Mat 12:22-32 | KingComments | STEP | The man brought to the Lord is miserable. He is demon-possessed. This demon has him in his power to the extent that he sees nothing and cannot say anything. He does not know where he is and cannot call for help. Fortunately, the Lord is there with His mercy, and there are people who bring the man to Him. He answers their faith with healing. In this man we can see a picture of the situation in which Israel finds itself. As a whole, the nation is blind to the glory of Christ and does not come to Him to confess Him as their Messiah. The crowds are deeply impressed by this healing. They even express the suspicion that He may be the Son of David. They don’t go any further, their hearts haven’t truly been touched. When the Pharisees hear this statement, they want to prevent the crowds from even thinking in that direction. They want to nip this suspicion in the bud and accuse the Lord in the most blasphemous way possible. There is no coarser and more offensive accusation imaginable than to accuse Him of performing His miracles of grace in the power of the ruler of demons, that is satan himself. At the same time it makes clear the complete unwillingness of the Pharisees to see anything of God in Him. It is impossible to deny that God is at work in Christ among His people in goodness and grace. For them it is not a matter of error, but the denial of the undeniable. They resist against their better judgment. Knowingly and willingly they reject Him. The Lord has not responded to a similar, previous blasphemy ( ). Now he deals with it. With an example from daily life He appeals to the sober mind and thus proves the total absurdity of their statement. He shows with His argument that they have no understanding. Every right-minded person knows that it is impossible to maintain something that is internally divided, regardless of whether it is a kingdom or a house. Inner division means downfall and no success. The conclusion is clear. It is impossible for Him to drive out the demons through Beelzebul. He gives a second argument for their nonsensical claim. He states that argument as a question. Their sons are busy casting out demons. If they are consistent, they should say that their sons also do it through satan. Of course they will never want to say that. Well, says the Lord, then your sons will be your judges. The conduct of their sons will denounce their blasphemy, and will be a witness that they have blasphemed Him.

‏ Matthew 12:22-32

The Lord Jesus and Beelzebul

The man brought to the Lord is miserable. He is demon-possessed. This demon has him in his power to the extent that he sees nothing and cannot say anything. He does not know where he is and cannot call for help. Fortunately, the Lord is there with His mercy, and there are people who bring the man to Him. He answers their faith with healing. In this man we can see a picture of the situation in which Israel finds itself. As a whole, the nation is blind to the glory of Christ and does not come to Him to confess Him as their Messiah.

The crowds are deeply impressed by this healing. They even express the suspicion that He may be the Son of David. They don’t go any further, their hearts haven’t truly been touched. When the Pharisees hear this statement, they want to prevent the crowds from even thinking in that direction. They want to nip this suspicion in the bud and accuse the Lord in the most blasphemous way possible.

There is no coarser and more offensive accusation imaginable than to accuse Him of performing His miracles of grace in the power of the ruler of demons, that is satan himself. At the same time it makes clear the complete unwillingness of the Pharisees to see anything of God in Him. It is impossible to deny that God is at work in Christ among His people in goodness and grace. For them it is not a matter of error, but the denial of the undeniable. They resist against their better judgment. Knowingly and willingly they reject Him.

The Lord has not responded to a similar, previous blasphemy (Mt 9:34). Now he deals with it. With an example from daily life He appeals to the sober mind and thus proves the total absurdity of their statement. He shows with His argument that they have no understanding. Every right-minded person knows that it is impossible to maintain something that is internally divided, regardless of whether it is a kingdom or a house. Inner division means downfall and no success. The conclusion is clear. It is impossible for Him to drive out the demons through Beelzebul.

He gives a second argument for their nonsensical claim. He states that argument as a question. Their sons are busy casting out demons. If they are consistent, they should say that their sons also do it through satan. Of course they will never want to say that. Well, says the Lord, then your sons will be your judges. The conduct of their sons will denounce their blasphemy, and will be a witness that they have blasphemed Him.

Blasphemy Against the Spirit

The Lord tells them the true origin of His actions. He acts through the Spirit of God. This means that the kingdom of God has come to them. Of course they do not want to acknowledge that, but the fact remains. In Christ God is busy establishing His kingdom. Therefore He goes into the house of the strong, that is the devil, and robs him of his household goods, that is people who find themselves in his power. The Lord bound the strong man when He defeated him in the wilderness with God’s Word (Mt 4:1-11). Then He went through the land, doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38). On the cross He will bruise the devil’s head.

With regard to His performance against the kingdom of satan and the plunder of his house, one can only be a follower or an opponent. Neutrality is impossible. He who does not put himself unambiguously by His side, is against Him. He is busy gathering for the kingdom of heaven. He who is not engaged with Him in this, is engaged in the opposite, the scattering, and reveals himself as an opponent of the kingdom.

The seriousness of the sin of the Pharisees is so great because they know that the Lord is good and works through the Holy Spirit, but despite all the evidence attribute His work to satan. They are thus guilty of the unforgivable sin of “the blasphemy against the Spirit”. This sin is different from any other sin. For any other sin, forgiveness is possible. Even those who resist the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man can count on forgiveness if that sin is confessed.

Every sin that a man does is a sin against the triune God, so against the Father as well as against the Son and the Holy Spirit. What makes the blasphemy against the Spirit so special? This sin is special because it is about the expression of the Spirit in the Person of Christ on earth. It is impossible to inadvertently attribute something Christ does to satan. Whoever says of the Holy Spirit, Who is expressed perfectly in Christ, He is satan, does so consciously.

What Christ does is always perfect through the Spirit. He is the Sinless One. In His whole life and His whole being there is nothing of sin or the sinful flesh present. Everything is pure by the Spirit. Someone can be blind to the glory of the Lord Jesus. But if anyone consciously attributes His actions, which He does through the Spirit, to satan there is a hardening of a heart that lives in rebellion against Him and that absolutely does not want to bow before Him.

The fact that the blasphemy against the Spirit is specifically to do with Christ, and then also with His personal presence on earth, is apparent from the words that this sin is not forgiven “either in this age or in the [age] to come”. In both cases, this age and the age to come, it is a period that Christ is on earth. This is so at His first coming and His second coming. Therefore it is not possible to commit this sin now, in the present time when the Lord Jesus is not on earth.