After all of the signs and miracles that Jesus did in the presence of these religious elite, and after HIS harsh rebuttal of their stubborn and blasphemous hearts, the Scribes and Pharisees who had been rebuked by Jesus for blasphemy had the audacity to ask for a sign from Jesus to prove to them who he was ... a sign to prove to them that Jesus himself was not blasphemous, not from Beelzebub.

How Jesus responds to these men reveals much about how Jesus is always LORD ... even when more is demanded of him.

Words matter. The consistent theme throughout scripture is that the only way to salvation is by God's grace manifest in man's faith. What Jesus means in these final verses of the passage is that words will be reliable evidence of the reality of salvation. While our LORD knows the hearts of men better than we do, the speech of the redeemed person will be different because the renewed heart is different. A new heart in Christ will produce speech that is praising of our LORD, it will express pure and wholesome speech. Words from the redeemed heart will honor Jesus Christ.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is unforgivable because the avenue to forgiveness is rejected ... slandered. In attributing the work of the Spirit of God to the person of Satan, the Pharisees are guilty of opposition to the Spirit of God ... the only Spirit that can change the will ... who can draw the unrepentant to repentance. These Pharisees rejected the very thought of repentance. Their willful unbelief was the final denial of the offer of grace.

A recent survey by the American Worldview Inventory 2021 from Arizona Christian University reveals some troubling realities. Out of 176 million Americans who identify as Christians, just 6% hold a recognizably Christian worldview. The majority of those surveyed as self-identified born again Evangelical Christians do not believe in the Holy Spirit as a "real, living being." Instead they identify the Holy Spirit as a mere "symbol of God's Power or presence". Is this also blasphemy?

In this passage we see Jesus' confrontation against the charges that he was under the power of Beelzebul (or Satan). Jesus shows in his action of casting out demons is that HE is LORD over the spiritual. But we also see that the demonic forces are invader of God's creation. The HOLY Spirit is at work as Jesus heals and as exorcises demons. If all of the created order is under the control of God the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, AND the Holy Spirit, then to condemn Jesus for casting out demons by the power of Satan is blasphemy against not only Jesus, the Son, but also the Holy Spirit.

In this passage Jesus heals a man of demon-possession and his blindness and his inability to speak. These physical ailments were certainly the result of demon possession. While all of the crowd around him were amazed, the Pharisees were not. They slandered the Holy Spirit by slandering Jesus who confronts the Satanic forces at work in this scene.

In this passage Jesus heals a man of demon-possession and his blindness and his inability to speak. These physical ailments were certainly the result of demon possession. While all of the crowd around him were amazed, the Pharisees were not. They slandered the Holy Spirit by slandering Jesus. Jesus confronts the Satanic forces at work in this scene.

Greater than Jesus' miracles of healing is the prophecy of him as the gentle and meek servant. Matthew includes the prophecy of Isaiah 42:1-4 in this intermission within the 12th chapter of the gospel as the greatest evidence that Jesus was/is the Messiah. Jesus never allowed the opposition of the Pharisees to hinder the ministry that God the Father placed upon him. In no way was the prophesied Beloved Servant of the Lord looking for attention or accolades from the people. Instead Jesus controlled the ministry to the suffering by withdrawing from the hinderances thus showing his Sovereign power as the Christ. He never allowed the political discourse to interfere or dominate the Kingdom of Heaven.

The point of Jesus' actions on the Sabbath was to show who HE was. Jesus is LORD of the Sabbath and is LORD of the Law of God. Jesus shows in this passage that the true purpose of his ministry was to restore fallen humanity to the original state of wholeness in relation to our Creator. By restoring the suffering hand of this poor man with a withered hand, Jesus shows that HE restores all things back to the state of where they ought to be. His compassion restores the health of this suffering man in the synagogue just as Jesus restores the soul of sinful men to the state of where it ought to be.

This passage speaks more about Jesus' authority that it does the proper definition of Sabbath. If Jesus is the authority spoken of in the Prophets, then how much more authority does HE possess over our hearts & lives? Jesus is our rest. HE is the authority over all the commands to work for six days and rest on the seventh. All of God's redeemed are to rest one day out of seven. Yet this day is our LORD's Day, not ours. All that is good is appropriate for our LORD on HIS day. So let us seek to do the good that HE calls us to. Let us be in Christ, the authority over the Lord's Day and over HIS law ... the Word of God, the Scriptures.

The first thing that we see in Jesus' conclusion of the discourse in eleventh chapter of Matthew is that those who come to him will share in the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who come to Jesus are those who are humble in hearing what Jesus chooses to reveal. Jesus calls all to unite with him in celebrating the hidden things of God that are now revealed. No one can come to faith on their own morality or intellect; only by the mysterious illumination of the Holy Spirit and by faith in Christ's atonement of sin can one be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus' yoke of salvation is light and gentle. Our LORD removes the penalty of sin from us and shares in the burden of the journey in this fallen world. This yoke is one of learning from Jesus how to release the burden of sin, to embrace the yoke of salvation from Jesus. HE will come alongside us and will carry the load with us while also taking the burden from us. Jesus is gentle. Jesus is humble.