Matthew 12:28

Friday, 15 August 2025

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

“And if in God’s Spirit I, I eject the demons, then it preceded upon you, the ‘God’s kingdom’” (CG).

In the previous verse, Jesus trapped the Pharisees with a question concerning the casting out of demons by their sons, meaning their disciples. With that complete, He now states a proposition to be accepted or rejected by the hearer, beginning with an emphatic statement, “And if in God’s Spirit I, I eject the demons.”

Jesus has just clearly demonstrated that He cannot be ejecting demons by Beelzebul, something the Pharisees would have to grant based on His logic. Understanding that it is not by Beelzebul, then it must be from another source. In fact, it can only be from one source. And so He says, “then it preceded upon you, the ‘God’s kingdom.’”

Here is a new word, phthanó (ff-than-oh), to precede, as in arriving ahead of time. Because of this, it is an arrival “before something which indicates priority in importance or sequence” (HELPS Word Studies).

The use of this word by Jesus indicates that He had already been on the scene, performing healings and miracles while preaching the gospel, but the people didn’t realize that He was who He, in fact, turned out to be. One might paraphrase the thought, “Jesus walked among us, and before we knew it, He had revealed Himself to be the Messiah.”

The sense of the word can be seen from Paul’s description of the rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:15 –

“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede (phthanó) those who are asleep.”

Jesus cast out demons. He was accused of having derived His authority from Beelzebub. He demonstrated that such could not be the case. Therefore, what He had accomplished was evidence that what He did was from God, and thus God’s kingdom had already come upon them.

As usual, the spiritual leaders of Israel missed the boat in understanding the significance of the events around them. Today, two thousand years later, they sit in synagogues and miss the fact that God’s kingdom has come, rejecting Jesus, and thus rejecting their only hope of salvation.

Life application: It is common in evangelical Christian circles for people to give Jews a pass on not accepting Jesus, as if they are ok without Him. This comes in varying degrees. The most extreme case of this heresy is that of dual covenantalism, something preached by John Hagee. It is also the set doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. Even if it is not openly taught, it is in their doctrinal writings.

Others may not openly understand or accept this doctrine, but they still hold to it in their thinking, trying to rationalize away why Jews are ok with God because they are “God’s people,” even while understanding that Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, etc., are condemned without Jesus.

This attitude stems from a failure to understand who “God’s people” are at a given time. Hosea prophesied of a time when His people would no longer be His people, but those who were not His people would be His people. Paul explains this in Romans 9-11.

While the Jews are out of God’s favor, they are “God’s people” only in anticipation of restoration. However, they are not His people for salvation. Rather, that belongs to those -Jews and Gentiles – who have received Jesus. They are a part of the church.

That day will end at the rapture, and a simple question clears up the heretical notion that the Jews today are “God’s people.” Will the Jews who don’t believe in Jesus be taken at the rapture? The answer is obvious, “No.” Rather, they as a collective group will go through the tribulation. This proves that they are not now “God’s people” except in anticipation of restoration.

The Christian community would do far better by evangelizing Jews than by proclaiming that they are God’s people, thus bolstering the idea in their minds (meaning the Jews) that they think Christians believe they are right with God. Without Jesus, there is no salvation. Remember the basic equation –

In proper theology, one plus one will always equal two.

“‘I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. 38 I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.’
39 They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father.’
Jesus said to them, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. 41 You do the deeds of your father.’” John 8:37-41

Being a descendant (physically descended from) Abraham does not mean one is a child of Abraham from a spiritual perspective. Rather –

“Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— 6 just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.’ 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’ 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” Galatians 3:5-9

Glorious God, help to get our thinking right in relation to what You are doing in redemptive history. Too many reject Israel because of their misdeeds, as if they no longer have the promises of the prophets. But too many fail to acknowledge that without Jesus, the Jews stand condemned. Help us to have clarity of thought, and to pray for and evangelize to this beloved, set-aside group of people. Amen.