Matthew 12:22-37
A House Divided Cannot Stand
22 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"
24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, "This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."
25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.
The Unpardonable Sin
31 "Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
A Tree Known by Its Fruit
33 "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. 34 Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
These passages address the impossibility of a house divided and what lasting fruit of a fruitful tree of life looks like. First of all, Jesus spoke directly to those rejecting Him and His works as if they were of the devil ins of God Himself among them. He told them how a comparison of a kingdom or city or even a single house cannot stand if it is divided against itself as a way to drive home the fact that Satan cannot drive himself out like Jesus did with his minions. If he did then that would only bring down the house on his own head contrary to his nefarious purposes as he worked against God’s work and people. That is counterproductive and not what was happening; rather, Jesus was casting out the agents of evil to destroy the works of the devil Himself. By attributing the power of God to evil the Pharisees blasphemed God and His Spirit along with His Son in spewing out these wicked accusations against the Almighty and His power of doing good as they attributed God’s work to the devil. Jesus told them they faced judgement even from their own as they accused God of doing evil. Whoever is not with the Lord is opposed to Him and is scattered like sheep of a false shepherd abandoned when needed (John 10:12) because they don’t follow the Great Shepherd and care for their flock. Their work scatters the sheep instead of helping deliver them from the evil one. Such blasphemy to herd God the Holy Spirit into being a false shepherd by accusing Him of being and doing evil is truly unforgivable.
Jesus then goes further into describing the bad and good fruit of people. The bad speak evil things like these Pharisees had been doing with blasphemous accusations against God’s work in calling good fruit bad. He directly pointed His words to accuse them of trying to make their evil words seem like palatable fruit to others when it was clear that bad trees only produce bad and rotting fruit. He challenged them to make the tree good to produce good fruit instead. Like their father the devil, the serpent of old (Revelation 12:9, 20:2), they twisted the word of God to their own nefarious ends with the intent to kill and destroy (John 10:10) God’s people instead of releasing them from such bondage of sin. In the end, Jesus gave us the principle of listening to the words coming from the heart as a test of the tree and its fruit. What fills a man’s innermost being (heart) is what comes out to reveal who he is. We are therefore also held accountable for all we say in leading or misleading others. What we say about God, His work, and each other will be read from our books (Romans 2:6, 2 Corinthians 5:10, Revelation 20:12) on the judgment day and then all will be clearly seen in where the good or bad fruit originated and rewards will be for words honoring and glorifying God and His work among us. May we then mark our words and aim them to hit the center of the target of grace as we attribute only good to God and evil to the adversary so we can avoid a divided house in our thoughts and actions as we bear good fruit.
No comments:
Post a Comment