Matthew 12

Matthew 12

Matthew 12:6-8 NIV

[6] I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. [7] If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. [8] For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

The temple was a place for the people to come to God. Jesus is claiming to be greater than the place where God resides and is available to the people. Through belief that Jesus is the Christ, God in the flesh, we have access to the living God and don’t need a priest or a temple as go betweens. 

Matthew 12:32 NIV

[32] Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

The notes in my bible indicate that the unpardonable sin is the deliberate refusal to acknowledge God’s power in Christ. It indicates a deliberate and irreversible hardness of the heart. Similar to the hardening of Pharoahs heart in exodus. 

Matthew 12:39-40 NIV

[39] He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. [40] For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Jesus is foretelling what will happen to him but the people, even the disciples, are looking for a military kingdom and they all miss the prophecy. What am I missing in spite of what I know?

Matthew 12:43-45 NIV

[43] “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. [44] Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. [45] Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”

Being saved is wonderful but if we are not filling ourselves up with God and Jesus we are just waiting for Satan to overcome us. 

Matthew 12:48-50 NIV

[48] He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” [49] Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. [50] For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

If we do the will of God then we are brothers with Christ.