THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS UPON US

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"

But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Matthew 12:22-28

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

We have seen earlier in the 12th Chapter of Matthew how the Pharisees, the Jewish religious authorities of the day, weren’t exactly pleased that Jesus had come to earth and was doing the work of the Father. In fact, Jesus had gained such a following through His teaching and healing that the Pharisees saw their legalistic approach to ministry threatened. This led them to not only challenge Jesus but also plot to kill Him. Indeed, as godly as the Pharisees advertised themselves, there was little doubt that Satan was working in and through them…a clear warning to any of us that no matter how righteous we think we are, we are still prone to temptation and failure.

In today’s passage, we find the Pharisees continuing to seek to discredit Jesus in His ministry. We read where “a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute” was brought to Him and Jesus “healed him…so that he could both talk and see”. And as we have seen happen at almost every point where Jesus performed a miracle, “all the people were astonished” and amazed…so much so that they asked among themselves, “Could this be the Son of David?" They had certainly witnessed the renewing power of Christ…and could not identify Him with anyone other than the Messiah…the anointed One sent from heaven to earth to reign over mankind in honor.

The Pharisees however saw it differently. For instead of relating Jesus with David, instead they chose to connect Him to “Beelzebub, the prince of demons”. They asserted that the power that Jesus used to drive out demons came from the very prince of the demons.

And with this, Jesus, knowing the thoughts of the Pharisees, took the opportunity to defend Himself saying:

"Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

No power in existence before or after Jesus ever survived if it was not united within. This was true in talking about earthly kingdoms and it was true in talking about spiritual ones. The entire purpose of good was to overcome evil. It would make little sense for anything good to destroy something else good…in fact, anyone saying they were destroying good because they are good is putting on a ruse. Because only evil seeks to destroy what is good.

So what was Jesus…an instrument of God or Beelzebub?

Well, evil would never try to drive out evil and so that ruled out any connection Jesus might have to the prince of demons. Indeed, He was connected to the Father for He could have not received holy, healing power from any other source. And since He was in fact driving out demons “by the Spirit of God”, then indeed, “the kingdom of God had come upon the people of Israel”.

And that kingdom has never departed…even to this day.

Friends, in the midst of those who would want to discredit Jesus today, we need to ever proclaim that He is alive and present…ready to root out and rid evil in and around us as readily as He did back in the days of our scripture.

Yes…the kingdom of God is upon us…and thanks be to God for that.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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