Daily Devotional For Wednesday, November 5, 2025
Good morning Southside. We are making our way through the Gospel of Matthew in these devotionals. Today, we come to Matthew 12:22:29:
“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” (NASB).
So, let’s first look at the context and then glean some biblical truth from this passage. First, we learn that a man is brought to Jesus who is blind, mute and demon-possessed. The Greek New Testament suggests that this man’s blindness and muteness was caused by him being demon possessed. Without any explanation of how, we are simply told that Jesus cast out the demon which gave the man the ability to speak and see.
When Jesus healed this man, Matthew says the people were amazed or astonished. This is the Greek New Testament word [ἐξίστημι; existemi]. This is the only time Matthew uses this word to describe amazement or wonder or being astonished. Mark and Luke use this word repeatedly. The people seeing the man healed asked, “Could this be the Son of David?” Sounds great on the surface but the Greek structure and syntax imply that their expected answer as, “No” even though some feel a positive answer of “yes” is possible. The title, “Son of David,” is another term for the Messiah. We see this in Isaiah 9:6-7 and in Jeremiah 23:5-6.
Their question seems to suggest they were puzzled because their expectations of the Messiah did not align with the image Jesus was giving of the Messiah. As is often the case in Matthew’s Gospel, the Pharisees resorted to prove that Jesus was not the Messiah by accusing Him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons. Every miracle Jesus did was by their own beliefs proof that Jesus was the Messiah but they still refused to believe. They could not deny the miracles; but they did deny how they were done.
To undercut Jesus’ authority and popularity, the Pharisees stated that the only way Jesus could cast out demons was by using the power of satan. The origin of the word “Baalzebul" is not known. “Baal” and “zebul” are Hebrew words. Some New Testament scholars think that what the Pharisees did was to combine these two words so that they could attack Jesus. “”Ba'al " means"lord " and he represented the Canaanite fertility god. “Zebul” means “exalted house. Everyone would have understood the implied implications. They were implying that Jesus got His power from satan, the prince of the demons.
Knowing what they were thinking, Jesus responded in a way that showed the absurdity and stupidity of their argument by telling them a parable (see above). If satan was driving people out of possession, that would mean there was a civil war going on in the kingdom of evil. No king overthrows his own soldiers in battle. If he did, such a kingdom would fall and collapse. What is true of this, is also true of a house that is divided.
One of the biggest sins in the Bible is when the devil attempts to drive a wedge between God and people. We see this today when our kids go off to college and very liberal and anti-Christian, and very educated professors diss and mock their faith. We see this today with pastors and preachers taking their truth from pop-psychology instead of the Word of God. So, Jesus turns the tables on the Pharisees. They supposedly cast out demons, so by what power did they do that? You can almost see Jesus pausing to let the question cause all eyes to turn on the Pharisees.
We know from the Bible and other sources that exorcism was popular in the first century (see Mark 9:38 and Acts 19:13-14. Some were fakes and frauds and some were done in faith. To those who were fakes and frauds like many so called “faith-healers” today, they put on a show to bedazzle the people into their con. They used incantations and magical charms that sometimes came with their form of 1st century special effects. Since the Sadducees did not believe in demons and exorcisms, this was limited to the Pharisees only.
Jesus’ point was if the Pharisees accused Him of using the devil’s power to do this, this implied they did as well. Slam dunk. In verse 28, the word translated as “if” can also be translated as “since.” “Since I cast demons out by the Spirit of the Lord ,” this proves Jesus had been sent by God. The kingdom of God came not by a mighty military and political leader, but by a gentle and compassionate Servant. The kingdom of God had arrived and the narrow-minded, legalistic, arrogant and hypocritical Pharisees missed it. God’s kingdom has come to us today also. Please do not miss it.
In verse 29, Jesus gives us a picture. In His day, wealthy people’s homes were a virtual fortress and because they had so many servants and/or slaves, these could be their own private army. The devil is the “strong man” in this parable and his house is a house of evil, sickness, pain, and death. The devil’s “property” here are his demons. So, the only way to cast out a demon is first the devil has to be tied up. Though the devil works in our world. God is still in control. His ultimate doom has already been prophesied in Revelation 20:10. Jesus had already proved He was not in league with the devil when He overcame the temptations of the devil in the desert in Matthew 4:1-11.
Assignment: Think about how the Pharisees treated Jesus. Is there anything you personally do that could appear to be undercutting Jesus’ authority in your life? Is there anything you do or allow others to do or the devil to do that drives a wedge between God and you? When it comes to sin and evil in the world, the problem of pain in the world, is your first response the Word of God or do you go to pop-psychology or some other ideology? Why or why not?
Scripture To Meditate On: James 4:7, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, please convict me to go to You and Your word first for answers to life’s questions and problems. Please God show me where I have allowed wedges to come between You and me and then remove them. Help me to resist the devil and not do anything that would discredit Your Son. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly