Let’s read Matthew 12:25-28, “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: And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” In the previous verses, leading up to these, some people brought a person to the Lord who was possessed by a demon, he was blind, and he was dumb (mute). The Lord, when He saw this man, healed him. The people were amazed and asked, “Is not this the son of David?” However, the Pharisees committed blasphemy by claiming that the Lord drove out the demon by the power of Beelzebub, another name for Satan.

This was not the first time such an accusation had been brought against the Lord. He cast out a demon earlier and we read in Matthew 9:34, “But the Pharisees said, He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils.” This time, they did not dare speak directly to the Lord. They spoke among themselves. However, “Jesus knew their thoughts” and He rebuked them for their thoughts on this occasion. They should have been amazed that the Lord knew their thoughts, but that did not stop them from completely rejecting the Lord and His rightful claims of being their Messiah.

The Lord spoke to these men with great logic. It would make no sense at all for Satan to cast out Satan. He would be divided against himself, even as a nation would be divided against itself and be destroyed. There were, at that time, Jewish people who practiced exorcism. (For an example, Acts 19:13 says, “Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.”) The Lord wisely asks the Pharisees that if He cast out demons by the power of Satan, how did their own people cast out demons. They could not answer that question because they would condemn themselves with their answer.

Now let’s read Matthew 12:28 again, “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.” It was impossible for Satan to cast out Satan. Of course, there was only one other way this could have happened. It was by the power of the spirit of God that the Lord Jesus cast out these demons! Therefore the kingdom of God was among them in the person of God…Jesus Christ, Himself. The Lord Jesus said in Mark 1:15, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” We read in Matthew 9:35, “And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people.” This “gospel of the kingdom” is the proclamation that the kingdom of God was among them because their king was among them. The Pharisees refused to see that, acknowledge that, or believe that. John 1:11 says about Christ, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” He came to His own people, but His own people rejected Him. This portion we have been looking at, shows that sad truth. Even in the face of the Lord’s miraculous healing and His miraculous feat of knowing their thoughts, the Pharisees refused to acknowledge Christ as their king.

Dear readers, do not reject this One as Lord and Savior. He is the promised One. He is the One sent from His Father to give His life as a sacrifice for our sins. To reject Christ is to accept eternal hell. John 3:36 tells us, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Do you believe on the Son…the Lord Jesus Christ? (282.4)