Jesus And The Forbidding Pharisees – Part 3
Matthew 12:22-45
Scolding The Sanctimonious And The Self-Righteous
Matthew 12:22-32
Malice is an evil that is fathered by Satan himself. Malice is a deep malevolence and cruelty that has absolutely no hint of goodness or light to it. Malice is wickedness with not a single hint of kindness or humanity to it. Malice is a nastiness that is rooted in hatred toward the object of said malice; a hatred so deep and so depraved that the perpetrator will many times defeat themselves in the pursuit of their malice.
Such is the case with Satan, especially during the time that the Messiah physically walked this earth. In our text today, we find the story of a man who is possessed by a demon. The result of this possession is that the man is both sightless and unable to speak. He cannot see who or what is around him, and he cannot tell anyone what he wants or needs or feels or thinks.
This type of demonic activity was most prevalent during the time that Jesus was on the earth simply for the reason that His enemy was attempting in every way possible to subvert, sabotage, undermine, destabilize and weaken the ministry and mission of Christ. His malice toward Jesus was so deep and so depraved that he would stop at nothing in his attempts to turn people away from Jesus, or destroy them in the process. He was rarely successful when Jesus was around – at least with the common folk.
Every time Jesus runs up against someone that the devil or his demons have possessed and tormented, Jesus frees them and heals them – one-hundred percent! The devil’s attempts to weaken and undermine the ministry and mission of Jesus only served to strengthen and bolster His both. Christ’s power was manifested and magnified by His defeats of the enemy’s attacks. People were drawn to Jesus, not turned away. Instead of fleeing from Him, they were drawn to Him – by the thousands they came seeking Him.
The only people Satan seems to be able to be successful with are the self-righteous – those that Jesus encountered then, as well as those who live among us today. That right there should serve as a warning to all of us – avoid being self-righteous at all costs, for it is the sanctimonious and the self-righteous that Satan uses and that Christ opposes.
1 John 3:8b says, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.” At every turn, Jesus overcame the devil’s vilest aggressions against the people He had come to save. In this instance, the man had been so overwhelmed by the attack of the enemy that he was virtually powerless in life. The same is true for many today. See how Jesus dealt with it? “And He healed him”.
That is the same response Jesus has to the onslaughts of the enemy against us today in our lives; He defeats the enemy and He heals us. I find it interesting that even though there was blindness and dumbness for many people in that day, the Holy Spirit discerned between those who were smitten by natural disaster and those who had been struck by super-natural disaster. Jesus healed both, but the demonic activity He overcame was much more dramatic.
There are people around us everyday – some even within our own families and households – who have been overcome by the malice of the enemy. How do we respond? We should be responding as Jesus did – with compassion and intercession to bring healing in to the lives of the possessed and the oppressed.
Look at the split response of those who witnessed Christ’s act of mercy: some were amazed, others were offended. This man was miserable and Jesus Christ relieved that misery. The common people were astounded – Matthew uses the word amazed.
This is a term that illustrates the difficulty of expressing in one English word the wide range of startled emotion, wonder, astonishment, awe, covered by four Hebrew words and by four Greek words. These words range in meaning from amazement accompanied by terror and trembling, to an astonishment full of perplexity, wonder, awe and joyous surprise.
Amazed is the word especially used to show the effect of Christ’s miracles, teaching, character and Divine personality on those who saw and heard Him and who were made conscious of His supernatural power, as in our text today. The picture here is that they were beside themselves with excitement over what they were witnessing and what it indicated about the Man doing it – they were convinced at this point that Jesus was the promised Messiah.
Their question, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can He?" Shows a keen awareness of the uniqueness of the miracle that Jesus carried out. Back when we were studying the miracles of Jesus in Matthew 9, Jesus healed another man who had been possessed by a demon. Matthew 9:33 records this response for us: “After the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel."
I need to make a note here that the form of this question in the original Greek indicates that they were expecting a “no” answer. However, when we look at the context and the other contexts that this question occurs in, it seems that the question is asked this way in order to prevent the wrath of the religious leaders from reigning down on them for thinking such things.
An excellent example of this is the interaction between the Pharisees, the man healed by Jesus who had been born blind, and the man’s parents in John 9. If we look at John 9:13-34, we see just how dangerous it was for people to side against the Pharisees, especially when it came to Jesus.
Look especially at 9:22, and how the man’s parents were afraid of being put out of the synagogue. What John is talking about here is a full excommunication from the synagogue. What that entailed – at this level – was not only excluding a person from participating in the worship of the synagogue but also excluding them from all contact with members of the synagogue, including family. They would not be allowed to buy any of the necessities of life from a fellow Jew or to even come within 4 cubits (about six feet) of any Jew, including family.
For all intents and purposes, they would be treated as spiritual lepers. This was the penalty that faced anyone who publicly stood and proclaimed that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. Hence, the question, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can He?"
Here is where the malice of the Pharisees becomes its most forbidding and its most foreboding. Here is where the assault of the enemy becomes so maliciously spiteful that it is foolish. The problem is, there is power behind this foolishness, so it is very, very dangerous to get sideways of it.
The first words of the next line: “But when the Pharisees heard this…” Ominous words, those. What did they do? “They said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons (12:24).’"
How do you explain away the working of God when you are opposed to the one who is being used of God? Well, you have to credit the work to someone other than God, of course! And, that is just what the Pharisees did. Whom did they choose to credit with giving Jesus the power to work these miracles? Who better to choose than God’s number-one enemy, Beelzebul (or, Beelzebub) – the Lord of the Flies, the Master of Demons?
This isn’t the first time they have done this. We read about this happening before, just a couple of chapters ago in Matthew 10:25. This is nothing new – so, why does it become such a big deal this time?
One of the things I think is obvious when a person spends much time reading through the Scriptures is that God is very patient and understanding, slow to expect a lot right away out of those He speaks to. All of Scripture seems to be one long-building crescendo of revelation.
The teachings of Jesus are much the same. The more time and energy He expends going over the same ground with the same people, the more He expects out of those people. The disciples, the Scribes, the Pharisees and even the common people were more and more exposed to the miracles and teachings of Jesus.
The religious leaders should have known who He was, and welcomed Him. Instead, as we see very clearly here, they were more concerned about losing their power base than they were about the truth. So, they charge the Prince of Peace with being empowered by the Prince of Demons – not only is that ironic, it is just plain blasphemous.
An historical note is timely here, I think. During the first century, there was a small collection of individuals who had made a name for themselves as exorcists. Many of them had grown up in the households of the Scribes and Pharisees. They were sons of the very religious leaders who were so opposed to Jesus Christ.
These spiritists were very devout, very religious and very “adept” at creating spiritual events that were quite spectacular. Luke describes very graphically in Acts 19:13-16, an incident involving seven sons of one of the Jewish chief priests who were mixed up in this practice. The outcome was very bad – not at all what they expected.
We’ll look at the judging phrase in a moment. I want to look first at the accusation they lay at Jesus’ feet; "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons (Matthew 12:24b)."
Jesus lets them have it from both barrels this time. First, He tells them how stupid this assumption is by telling them that Satan’s kingdom couldn’t stand if he was going around casting out his own demons. Satan is most assuredly evil and malicious, but he isn’t stupid.
He may allow for a deceiver to seemingly “cast out a demon”, but it is only a temporary relief. That demon will go out into the wilderness for a time, but when he returns and discovers that the Holy Spirit has not taken up residence in his place, he will gather up seven of his demon cohorts, and they will take up residence in the person the single demon had temporarily left. The end result would be that the person is in far more desperate straights than before.
This is what Jesus means when He elaborates on this in Luke 11:14-26. There has been a lot of controversy over this “bind the strongman” phrase. In fact, back in the 80’s, there was a huge push for Christians to “bind the strongman”, and take dominion over Satan.
Adam Clarke summarizes the meaning of this verse best, I think: “Men, through sin, are become the very house and dwelling place of Satan, having of their own accord surrendered themselves to this unjust possessor; for whoever gives up his soul to sin gives it up to the devil. It is Jesus, and Jesus alone, who can deliver from the power of this bondage. When Satan is cast out, Jesus purifies and dwells in the heart.”
Jesus is speaking specifically about Himself versus Satan in these texts – not about every believer battling against Satan. Jesus Christ is the only One with the power and authority to overcome Satan himself. One example of just how powerful Satan really is can be found in Jude 1:9: “But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’"
Anyone who believes that a human being is the spiritual equivalent of these angelic beings this side of Heaven is fooling themselves and anyone who will listen to them.
When we are told to, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you,” we are also told in the very same verse and the one following exactly how that is done: “Submit therefore to God… Draw near to God and He will draw near to you (James 4:7-8).”
Our overcoming the enemy is through submission to God and drawing near to Him, not standing toe-to-toe with God’s enemy – the same enemy that Michael would not rebuke himself, even though he is God’s principal angel. Think you’re more powerful than that?
Okay, so who is this “Beelzebul”, anyway? The Jews, in ridicule and derision, changed Baalzebub, the Ekronite "god of flies", into Beelzebul, "god of dung". Zebul means "dwelling," so we end up with “lord of this lower world”, "prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2), and taking up his "dwelling" in human bodies (Matthew 12:45). Idols and demons have a close connection (1Corinthians 10:20-21). Beelzebul was thought to be the foul prince of both.
So, what we have is the Pharisees ascribing to Satan what is actually coming from the Holy Spirit – not a good idea! Let me tell you why. Jesus says very clearly in verse 31, that this is blasphemy of the worst order, the one sin that will not be forgiven by God.
There has been a lot of confusion and a lot of debate about “the unforgivable sin.” If we look at the context of the statement Jesus makes here and in Mark 3:28-30, it is very, very clear what Jesus means. To knowingly say that the spirit Jesus is operating under is the spirit of Satan instead of the Holy Spirit is speaking a lie, speaking an evil against God for which there is no forgiveness possible.
In John 14-16, Jesus tells us what the Holy Spirit is about – who He is, what He is like, what He will do and what His purpose is. To say that that work is of the devil is to speak the vilest, most malicious lie possible because the Holy Spirit’s role is to testify about Jesus.
There comes a time when a person is prompted by the Holy Spirit to understand Who Jesus Christ is and to respond to that truth by surrendering to His will and accepting His atoning death and victorious resurrection as the only means of salvation. If that person says that this is a lie and refuses to accept and be obedient to this truth, Hell is the only option open to them.
We need to take a serious look at Matthew 12:30. Read the verse. It seems straightforward enough, doesn’t it? Jesus makes it very clear: “He that is not with me is against me – there is no neutral position in this war. Everyone is either with Christ or against Him; either a loyal subject or a rebel. And there is no one on earth who doesn’t either promote Hid kingdom or obstruct His kingdom. One who does not gather souls to Christ actually scatters them from Him.
The question we have to ask ourselves is, “Where do I stand?” Oh, I don’t mean just in general, although that is the best place to start. But we need to ask that question of ourselves in the everyday conduct of our lives.
In this conversation I’m having, am I gathering or scattering? Is this conversation drawing this person to Jesus Christ or pushing them away.
How about my conduct, my attitude? What are people getting from them? Are they being drawn toward the Risen Lord or pushed away from Christianity entirely?
The way I conduct business or perform the duties of my job; how am I doing there? Do people see the evidence of a life transformed by Jesus Christ, or do I just blend in with everyone else. Worse yet, is my performance below that of those who don’t belong to Him?
What about this relationship I am in; am I gathering or scattering? Am I being obedient to what God says in His Word about this kind of relationship, or am I justifying my behavior because it’s what I want instead of what demonstrates living in the will of God?
There is no area of our lives that Jesus Christ does not lay claim to and declare as His. Everything that we say and do reflects on him and the testimony of the Gospel.
One more thing; we have to look at our attitude toward Christians who don’t do things the way we do them. Is it really important? Is it a “main thing”? If not, we had best be careful about being critical or judgmental – God very often works in ways that don’t conform to what we consider convention or orthodoxy. Jesus’ whole life is one long example of that.
Today let us be thankful that His grace extends to the Pharisee in all of us. Let us be grateful that he does not judge us now the way we so often judge others. Let us repent of wrong motives and wrong words and wrong attitudes toward others and toward our duty to Him. Let us receive His forgiveness, His cleansing, His restoration and His empowering to knock down the strongholds of the enemy.
Today, let us reaffirm our commitment to living our lives in loyal and loving obedience to His commission to “Go and make disciples,” realizing that the number one way we do that is loving the unlovable, touching the untouchable, and caring for the throw-aways.
Let’s pray.
