Matthew 12

1 – 2

About that same time, Jesus was walking through some fields of grain on a Sabbath day. His followers were with him, and they were hungry. So they began to pick the grain and eat it. The Pharisees saw this, and they said to Jesus, “Look! Your followers are doing something that is against the Jewish law to do on the Sabbath day.”

The Old Testament said that you can eat some grain as you are walking through a field. Deuteronomy 23:25

We see again that the Jewish teachers found something wrong with the way Jesus was healing people and how His followers were not fasting but now the disciples are not eating grain in the correct way.

The devil will always find something to accuse you of, if it is not one thing, then it will be another. Ask Jesus to tell the devil to be quiet and keep your mind on things you know in the Bible.

3 – 8

Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he and the people with him were hungry? David went into God’s house. He and those with him ate the bread that was made holy for God. It was against the law for them to eat that bread. Only the priests were allowed to eat it. And have you not read in the law of Moses that on every Sabbath day the priests in the Temple break this law about the Sabbath day?

But the priests are not wrong for doing that. I tell you that there is something here that is greater than the Temple. The Scripture says, ‘I want faithful love more than I want animal sacrifices.’ You do not really know what those words mean. If you understood them, you would not judge those who have done nothing wrong. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day.

God will even forgive us for not following the smaller things in His Law if we have an important reason. When we need something He will even see this as more important.
People need rest every seven days, not because of the Old Testament Law but because we are weak and cannot keep our strength if we never stop and rest.

People who work seven days a week are always tired and get sick very easily.
So resting one day every week is not because we belong to a church that says we have to do this but it is so we can show God that we trust Him for the things we need without working every day. We also want to show Him that we look forward to spending some time with Him reading His Word and taking notes on what He shows us! Hosea 6:6

9 – 10

Jesus left there and went into their synagogue. In the synagogue, there was a man with a crippled hand. Some Jews there were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus of doing wrong. So they asked him, “Is it right to heal on the Sabbath day?”

The Jews had laws that said that you could save a life on the Lord’s day but you could not heal. The person that Jesus is the most interested in is the person who needs Him the most.

11 – 12

Jesus answered, “If any of you has a sheep, and it falls into a ditch on the Sabbath day, then you will take the sheep and help it out of the ditch. Surely a man is more important than a sheep. So the law of Moses allows people to do good things on the Sabbath day.”

Jesus is showing them that they are treating animals better than men. The Jewish people had to pretend that everything the leaders said was good. They would never talk about how these things were wrong. Jesus brings the truth into the open for all to see and the leaders cannot say anything to answer Him.

13 – 14

Then Jesus said to the man with the crippled hand, “Let me see your hand.” The man put his hand out, and the hand became well again, the same as the other hand. But the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.

God tells us to take the first step. We say that we cannot even take one step but God says that if we will try then He take over and do the things that are impossible for us. When we laugh at this and say that it would be stupid to even take this first step then we will never see what God can do.

We say, “God is asking me to do things that I cannot do!” If you will take the smallest step to try to do what He says, then He will give you the power to go the rest of the way.
If you do not want to try then you will stay where you are with a crippled hand!

15 – 19

Jesus knew what the Pharisees were doing, so he left that place. Many people followed him, and he healed all who were sick. But Jesus warned the people not to tell who he was. He did these things to make come true what Isaiah the prophet had said:

Here is my servant whom I have chosen. I love him, and I am pleased with him. I will put my Spirit in him. Then he will tell how I will judge all people fairly. He will not argue or shout. No one will hear his voice in the streets.

Jesus wanted people to make up their own minds about Him. God had set a certain day for the Messiah to be shown and Jesus was careful not to let people try to change this. See Daniel 9:25.

20 – 21

He will not break a crushed blade of grass. He will not put out even a weak flame. He will continue until he makes fair judgment win the victory. In him will the nations find hope.

Jesus will never stop trying to bring us to Himself! Do not give up as long as there is even a small flame of hope that somebody will come to Christ! Isaiah 42:1–4

22 – 23

Then some people brought a man to Jesus. This man was blind and could not talk, because he had a demon. Jesus healed the man, and the man could talk and see. All the people were amazed. They said, “Perhaps this man is the Son of David!”

It may be hard for you to understand this but when we bring the Gospel to people and they are able to really hear and see what it is, sand their lives are changed, then other people being to think that they have been wrong about who Jesus is.

24 – 26

The Pharisees heard the people saying this. The Pharisees said, “Jesus uses the power of Beelzebul to send demons out of people. Beelzebul is the ruler of demons.”
Jesus knew what the Pharisees were thinking.

So he said to them, “Every kingdom that is fighting against itself will be destroyed. And every city that is divided will fall. And every family that is divided cannot succeed. So if Satan forces out his own demons, then Satan is divided, and his kingdom will not continue.

The devil will not fight against himself. It is sad when families fight and destroy themselves. Why would anyone want to destroy what they have and then have nothing?

27 – 28

You say that I use the power of Satan when I force out demons. If that is true, then what power do your people use when they force out demons? So your own people prove that you are wrong. But if I use the power of God’s Spirit to force out demons, this shows that the kingdom of God has come to you.

Jesus asked them how this would make sense because they do not accuse their own people this way when they send demons out of people.

29. “If anyone wants to enter a strong
man’s house and steal his things, first he must tie up the strong man. Then he can steal the things from the strong man’s house.

Jesus is showing them that the demons have places that they call their own because men have given these places to them. There is a group of demons who rule over the area where you live. We see that there was such a place in Persia. Daniel 10:13

Jesus is saying that we make steal or take back the things that have been given to the devil. We can only do this if we first ask God to chain the demons so that we can take back what they have.

Here is how demons build a strong house: first they bring thoughts to your mind, then they suggest that you stay away from other Christians, they then suggest that they will tell people some stupid things you have done. If you allow this thoughts to stay in your mind you are giving the demons a place to build a house. They can only be made to leave if you take back what you gave them -your thoughts and permission to work in your life!

For when a strong man like Satan is fully armed and guards his house, his possessions are safe—until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings. Luke 11:19–22

30. “If anyone is not with me, then he is against me. He who does not work with me is working against me.

You are either someone who builds up or tears down. You either build people up or tear them down. You have to decide if you are living God’s way completely or your own way. There is no such thing as staying safe in the middle and doing nothing.

31 – 32

So I tell you, people can be forgiven for every sin they do. And people can be forgiven for every bad thing they say. But if anyone speaks against the Holy Spirit, then he will not be forgiven.

Anyone who says things against the Son of Man can be forgiven. But anyone who says things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. He will not be forgiven now or in the future.

The only sin that cannot be forgiven is turning away from Jesus. Anyone who will not listen to the plain truth of Jesus is getting close to a sin which cannot be forgiven.

The devil tells some people that they have done something that cannot be forgiven. These people will go around in circles saying that there is no use trying to live for Jesus because they have gone too far. The truth is that if they really had done a sin that could not be forgiven then they would not even care about it. Unless they have pushed away Jesus they can be forgiven!

33 – 37

If you want good fruit, you must make the tree good. If your tree is not good, then it will have bad fruit. A tree is known by the kind of fruit it produces. You snakes! You are evil people! How can you say anything good? The mouth speaks the things that are in the heart.

A good person has good things in his heart. And so he speaks the good things that come from his heart. But an evil person has evil in his heart. So he speaks the evil things that come from his heart.

And I tell you that people will have to explain about every careless thing they have said. This will happen on the Judgment Day. The words you have said will be used to judge you. Some of your words will prove you right, but some of your words will prove you guilty.”

Whatever is inside of you is what comes out. You can only hide the real you for a short time. If you keep Scriptures inside of you that is what will come out. You will be able to use old things that you have learned and new.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a homeowner who brings from his treasure new gems of truth as well as old. Matthew 13:52

38 – 40

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law answered Jesus. They said, “Teacher, we want to see you work a miracle as a sign.”

Jesus answered, “Evil and sinful people are the ones who want to see a miracle for a sign. But no sign will be given to them. The only sign will be what happened to the prophet Jonah.

Jonah was in the stomach of the big fish for three days and three nights. In the same way, the Son of Man will be in the grave three days and three nights.

They will understand later that Jonah was in the whale for three days and nights and Jesus was three days and nights in the tomb but came back to life.

If you need a miracle before you will believe God then you are not living by faith or trust. People say, “How can you believe in Jesus without any proof of who He is?” We say, “How can you not believe in Jesus when you have not found any proof that He is not who He says He is?”

41. And on the Judgment Day the men from Nineveh will stand up with you people who live today. They will show that you are guilty because when Jonah preached to them, they were sorry and changed their lives. And I tell you that someone greater than Jonah is here!

There was no mercy in the message of Jonah but the city of Nineveh turned to God anyway. Someday the men of Nineveh will say, “God sent Jesus to offer you mercy that we did not hear about and you did not listen!

42. On the Judgment Day, the Queen of the South will stand up with you people who live today. She will show that you are guilty because she came from far away to listen to Solomon’s wise teaching. And I tell you that someone greater than Solomon is here!

The Jews honor Solomon for his wisdom but Jesus is the One who gave him this wisdom! This Gentile queen traveled a long way because she knew that she needed wisdom but the Jews were even willing to listen when it was right in front of them.

43 – 45

When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it travels through dry places looking for a place to rest. But it finds no place to rest. So the spirit says, ‘I will go back to the home I left.’ When the spirit comes back to the man, the spirit finds the home still empty. The home is swept clean and made neat.

Then the evil spirit goes out and brings seven other spirits even more evil than it is. Then all the spirits go into the man and live there. And that man has even more trouble than he had before. It is the same way with the evil people who live today.”

Much of what we see is demons staying near people and putting evil thoughts in their minds. The only way that a demon can enter into a person is if they are invited in some way. If somebody invites them then that person becomes a slave to them. If this were not true then demons could just go into people any time they wanted to.

Jesus is showing that an empty life is a target for demons to come back. They are looking for a way to come back. You cannot leave a person empty after sending a demon out of them or else you are making their life worse than it was before.

People who have been set free need a strong relationship with Jesus and other Christians which is built on the Word. Even drug addicts know that they need a friend to walk with them or they go backwards.

46 – 50

While Jesus was talking to the people, his mother and brothers stood outside. They wanted to talk to him. Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are waiting for you outside. They want to talk to you.”

He answered, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he pointed to his followers and said, “See! These people are my mother and my brothers. My true brothers and sisters and mother are those who do the things that my Father in heaven wants.

Jesus was not saying anything bad about His family. He was saying these things to show us that those who have given their lives to Him are as close as His own family was to Him.