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Matthew 12:46-50
In Matthew 12:46-50, as Jesus continues to teach the multitudes, His earthly family approached the place where He was, and it was noticed by someone there. Matthew 12:47 (NKJV) states, “Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.” But Jesus, in His ministry, replied as found in Matthew 12:48-50, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here a re My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.”
Jesus was speaking spiritually, which was a big part of His ministry: to get people to understand that believing in God Almighty in heaven is a spiritual awakening. His physical family on earth is His connection to humanity as becoming a man in the requirement to be the sacrifice for all sin. But His spiritual connection is His connection to God Almighty in heaven, and to the lessons in which He is sharing with the multitudes.
This is a promise and example that Jesus is making the spiritual connection to our Father God in heaven and to the requirement for doing the will of God.
It is the spiritual connection that changes the heart, mind, and soul of the believer. Without the spiritual connection to God through His Holy Spirit, which is only given to those who accept Jesus and His teachings, God’s Holy Spirit does not come to live within us. Jesus teaches us in John 14:15-17 (ESV), “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” The family of God are those who open their hearts to the spiritual indwelling by His Holy Spirit, as Jesus has taught us in Matthew 12:32 (NKJV), “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.” Without God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within us, we have not become believers in Him.
Believing in Jesus is believing in the Bible; that means we believe that the Bible is God’s Word inspired through the prophets and apostles as it was written. We do not have the right to question God’s Word as if we know a better way – Jesus is the better way – and we are to accept God’s Word in our hearts and strive to understand His Word through our growing relationships with Him through the salvation and belief in Him that is the revealing factor. God sent Jesus to open the door to forgiveness through Him as He died for our sins and became the door to eternal life. Jesus declares in John 10:9 (HCSB), “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.”
Dear LORD,
We are all seeking the fulfilling of our hearts with the satisfaction that only comes through the indwelling of Your Holy Spirit. We search far and wide on this earth to find something that will give our heart’s desire the peace that only comes through believing in You, which is believing in becoming a part of Your spiritual family through the indwelling of Your Holy Spirit, which only comes through believing in Your One and only Son Jesus. You sent Jesus to save the world from sin (John 3:16-17); please help us to believe LORD so that we will be accepted into Your eternal family. In Jesus name I pray, amen.