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Matthew 12:24-30
Some doubt; and some believe. Jesus has healed a demon-possessed man who was both blind and mute (Matthew 12:22). One key factor in Matthew 12:23 is that “everyone” was amazed. Many of those in the multitude believed that Jesus was the Messiah after seeing the miraculous healing of the demon-possessed man, and they believed in Him – their lives were changed forever by witnessing the power of Almighty God being released in His One and only Son Jesus.
But the Pharisees did not desire change. The new teachings of Jesus were different than the ways in which they had developed in worship, and the act of it. Matthew 12:24 teaches us that the Pharisees were so indifferent to Jesus that they credited His healing of the demon-possessed man to Satan. An accusation that twists the mission of Jesus on end and places Him as the evil that He has come to save the world from (John 3:16-17). Matthew 12:25-30 teaches us that Jesus knew their thoughts. As God in the form of a man, the philosophy of Jesus is much deeper than that of man. He explained Himself to the Pharisees by example. He states in Matthew 12:25-28 (NKJV), “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” Jesus adds an additional example in Matthew 12:29 by explaining that in order for one to have his way with another, the one must be able to bind/gain control of the other. This is in reference to His healing the demon-possessed man in Matthew 12:22. If Jesus was not stronger than the demon, He would not have been able to heal the man that the demon had possessed. This shows a conflict between Jesus and the demon, which implies that they could not have been one in the same as the Pharisees accused Jesus of being in Matthew 12:24. Jesus proclaims against the Pharisees in Matthew 12:30, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.” Jesus has come to gather together those who will believe in and accept the salvation that God offers through faith in Him.
This is a promise that Jesus is more powerful than Satan.
This is an example of the healing power of Jesus.
This is a promise that there is no middle ground in salvation; either you are with Jesus, or you are not.
We all have doubt in our lives. It is part of our nature. But when Satan takes control of our doubt, we find ourselves doubting our Creator God and the existence of our Savior, His One and only Son Jesus. Satan will use every trick in the book to draw us away from Jesus. One trick he uses is to put in our minds and hearts that he could never pull us away from God, or that because God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), that He will save us all, somehow, someway. But the truth is that the “somehow” and the “someway” is Jesus. This has been revealed to us in John 14:6 by Jesus Himself, as He declares, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (NIV).
Dear LORD,
Jesus shows Himself to us, and we continue to have doubt about Him being our Savior and the only way to salvation and eternal life in heaven, in Your glory. Please help us to believe. Fill our hearts and minds with Your Holy Spirit and help us to not just have faith in You, but that we would strive to grow in our relationship with You through salvation in Jesus, whom You sent to save the world from sin. In Jesus name I pray, amen.