Jesus brings us God's Kingdom (Matthew 12:22-37)

[Stephan Choe]

May 5, 2026

Key verse 28: "But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you."

God's Kingdom and the Holy Spirit at Pentecost[1]

Jesus healed a blind and mute demon-possessed man, enabling him to speak and see. The crowd was amazed and asked, “Isn’t this the Messiah?” They began to believe in Jesus as the Messiah.

Then the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the devil.” They tried to discredit Christ’s life-saving work as Satan’s work.

Then Jesus proclaimed the divine truth about his person, God’s Kingdom, and the Last Judgment.

Today, we want to learn about Jesus, his Kingdom, and the Last Judgment and gratefully accept Jesus.

1. Jesus’ Power Over Evil Spirits (22-29)

The story begins with Jesus’ healing: “A demon-possessed man, blind and mute, was brought to Jesus, and he healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw” (22).

Through this healing, Jesus proclaimed that he is the Son of God and the Messiah.

Today, some doubt Jesus’ messiahship. Some even claim that Jesus was not a historical figure, but a fictional one.

But besides the apostles, early Christians, and countless people testified to the existence of Jesus as a real person. Flavius Josephus was one of them. He was a Jewish historian. He wrote the book "Jewish Antiquities" in 93 or 94 AD.

In his book, he wrote about Jesus as follows:

“Around this time lived Jesus, a wise man, if indeed he may be called a man. For he was the performer of truly incredible deeds and the teacher of all people who gladly received the truth. Thus, he drew many Jews and also many Gentiles to himself. He was the Christ. And although Pilate, at the instigation of the leading men of our people, condemned him to death on the cross, his former followers did not abandon him. For he appeared to them alive again on the third day, just as divinely sent prophets had foretold this and a thousand other wonderful things about him. And to this day, the people of Christians who call themselves after him continue.”

Josephus thus wrote that Jesus is the Christ and therefore performed many miracles.

Let's suppose we had been blind and mute until now, and now we can see and speak. How will we feel? We will be overjoyed and tell everyone about our miraculous healing.

The man experienced a miracle and was overjoyed with his healing. I believe he looked around in amazement at his surroundings and talked nonstop.

The people were astonished and said, "Isn't Jesus, who healed him, the Son of David?"

"Son of David" here means "Messiah" (see also 9:27). Jesus performed impossible miracles. He must be the promised Messiah!

When God works powerfully through his Christ, the dark power becomes very envious and attacks Jesus. When the Pharisees heard about the healing of the blind and deaf man, they said, “He casts out demons (i.e., evil spirits) only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons” (24; see also 9:34).

Beelzebul was a name for the devil, the overlord of the demons (12:24, 27). The Pharisees did not deny that Jesus had performed miracles. But they declared Jesus’ miracles to be the work of the devil and called Jesus the devil’s representative.

The Talmud is, after the Jewish Bible, the Tanakh, the most important text of Judaism. This book was completed around 200–500 CE.

According to Jewish belief, God revealed the Torah to Moses on Mount Sinai in two forms:

Firstly, as the “written Torah” in the form of the five books of Moses, which occupy the place of our Christian Bible;

On the one hand, it is the "Oral Torah," that is, the interpretation of the written Torah. This Oral Torah is called the "Mishnah."

Besides the written Torah, the Talmud contains the Mishnah and the Gemara. The Gemara are explanations of how to apply the Mishnah in practical matters.

There are two types of Talmud: the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud is more extensive and more highly regarded than the Jerusalem Talmud. When people simply refer to the Talmud, they usually mean the Babylonian Talmud. In a certain sense, we can understand the Talmud as the authoritative catechism of Judaism.

The Talmud speaks of Jesus practicing "magic." Thus, the Talmud does not deny Jesus' miracles, even though it does not recognize Jesus as the Christ.

However, liberal theologians today deny Jesus' miracles. Their theological principle is: One should not believe what one cannot understand with one's intellect. Therefore, many believe neither in the miracles of Christ nor in his resurrection. Because of them, Germany and Europe have become a spiritual desert.

We should not subscribe to the opinions of the Pharisees or the claims of unbelieving theologians. Rather, we should believe that Jesus is the Son of God, performed many miracles, and rose from the dead. In this way, we can have a living faith and experience God's blessing.

The Pharisees claimed that Jesus cast out evil spirits through Beelzebub, that is, Satan.

How did Jesus respond to this claim?

He exposes the Pharisees' lie by saying, “If Beelzebul, that is, Satan, were to cast out his servants, the demons, his kingdom would fall. How can you say that I cast out demons by the power of Beelzebul? I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, so that the kingdom of God may come upon mankind” (26-28).

Jesus clearly explained that he casts out demons by the Spirit of God in order to bring people under God's rule. With this explanation, he called everyone to abandon their doubt about Jesus and accept him as the Son of God. For faith in Jesus brings us into God's kingdom.

Jesus Christ came to free us from the dominion of the devil and bring us into the kingdom of God. We were prisoners of sin and death. Sin and death are tools that put us under the power of the devil. Jesus came to free us from the power of sin and death and to bring us under God's rule, so that we might have eternal, blessed life and enter the kingdom of heaven. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we should gratefully accept God's rule and thank God for Christ.

2. The Sin Against the Holy Spirit (30-32)

The Pharisees claimed, “Jesus casts out demons only through the devil.” They were claiming that Jesus was the devil.

In response, Jesus said, “Every sin and blasphemy against a person will be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Whoever speaks against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (31-32).

The Pharisees called Jesus’ work the work of the devil and Jesus a devil. They were determined to kill Jesus, as we read in 12:14: “They plotted how they might kill him.”

Because they had closed their hearts to the work of the Holy Spirit, they had no chance to experience forgiveness. What a pity!

Anyone who does not believe in Jesus Christ during their earthly life has no chance of being saved from eternal damnation after physical death. Therefore, we should not close our hearts to the gospel. Rather, we should repent of our sins now and believe in Jesus Christ. Then God will richly bless us with his kingdom and great joy.

3. The Tree and Its Fruit (33-37)

Now Jesus says in verse 33: “Assume that a tree is good, its fruit will also be good. Or if the tree is bad, its fruit will also be bad, for by its fruit you will recognize the tree.”

The impressive form of a fruit tree and its lush leaves can deceive us into believing that the tree will bear much good fruit. Unfortunately, such a tree often cannot bear much good fruit.

Whoever talks a lot but does not do good is like such a tree. It is not our exaggerated words, but the fruits of our lives that can provide true information about our person. If a person wants to bear good fruit, their heart must be transformed and guided by the Holy Spirit. This transformation of the heart is absolutely necessary for good fruit.

That is why Jesus said, “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good person brings good things out of their good treasure, and an evil person brings evil things out of their evil treasure” (34-35).

We can have our hearts transformed by changing the center of our hearts.

If our ego is the center of our hearts, we will automatically think, speak, and act selfishly.

The word “ego” literally means “I.”

If God is the center of our hearts, we can think, speak, and act God-centeredly. Therefore, we should examine whether God or our ego is the center of our hearts. If our ego remains at the center of our hearts, we should give that place to God, so that God may reside at the center of our hearts.

Making our ego the center of our hearts seems advantageous. Therefore, we will think and act according to our desires. Unfortunately, our ego is shortsighted.

Do we know why our ego is shortsighted?

Because the ego primarily thinks only of our own advantages and overlooks the glory of God and the common good of all. In the short run, our selfish thinking and actions might bring us advantages, but in the long run, they are disadvantages for both ourselves and others. Above all, our selfish thinking and actions bring dishonor to God.

Therefore, we should not make our ego the center of our hearts.

Whom should we make the center of our hearts?

God!

God loves both us and other people. This God is the guide of all people. His guidance is wonderful. At times, his guidance may seem detrimental to us. But his guidance is actually very good for us, for others, and also for God. We should trust God and follow his guidance.

Therefore, we need to make a clear decision of faith to accept God as the center of our hearts. After this decision, we should continually renew and deepen our commitment. God will bless us and, through us, bless many others and reveal his glory.

In verse 36, Jesus explains why we should live a God-centered life:

“But I tell you, on the day of judgment everyone will have to give account for every careless word they have spoken.”

Many people today do not believe in God’s judgment. Therefore, they do not live before God. But the world is moving toward the final judgment. Every person must stand before the judgment seat of Christ and be judged, as the Bible says:

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due for what we have done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10).

We should take God’s final judgment seriously. We must not be short-sighted, but rather far-sighted and wise.

We should examine the center of our hearts: Who determines our thoughts, words, and actions—our ego or God? If our ego determines our thoughts, words, and actions, we should repent of our selfishness and accept God as the center of our hearts. Then we should think, speak, and act according to God's will. This may seem disadvantageous to us in the short term. But in the long run, it will be a blessing for us, for others, and for God.

Being Blessed by God

Jesus Christ healed a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, enabling him to speak and see. The crowd was amazed and asked, "Is this the Son of David, the promised Messiah?"

But the Pharisees said, "He casts out demons through the devil."

Then Jesus said, "If the devil casts out the demons who are his servants, the devil's kingdom cannot stand."

With this, He declared that He is the Son of God and the Christ. Then, through the parable of the tree and its fruit, he taught us that we should shift the focus of our hearts: We should not make our ego the center of our hearts, but rather God, so that we can think, speak, and act in a God-centered way. In this way, we can stand at the Last Judgment and enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

May God help us to serve God, not our ego, so that we may bear much good fruit and be richly blessed by God. Amen!

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[1] https://www.meinekirchenzeitung.at/niederoesterreich-kirche-bunt/c-glaube/der-heilige-geist-das-band-der-liebe_a46268