Jesus heals a blind mute demoniac
Mt 12:22-23 22 Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. 23 All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?" 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons." 25 And knowing their thoughts Jesus said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 "If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? 27 "If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 28 "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 "Or how can anyone enter the strong man's house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
Mt 12:30-32 "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. 31 "Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32 "Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
Mt 12:33-37 "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 "You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35 "The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. 36 "But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. 37 "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
Lk 11:14-28 14 And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute; when the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed. 15 But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons." 16 Others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven. 17 But He knew their thoughts and said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls. 18 "If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 "And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? So they will be your judges. 20 "But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are undisturbed. 22 "But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away from him all his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. 23 "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters. 24 "When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' 25 "And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. 26 "Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first." 27 While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed." 28 But He said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it."
Jesus heals a blind and mute man, and the crowd marvel. The Pharisees, who were jealous of Jesus, tried to make Jesus look bad by saying that Jesus was doing His miracles by the power of Satan. In reality, Jesus was doing His miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit, and so the Pharisees were calling the Holy Spirit the most evil spirit ever.
To call the Holy Spirit satanic is blasphemy (blasphemy is saying incorrect things about God, like calling God evil).
Jesus warned them about doing that, and it is very important for us to take heed to His warning too.
We must be very careful about the words we speak (and write), because they can determine our eternal destiny! Speaking against the Holy Spirit (e.g. calling the Holy Spirit evil) is the only thing that is unforgivable – forever. Therefore, we must make sure that we never do that.
The words you speak are an indication of your heart. If your heart is good, your words will be good too. If your heart is bad, your words will be bad too. Therefore, it is very important to keep your heart good, and not hate or wish evil for anyone.
The Pharisees hated Jesus because Jesus exposed their hypocrisy. Since they hated Jesus, they were not willing to acknowledge who He said He was, and so they branded Him a liar. As a result, they had to explain away His miracles. They did that by saying He was casting demons out with Satan’s help – and that got them into a lot more trouble.
When you are in a verbal argument with someone, be very careful about what you say to them and about them; otherwise, you can end up in a lot of trouble just like the Pharisees did.
Some were asking for a sign that His miracles were from God. Jesus uses impeccable logic to point out that His miracles had to be from God. Here is how His logic went…
Satan has a kingdom.
Any kingdom, city or house, that is divided cannot stand.
So clearly Satan would not be involved in casting out his own demons. If he did, his kingdom would be destroyed very quickly.
Next, to cast out demons, you have to be stronger than the demons and their leader. Only God is stronger than them. Therefore, Jesus must have been casting out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit.
When it comes to God, there is no neutral ground. If you are not with God then you are against God. If you don’t gather with God then you scatter.
A woman commented that Jesus’ mother was very fortunate to have borne Jesus, but Jesus pointed out that bearing Jesus is not as great as carefully listening to what God has to say and then obeying Him. Just because you wear religious clothing or jewelry (like the cross for example) it doesn’t endear God to you; you have to value what God says and obey Him if you want His approval.
Finally, the Pharisees were making it sound as if casting out demons is not a big deal, and anyone can do it. Jesus says that, in reality, casting out demons is not a trivial task that anyone can do. Demons look for people to possess because they are not comfortable in our realm without a body to possess. They will happily possess you if you let them. What’s more, they will bring other demons more evil than them to join them in possessing you. To push them out of a man, and keep them out, requires that you (or the person you represent) be more powerful than them. Otherwise, they will just beat you up.
Now let’s look at the spiritual symbolism around this miracle…
Deaf people can’t hear what you say. Spiritually deaf people can’t hear what God is saying to them.
The Pharisees were spiritually deaf. God was telling them that Jesus was the Messiah, but they could not hear what He had to say. The Pharisees didn’t hear God, and they ended up crucifying the Messiah.
Hearing what God has to say is very important. Man shall not live by bread alone but ... (note the present tense).
Mt 4:4 4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.' "
In the Old Testament, God instituted the Sabbath so that the Jews would take time to hear what God had to say to them and then go and do it. But they misunderstood the purpose of the Sabbath.
In the New Testament, head covering is important when praying or prophesying i.e. when communicating with God; prophesying is when God is communicating to His people. Per 1 Cor 11, a woman with short hair will not be able to hear God; neither will a man with long hair. But most people ignore what God has said in 1 Cor 11.
Jesus often said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear," after saying things of importance. When Martha complained that Mary was not helping her, Jesus told Martha that Mary was doing the right thing by hearing what Jesus had to say. Doing something is only of value if you are doing what God wants you to do.
Do you have ears to hear? Or are you spiritually deaf? If you are spiritually deaf, are you bothered by that, or are you comfortable being spiritually deaf? Do you do things without first getting your instruction from God?
Even today, few people have ears to hear.
But the message of this miracle is that God can give you ears to hear. But you must fear God (more than any man), love the truth, tremble at His word, and humble yourself before Him.
Learn to discern the voice of God and obey it. Its impact on your eternal reward is huge.
Next, blind people can’t see what is around them. Spiritually blind people do not understand the spiritual realities around them. They mistake evil for good, and good for evil. They mistake truth for falsehood, and falsehood for truth. They have no discernment, and they depend on other people to tell them truth about spiritual things. The Pharisees were the real blind people in this story, and they didn’t even know it.
The good news is that Jesus came to help those who are spiritually blind to see, and the spiritually deaf to hear. Let Him bring spiritual healing into your life, and you will be able to sense spiritual realities that you never before knew existed.
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