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We have seen that Matthew is a book concerned with the doctrine of the kingdom. In his Gospel Matthew does not give us a record of history; he takes the facts of history and puts them together to reveal the doctrine of the kingdom. Thus far, we have seen that Christ was born, was anointed, was tested, began His ministry, drew a crowd, decreed the heavenly constitution, and continued His ministry. His ministry produced the environment that enabled Him to reveal Himself in many aspects. Furthermore, His ministry caused Him to be fully rejected by that evil generation. We have also seen that the Lord called the laboring and burdened ones to come to Him for rest. He showed them that the way to rest is to break the regulations of religion and to care for the Head and for the members of the Body. It is through all this that the kingdom of the heavens is established on earth among men. We all need to be impressed with such a clear view.
Now we must see that in order for the kingdom of the heavens to be established, there is the need of a spiritual battle, of spiritual fighting. This fighting is implied in Matt. 12:22-37. In the establishment of the kingdom a fight is raging on. Although we have covered many things, we have not yet seen that the establishment of the kingdom requires spiritual fighting. As Christ, the heavenly King, was establishing the heavenly kingdom among men on earth, He was fighting. People, however, did not see this warfare. They saw what He did outwardly, but they did not realize what was taking place inwardly. Thus, Matthew selected another historical fact to point out the fighting that was going on as the King was establishing the heavenly kingdom.
At the time of 12:22-37 the Lord’s ministry was no longer so public. Instead of carrying out His ministry publicly, He did so in a rather cautious, calm way. Nevertheless, what the Lord did in verse 22 in healing a man possessed by a demon was a fact of history and could not be concealed.
Verse 22 says, “Then there was brought to Him one possessed by a demon, blind and dumb; and He healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw.” A blind and dumb man signifies one who has no sight to see God and spiritual things; thus he is unable to praise God and speak for God. This is the real condition of all fallen people. Such a man was brought to the King, the King cast out the demon, and the man was able to see and to speak. He uttered what he saw. This undoubtedly was a miracle and a sign. In the Old Testament there is no record of a blind man miraculously receiving his sight. For a blind man to receive his sight is a great sign.
Verse 23 says, “And all the crowds were amazed and said, Is this not the Son of David?” The miracle performed in healing the blind and dumb person amazed the crowds, and they said, “Is this not the Son of David?” This was the recognizing of Christ as their Messiah, their King.
Although the crowds were amazed, the Pharisees were offended, unable to tolerate the fact that through an extraordinary miracle the Lord Jesus had gained all the crowds. Hence, these Pharisees had to say something to deal with the situation. According to verse 24, they said, “This man does not cast out the demons except by Beelzebub, ruler of the demons.” This was the greatest blasphemy heaped upon the heavenly King by the opposing Pharisees. Beelzebub means the lord of the flies. It was changed in contempt by the Jews to Baalzebel, which means the lord of the dunghill, and was used for the ruler of the demons (Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15,18-19). The king of the dunghill, the most dirty place, full of flies, was Satan. Therefore, in the eyes of the ancient Jews, Beelzebub referred to Satan as the king of the demons and as the king of the dirty flies on the dunghill. To say that Christ cast out demons by Beelzebub meant that He cast them out by Satan. What blasphemy to accuse the heavenly King of this!
The Pharisees’ accusation afforded Christ an opportunity to reveal something further. Once again His ministry produced a situation that enabled Him to reveal something that we would otherwise be unable to see. Apparently the Lord had cast out a demon. Actually, that was not only the casting out of a demon; it was a fighting.
Verses 25 and 26 say, “But knowing their thoughts, He said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?” The Lord seemed to be saying to the Pharisees, “How could I cast out a demon by Satan? If I did this, then Satan would be fighting against Satan, and his kingdom could not stand.” Verse 26 is unique in the whole Bible in that no other verse opens the secret that Satan has his kingdom. Satan is the ruler of this world (John 12:31) and the ruler of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2). He has his authority (Acts 26:18) and his angels (Matt. 25:41), who are his subordinates as principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world (Eph. 6:12). Hence, he has his kingdom, the authority of darkness (Col. 1:13, Gk.). Satan’s kingdom is built on earth and among men. But the heavenly King has come to establish a heavenly kingdom also among men on earth. Therefore, these two kingdoms are in conflict. Satan’s kingdom is the old kingdom, but the heavenly King is about to establish a new kingdom, the kingdom of the heavens. By this we see that a battle is raging.
In verse 27 the Lord told the Pharisees, “And if I by Beelzebub cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.” Actually, it was not the Lord Jesus but the sons of the Pharisees who cast out demons by Beelzebub. This word of the Lord indicates that the Pharisees were one with Satan, the ruler of the demons.
Verse 28 says, “But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the kingdom of God is come upon you.” The Spirit of God is the power of the kingdom of God. Where the Spirit of God is in power, there the kingdom of God is, and there the demons have no ground. By the Lord’s word here we see that the battle fought for the kingdom is not fought by just a man himself, but by a man with the Spirit of God. In verse 28 the Lord said that He cast out demons by the Spirit of God and that this is the coming of the kingdom of God. Wherever the Spirit of God exercises His authority over the opposing situation, that is the kingdom of God.
The Lord is always careful with His words. In verse 28 He speaks of the kingdom of God, not of the kingdom of the heavens. Even at that time, the kingdom of the heavens had still not come. The kingdom of God, however, was there already.
Verse 29 reveals that before the Lord cast out the demon, He firstly fought against Satan. This verse says, “Or how can anyone enter into the house of the strong man and plunder his vessels unless he first bind the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.” The “house” here signifies the kingdom of Satan, and “the strong man” is Satan, the evil one. The Greek word translated “vessels” also means instruments, apparatus; hence, goods, stuff. The fallen people under Satan are his vessels, his instruments for his use. They are his goods kept in his house, his kingdom. The word about binding the strong man indicates that when the Lord cast out demons, He first bound Satan. The people saw only the casting out of the demon. They did not see the binding of Satan, the strong man. Thus, the Lord used the opportunity afforded Him by the accusation of the Pharisees to reveal the secret of spiritual fighting. Apparently, the Lord was only casting out the demon; actually, He was fighting, binding the strong man. This shows us that if we would build the kingdom today, we must first bind the strong man.
The way to bind the strong man is to pray. When we come to chapter seventeen, we shall see that the disciples came to the Lord and asked Him why He could cast out the demon and they could not. In 17:21 the Lord told His disciples, “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” If you do not pray and fast, you simply cannot cast out this kind of demon. The Lord’s word to His disciples indicates that before He cast out a demon, He surely fasted and prayed. In order to bind the strong man, we must fast and pray. The Lord fasted and prayed secretly. The disciples did not see this. We must learn of the Lord to fast in secret and to pray in secret. I believe that when the Lord Jesus was on earth, He often fasted and prayed to fight the battle and to bind the strong man. We all must be in the same spirit today. Every day our spirit must be a fasting spirit and a praying spirit so that we may daily bind the strong man, who is Satan, the king of the kingdom of darkness.
Satan has a kingdom of darkness on earth, and the whole earth is under his usurpation. It is difficult to take one out of Satan’s hand. Every fallen person is a vessel in Satan’s house. Satan’s house is his kingdom, and in his house are many vessels, the many fallen persons. In order to take a fallen person out of Satan’s house, we must bind the strong man by prayer and fasting. This is the fighting of the spiritual battle for the establishment of the kingdom of the heavens.
Chapter twelve of Matthew occupies a special place in the New Testament because it reveals that Satan has a kingdom, that Satan is the strong man usurping all the God-created people, and that in order to take people out of his usurping hand, there is the need to bind him. The way to bind the strong man is by fasting and praying. The battle unveiled in chapter twelve is not seen in the foregoing eleven chapters. In those chapters we see the rest and the breaking of the regulations for the Head and for the members of the Body. But we do not see the kingdom of darkness. There are two kingdoms on earth: one is the kingdom of darkness, and the other is the kingdom of the heavens in the light. These two kingdoms are now confronting each other on earth. Therefore, there is the need to fight the battle. We all must fast and pray to bind the strong man. Then we shall be able to plunder his house.
This is a real revelation. Not many Christians have read Matthew twelve in this way because they do not see the kingdom. To them, the kingdom is either simply a doctrinal term or something suspended for a future time. But we realize that all that the Lord is doing with us today is for the establishment of the heavenly kingdom. We are the kingdom people. Today a battle is raging between two kingdoms. The continuation of the Lord’s ministry produced the opportunity for this further revelation.
In verse 30 the Lord says, “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who is not gathering with Me is scattering.” At that time the Pharisees were not one with the heavenly King, so they were against Him. They were not gathering with Him, but were scattering away from Him. Hence, they were absolutely separated from Him and joined to His enemy, Satan.
In verse 31 the Lord said to the Pharisees, “Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be forgiven.” The blasphemy of the Spirit differs from insulting the Spirit (Heb. 10:29). To insult the Spirit is to disobey Him willfully. Many believers do this. If they confess this sin, they will be forgiven and cleansed by the Lord’s blood (1 John 1:7, 9). But to blaspheme the Spirit is to slander Him, as the Pharisees did in verse 24. It was by the Spirit that the Lord cast out a demon. But the Pharisees, seeing it, said that the Lord cast out demons by Beelzebub, ruler of the demons. This was blasphemy against the Spirit. By such blasphemy, the Pharisees’ rejection of the heavenly King reached its climax.
The Lord seemed to be saying to the Pharisees, “Your blasphemy is not forgivable. I cast out the demon by the Spirit of God, but you say that I cast it out by Satan, the king of the demons. You go too far in saying this. You have uttered a blasphemy that is unforgivable. You have not merely insulted the Spirit or disobeyed the Spirit, but you have blasphemed the Spirit. He is the Spirit of God, even God Himself. I cast out the demon by God Himself as the Spirit; yet you say that this God is Satan, the king of the demons and the king of the dirty flies of the dunghill. In saying this you have committed an unforgivable sin.”
In verse 32 the Lord continued, “And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the coming one.” In the economy of the Triune God, the Father conceived the plan of redemption (Eph. 1:5, 9), the Son accomplished redemption according to the Father’s plan (1 Pet. 2:24; Gal. 1:4), and the Spirit reaches sinners to apply the redemption accomplished by the Son (1 Cor. 6:11; 1 Pet. 1:2). If the sinner blasphemes the Son as Saul of Tarsus did, the Spirit still has the ground to work upon him and cause him to repent and believe in the Son that he may be forgiven (see 1 Tim. 1:13-16). But if the sinner blasphemes the Spirit, the Spirit will have no ground to work upon him, and there will be none left to cause him to repent and believe. Hence, it is impossible for such a person to be forgiven. This is not only logical, according to reason, but governmental according to God’s administrative principle, as revealed here by the Lord’s word.
In God’s governmental administration, His forgiveness is dispensational. For His administration, He has planned different ages. The period from the first coming of Christ to eternity is divided dispensationally into three ages: this age, the present one, from Christ’s first coming to His second coming; the coming age, the millennium, the one thousand years for restoration and heavenly reigning, from Christ’s second coming to the end of the old heaven and old earth; and eternity, the eternal age of the new heaven and new earth. God’s forgiveness in this age is for sinners’ eternal salvation. This forgiveness is given both to sinners and believers. God’s forgiveness in the coming age is related to the believers’ dispensational reward. If a believer, after being saved, commits any sin, but will not make a clearance through confession and the cleansing of the Lord’s blood (1 John 1:7, 9) before he dies or the Lord comes back, this sin will not be forgiven in this age, but will remain to be judged at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). He will not be rewarded with the kingdom to participate in the glory and joy with Christ in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, but will be disciplined to make a clearance of this sin and will be forgiven in the coming age (Matt. 18:23-35). This kind of forgiveness will maintain his eternal salvation, but it will not qualify him to participate in the glory and joy of the coming kingdom.
In verse 33 the Lord said, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt; for by the fruit the tree is known.” A tree is known by its fruit. That the Pharisees were evil was exposed by their evil deeds.
Verses 34 and 35 say, “Brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man out of the good treasure brings forth good things, and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” The Pharisees were filled in their hearts with the abundance of evil. Hence, their mouth uttered the evil out of their heart.
Verse 36 says, “And I say to you that every idle word which men shall speak, they shall render account concerning it in the day of judgment.” The Greek word rendered “idle” is argos, composed of two words: a meaning not, and ergon meaning work. An idle word is a non-working word, an inoperative word, having no positive function, useless, unprofitable, unfruitful, and barren. In the day of judgment, those who speak such words will render account concerning every one of them. Since this is the case, how much more must man account for every wicked word!
The Lord seemed to be telling the opposers, “Be careful with your speaking. Every idle word, every unimportant word, will be judged. There will be a day of judgment, and whatever you say will be judged at that time.” This is a very serious matter.
In verse 37 the Lord concludes, “For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be convicted.” What a warning this is! We must learn to control and restrict our speaking.
The opposing Pharisees were not only defeated, but also subdued. They did not have a case. Whenever the Lord Jesus gives an answer, there is no more argument.
