Exposition of the Gospel of Matthew – Matthew 12:22-30

April 15, 2021

(Jesus Withdraws & refocuses His Ministry)

Questions to be answered in this study

1. In what way did Jesus fail in His Gallian ministry?
2. Since Jesus was not the kind of Messiah the Jews were looking for, what were they looking for in the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament?
3. There has always been a remnant of Jewish believers. What is the estimated number of Jewish believers today?
4. Did Israel’s rejection of the Kingdom mean that God was through with Israel?
5. Israel had been the main objective of Scripture up until they rejected the Kingdom, but from that point forward, for the past 2,000 years, what has been heaven’s objective? 
6. What are demons?
7. Is there a difference between mental illness and demon possession, and if so, what is the difference?
8. Why was the healing of the demon-possessed man brought before Jesus on this occasion different from any other in Israel’s history?
9. By what means did the Pharisees say Jesus cast out demons?
10. Why was the Pharisee’s explanation for how Jesus cast out demons not feasible?
11. What was Jesus’ explanation for His casting out demons?

Introduction

Jesus never failed to do what He had come to earth to do. He only failed in the eyes of the Jewish leaders because they expected Him to destroy all evil, all their enemies, and establish His eternal Kingdom with Israel, the world kingdom. They could not understand the prophecies of Isiaih 53 and Psalm 22, which described a Messiah who suffered, was persecuted, and finally killed. Instead, they chose to focus on those prophecies that foretold His glorious victories, and certainly not His crucifixion. So, the Jewish leaders were looking for a Messiah that would come and defeat the Roman government, free them from bondage, and set up His own Kingdom, including them as rulers.

Even His own disciples had a wrong conception of the Kingdom and asked to sit at His right hand and left hand, not realizing it would be in the far future. They saw Jesus as a conquering king; they treated Him like a conquering king when He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, calling out, “Hosanna, save us,” Matthew 21:9.

Paul said that Israel had spiritual blindness that was not previously revealed. Paul spoke of this in 2 Corinthians 4:4 (KJV): “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” Again, he said in Romans 9:31-32,“But Israel, which followed after law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32“Wherefore, Because they sought it not by faith but as it were by works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.”

Israel had not entirely failed; they had followed God and their prophets for thousands of years, at least part of the time when they weren’t worshiping idols. They recognized God as monotheistic, one God, personally interested in humanity’s destiny, whether heaven or hell, believing in the path to salvation, and the written Word, including the Ten Commandments. This they did at the same time the gentile world rejected the light and chose to live in darkness. However, today, 2,000 years after He offered Himself as Israel’s Messiah, the nation Israel still rejects Him, although many Jews have accepted Him as their savior. According to estimates, there are more than 100,000 Jewish believers, and those numbers continue to grow.

God is not through with Israel; in the future tribulation, Israel will turn to God accepting Jesus with 144,000 being saved in one Day. Instead of Israel being the main objective of the gospel, for the past 2,000 years, the focus of the gospel has been on the gentiles: “Messiah will bring Salvation to the Gentiles. I have put My Spirit upon Him; he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles,” Isiaih 11:10 (KJV).  He says, In Isiaih 49:6 (KJV), “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

Now Matthew shows us the moment of paradise lost, which begins with another healing:

Matthew 12:22-24, “Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spoke and saw. 23And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? 24But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.”

Sometime after the Sabbath, a demon-possessed man was brought before Jesus, as had been the case many times before. We talked about demons early on, but for a matter of review, let us consider them once again. Demons are fallen angels that accompanied Satan after he rebelled against God and fell to become the prince of evil upon the earth.

According to a Washington Post database that tracks those events over the past three weeks, 22 people have died in three major mass shootings in the United States. Could these shootings be the results of demon possession? I think so in some cases, but sometimes there are motives other than demon possession. The truth of the matter, demons are active across the world today, as they have been in the past, waging their war against God. They are part of Satan’s army propagating spiritual warfare against God and His believers and indwelling unbelievers.

The Spirit of God indwells believers for good; however, demons indwell unbelievers for evil. We see that evil being projected through specific individuals today all across the world. The secular world defines them as mentally ill, and we cannot declare that everyone who has a mental illness is demon possessed or that everyone who is demon-possessed is mentally sick. However, those who are demon possessed lead you to believe they are mentally ill by the acts they commit.

Eventually, demons lead their victims to a degrading physical and spiritual state, increasing their bizarre behavior, which explains the terrible acts of some today that are being blamed on guns. This evil has been present since the beginning of time, long before there were guns. Demons won’t leave their victims alone, tormenting them Day and night with condemnation and provoking acts of perversions and evil. Victims are filled with fear, anxiety, dread, and paranoia, causing them to lose touch with reality and becoming violent and destructive.

This particular man being brought before Jesus had been made to be blind and mute apparently because of later stages of the demon possession. When the demon enters a human, it can only leave when cast out or when the person dies. Before the time of Jesus, the casting out of demons was practiced. The Lord enabled some to cast out demons. In verse 27, Jesus challenges the Pharisees concerning their “sons” who cast out demons. We find in Acts that some in Israel were casting out demons from time to time. Some Jewish exorcists were traveling from place to place, casting out demons.

Back when Jesus entered His Galilean ministry, the first miracle He performed was the leper’s healing. Never before had this been done. Nevertheless, a whole chapter in the Old Testament was devoted to dealing with a person healed of leprosy; this confused the Bible scholars of that day. So, they concluded that healing a leper must be reserved for some future time to be revealed on a special occasion to identify the Messiah; this became known as a “Messianic miracle,” a miracle exclusive to the Messiah only.

The miracle of casting out demons, on the other hand, was done by others except for the type Jesus cast out on this occasion, which was from a mute person. The casting out of this type of demon was unprecedented in Israel’s history; this was unique because to cast out a demon, according to rabbinical teaching of that Day, the demon’s name must be known. The demon possessed person had learned the name of the demon by some means or another. Perhaps the demon had told his name to the victim.

Anyway, on this occasion, this was a mute demon; therefore, the name was unknown. Jesus did not need to mention the demon’s name to cast it out. Like the healing of the leper, no one else had been able to do this before. The disciples were faced with the same situation in Mark 9:17-19 and Mark 9:28-29. They were faced with a mute demon of which only the Messiah could cast out. They failed to recognize it and tried to cast it out themselves instead of asking Jesus’ help. Was it possible for them to cast it out? Yes, if they had followed Jesus’ guidelines of prayer and fasting, God could have granted it.

Back to Matthew 12: Notice what happened next. In verse 23, the crowd responds to the miracle by asking, “This can’t be the son of David, can he?” The term “Son of David” was only used by the Jews concerning the Messiah. Jesus, to them, didn’t meet what they had expected of the Messiah, but now He performs a miracle only related to the Messiah. They asked their religious leaders the question. They were supposed to be the Bible experts, but neither could they explain it. They could not acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah because they would lose their supreme position and authority as the spiritual leaders of Israel. Lamely the Pharisees explained it by accusing Jesus of working with Satan: In verse 24, we read, “But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils.”

In the following verses, Jesus uses a metaphor to discredit the pharisees:

Matthew 12:25-27, “Jesus was aware of their thoughts, which were not their answer to the people, and He said, “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every Kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his Kingdom stand? 27And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.” 

In this metaphor, Jesus is referring to the spiritual war Satan was waging against God. He certainly would not oblige Jesus by enabling Him to perform this miracle. It would not have been feasible for Satan to have aided Jesus in casting out demons because it would have been antithetical to what he was trying to accomplish, discredit Jesus as the Messiah. Then Jesus asked the Pharisees a question: By what power do your sons cast out demons? This reveals the inconsistency of their proposition. Were they also working in Satan’s power?

Finally, Jesus explains His position for casting out demons:

Matthew 12:28-30, “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. 29Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house. 30He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”

In v.28, Jesus gave the only explanation that the Pharisees refused to admit, which made sense. He says that He casts out demons by the Spirit of God; this was the anointing power He received at His baptism by John the Baptist. Remember, Jesus was human, therefore, dependent on the Holy Spirit’s ability to do the works that He did. He was also God, but God had taken on human flesh and some of the limitations of human flesh. Ironically, the crowd, in general, accepted the false leading of their leaders over the truth Jesus proclaimed. Jesus came to defeat Satan’s plan and offer redemption and forgiveness, but how could He overturn Satan’s plan without first binding him. Otherwise, Satan, the strongman, would have had victory over Jesus.

Jesus uses a parable in which the strongman is Satan, and Satan’s house is the world. Jesus came to free man from slavery to sin in which Satan was the tempter. The demon processed man was released from Satan’s hold on him. Jesus brought the means of victory over Satan, instead, offering healing, forgiveness, hope, joy, and eternal life. Israel made its choice and refused its only hope of redemption and freedom from the power of Satan. Paul made it clear in Rom. 5:10 (KJV) that believers receive release from the power of Satan: “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Now, in v.30, Jesus says, you’re either with me, or you’re against me; you are either on God’s side, or you’re against God aligning with Satan and fighting against God. In verse 31, we will see the consequences of their choice, but that will be for next time.”

Finally, here is the bottom line to today’s study: Are we willing to surrender all and to keep near to Jesus our Lord, as found in Hebrews 10:22-25 (KJV): “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Abiding by these verses assures us we won’t miss His return, but the question each of us need ask ourselves is, Am I fully surrendered to God, and will I be ready for it when it happens?