{5 of 7} Matthew 12 – “Joe?” – “Nah, Jesus”

Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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Matthew 12

About the title: Jonah – Jesus.

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

Matthew 12:¹ At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.

Matthew 12:²And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”

Matthew 12:³But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him:

Matthew 12:⁴how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?

Matthew 12:⁵Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane (desecrate) the Sabbath, and are blameless?

Matthew 12:⁶Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple.

Matthew 12:⁷But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy (life) and not sacrifice (death),’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

Matthew 12:⁸For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Healing on the Sabbath

Matthew 12:⁹Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue.

Matthew 12:¹⁰And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—that they might accuse Him.

Matthew 12:¹¹Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?

Matthew 12:¹²Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Matthew 12:¹³Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.

Matthew 12:¹⁴Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.

Conspiracy theorists remind us there are indeed conspiracies. Those who plot, plot behind the curtains. That is a conspiracy.

Behold, My Servant

Matthew 12:¹⁵But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all.

Matthew 12:¹⁶Yet He warned them not to make Him known,

Matthew 12:¹⁷that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying:

Matthew 12:¹⁸“Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen,
My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased!
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He will declare justice to the Gentiles.

Matthew 12:¹⁹He will not quarrel nor cry out,
Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.

Matthew 12:²⁰A bruised reed He will not break,
And smoking flax He will not quench,
Till He sends forth justice to victory;

Matthew 12:²¹And in His name Gentiles will trust.”

A House Divided Cannot Stand

Matthew 12:²²Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.

Matthew 12:²³And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”

Matthew 12:²⁴Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub (Beelzebul, a Philistine deity), the ruler of the demons.”

Matthew 12:²⁵But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.

Matthew 12:²⁶If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

Matthew 12:²⁷And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.

Matthew 12:²⁸But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Matthew 12:²⁹Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

Matthew 12:³⁰He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.

The Unpardonable Sin

Matthew 12:³¹“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men.

Matthew 12:³²Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.

A Tree Known by Its Fruit

Matthew 12:³³“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.

Matthew 12:³⁴Brood (offspring) of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

Matthew 12:³⁵A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.

Matthew 12:³⁶But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

Matthew 12:³⁷For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

The Scribes and Pharisees Ask for a Sign

Matthew 12:³⁸Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

“Here’s Yer Sign”

Matthew 12:³⁹But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

Matthew 12:⁴⁰For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish (the reptilian sea monster), so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Matthew 12:⁴¹The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here.

Both Jonah and Jesus were sons of men, but Jesus created both Jonah and Himself as a man from the foundation of the earth. Jonah had a beginning. Jesus does not.

The message for Nineveh was “REPENT OR DIE”. This was the message of Jesus’ day and it is our message today: Here’s a sign of Jonah.

“Here’s Yer Sign”

God Speaks to Men through the Patterns in History, Using Them as Symbols, Shadows, and Metaphors in Scripture

– History is Repetitive –

That which was … Is.

That which Is … Will Be.

Evil Spirits Never Die
They Just Wait for their Next Opportunity

When Satan hears a Curse … It Gets his Attention … He is Aroused when a curse signals His Next Opportunity … (Job 3:8)

“TYPE” ALERT

In studying the “Types” the two comparative words “AS” and “SO“ are forcibly called to our attention. The word “AS” is used for the “Type,” and the word “SO” is used for the Antitype. The first is historic; the second is prophetic. As the historic Jonah so the prophetic Christ.
Why is Jesus comparing himself to Jonah?

Jonah was swallowed by a sea monster (not a fish, not a whale, which is a mammal, but a reptile, the biblical sea monster “Leviathan”). Throughout scripture reptiles are compared to Satan.
- This includes the serpent:
  - The Serpent
  - And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” – Genesis 3:13
  - By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. Job 26:13
  - You divided the sea by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea serpents in the waters. Psalm 74:13
  - Israel Will Be Restored – In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea. Isaiah 27:1
  - Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord! Awake as in the ancient days, In the generations of old. Are You not the arm that cut Leviathan apart, And wounded the serpent? Isaiah 51:9
  - So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Revelation 12:9
  - A Crocodile
    - “Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him: ‘You are like a young lion among the nations, And you are like a crocodile in the seas, Bursting forth in your rivers, Troubling the waters with your feet, And fouling their rivers. Ezekiel 32:2
  - The Sea Monster
    - Speak, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies in the midst of his rivers, Who has said, ‘My River is my own; I have made it for myself.’ Ezekiel 29:3
  - Leviathan
    - May those curse it who curse the day, Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan. Job 3:8
    - God’s Power in the Leviathan – “Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, Or snare his tongue with a line which you lower? Job 41:1
    - Israel Will Be Restored – In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong, Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan that twisted serpent; And He will slay the reptile that is in the sea. Isaiah 27:1
  - The Dragon
    - So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Revelation 12:9
  - A Beast
    - The Beast from the Sea – Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. Revelation 13

The sea is symbolic for a “sea of people”. Examples:
- You who still the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, And the tumult of the peoples. Psalm 65:7
- But the wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and dirt. Isaiah 57:20
- Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.” Rev 17:15
According to Jesus the “Heart of the Earth” (or specifically, Sheol, the place of the dead) is like the belly of a sea monster (Satan). Jonah was swallowed and lived inside the belly of a sea monster for three days and three nights. Jesus was buried after his crucifixion for three days and three nights. Jonah was regurgitated upon the beach of a gentile nation (Ninevah). Like Jonah, the gentiles repented. Jesus was regurgitated from his grave at his resurrection.
Jonah describes his own and hence Jesus’ experience in the “Heart of the Earth” symbolic of the “Belly of the Sea Monster”. The Heart of the Earth is Sheol, Hades, Death.
- Jonah 2:² “I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction (the cross),
  And He answered me.
  “Out of the belly of Sheol (the grave) I cried,
  And You heard my voice.
  
  Jonah 2:³For You cast me into the deep,
  Into the heart of the seas (of people),
  And the floods (armies) surrounded me;
  All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.
  
  Jonah 2:⁴Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight
  (My God, My God, Why have you forsaken Me?);
  Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
  
  Jonah 2:⁵The waters (peoples) surrounded me, even to my soul;
  The deep closed around me;
  Weeds (Thorns) were wrapped around my head.
  
  Jonah 2:⁶I went down to the moorings (the bottom) of the mountains;
  The earth with its bars closed behind me forever (death);
  Yet You have brought up my life from the pit (the resurrection),
  O Lord, my God.
  
  Jonah 2:⁷“When my soul fainted within me,
  I remembered the Lord;
  And my prayer went up to You,
  Into Your holy temple.
  
  Jonah 2:⁸“Those who regard worthless idols
  Forsake their own Mercy (Loving kindness).
  
  Jonah 2:⁹But I (Jesus as Noah) will sacrifice to You
  With the voice of thanksgiving;
  I will pay what I have vowed.
  Salvation is of the Lord.”
  - Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice, with a song of thanksgiving, He is confirming the covenant He made with the Father and the Spirit, to be willing to do that which He vowed before the foundation of the heavens and the earth, before time itself.
    - Luke 9:51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem,
    - Luke 9:53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.
“Salvation (Yeshua) is of the LORD.” (Yeshua in Hebrew is Jesus in Greek).
Jonah 2:¹⁰So the Lord spoke to the Sea Monster (Satan), and it vomited Jonah onto dry land (a resurrection).
- This is like Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Like Jonah, He is resurrected back into the land of the living and spewed up on the shores of a gentile city.

Jonah wept because the Gentiles repented,
Unlike Jonah, Jesus wept because the Jews Did Not repent.

Matthew 12:⁴²The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the Wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here.

An Unclean Spirit Returns

Matthew 12:⁴³“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.

Matthew 12:⁴⁴Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.

Matthew 12:⁴⁵Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers Send for Him