The Kingdom of God is upon you

Matthew 12:22-32 (ESV)
Then a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the man spoke and saw. [23] And all the people were amazed, and said, "Can this be the Son of David?" [24] But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons." [25] Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. [26] And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? [27] And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. [28] But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. [29] Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house. [30] Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. [31] Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. [32] And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. [28] But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you
Of course I preached on the parallel text of this in Luke not too long ago. There are some variations between the two accounts, but nothing one could point to as a contradiction. And one might wonder if they record to different yet similar events, where Christ gives two different if similar sermons. In Luke Jesus uses the term “Finger of God” where here he uses the term “Spirit of God.” This leads me to think they are two different events, and two different deliveries of the same basic sermon.
Repetition is the mother of all learning they say. Rabbi’s knew this well. This is especially true in a day and age in which note taking would not be as common as it is today. It is also helps to drive home a point. If it is important enough to remember it is important enough to repeat.
In both College and Seminary I found with my favorite profs that they would often return and repeat in lecture after lecture certain themes no matter what the subject matter. Dr. Rosenbladt was ready to go off on Justification by Grace through faith, and would often give the same points of emphasis in class after class. It did not matter if we were taking a class in historical theology or apologetics. His lectures on apologetics, or the core of those lectures, would find themselves in the Confessions class. He meant to drum it in. Dr. Scaer would do the same thing at seminary, whatever class you take with that man, is a class on Matthew, whatever the title might have been.
Preachers could probably learn from this. I need to return to that thought now and then. We are here to teach, and it is o.k. to repeat certain points of doctrine ad nauseum, relating them to various texts. It is actually a good thing, and not as boring as one might thing for the listener either.
Jesus would repeat sermons, that is quite evident. He would repeat arguments. The disciples had no reason to record every instance in which he gave a particular sermon. But one thing we learn from the various recordings of these sermons, is the way in which some terms are interchangeable, that is meaning the same thing. We know this from the way Jesus would switch out terms in his sermons, his disciples would have picked up on this too. The finger of God is the same as the Spirit of God. The Kingdom of heaven is the same as the kingdom of God.
And the kingdom of God, here, must not be confused with some sort of earthly manifestation. Jesus is quite serious when he says that the kingdom of God is upon you. And the world was yet filled with demons, the world was yet filled with poverty and social injustice. But Jesus is quite serious when he says that he has bound the strong man, in which he is speaking of Satan, a quip of his that just might shed a little light on the 20th chapter of Revelation, and tell you when it is that the millennium begins.
Jesus has come, there is a new order in town. The kingdom of God has broken into this world and it rules by the gospel creating faith in the forgiveness of sins.