But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. [Matthew 12:14-15a]

         There were many attempts on the Lord’s life during His ministry but all attempts failed. One of the reasons such attempts failed is illustrated in the verse above: He withdrew from there.

         The hateful and despicable Pharisees, those who could never do anything straightforward and honest out in the open but were ever of a mind to conspire behind the scenes, were constantly huddling together in small secret groups. In this particular case it was probably with the Herodians, discussing among themselves how to stop the God of all Creation from attending to the very ministry designed to save them as well. In their perspective, of course, the Lord Jesus was certainly not God—He was the farthest thing from YHWH they could imagine—and was not even a prophet.

         In fact, in their grossly contorted religious view, He was nothing good whatsoever, but a mere phony and a pretender. To them such a conclusion was obvious because He and His teachings were so very different from them and theirs—their perfect traditional theologies and liturgies—and the fact that religious and social appearances seemed so unimportant to Him while they reveled in their masquerades and political connections, and were wholly dependent upon them.

         They also hated Him because He could do things they could not, and the people recognized this and pursued the Lord Jesus for the good He did and great love they felt from Him, which meant the people the Pharisees had so successfully corralled and brainwashed for so many long decades quit honoring them and their dead heartless religion that did nothing of any consequence for the soul.

         These religious elites thus felt greatly threatened by a single Man who proposed no threat toward good but certainly toward evil, lies, and deception, and cared not in their hearts if such a Man cast a Light on them since they were foresworn to never repent and join Him (because they saw themselves as the epitome of rightness and righteousness already—the supreme leaders of the chosen people), and to never accept under any conditions whatsoever such a false Messiah who made them feel so uncomfortable about themselves to the point that His murder became top priority at all costs.

         Many followed Him, and He healed them all, and warned them not to tell who He was. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:

         “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 SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES. HE WILL NOT QUARREL, NOR CRY OUT; NOR WILL ANYONE HEAR HIS VOICE IN THE STREETS. A BATTERED REED HE WILL NOT BREAK OFF, AND A SMOLDERING WICK HE WILL NOT PUT OUT, UNTIL HE LEADS JUSTICE TO VICTORY. AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE.”

         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. [Matthew 12:15b-22]

         Here we have a fulfillment of the Isaiah prophecy in one verse taking place in the life of a single man, who was just as real as you or I, and just as much in need. When Christianity starts going south, Christians no longer see themselves as sinners in need but as cultural Christians living according to other belief systems and dogmas than the Lord’s pure curriculum, and fallen into taking political sides and becoming issues-oriented rather than God-dependent.

         When people at last see and admit they have been made blind and mute by deceptive and extremely evil, secretive demonic influence, they RUN to altars of repentance in the attempt to get free, just as the blind and deaf man did in the above passage. He needed help, of course. A demon had taken control of him and rendered his natural ability to see and speak unworkable. It was not that his eyes and mouth could not function due to any biological defect, but that the demon put clamps on their operation.

         As a result, the man was rendered powerless. He could not see, illustrating a lack of spiritual insight, and he could not speak, meaning someone or something had silenced his voice. This man was in obvious fear. He most likely had no idea that a demon had taken control of him, only that he could not see nor speak, and that he was not the person God had created, but much less. When this happens to thousands of people at a time and even more, nations are changed. A populace becomes in great need of Light though they cannot see the need fully, and are often made to believe they must reject the cure. They become afraid to speak. They dare not challenge those who rule them for fear of being subjected to worse.

         How many such people in need during the Lord’s time entered into bondage due to the religious influence of the Pharisees, who certainly had no answer for the man’s predicament, but might certainly have been the cause? The Lord Jesus rescued him, though, and did it quickly. The man’s speech and eyesight were restored, and his great fear vanished.

         All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”

         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. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

         “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.” [Matthew 12:23-29]

         The man’s house had certainly been plundered. The question concerns how the man was bound. How did a demon get into this man’s body, steal his property, make him blind and mute, and plunder his house? This speaks in general terms of nations. Isaiah referred to the Gentiles in his passage, something the Pharisees no doubt had a great problem with, since they hated the Gentiles with a passion. To them, the world consisted of them and human animals—those to whom the Torah did not apply and who could be used and abused in any way they saw fit.

         And these Gentiles mentioned in the prophetic writings of a Hebrew prophet would have justice proclaimed to them. Justice! At last! And from a Hebrew Messiah! In whose great Name they will hope!

         The obvious connotation here is that the Gentile nations would be in darkness awaiting the great Light. The further question is who put them in this darkness? How did demonic influence so take hold in their respective nations that whole countries were rendered blind and mute? These things don’t just happen. Someone or something causes it. Someone makes decisions toward it. Yet, many Christians are made to believe that victims are in their predicament by their own choosing and through their own fault, and are therefore unworthy of help.

         THANK THE LORD JESUS HE DOES NOT HAVE THAT MINDSET OR ATTITUDE.

         It is a simple fact that “sinners” in great need of help and deliverance go to “houses of worship” all the time and never get the help they need. Though a great production takes place on Sunday mornings, such people almost always leave the way they arrived. The love and power of God simply does not exist in such places, meaning such congregations in their own right have become blind and mute, and unable to help as the Lord did. How did they get this way?

         “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

         “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” [Matthew 12:30-32]

         Uh oh. It appears as though the Pharisees are still here. If they would attack the Lord so strongly and even gnash their teeth at Stephen, they would certainly have a great problem with any of that Pentecostal, Charismatic, weirdo stuff some people engage in. They were never able to kill the Lord through all their secret plots until He reached the point in time in which He would lay Himself down as the Sacrifice Lamb. And no matter what they ever said about Him or did do Him, it could all be potentially forgiven.

         But blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a different story. The fact is that Unreal Christians have blasphemed the Spirit of God repeatedly throughout history and are still engaged in the process today. And they wonder why they cannot do the things the Lord Jesus did. They will never admit to being blind and mute, only that what they have remains religiously proper and in no need of correction.

         Just like the Pharisees.

         “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 brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.” [Matthew 12:33-35] [1]

          © 2014 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.

[1] Unless otherwise noted all Scriptures are taken from the New American Standard Bible, © 1960, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.