This section addresses four interrelated questions, and the passage takes up the bulk of Matthew's 12th chapter. But to get to the point of it, I will me just glancing over some of it, hitting some parts 'out of order', and adding in a tale of my own. But the whole tale will hang around these words of Jesus:
Mat 12:33 "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.
QUESTION ONE:
Mat 12:24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons."
Mat 12:25 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.
Mat 12:26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
Jesus is the good fruit, the Pharisees the bad. And on the surface, this seems to be a logical question- why would Satan give Jesus the power to cast out demons doing HIS work? And indeed, why would Satan give Jesus the power to HEAL, when all any demon ever causes is destruction? But I think there is also a deeper point here- Satan's kingdom WILL NOT stand. I think I can make that clearer by going to the next part...
QUESTION TWO
Mat 12:27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
Mat 12:28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
One thing I learned about this verse: According to both Josephus and Acts 19, there were what the commentators called "Itinerant Jewish exorcists" who traveled the land making their living "healing" people of demons. They would use a 'formula' that they allegedly had used since the days of Solomon- almost a magic incantation (the first way we see Satan might 'drive out demons' to suit his purposes), to which they would soon append the Lord's name...
Act 19:13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims."
Act 19:14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this.
Act 19:15 But the evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?"
...which, as you might guess, had mixed results. These are the sons Jesus spoke of- the recruits which, after converting them, the Pharisees would make "Twice as much a son of the Devil as yourselves" (Matt. 23:15). So am I saying that Satan WOULD divide against his own house? Consider: Two weeks ago, we were watching on TV 'Air Disasters', and this episode had a plane from a Muslim nation that was crashing; several people interviewed mentioned "praying to God (Allah)", and the plane was miraculously saved. Did "Allah" save them? "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." Answer: I don't know. Perhaps the TRUE God, in His mercy, knew of one life on that plane was yet to be saved. Perhaps Satan was allowed to preserve it, to increase faith in a false God. But I know "Allah" did nothing. This is a deep subject that Jesus spoke on here...
Luk 13:1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
Luk 13:2 And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?
Luk 13:3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
Luk 13:4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."
A reminder that, while God MAY protect us to His glory in the here and now, it is not the end goal of what He seeks for us.
And as for that judging, Read on to the end of the chapter on your own.
THIRD QUESTION
Mat 12:29 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.
There is a difference, though, between what the "sons of the Pharisees" do and what Jesus does. When Jesus saves, the Holy Spirit enters the believer, and the sins of flesh can then be bound. You may yet sin, but are not forced to by your nature, as you once were. On the other hand, when the sons of the Pharisees 'remove' a demon...
Mat 12:43 "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none.
Mat 12:44 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.
Mat 12:45 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."
FOURTH QUESTION
Mat 12:34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
This, then is the question that answers all the others. So evil in their heart are they that they overturn logic, common sense, and any vestige of faith in the True God, in order to demean Jesus, whose very works show Him to be the Messiah! In a few moments, they would ask for a 'sign'- a sign they would never have believed anyway. But Jesus would answer, in part...
Mat 12:39 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...
And why I mention this is, it finishes the whole thing off perfectly. You see that word, 'adulterous', in Jesus's description, and your mind goes to the realm of sexual sin. HOWever, with a little digging into the word, we find at base it means 'apostate'..."a person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle." They are a generation who have renounced God, and their fate is coming fast upon them.
