When the Pharisees heard this, they said, “The man drives out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” Matthew 12:24 (HCSB) And I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned (Matthew 12:36-37 NASB). You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? (Matthew 7:16 NASB). Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matthew 7:21-23 NASB). In the context of these passages Jesus is addressing how to identify false teachers and false prophets. Examining the context of these passages it is clear that Jesus is refuting the conclusions of the religious leaders known as the Pharisees. The Pharisees were apposing Jesus teaching the testimony of Jesus Messianic Miracles. Leading up to Matthew 12, Jesus had preformed a number of specific Messianic Miracles to signal, as a testimony, to the Jewish nation that He was their long awaited Messiah and therefore the Jewish Messianic King. The nation was looking for and expecting the Messiah. The Pharisees had taught that the way the nation would recognize the Messiah was by specific Messianic Miracles that only the Messiah could preform. Miracles were preformed by others and even the Pharisees cast out demons. But the Messianic Miracles could only be preformed by the Messiah and when you saw these miracles the one preforming them would be the Messiah. Notice the statement by the people Matthew 12:22-23: Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and unable to speak was brought to Him. He healed him, so that the man could both speak and see. 23 AND ALL THE CROWDS WERE ASTOUNDED AND SAID, “PERHAPS THIS IS THE SON OF DAVID!” Matthew 12:22-23 Here the crowd recognized this miracle as Messianic Miracle because they had been taught that only the Messiah can cast out blind and mute demon. The Pharisees could and did cast out other kinds of demons but taught that only the Messiah can cast out this kind of demon. This was in fact a Messianic Miracles however the Pharisees rejected it saying Jesus did it by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. The Pharisees spoke for the nation and had rejected Jesus as their Messiah. It was at this point that Jesus declared they would receive no more Messianic Miracles signs except for the sign of Jonah. From this point forward the mission of Jesus would change. Jesus had offered the Messianic Kingdom but the Pharisees speaking on behalf of the nation had rejected the Jesus and His offer. Now Jesus would begin to turn His attention to preparing His disciples for their mission, the establishment of His church. The church is not the Messianic Kingdom. The church is a mystery not not revealed in the Old Testament. In a future generation of Jews Jesus will offer the Messianic Kingdom and out of great tribulation a remnant of Israel will accept Him as their King and thus the entire nation of Israel will be saved. Then the 1000 year Messianic Kingdom will begin. Jesus said He would give them the sign of Jonah. The sign of Jonah would happen 3 times, 2 have already occurred. The first was the resurrection of Lazarus. Their response was to hold a meeting in which they declared Jesus must die because the people are now calling them the Messiah and the Romans will take away our nation if we dont kill Jesus. The 2nd sign of Jonah was the resurrection of Jesus. They rejected His resurrection and tried to cover it up. The 3rd sign of Jonah will happen during the Great Tribulation when after 3 1/2 years of preaching the 2 witnesses of Revelation will be killed by the antichrist and resurrected 3 days later. From the fighting with antichrist during the Great Tribulation there will remain a remnant of Israel. This 3rd sign of Jonah will lead to this remaining remnant of Israel to believe in Jesus and receive Jesus as their King just before the end of the Great Tribulation. Israel as a nation in unity concerning Jesus will utter the Messianic greeting spoken by Jesus when He declared you shall not see again until you say BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. With the acceptance of Jesus as their rightful King and the uttering of this Messianic greeting the 2nd coming of Jesus will occur saving the remaining remnant of Israel and ending the Great Tribulation. So having said all of the above the context matters. If we as believers hope to understand would is being communicated by scripture we must always look to the context of what is being taught. Jesus is addressing how to identify false teachers and false prophets. In this case the Pharisees doctrine was wrong and this is the evidence of bad fruit that were leading the people astray. The “fruit” Matthew 7 the specific fruit is unspecified, but the parallel passage in chapter 12 suggests it is the doctrine of the false teachers was in view, and not their life-style: Their careless words that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him,; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or, in the age to come. 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. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil. And I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned (Matthew 12:32-37 NASB). Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matthew 7:21-23 NASB). In Matthew 7 their life-style outwardly seems to indicate they are Christians. They are called sheep; they look like Christians; they perform miraculous works in Jesus’ name. They do some of the works that Christians do. Therefore, the reason that Jesus “never knew them” is not that their outward behavior is corrupt. Rather, it is because they have not “done the will of My Father who is in heaven.” Some of the most gentle and kindly men are workers of many good works, and yet they are not regenerate. It would be impossible to discern them by their works. Only their teaching reveals who they are. Lange, Calvin, Jerome, and others viewed the fruit as the false teaching of the false prophets.37 Lange points out that the fruit in view is not that of ordinary professors of Christianity but of false teachers. Their fruit is their destructive doctrine. These are no doubt related at points to their character and may often be revealed by behavioral abnormalities, but frequently that is not obvious for many years, and sometimes never in this life. What is obvious is what they say. Even though their character is clothed in sheep’s garments, and they are “gentle and meek in their outward appearance,” their incorrect teaching is evident to all. We should not be surprised that Jesus tells us that the teaching of a false prophet is the fruit by which we can discern his true identity. By asserting this, He is aligning himself firmly with Moses and the prophets who continually stressed that the way one discerns a true prophet from a false one is by giving attention to what he says: If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, “Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul. You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him (Deuteronomy 13:1-4 NASB).
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 17:09:35 +0000
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