Matthew 12

Matthew 12:1

D. Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath (12:1-8) 12:1 This chapter records the mounting crisis of rejection. The rising malice and animosity of the Pharisees are now ready to spill over. The issue that opens the floodgates is the Sabbath question. On this particular Sabbath, Jesus and His disciples were passing through the grainfields. His disciples began to pluck heads of grain and to eat them. The law permitted them to help themselves to grain from their neighbor’s field as long as they did not use a sickle (Deu_23:25). 12:2 But the Pharisees, legal nit-pickers, charged that the Sabbath had been broken. Though their specific charges are not stated it is likely that they accused the disciples of: (1) harvesting (picking the grain); (2) threshing (rubbing it in their hands); (3) winnowing (separating the grain from the chaff). 12:3, 4 Jesus answered their ridiculous complaint by reminding them of an incident in the life of David. Once, when in exile, he and his men went into the wilderness and ate the showbread, twelve memorial loaves forbidden as food to any but the priests. Neither David nor his men were priests, yet God never found fault with them for doing this. Why not? The reason is that God’s law was never intended to inflict hardship on His faithful people. It was not David’s fault that he was in exile. A sinful nation had rejected him. If he had been given his rightful place, he and his followers would not have had to eat the showbread. Because there was sin in Israel, God permitted an otherwise forbidden act. The analogy is clear. The Lord Jesus was the rightful King of Israel, but the nation would not acknowledge Him as Sovereign. If He had been given His proper place, His followers would not have been reduced to eating in this way on the Sabbath or on any other day of the week. History was repeating itself. The Lord did not reprove His disciples, because they had done no wrong. 12:5 Jesus reminded the Pharisees that the priests profane the Sabbath by killing and sacrificing animals and by performing many other servile duties (Num_28:9-10), yet are blameless because they are engaged in the service of God. 12:6 The Pharisees knew that the priests worked every Sabbath in the temple without desecrating it. Why then should they criticize the disciples for acting as they did in the presence of One who is greater than the temple? The italicized word One can perhaps better read: something greater than the temple is here. The something is the kingdom of God, present in the Person of the King. 12:7 The Pharisees had never understood the heart of God. In Hos_6:6 He had said, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. God puts compassion before ritual. He would rather see His people picking grain on the Sabbath to satisfy their hunger than observing the day so strictly as to inflict physical distress. If the Pharisees had only realized this, they would not have condemned the disciples. But they valued outward punctiliousness above human welfare. 12:8 Then the Savior added, For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. It was He who had instituted the law in the first place, and therefore He was the One most qualified to interpret its true meaning. E. W. Rogers says: It seems as if Matthew, here taught by the Spirit, passes in quick review the many names and offices of the Lord Jesus: He is Son of Man; Lord of the Sabbath; My servant; My beloved; Son of David; greater than the temple; greater than Jonas; greater than Solomon. He does so in order to show the enormity of the sin of refusing to accept Him and accord Him His rights. Before proceeding with the next incidentJesus healing the withered hand on the Sabbathwe pause to give a short review of the scriptural teaching concerning the Sabbath.

EXCURSUS ON THE SABBATH The Sabbath day was, and always will be, the seventh day of the week (Saturday). God rested on the seventh day, after the six days of creation (Gen_2:2). He did not command man to keep the Sabbath day at that time, although He may have intended the principleone day of rest in every sevento be followed. The nation of Israel was commanded to keep the Sabbath when the Ten Commandments were given (Exo_20:8-11). The law of the Sabbath was different from the other nine commandments; it was a ceremonial law while the others were moral. The only reason it was wrong to work on the Sabbath was because God said so. The other commandments had to do with things that were intrinsically wrong. The prohibition against work on the Sabbath was never intended to apply to: the service of God (Mat_12:5), deeds of necessity (Mat_12:3-4), or deeds of mercy (Mat_12:11-12). Nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the NT, not as law but as instructions for Christians living under grace. The only commandment Christians are never told to keep is that of the Sabbath. Rather, Paul teaches that the Christian cannot be condemned for failing to keep it (Col_2:16). The distinctive day of Christianity is the first day of the week. The Lord Jesus rose from the dead on that day (Joh_20:1), a proof that the work of redemption had been completed and divinely approved. On the next two Lord’s Days, He met with His disciples (Joh_20:19, Joh_20:26). The Holy Spirit was given on the first day of the week (Act_2:1; cf. Lev_23:15-16). The early disciples met on that day to break bread, showing forth the Lord’s death (Act_20:7). It is the day appointed by God on which Christians should set aside funds for the work of the Lord (1Co_16:1-2). The Sabbath or seventh day came at the end of a week of toil; the Lord’s Day, or Sunday, begins a week with the restful knowledge that the work of redemption has been completed. The Sabbath commemorated the first creation; the Lord’s Day is linked with the new creation. The Sabbath day was a day of responsibility; the Lord’s Day is a day of privilege. Christians do not keep the Lord’s Day as a means of earning salvation or achieving holiness, nor from fear of punishment. They set it apart because of loving devotion to the One who gave Himself for them. Because we are released from the routine, secular affairs of life on this day, we can set it apart in a special way for the worship and service of Christ. It is not right to say that the Sabbath was changed to the Lord’s Day. The Sabbath is Saturday and the Lord’s Day is Sunday. The Sabbath was a shadow; the substance is Christ (Col_2:16-17). The resurrection of Christ marked a new beginning, and the Lord’s day signifies that beginning. As a faithful Jew living under the law, Jesus kept the Sabbath (in spite of the accusations of the Pharisees to the contrary). As the Lord of the Sabbath, He freed it from the false rules and regulations with which it had become encrusted.

Matthew 12:9

E. Jesus Heals on the Sabbath (12:9-14) 12:9 From the grainfields Jesus went into the synagogue. Luke tells us that the scribes and Pharisees were there to watch Him so that they might find some charge against Him (Luk_6:6-7). 12:10 Inside the synagogue was a man who had a withered handmute testimony to the powerlessness of the Pharisees to help him. Up to now they had treated him with cool disregard. But suddenly he became valuable to them as a means to trap Jesus. They knew that the Savior was always predisposed to alleviate human misery. If He would heal on the Sabbath, then they would catch Him in a punishable offense, they thought. So they began by raising a legal quibble: Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?12:11 The Savior answered by asking if they would pull one of their sheep out of a pit on the Sabbath.

Of course they would! But why? Perhaps their pretext was that it was a work of mercybut another consideration might be that the sheep was worth money and they would not want to incur financial loss, even on the Sabbath. 12:12 Our Lord reminded them that a man is of greater value than a sheep. If it is right to show mercy to an animal, how much more justified is it to do good to a man on the Sabbath! 12:13, 14 Having caught the Jewish leaders in the pit of their own greed, Jesus healed the withered hand. In telling the man to stretch out his hand, faith and human will were called into action. Obedience was then rewarded with healing. The hand was restored as whole as the other by the wonderful Creator. You would think that the Pharisees would have been happy that the man, whom they had neither the power nor inclination to help, was healed. Instead they went into a white rage against Jesus and plotted to kill Him. If they had had a withered hand, they would have been glad to be healed on any day of the week.

Matthew 12:15

F. Healing for All (12:15-21) 12:15, 16 When Jesus knew the thoughts of His enemies, He withdrew. Yet wherever He went, the crowds gathered; and wherever the sick gathered, He healed them all. But He charged them not to publicize His miraculous cures, not to shield Himself from danger, but to avoid any fickle movement to make Him a popular revolutionary Hero. The divine schedule must be kept. His revolution would come, not by the shedding of Roman blood, but by the shedding of His own blood. 12:17, 18 His gracious ministry was in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isa_41:9; Isa_42:1-4 The prophet foresaw the Messiah as a gentle Conqueror. He pictures Jesus as the Servant whom Jehovah had chosen, the Beloved One in whom God’s soul was well pleased. God would put His Spirit upon Hima prophecy fulfilled at the baptism of Jesus. And His ministry would reach beyond the confines of Israel; He would declare justice to the Gentiles. This latter note becomes more dominant as Israel’s NO grows louder. 12:19 Isaiah further predicted that the Messiah would not wrangle or cry out and His voice would not be heard in the streets. In other words, He would not be a political rabble-rouser, stirring up the populace. McClain writes: This King who is God’s servant will not reach His rightful place of eminence by any of the usual means of carnal force or political demagoguery; nor yet by means of the supernatural forces at His command. 12:20 He would not break a bruised reed or quench a smoking flax. He would not trample on the dispossessed or underprivileged in order to reach His goals. He would encourage and strengthen the broken-hearted, oppressed person. He would fan even a spark of faith into a flame. His ministry would continue till He would bring justice to victory. His humble, loving care for others would not be extinguished by the hate and ingratitude of men. 12:21 And in His name Gentiles will trust. In Isaiah this expression is worded And the coastlands shall wait for His law, but the meaning is the same. The coastlands refer to the Gentile nations. They are pictured as waiting for His reign so that they might be His loyal subjects. Kleist and Lilly praise this quotation from Isaiah as: … one of the gems of the Gospel, a picture of Christ of great beauty … Isaiah pictures Christ’s union with the Father, His mission to instruct the nations, His gentleness in dealing with suffering humanity and His final victory: there is no hope for the world except in His Name. Christthe Savior of the worldnot expressed in dry, scholastic terms, but clothed in rich, oriental imagery.

Matthew 12:22

G. The Unpardonable Sin (12:22-32) 12:22-24 When Jesus healed a blind and mute demoniac, the common people began to think seriously that He might be the Son of David, the Messiah of Israel. This enraged the Pharisees. Unable to tolerate any suggestion of sympathy with Jesus, they exploded with the charge that the miracle had been performed by the power of Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons. This ominous indictment was the first open accusation that the Lord Jesus was demon- empowered. 12:25, 26 When He had read their thoughts, Jesus proceeded to expose their folly. He pointed out that no kingdom, city, or house divided against itself can continue successfully. If He was casting out Satan’s demons by the power of Satan, then Satan was working against himself. This would be absurd. 12:27 Our Lord had a second devastating answer for the Pharisees. Some of their Jewish associates, known as exorcists, claimed to have the power to cast out demons. Jesus neither admitted nor denied their claim, but used it to point out that if He cast out demons by Beelzebub, then the Pharisees’ sons (i.e. these exorcists) did also. The Pharisees would never admit this, but could not escape the logic of the argument. Their own associates would condemn them for implying that they exorcised as agents of Satan. Scofield said: The Pharisees were quick enough to resent any implication of Satanic power as far as they and their sons were concerned, but on the ground they were taking, i.e., that Christ cast out demons by Beelzebub, their own sons would judge them inconsistent; for if the power to cast out demons is Satanic, then whoever exercises that power is in league with the source of that power. They were not being logical in attributing similar effects to different causes. 12:28 The truth, of course, was that Jesus cast out demons by the Spirit of God. His entire life as a Man on earth was lived by the power of the Holy Spirit. He was the Spirit-filled Messiah whom Isaiah had foretold (Isa_11:2; Isa_42:1; Isa_61:1-3). Therefore He said to the Pharisees, … if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. This announcement must have been a crushing blow. They prided themselves on their theological knowledge, yet the kingdom of God had come upon them because the King was among them and they hadn’t even realized that He was there! 12:29 Far from being in league with Satan, the Lord Jesus was Satan’s Conqueror. This He illustrates by the story of the strong man. The strong man is Satan. His house is the sphere in which he holds sway. His goods are his demons. Jesus is the One who binds the strong man, enters his house, and plunders his goods.

Actually the binding of Satan takes place in stages. It began during Jesus’ public ministry. It was decisively guaranteed by the death and resurrection of Christ. It will be true to a more marked degree during the King’s thousand-year reign (Rev_20:2). Finally, it will be eternally true when he is cast into the lake of fire (Rev_20:10). At the present time the devil does not seem to be bound; he still exercises considerable power.

But his doom is determined and his time is short. 12:30 Then Jesus said, He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. Their blasphemous attitude showed that the Pharisees were not with the Lord; therefore, they were against Him. By refusing to harvest with Him, they were scattering the grain. They had accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan while actually they themselves were the servants of Satan, seeking to frustrate the work of God. In Mar_9:40, Jesus said, … he who is not against us is on our side. This seems a flat reversal of His words here in Mat_12:30. The difficulty is resolved when we see that in Matthew, it is a matter of salvation. A man is either for Christ or against Him; there is no neutrality. In Mark, the subject is service. There are wide differences among the disciples of Jesusdifferences in local church fellowship, methods, and interpretation of doctrines. But here the rule is that if a man is not against the Lord, he is for Him and should be respected accordingly. 12:31, 32 These verses mark a crisis in Christ’s dealings with the leaders of Israel. He accuses them of committing the unpardonable sin by blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, that is, by charging that Jesus performed His miracles by the power of Satan rather than by the power of the Holy Spirit. In effect, this was calling the Holy Spirit Beelzebub, the ruler of demons. There is forgiveness for other forms of sin and blasphemy. A man may even speak against the Son of Man and be forgiven. But to blaspheme the Holy Spirit is a sin for which there is no forgiveness in this age or in the millennial age to come. When Jesus said in this age, He was speaking of the days of His public ministry on earth. There is reasonable doubt whether the unpardonable sin can be committed today, because He is not bodily present performing miracles. The unpardonable sin is not the same as rejecting the gospel; a man may spurn the Savior for years, then repent, believe, and be saved. (Of course, if he dies in unbelief, he remains unforgiven.) Nor is the unforgivable sin the same as backsliding; a believer may wander far from the Lord, yet be restored to fellowship in God’s family. Many people worry that they have committed the unpardonable sin. Even if this sin could be committed today, the fact that a person is concerned is evidence that he is not guilty of it. Those who committed it were hard and unrelenting in their opposition to Christ. They had no qualms about insulting the Spirit and no hesitancy in plotting the death of the Son. They showed neither remorse nor repentance.

Matthew 12:33

H. A Tree Is Known by Its Fruit (12:33-37) 12:33 Even the Pharisees should have admitted that the Lord had done good by casting out demons. Yet they accused Him of being evil. Here He exposes their inconsistency and says, in effect, Make up your minds. If a tree is good, its fruit is good and vice versa. Fruit reflects the quality of the tree that produced it. The fruit of His ministry had been good. He had healed the sick, the blind, the deaf, and the dumb, had cast out demons and raised the dead. Could a corrupt tree have produced such good fruit? Utterly impossible! Why then did they so stubbornly refuse to acknowledge Him? 12:34, 35 The reason was that they were a brood of vipers. Their malice against the Son of Man, evidenced by their venomous words, was the outflow of their evil hearts. A heart filled with goodness will be evidenced by words of grace and righteousness. A wicked heart expresses itself in blasphemy, bitterness, and abuse. 12:36 Jesus solemnly warned them (and us) that people will give account for every idle word they utter. Because the words people have spoken are an accurate gauge of their lives, they will form a suitable basis for condemnation or acquittal. How great will be the condemnation of the Pharisees for the vile and contemptuous words which they spoke against God’s Holy Son! 12:37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. In the case of believers, the penalty for careless speech has been paid through the death of Christ; however, our careless speech, unconfessed and unforgiven, will result in loss of reward at Christ’s Judgment Seat.

Matthew 12:38

I. The Sign of the Prophet Jonah (12:38-42) 12:38 Despite all the miracles Jesus had performed, the scribes and Pharisees had the temerity to ask Him for a sign, implying that they would believe if He would prove Himself to be the Messiah! But their hypocrisy was transparent. If they had not believed as a result of so many wonders, why would they be convinced by one more? The attitude that demands miraculous signs as a condition for belief does not please God. As Jesus said to Thomas, Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (Joh_20:29). In God’s economy, seeing follows believing. 12:39 The Lord addressed them as an evil and adulterous generation; evil because they were willfully blind to their own Messiah, adulterous because they were spiritually unfaithful to their God. Their Creator-God, a unique Person combining absolute deity and perfect humanity, stood in their midst speaking to them, yet they dared to ask Him for a sign. 12:40 He told them summarily that no sign would be given to them except the sign of the prophet Jonah, referring to His own death, burial, and resurrection. Jonah’s experience of being swallowed by the fish and then disgorged (Jon_1:17; Jon_2:10) prefigured the Lord’s passion and resurrection. His rising from among the dead would be the final, climactic sign of His ministry to the nation of Israel. Just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so our Lord predicted that He would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. This raises a problem. If, as generally believed, Jesus was buried on Friday afternoon and rose again on Sunday morning, how can it be said that He was three days and nights in the tomb? The answer is that, in Jewish reckoning, any part of a day and night counts as a complete period. A day and a night make an onah, and a part of an onah is as the whole (Jewish saying). 12:41 Jesus depicted the guilt of the Jewish leaders by two contrasts. First, the Gentiles of Nineveh were far less privileged, yet when they heard the preaching of the errant prophet Jonah, they repented with deep grief. They will rise up in the judgment to condemn the men of Jesus’ day for failing to receive Someone greater than Jonahthe incarnate Son of God. 12:42 Second, the queen of Sheba, a Gentile outside the pale of Jewish privilege, traveled from the South, at great effort and expense, for an interview with Solomon. The Jews of Jesus’ day did not have to travel at all to see Him; He had traveled from heaven to their little neighborhood to be their Messiah-King. Yet they had no room in their lives for HimOne infinitely greater than Solomon. A Gentile queen will condemn them in the judgment for such wanton carelessness. In this chapter our Lord has been presented as greater than the temple (v. 6); greater than Jonah (v. 41); and greater than Solomon (v. 42). He is greater than the greatest and far better than the best.

Matthew 12:43

J. An Unclean Spirit Returns (12:43-45) 12:43, 44 Now Jesus gives, in parabolic form, a summary of the past, present, and future of unbelieving Israel. The man represents the Jewish nation, the unclean spirit the idolatry which characterized the nation from the time of its servitude in Egypt to the Babylonian captivity (which temporarily cured Israel of its idolatry). It was as if the unclean spirit had gone out of the man. From the end of the captivity to the present day, the Jewish people have not been idol-worshipers. They are like a house that is empty, swept, and put in order. Over nineteen hundred years ago, the Savior sought admittance to that empty house. He was the rightful Occupant, the Master of the house, but the people steadfastly refused to let Him in. Though they no longer worshiped idols, they would not worship the true God either. The empty house speaks of spiritual vacuuma dangerous condition, as the sequel shows. Reformation is not enough. There must be the positive acceptance of the Savior. 12:45 In a coming day, the spirit of idolatry will decide to return to the house, accompanied by seven spirits more wicked than himself. Since seven is the number of perfection or completeness, this probably refers to idolatry in its fully developed form. This looks forward to the Tribulation when the apostate nation will worship the Antichrist. To bow down to the man of sin and to worship him as God is a more terrible form of idolatry than the nation has ever been guilty of in the past. And so the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Unbelieving Israel will suffer the awful judgments of the Great Tribulation, and their suffering will far exceed that of the Babylonian Captivity. The idolatrous portion of the nation will be utterly destroyed at Christ’s Second Advent. So shall it also be with this wicked generation. The same apostate, Christ-rejecting race that spurned the Son of God at His First Advent will suffer severe judgment at His Second Coming.

Matthew 12:46

K. The Mother and Brothers of Jesus (12:46-50) These verses describe a seemingly commonplace incident in which Jesus’ family comes to speak to Him. Why had they come? Mark may give us a clue. Some of Jesus’ friends decided He was out of His mind (Mar_3:21, Mar_3:31-35), and perhaps His family came to take Him away quietly (see also Joh_7:5). When told that His mother and brothers were waiting outside to speak with Him, the Lord responded by asking, Who is My mother and who are My brothers? Then, pointing to His disciples, He said Whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.This startling announcement is pregnant with spiritual significance; it marks a distinct turning point in Jesus’ dealing with Israel.

Mary and her sons represented the nation of Israel, Jesus’ blood relations. Up to now He had limited His ministry largely to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But it was becoming clear that His own people would not have Him. Instead of bowing to their Messiah, the Pharisees had accused Him of being controlled by Satan. So now Jesus announces a new order of things. Henceforth, His ties with Israel would not be the controlling factor in His outreach. Though His compassionate heart would continue to plead with His countrymen according to the flesh, chapter 12 signals an unmistakable break with Israel. The outcome is now clear. Israel will not have Him, so He will turn to those who will. Blood relationships will be superseded by spiritual considerations. Obedience to God will bring men and women, whether Jews or Gentiles, into vital relationship with Him. Before leaving this incident, we should mention two points concerning the mother of Jesus. First, it is evident that Mary did not occupy any place of special privilege as far as access into His presence was concerned. Second, the mention of Jesus’ brothers strikes a blow at the teaching that Mary was a perpetual virgin. The implication is strong that these were actual sons of Mary and therefore half-brothers of our Lord. This view is strengthened by such other Scriptures as Psa_69:8; Mat_13:55; Mar_3:31-32; Mar_6:3; Joh_7:3, Joh_7:5; Act_1:14; 1Co_9:5; Gal_1:19.