In Matthew 12, we read something that should scare anyone who reads it. Jesus speaks of the unforgivable sin. Think about that for a moment. A sin so bad that no forgiveness will be given for it. What is so bad that the sin will be with us for eternity, where God Himself will not overlook or pardon it? In His own words, Jesus says that if we blaspheme the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.
“Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 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.” (Matthew 12:31-32 ESV).
Now, I will tell you that this is not an easy subject to speak on, and I suppose that not everyone who reads this will come to the same conclusion that I have come to. I would love to hear other thoughts on this. But based on my studies, and because this is such a dangerous condition to find ourselves in, I thought it would be worthy for all of us to think about this warning that Jesus gives.
In order to understand how we might find ourselves guilty of this unpardonable sin, let’s back up and look at the context in which Jesus makes this statement, because I do not believe it was given in a vacuum. In verse 22, Matthew tells us:
“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.” (Matthew 12:22 ESV).
The miracle did what it was intended to accomplish; it confirmed who Jesus was and that His message was from God. The people understood this and asked if this man could be the Son of David. But the Pharisees who saw the same signs came to a different conclusion:
“But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” (Matthew 12:24 ESV).
So here is the situation that we find; Jesus comes preaching the Kingdom of Heaven and in order to confirm that this message is from God, the Spirit works in Him to perform the miracles He is doing. We know that the Father, Son and Spirit all worked in unity when Jesus was upon the earth. It is the Father’s Word (John 12:49), confirmed by the Spirit (Luke 4:16-21) and spoken by the Son (Matthew 4:23).
In our passage in Matthew 12, the people accept the confirmed words (via miracles) of Jesus as the promised Messiah, but the Pharisees rejected the word and said that Jesus was performing miracles by the power of Beelzebub. This, in and of itself, I do not believe was the unpardonable sin of blasphemy of the Spirit. Jesus goes on and says that it couldn’t be by the power of Beelzebub because a house divided against itself could not stand:
“But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Matthew 12:28 ESV).
And here is where the crux of the warning lies.
“Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 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.” (Matthew 12:31-32 ESV).
We know that Jesus is full of grace and mercy. There is no sin we can do against Him that He is not willing and eager to forgive us of. There is no depth that we can fall where His grace cannot lift us.
But if we reject His words, the same words that have been confirmed through the Spirit, there remains no forgiveness. The Pharisees who refuse to come to Him as the only way to the Father (John 14:6) will not have their sin of rejection overlooked. When they speak against the Spirit by rejecting the word and following their own way in spite of the Spirit having confirmed the word, they will be lost.
And the people who rejected the words taught in the first century by Christians who had their words confirmed by the Spirit through miracles, will find no forgiveness. And today, we have the Word of God in the New Testament, which is inspired and confirmed by the same Spirit. If we do not accept that word, there is no forgiveness to be given. If we speak against the Spirit by saying we will not accept His confirmed word and die in that condition, then we cannot be forgiven since we blaspheme the Spirit by rejecting what He confirms.
The good news is that as long as we have breath and walk upon the earth, we will always be able to come to the Lord and submit to Him and His name. But if we leave this earth having rejected the one and only Truth given by the Father, confirmed by the Spirit and spoken by the Son, then there will be no forgiveness found. What a terrible condition to find ourselves in.
Accept the Word of the Lord Jesus today before it is everlastingly too late for forgiveness and we find ourselves guilty of blaspheming the Spirit through our rejection of His confirmed word.
In my daily Bible reading, I read through Amos. Again, it is not a comfortable book to read. You may ask, why concern yourself about the prophecies of doom from the Old Testament. They were written to a specific people for a specific time. And to that, I say “Amen!” I do not think you can take the prophecies written for one people and apply them to another people.
But I remember the words of Paul that give me pause…
“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4 ESV).
I take away this from the guidance that the Holy Spirit gave through the apostle: We can learn a lot about the character of God by looking at how He responded to sins in the past. For the same sins that pushed Him to anger in the past pushes Him to anger today. The laws we live under may be different, but God is the same. I will be a fool to ignore the things written in former days for my instruction.
And so, I read about the thing that made God angry, perhaps what we would say in our vernacular, things that made Him sick to His stomach. And it isn’t the things we would naturally think of.
“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:21-24 ESV).
Sometimes, I wonder if I am guilty of the same things that made God angry in the days of Amos when God said, “Enough! I am sick of your dishonor!” How can this be when I offer my praise to Him; give Him my worship; sing to Him; attend church; give money in the offering plate? How can God be angry with me when I worship Him?
And then I see what He says in Amos. It is not about walking through the acts of worship on Sunday and then living like a sinner on Monday that will please God. That’s what He is telling the children of Israel. “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (vs 24).
Do we truly believe that God would rather we take away the noise of our songs to Him if we do not live a godly life Monday through Saturday? Are we so deluded that we can convince ourselves, like the Israelites did, that we can throw God a bone of worship one day a week to satisfy Him and then He will ignore the willful way we live our lives?
Is this how little respect we have for the sovereign God Almighty; the Creator; the great I AM? I fear that sometimes I think like the Israelites thought in the days of Amos. I fear that sometimes I can soothe my conscience by peddling my worship to God and feel vindicated before Him when I turn toward my own way in my life.
Amos teaches me that God does indeed want me to worship Him, but He wants me to worship Him as an obedient believer who submits my life wholly to Him. Offering worship is no “get out of jail free” card we can expect to get from God.
Amos teaches me something about God. The prophet teaches me that God cannot be mocked or placated, manipulated into accepting me and my sinful life by offering Him a few trinkets of worship that He will greedily devour so that I might live unto myself and follow my own way.
I pray I learn the lesson of Amos so that I do not find myself standing against the great I Am on the Day of Judgement having thought I could placate Him with such profane contempt. Blessed be the name of the Lord, who loved me enough to preserve the writings of old so I may have instructions for my life today.
In my daily Bible reading, I’m in the book of Joshua. This is where we see that God delivers the promised land into the hands of the Israelites. The generation who doubted and sinned in the wilderness have died off, all but Joshua and Caleb, the spies who did not doubt God. Moses has died and God chooses Joshua to lead the Israelites in conquering the land.
In Joshua 6, we read about the fall of the great city of Jericho. This city was devoted to destruction, but one of the soldiers, Achan, coveted some of the treasures of Jericho and took it and buried it under his tent. Apparently, it was a family affair, because his whole family is punished for the sin.
But what I wanted to focus on is a couple of verses in chapter 7. What a powerful message we learn about our God! After the stunning and complete victory at the mighty city of Jericho, they turn their attention to the small city of Ai. And we see what happens when God is taken out of the picture.
First, sin is in the camp and God will not continue to fight for the people until sin is removed. Is there a lesson for us today? How many of us want to bury the treasures of sin under our tent and expect to enjoy the blessings of the Lord?
But second, Joshua never sought the Lord’s council before he went against Ai. He took it upon himself to dispose of this insignificant city. Perhaps he didn’t think that he needed to bother God with such a small thing. Certainly, he could take care of such a small city by his own power. Who knows what he was thinking; but I cannot help but to think that a simple prayer to the Lord, even in the small things, might have saved him from a terrible defeat.
And so, Joshua takes it upon himself to fight this small city by his own might, never consulting the Lord’s council. Perhaps it was a bit of pride that went before this fall, the fall we read about in chapter 7:
“and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads.” (Joshua 7:5-6 ESV).
Let the details of this defeat sink in. First, only 36 men died. In any war, that would be considered an outstanding victory! But not when the Lord is fighting your battles. What I take away from this is that when the Lord fought for the children of Israel, 100% of the men who went into battle came home to their families while 100% of their enemies were defeated. So, 36 men falling in battle was not what they expected from the Lord.
We know that they go on to take care of the sin, deal with Achan, and turn to the Lord. And you know what? When they go back into Ai, they do it this time with the Lord’s council. Joshua didn’t make the same mistake. And when they turn to the Lord, He tells them exactly what to do to defeat this insignificant city.
The lesson to me: I need to turn to the Lord for the big things in my life and realize that even in the “small” things, I need Him. For it’s often in the small things that I begin to learn that I do not need God. In the small things, I often rely too much on my own power and strength. And it is often in the small things in life that I allow Satan to gain advantage over me.
What is your Ai today? Whatever it is, take it before the Lord. Never give occasion for pride and self-reliance to take root to the neglect of reliance upon the Lord.
“Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12 ESV).
When we remove God from our hearts, life can get overwhelming. Too much unknown, too much hate, too much disappointment.
But when we keep God first and leave it all to Him, then there is a peace that underlies everything. Most people will unfortunately never understand this peace we have.
Blesses be the God of all peace. Enjoy this gift from the One in whom all blessings flow.
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7 ESV).
“Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” (Matthew 6:9-13 ESV).