The Book of Matthew
Matthew was taught by Dr. James Modlish

CHAPTER TWELVE

Intro: To bring us up to speed we have observed so far:

        Ch. 1        genealogy of the King

        Ch. 2        the birth of the King

        Ch. 3        the herald of the King

        Ch. 4        the preparation of the King

        Ch. 5-7     shows the constitution of His kingdom

        Ch. 8-9     present His Old Testament credentials as King

        Ch. 10      shows the messenger of the kingdom being preached

        Ch. 11      the rejection of the King and the kingdom

The last three verses of Chapter 11 include a veiled hint that salvation may be more national, it may even by an individual thing.

12:1-8

[1]. "Corn" has been a disputed subject - the usual interpretation being corn was unknown in Egypt or Palestine. See NIV.

(a). "Corn" may refer to other grain - (Jn. 12:24).

(b). Corn is in (Gen. 41:5-7).

(c). Corn is in the ear - (Mk. 4:26-29).

(d). (Deut. 23:25).

[2]. The majority of problems have always come from Pharisees, that why so many messages on the heart - to prevent any Pharisological attitudes.
[3]. "Have ye not read" is one of Jesus favorite answers, it seems Pharisees spend more time criticizing than reading.
[4]. The Scripture Jesus quotes is the story of what David the King did when he was being persecuted as an exile king (Satan) whom the people will accept - (Zech. 11:16; Jn. 5:42).
[5]. Jesus' response:

(a). David broke it - (1 Sam. 21:1-6).

(b). The priest break it - for the daily sacrifice was to continue seven days a week in (Num. 29).

[6]. "One greater" continues to emphasize the fact that himself out of the ordinary.
[7]. The quote is from (Hos. 6:6). The guiltless is Christ.
[8]. Bottom line - if God created the Sabbath day, can't He do anything He wants to with it, the obvious answer is yes - but here they would have to recognize the Christ is God.

12:9-13 Pharisees always get hung up on a ceremonial law that is found in the midst of moral law.

[1]. No one every kept it before Moses - (Neh. 9:14).

[2]. It's a sign of something yet future (Millennium) given to Israel - (Eze. 20:20).

[3]. Gentile is told to omit it - (Rom. 13:18-11).

[4]. (Vs. 12) sums the entire matter up! The man's hand was restored just like Jeroboam's - (1 Ki. 13:6).

12:14-16

[1]. The irrational behavior of the Pharisees can only be explained by the fact that they made their living drawing attention to ceremonial observances.

[2]. During the Passover week they were murdering God's Son with a clear conscience, but were worried about walking in the wrong building the same day, lest they should get some "Gentile defilement" (Jn. 18:28).

[3]. The Lord withdrew, not because they could kill Him against His will, (Jn. 10:18) but because they time was not right.

12:17-21

[1]. This signals the end of Christ's attempts to put His messiahship on Israel. The unpardonable sin which follows and parables of the kingdom sets the tone for God dealing with the Gentiles.

[2]. "That it might be fulfilled" must be linked to the warming of His disciples not to make Him known; this checks with vs. 19.

[3]. God here is giving light on a previous mystery. By reading the entire quotation (Isa. 42:1-4), there is no way to tell whether it is an individual (as in Isa. 41:8) representing Israel (Isa. 45:4), or whether it is the individual Messiah (Isa. 49:6; 41:25) representing Jehovah (Isa. 53).

[4]. This is the mystery that baffled the prophets (1 Pet. 1:10-11). As the Pharisees missed the first coming the modern man misses the second coming.

[5]. (Vs. 20) is the most difficult verse in the chapter and little can be done except to spiritualize it so that it has some application to God's treatment of weak saints. The bruised reed may refer to a saint who has been bruised in service, but God does not break him but heals him (Heb. 12:13). The smoking flax may be a type of the Holy Spirit in the saint (1 Thess. 5:19).

[6]. Vs. 21 - See (Matt. 15:24-28).

12:22-24

[1]. The chronology is developing in the chapter.

(a). Signs and wonders are offered to Israel (vs. 13).

(b). Upon rejection Christ turns to the Gentiles (Jn. 1:12), until the fullness of the Gentiles become in while Israel is blinded (Acts 28:25-28).

(c). Where upon He restores Israel as He restores the blind and dumb man.

(d). The blind is also demon possessed. (Acts 16:16-18)

[2]. The emphasis seems to be Gentile - Jonah, Queen of Sheba.

12:25-28

[1]. "Jesus knew their thoughts."

Sometimes this insight is not immediate and reads "when Jesus knew" (Mk. 8:17; 11:13; Lk. 5:22; 9;47). It's another demonstration of Jesus humility and humanity, for He willingly limited Himself in energy, thought and perception. (Jn. 4:6).

How opposite we are, for we are anxious for people to know how much we know, not how little!

[2]. "if Satan cast out Satan."

In colloquia Americana: "Your crowd professes to have the power to cast out devils and you bran on them. All right, if it works for them, it works for me. Why don't you brag on me. I'm doing what you profess to do."

[3]. "Therefore they shall be your judges."

"When your sons return from a casting out and talk with you about it and you tell them what I have been doing, they will decide for themselves whether it is God or Satan casting out, and they will 'eye you' close if you imply that it is Satan that is doing it; that will reflect on them."

[4]. "The kingdom of God is come unto you."

This is the second time this expression appears (first in 6:33), giving only a hint of something different than a physical kingdom. But Christ is a double-king, and devil's a Spirit being, so it is necessary to once again introduce the subject.

12:29-30

[1]. This parable is so deep and complicated the audience is totally befuddled.

(a). Strong man is the Devil.

(b). "His goods" must be the people he controls (12:22).

(c). "His house" can refer to Israel as a nation (12:42-45), or it can be the body, or a man as the temple of the "unclean Spirit" (12:43,33).

[2]. Christ will do the spoiling (Jn. 12:31; 16:11), with the final spoiling in (Rev. 11:15).
[3]. So how can the spoiling happen when the strong man is still loose and He who will do the binding has not returned.

12:31-32

[1]. What the sin is not!

(a). Suicide, murder, divorce or rejecting Christ, because people do that and later find forgiveness.

[2]. What is it?
(a). It is speaking something.
(b). It is saying that Jesus Christ has an unclean spirit, (Mk. 3:27-30).

12:33-35

[1]. The verses refer back to (7:16-19). It is a reminder that Israel is in the middle of an "offer-of-the-kingdom" situation. Israel is a tree, just like men are trees, (Mk. 8:24).

[2]. "O generation of vipers" has direct reference to the use this king of language sets Jesus apart from the average "minister" of today.

[3]. Good treasure - Word of God, (13:52).

Evil treasure - hardness and stubbornness, (Rom. 2:5).

12:36-37 Remember Jesus is talking about what comes out of the mouth. Of the six questions asked by Job when under trial, four of them deal with things that come from the mouth,

(Job. 26:2-4), The spirit of man, the Lord or Satan when coming from the mans mouth when he speaks, (1 Ki. 22:15-23).

12:38-42

[1]. Notice when Jesus got too close to the fence they changed the subject, your heart and words are difficult subjects. Straight preaching is usually avoided.

[2]. The problem with Israel asking for a sign (even though they have the right to - (1 Cor. 1:22, Ex. 4:9-30), is that they have already been presented with a thousand of them.

[3]. Signs seeking people are adulterous - why? They are cheating on God, they are not staying true to their original vow of believing Him.

[4]. The sign is not healing, tongues or expulsion of demons, but a resurrection.

(a). It does not say Jonah stayed alive. (Jonah 2:26).

(b). If God the creator of whales (Gen. 1:21) wants to call them a great fish, it's His business.

(c). Three days

    (aa). He came in Sunday morning - (Mk. 11:11).

    (bb). He slept at Bethany Sunday night - (Mk. 11:12).

    (cc). He cursed the fig tree Monday morning - (Mk. 11:14).

    (dd). Saw it withered Tuesday - (Mk. 11:20).

    (ee). Tuesday evening at 5:00 was two days before the Passover - (Mk. 14:1; Matt. 26:1,2).

    (ff). Disciples went out to find a room on Tuesday - (Lk. 22:7).

    (gg). Tuesday evening at the end of the third day of the week the Passover is killed.

So Jesus was killed on Wednesday, in the tome by 6:00pm and comes out Saturday at 6:00 pm - see (Gen. 1:5,8,13, etc.) The angel descends at midnight and the women come to the grave around 5:30am Sunday.

[5]. Jonas has no compassion - Christ died.

Jonas could not forgive sin - Christ could.

Jonas was a bad example to his converts, whereas Christ was perfect.

Jonas suffered a little, while Christ suffered the full judgment of God against sin (2 Cor. 19-21).

[6]. The queen of the south is a reference to the Queen of Sheba - what will give her the right to judge?

(a). She was uninvited, whereas Israel had an invitation, (Matt. 23:3; 11:28-30).

(b). She came on a mere report, where Israel had evidence.

(c). She came from afar, while miracles to Israel were performed in their home towns.

(d). She spent thousands to make the trip, while these spent nothing.

(e). She same to a mere mortal man, while these had the opportunity to come to a man who never had to ask anyone to forgive Him of anything.

12:43-45 The unidentified man in the parable is to the context a perfect illustration of Israel, however when the parable is told in
(Lk. 11:24), it could no doubt apply to anyone.

Jesus constantly refers to demons and obviously believes in their existence - (Matt. 17:18; Mk. 5:1-13). Why does the modern world think then that all mental problems have to be explained by some psychological language. When was the last time they ever diagnoses anyone with a demon. Could it be that unclean and seducing spirits have a religion? (1 Tim. 4:1-5).

[1]. What Demons desire:

(a). Demons have an affinity for wet places. Notice the one in the text finds no rest in dry places.

(b). Demons seek a body and the human body is 80% water, (Mk. 5:12).

(c). Bodies thus inhabited tend to go to water, (Matt. 17:15; Mk. 5:13).

(d). Fallen angels of pre-deluge days are drowned, (2 Pet. 2:4,5; Ps. 81).

[2]. The final destination of demons is a lake of fire, (Rev. 20).

(a). The demon-possessed boy of (Matt. 17) heads for fire, hence warm water sea ports.

[3]. The mans body is the demon's house (Eph. 2:1-3), even as the Christian's body is the Temple of God.

(a). The man cleans up his live morally, furnishes it with religion, but he is lost. (2 Pet. 19-22). Saul and Balaam are excellent examples.

12:46-50

[1]. Notice Jesus never gives Mary as much reverence as the Catholic Church does.

[2]. Jesus brothers are his brothers.

[3]. His real brethren are a remnant of Hebrew believers who accept Him, (Heb. 2:11; Matt. 25:40; Heb. 2:13; Jn. 20:17).

-Page Navigation-

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28