Matthew 12:22 ¶ Then was
brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed
him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, Is
not this the son of David? 24 But when
the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out
devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. 25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto
them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every
city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided
against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? 27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by
whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your
judges. 28 But if I cast out devils by
the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. 29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s
house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he
will spoil his house. 30 He that is not
with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner
of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against
the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. 32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son
of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy
Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world
to come. 33 Either make the tree good,
and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for
the tree is known by his fruit. 34
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for
out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of the
heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure
bringeth forth evil things. 36 But I say
unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account
thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For
by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
A man that can neither see nor speak, the meaning of dumb, is
brought to Jesus to be healed. How can you keep a lid on this? Remember that
these people lived in an age, like most of history, where doctors were helpless
to cure many things we know little of today unless we live in a poor country,
what Marxists call third-world.
Here, the Pharisees accuse Jesus of being in the service of the
Devil himself. Of course, the absurdity of that accusation is torn apart by
Jesus for why would Satan enlist anyone to attack himself?
The question comes up for Christians of can someone in this
dispensation, after the Resurrection, be condemned without mercy for
blaspheming the Holy Ghost by attributing His work in the world to Satan. I
discuss this in detail in Luke and Mark but one way we can look at it is for
the person who rejects Christ this is a very real warning. Still, the literal
conditions were that Christ was walking the earth and His work, the work of the
Holy Ghost, the very mind of God, was being linked to Satan as Satan’s own
work, which to them was a hideous blasphemy which could reap eternal punishment.
They could speak against Christ but not His work as that was also
the work of the very mind of God, the Holy Ghost, who is also God, the same
God, for God is one. An example might be the difference between someone
criticizing you as a Christian and condemning your effort to save someone as
the work of Satan. There are other religions who say this is so. Perhaps that
belief dooms them in eternity? To say the work of God is the work of Satan is a
very negative proclamation.
A tree is known by his fruit is a very powerful
statement. Here is the fruit a Christian is supposed to produce because of the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5:22 But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against
such there is no law. 24 And they that
are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
But the fruit spoken of here in context are the words men and
women say. The rest of this passage underscores the fact that words mean
something and that words reflect the spiritual state of our hearts. Idle words
can condemn us as careless speech often reveals the true heart.
Words as fruit coming from our mouths is reflected in other
passages.
Proverbs 18:20 A man’s
belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of
his lips shall he be filled.
Isaiah 57:19 I create the
fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is
near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him.
Hebrews 13:15 By him
therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the
fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
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