25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29 “Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house. Matthew 12:25-29
The passage can be summed up in the first part of verse 25: Jesus knew their thoughts.
He knew them because He had grown up listening to them and how they spoke about others in public.
He knew the kind of envy and hunger for power that they exuded.
He responded to their accusation of Him being an agent of Beelzebul, the prince of demons.
The leaders were at a clear disadvantage, though they probably didn’t see it that way. They didn’t understand it but you cannot fool the Son of the Living God no matter how hard you try! You just can’t.
So Jesus gave the religious leaders a lecture on kingdom unity. If they were going to dis the Son of God, at least be knowledgeable about it. He threw logic at them but it’s doubtful they were listening or that it applied to them.
Getting back to the first verse, though, “Jesus knew their thoughts.” If we applied it to our own thoughts, would it trouble us?
Would you be embarrassed by some of the thoughts you think if you remembered that Jesus knows our thoughts? I think we all would because we live in a fallen world. People and situations frustrate and upset us. We’re not always thinking of the latest Bible verse we just memorized so real life kicks in.
Take time today to ask God to help you with your thoughts. 2 Corinthians 10:5 “…and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.“
Mastering our thoughts helps us in every aspect of our lives so it’s an important endeavor.