest man in history. Jesus was claiming to be wiser than Solomon, because Jesus was God in human flesh.

 

The Return of the Unclean Spirit

43“When an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through waterless places looking for rest but does not find it. 

 

When a demon leaves an unsaved person, it looks for a new host. Demons control world events through possessing and influencing humans to do their bidding.

 

44Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I left.’ When it returns, it finds the house empty, swept clean, and put in order. 

 

The unsaved person thinks that he is clean and the demon will leave him alone. 

 

45Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there, so the last state of that person is worse than the first. It will be that way for this evil generation as well!”

 

When the unsaved person cleanses his house by attempting to sin less, then multiple evil demons move in and entice him to do even greater evil. Reformation without regeneration will not help a man. One must be regenerated.

 

Jesus’ True Family

46While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers came and stood outside, asking to speak to him. 

 

Crowds followed Jesus everywhere He went. The family of Jesus wanted to speak to Him.

 

47 Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside wanting to speak to you.” 

 

Joseph was not mentioned. He was most likely deceased at this time. Notice that Jesus had other brothers. This means that Mary was not an immaculate and eternal virgin, as Catholics falsely claim.

 

48To the one who had said this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” 49And pointing toward his disciples he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

 

The strongest relationship today is the relationship between Christ and a believer. If a child of God has unsaved family members, then the believer is closer to the Lord Jesus Christ than one is to his own family. Believers are more closely related to other believers than they are to unsaved members of their family.