Matthew 12

CHAPTER 12THEME: Conflict and final break of Jesus with the religious rulersAgain let me call your attention to the movement in the Gospel of Matthew. If you miss it, you miss the message that is here. Matthew is not trying to give a biography of the life of Jesus, nor is he recording the events in chronological order. He presents Christ as KingHe was born a King and gave what we call the Sermon on the Mount, which was the ethic of the Kingdom, the manifesto of the King. He demonstrated that He had the dynamic in the miracles He performed, then He sent out His apostles. The reaction was rejection! And then the King pronounced judgment on the cities. Now there breaks out into the open a conflict between the Lord Jesus and the religious rulers of that daythe Pharisees in particular. Apparently, they were friendly to Him at first, but now they break with Him over the question of the Sabbath day. We will see the Sabbath question in two places: on the outside in the field, then again on the inside in the synagogue.

Matthew 12:1

JESUS CLAIMS TO BE LORD OF THE SABBATHWe will see in this episode that Jesus asserts that He is Lord of the Sabbath day. But before we get involved in the sabbatic argument (which has been raging ever since!), let’s look at the reason the disciples were pulling off and eating the grain. Why were they doing it? Because they were hungry. Why were they hungry? Because they were following Jesus. You remember that He had said to the young man who wanted to follow Him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head” (Mat_8:20). And at this time, they were hungry. This is another reminder of the poverty that our Lord bore. And we will see Him defend His disciples’ actions. This is where the break with the religious rulers came.

Matthew 12:2

The Pharisees say to the Lord Jesus, “Why do You permit it?”

Matthew 12:3

We find the record of this in 1Sa_21:1-6. It was during the days of David’s rejection as king while Saul was ruling. Likewise, the Lord Jesus was being rejected as King; His messianic claim had not been acknowledged. Now He takes care of His menregardless of the Sabbath day observance. And David took care of his men although it meant breaking the Mosaic Law.

Matthew 12:4

The priests worked on the Sabbath day.

Matthew 12:6

The Lord Jesus here claimed superiority over the most holy center of their religious life, which was the temple. As far as the Pharisees were concerned, He had blasphemed. Not only had He broken the Sabbath, but He had blasphemed.

Matthew 12:7

“I will have mercy and not sacrifice” comes from Hos_6:6. Our Lord defends His men by saying that they did not break the Sabbath day. Why?

Matthew 12:8

Believe me, He put His hand on the most sacred observance they had when He said that He was Lord of the Sabbath day. In the eyes of the Pharisees, He could make no greater claim. It certainly engendered their bitterness and their hatred. Now we leave the fields where this encounter took place, and we go into the synagoguebut we are still faced with the same Sabbath question.

Matthew 12:9

Notice that “he went into their synagogue"not ours but theirs. He said something similar regarding the temple. At first it was God’s temple, but He finally said, “Your house is left unto you desolate.”

Matthew 12:10

Was this man with the withered hand “planted” there, deliberately, by the Pharisees to trap Jesus into healing him? If so, then there are two important admissions on the part of the enemies of Jesus:

1. They admitted He had power to heal the sick. As we have seen, the enemies of Jesus never questioned His ability to perform miracles. You have to be two thousand years away from it and working in a musty library on a master’s or doctor’s degree before you can question His miracles. The Pharisees freely admitted that He had power to heal the sick. This is why they planted this man with the withered hand.
2. They acknowledged that when a helpless man was placed in His pathway, He was moved by compassion to heal him, even on the Sabbath day. What an admission! Their question about the legality of healing on the Sabbath day was designed to trap Him. But Jesus actually trapped His enemies. They conceded that a sheep should be rescued on the Sabbath dayin fact, the Mosaic Law made allowances for that.

Matthew 12:12

This is the crux of the whole matter: Should He do good on the Sabbath day? Regardless of their answer

Matthew 12:13

Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath day. Did He break the Law? What is your answer? My answer is that He did not break the Law.

Matthew 12:14

THE PHARISEES PLOT THE DEATH OF JESUSThis marks the break between the religious rulers and Jesus. Here is where they made the decision to destroy Him. Up to this point the Pharisees had been friendly. They had wanted to hitch their wagon to His star and go with Him. But the Lord refused to go along with them, and they became His enemies. The break is made over the question of the Sabbath day, and the conflict comes out in the open. From here on these bloodhounds of hate get on His trail and never let up until they fold their arms beneath His cross. They begin now to plot His death, and they undoubtedly want to arrest Him at this time, but they are afraid of the crowds.

Matthew 12:15

The action of the Pharisees led Jesus to withdraw temporarily because His hour had not yet come. They will not touch Him until the appointed time. It is interesting to note in this verse that Jesus did not heal only a few in the crowdHe healed them all. We cannot even conceive of the impression that this made in that day. It was something absolutely astounding. They had to accept or reject Him; it was impossible to be neutral. He is still controversial today. The enemy is still after Him. New dirty plays and dirty books are blaspheming Him. You will either be His friend or His enemy. He will be your Savior or your Judge. You cannot get rid of Jesus Christ. He healed the multitudes

Matthew 12:16

The Lord did not come to this earth as a thaumaturgist, that is, a wonder worker. He came to present His claims as Messiah. When He was rejected, He continued on His course toward the cross to become the Savior of the world. His miracles caused crowds to press in upon Him so that He could not carry on His ministry as He wished.

Matthew 12:17

“A bruised reed shall he not break"no, He will instead bind up that “reed” who will let Him do so. “And smoking flax shall he not quench"no, if that one continues to reject Him, the smoking flax will break out into the fire of judgment. The Lord won’t quench it because man has a free will.

Matthew 12:21

In our day, friend, there is a definite moving outnot only toward the fulfillment of prophecy in general, but for the fulfillment of prophecy concerning the Gentiles. They are to be saved. Christ’s rejection by His own people led to His gracious offer to the Gentiles. In the Book of Acts we read that He commissioned Paul to be a missionary to the Gentiles: “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (Act_26:18).

Matthew 12:22

THE UNPARDONABLE SINIn other words, “This is our Messiah. He has the credentials.” This was a tremendous miracle He performed, just as great as the raising of the dead if not greater. The continued miracles of Jesus in healing and casting out demons convinced the people that He was the Son of David, the Messiah. But what did the Pharisees say?

Matthew 12:24

This is the question of the unpardonable sin. Follow this very carefully.

Matthew 12:25

They would never say that their own people cast out demons by Beelzebub.

Matthew 12:28

“The kingdom of God is come unto you” in the presence of the Messiah. Christ is saying, “l am here! My power to cast out demons is My credential.”

Matthew 12:29

There is no sin committed yesterday that the Lord would not forgive today because He died for all sin. The Holy Spirit came into the world to make real the salvation of Christ to the hearts of men. If you resist the working of the Spirit of God when He speaks to you, my friend, there is no forgiveness, of course. There is no forgiveness because you have rejected salvation made real to you by the Holy Spirit. And it is the work of the Spirit of God to regenerate you. In Mark 3 the Lord amplifies the matter of the unpardonable sin by saying that it attributes the Spirit’s work to Satan, that Christ had performed these miracles by Beelzebub when actually He was doing them by the power of the Spirit of God. You see, they were rejecting the witness of Himself and of the Holy Spirit. In our day that particular sin cannot be committed because it could only be committed when Jesus was here upon the earth. There is no act of sin that you could commit for which there is no forgiveness. Of course, if you resist the Holy Spirit, there is no forgiveness because He is bringing forgiveness. It is like the man who is dying from a certain disease, and the doctor tells him there is a remedy for it. The man refuses to take the remedy and dies, not from the disease but from refusing to take the remedy. There is a remedy for the disease of sin, and the Holy Spirit applies it; but if you resist it, there is no remedy. That is the only way sin can be unpardonable today. Now the Lord says:

Matthew 12:34

“O generation of vipers"you may remember that John the Baptist had called them the same thing.

Matthew 12:35

“What is in the well of the heart will come out through the bucket of the mouth,” someone has said. This scathing denunciation of the religious rulers by Jesus reveals that He has rejected them. Had they committed the unpardonable sin? At least the break with these enemies is final and the wound will not be healed.

Matthew 12:36

“Idle word” means blasphemies.

Matthew 12:37

You will be “condemned” because you are speaking the thing which is in your heart.

Matthew 12:38

THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES DEMAND A SIGNThe scribes and Pharisees now use another subtle approach to Him. They appear to fall in step with His program by asking for a sign. They have no intention of believing because of a sign. They are trying to trap Him. Note how the Lord answers them.

Matthew 12:39

What was the sign of Jonah? Well, listen to Him

Matthew 12:40

The Lord categorically refused to grant them a sign but directed them back to two incidents in the Old Testament. The first incident is the account of the prophet Jonah. Jonah was apparently raised from the dead when he was in the fish. God brought him out of darkness and death into light and life. Jonah’s experience was typical of the coming interment and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 12:41

The Ninevites received Jonah and his preaching after his miraculous deliverance from the big fish, and they repented. The acts of Israel, as a nation, place her in a much worse position because she did not receive her Messiah and did not repent. The second incident that Jesus referred them to concerns Solomon.

Matthew 12:42

Jesus was greater than Jonah and greater than Solomon. The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon and traveled from the ends of the earth to hear his wisdom. And the Lord Jesus Christ had come from heaven, but they would not turn to Him.

Matthew 12:43

VALUELESS REFORMATIONNext Jesus gives one of the most profound and startling parables. A man has an unclean spirit, and the unclean spirit leaves him. The man thinks he is all cleaned up. Then what happens?

Matthew 12:44

In other words, reformation is no good. My friend, you can quit doing many things, but that won’t make you a Christian. If everyone in the world would quit sinning right now, there wouldn’t be any more Christians in the next minute or in the next day, because quitting sin doesn’t make Christians. Reformation is not what we need.

Matthew 12:45

This same situation is with us today. The hardest people in the world are unsaved church members because they think they are all right. They have undergone self-reformationempty, swept, and garnished. They are like a vacant house, and all the evil spirits have to do is move in. The Devil owns them, and they don’t recognize this fact. Reformation means death and destruction. Regeneration means life and liberty. The final section of this chapter is even more startling, and it belongs with what has immediately preceded. There is a relationship that is greater than mother and son and even blood brothers! This is a relationship which is established with God through Jesus Christ by faith in Him.

Matthew 12:46

The Lord is saying that the strongest relationship today is the relationship between Christ and a believer. Friend, if you are a child of God and you have unsaved family members, you are closer to Jesus Christ than you are to your own kin, including the mother that bore you. You are more closely related to other believers than you are to unsaved members of your family. This is tremendous! He is talking about a new relationship.

Matthew 12:50

And what is the will of the Father? That you hear the Lord Jesus Christ, that you accept Him and trust Him.