20 Mar 2015
Matthew 12:34-37
Matthew 12:34: “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”
Is it really any wonder that Jesus called them a generation of vipers? Jesus had been doing sign after sign, fulfilling Old Testament prophecies and showing divine power to do things that had never been done before in all of history, and in response the religious leaders of His day told Him, to His face, that He was demon-possessed and of the devil. There is simply no greater insult and no greater blasphemy. Here Jesus is telling them that they were evil down to their very core – because they were.
Matthew 12:36: “But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.”
Notice the context here. The Pharisees called Jesus demon-possessed – and Jesus told them that what they said would be remembered on Judgment Day, and they would be condemned for it. Likewise, those who accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord will have those words remembered too, only they will be justified for it.