28  Blaspheming the  Holy Spirit (12:22-32)

Then there was brought to Him a demon-possessed man who was blind and dumb, and He healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw. And all the multitudes were amazed, and began to say, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.” And knowing their thoughts He said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in the age to come. (12:22-32)

By nature God is forgiving. The Old Testament abounds with teachings about His forgiveness. David declared, “For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon Thee” (Ps. 86:5). In another psalm he reminds us that God pardons all our iniquities (Ps. 103:3). Daniel said, “To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness” (Dan. 9:9). God described Himself to Moses as, “the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin” (Ex. 34:6-7). Micah extolled the Lord, saying, “Who is a God like Thee, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Mic. 7:18-19).

The Old Testament also abounds with examples of His forgiveness. When Adam and Eve committed sin, God forgave them. When Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sinned, God forgave them. When Moses sinned God forgave him. When Israel under the judges and under the kings repeatedly sinned, God forgave her. Israel’s history is a history of God’s forgiveness.

Likewise the New Testament pictures God as supremely the God of forgiveness. That is the essence of the gospel: God’s divine and gracious provision for the forgiveness of man’s sin. In Christ, Paul says, “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7; cf. Col. 1:14). John assures us that, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” and that our “sins are forgiven [us] for His name’s sake” (1 John 1:9; 2:12).

No matter how severe the sin, God can forgive it. The worst conceivable sin would be to kill God’s own Son—and that while He was on earth for the very purpose of providing salvation from sin and the way to everlasting life. Nothing could possibly be more heinous, vicious, and wicked than that. And, of course, killing Him is exactly what men did to the Son of God. Yet, while hanging on the cross and about to die, Jesus prayed and affirmed the forgiving mercy available to His executioners, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). The degree of sin does not forfeit forgiveness, because even killing the Son of God was forgivable.

Nor does the volume of sin end the possibility of mercy. A seventy-year-old profligate who has lived a life of debauchery, stealing, lying, profanity, blasphemy, and immorality is just as forgivable as a seven-year-old who has done nothing worse than normal childhood naughtiness.

Nor does the particular kind of sin cancel grace. In Scripture we find God forgiving idolatry, murder, gluttony, fornication, adultery, cheating, lying, homosexuality, covenant breaking, blasphemy, drunkenness, extortion, and every other kind of sin imaginable. He forgives self-righteousness, which is the deceiving sin of thinking that one has no sin. He even forgives the sin of rejecting Christ; otherwise no one could be saved, because before salvation everyone, to some degree, is a Christ rejecter. There is no forgiveness of even the smallest sin unless it is confessed and repented of; but there is forgiveness of even the greatest sin if those divine conditions are met.

The rejection of Jesus as Messiah and King gradually escalated as His ministry continued. As we have seen, first there was doubt, then criticism, then indifference, culminating in open rejection. The religious leaders of Israel then added blasphemy against the Holy Spirit to their rejection of Christ. Although their animosity would continue to spread and intensify, this blasphemy was the epitome of its expression.

For centuries God’s people had longed for the Messiah, their divine Deliverer. The hope of every godly prophet and teacher of Israel was to live to see Him; and every Jewish girl dreamed of being His mother. Yet when He arrived He was denied and rejected. In 12:22-32, Matthew details five features of the climax of that rejection: the activity of Jesus in healing a seriously afflicted man; the amazement of the crowd over the miracle; the accusation against Jesus because of the miracle; Jesus’ answer to His accusers; and the anathema His accusers brought on themselves.

THE ACTIVITY

Then there was brought to Him a demon-possessed man who was blind and dumb, and He healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw. (12:22)

The man had multiple problems. He was demon-possessed … blind and dumb, and possibly also suffered deafness, so often associated with inability to speak. But the fact that Jesus healed him was not unique. He had healed hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of people who were demon-possessed, blind, dumb, and deaf; and many of those had more than one affliction, just as this man did.

As was often the case, this healing demonstrated in one act Jesus’ dominion over both the spirit world of demons and the physical world of disease. He undeniably possessed the power to heal every kind of disease, to cast out any kind and any number of demons, and even to restore life to the dead. He had performed thousands of instantaneous, total, permanent, and verifiable healings. His supernatural powers could no longer be questioned, either by the common multitudes or by the more educated and skeptical religious leaders.

Yet most of the sin-blinded people remained ambivalent about Jesus’ identity and the source of His great power. They knew that miracles would be proof signs of the Messiah; but they also expected Him to come with royal fanfare and with military might. But instead of regal robes, sovereign authority, a throne, trumpets, swords, horses, chariots, and a mighty army, they saw a Man of compassion, gentleness, and humility—with a following of twelve nondescript disciples and a multitude of hangers-on whose loyalty could hardly be counted on. Because Jesus did not appear to be a conqueror or a king by their definition, the people would not accept His being the Messiah. They had chosen to be selective about the Old Testament predictions of the Messiah. His predicted coming in power and glory to defeat the foes of Israel and set His people free was easy for them to be excited about. His predicted coming in meekness and humility was not.

The scribes and Pharisees had been dogging Jesus’ footsteps for some time and were already convinced He was an enemy of Judaism—so much so that they even collaborated against Him with the Herodians, who normally were their arch foes (Mark 3:6). The religious leaders were no longer merely skeptical and resentful but had become adamantly hostile to Jesus. It would be over a year before Jesus would be crucified, but the irrevocable decision to destroy Him had already been made (Matt. 12:14).

Jesus therefore seems to have performed the particular healing on this occasion especially for the benefit of the Pharisees, forcing them to make their verdict concerning Him public. Before their eyes they saw a man become immediately and dramatically delivered of three great afflictions, and he now stood before them in sound mind and spirit and both spoke and saw. The miracle was incontestable.

THE AMAZEMENT

And all the multitudes were amazed, and began to say, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” (12:23)

Although many people among the multitudes present that day had doubtlessly seen Jesus perform many miracles of healing, they were especially amazed by this one. Existmi (to be amazed) means to be totally astounded, beside oneself with amazement and wonder. One writer suggests that “it means to be literally knocked out of your senses,” and another that “it means to be out of your mind with amazement.” In ways that we may not fully see from the narrative, this particular miracle was unusually overwhelming, as if Jesus meant to intensify its demonstration of supernaturalness.

Although it comes down on the negative side of probability in their minds, the very question the people began to ask among themselves—This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?—reveals that they recognized such miracles as possible messianic signs. Son of David was one of many scriptural titles for the Messiah (see 2 Sam. 7:12-16; Ps. 89:3; Isa. 9:6-7), and for the people to consider whether Jesus could be the Son of David was a query related to His being the Messiah. That was the title later ascribed to Jesus by the crowds who welcomed Him into Jerusalem as their Messiah and King (Matt. 21:9; cf. v. 5).

THE ACCUSATION

But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.” (12:24)

The fact that the multitudes were seriously wondering if Jesus might be the Messiah drove the Pharisees to panic, and they unwittingly reacted with the foolish accusation that Jesus cast out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons. These Jewish religious leaders, of whom the Pharisees were always the most zealous and vocal, could not tolerate the thought that this man who denounced them as unrighteous hypocrites and trampled on their human system of traditions could be the prophesied and long-awaited Deliverer of Israel.

Matthew’s telling us that Jesus knew their thoughts (v. 25) indicates that the Pharisees were some distance from Jesus, perhaps on the fringe of the crowd or standing outside as Jesus ministered within a house. Their intent was to poison the minds of the people against Jesus by answering their question about Him with a resounding no. They said, in effect, that He was the antithesis of the Son of David. He was the servant of Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.

They had only one option. Because Jesus’ power was indisputably supernatural, because the only two sources of supernatural power are God and Satan, and because they refused to recognize Jesus as being from God, they were forced to conclude that He was an agent of Satan. He must serve the ruler of the demons, for whom Beelzebul (or Beelzebub) was a popular title, derived from the name of an ancient Canaanite deity. (See chapter 9 of this volume for a discussion of the name Beelzebul.)

THE ANSWER

And knowing their thoughts He said to them, “Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand? And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Consequently they shall be your judges. But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. (12:25-30)

Although the Pharisees were speaking to the crowd beyond Jesus’ hearing, He nevertheless knew their thoughts. Mark tells us that some scribes from Jerusalem joined the Pharisees in accusing Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul, and that Jesus “called them to Himself and began speaking to them in parables” (3:22-23). They would not confront Him directly with their accusation, but He confronted them directly with its absurdity, its prejudice, and its rebelliousness.

THE ACCUSATION WAS ABSURD

“Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?” (12:25b-26)

Jesus first showed His accusers that their charge was a logical absurdity. It is axiomatic that a kingdom divided against itself would soon be laid waste by self-destruction. The truism also applies to any city or any house. If one or the other becomes divided against itself, it obviously shall not stand.

Applied to the spirit world, the principle is just as clear: If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall his kingdom stand? Outside of the Trinity, Satan is the most intelligent being in existence, and he certainly does not assign his forces to fight against each other and internally destroy his own program.

It is true, of course, that evil is destructive by nature, and that destruction often includes self-destruction. Satan is the father of hatred and lies, and where such things rule there is confusion and inconsistency. There can be no true harmony within or among evil beings. Just as God is the Lord of order and harmony, Satan is the lord of disorder and chaos, whether he chooses to be or not.

It is also true that although Satan is brilliant, powerful, and able to move from place to place with seemingly instantaneous speed, he is nevertheless not omniscient, omnipotent, or omnipresent. And the supreme deceiver is supremely self-deceived, especially in thinking he can overpower God and usurp His kingdom.

And it is further true that Satan often disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14). In that role he may pretend to cast out a demon by restricting its power over the possessed person in order to give the impression of a cleansing. That sort of supposed exorcism has been common throughout the history of the church and is practiced today by various cults, false healers, and exorcists.

Even Satan’s demons may on occasion act inconsistently and in conflict with him and each other. But despite the disorder of his kingdom, his creaturely limits, his false exorcisms, and demon confusion, Satan does not cast out Satan, and he is not divided against himself. There is no harmony, trust, or loyalty in his kingdom, but he tolerates no disobedience or division. It was therefore preposterous to accuse Jesus of casting out demons by the power of the ruler of demons.

THE ACCUSATION WAS PREJUDICED

And if I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out?
Consequently they shall be your judges. (12:27)

Second, Jesus showed that the Pharisees’ accusation was also prejudiced, revealing the corrupt, wicked bias of their hearts. Sons was often used as an epithet for disciples or followers, as in the common Old Testament expression “sons of the prophets” (see, e.g., 2 Kings 2:3). Certain followers or sons of the Pharisees cast out demons, and the Jewish historian Josephus reports that they used many strange, exotic incantations and cultic formulas in their rites.

Luke tells of a group of seven brothers, sons of a chief priest named Sceva, who practiced exorcism. When they and other Jewish exorcists heard of the apostles’ great success in casting out evil spirits, they decided to try a new formula—exorcising in “the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, ‘I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches’” (Acts 19:13-14). The fact that they thought the mere use of certain words and names would accomplish the exorcism proves their magical orientation. The demon, however, was not the least affected, and he responded by saying to the seven men, “‘I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?’ And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded” (vv. 15-16).

Jesus pointed out the Pharisees’ extreme prejudice by showing that they approved the exorcisms attempted by the sons who were part of their religious establishment. They would never have claimed that those activities were ungodly, much less satanic. Yet when Jesus not only cast out every sort of demon but also healed every sort of disease, they accused Him of being in league with the devil.

The Pharisees’ response reflects the basic response of every person who intentionally rejects Jesus Christ. They did not reject Him for lack of evidence but because they were biased against Him. Their own deeds were evil and they could not handle the intimidating reality of Jesus’ righteousness; they were children of darkness and could not tolerate His light (John 3:19). They were not looking for truth but for ways to justify their own wickedness and to destroy anyone who dared expose them.

To put His opponents further on the spot, Jesus suggested that the Pharisees let their exorcist sons be their judges. The implied suggestion was that they ask those practitioners by whose power they cast out evil spirits. If they said, “By Satan’s power,” they would condemn themselves and the religious leaders who supported them. But if they said, “By God’s power,” they would undercut the Pharisees’ accusation against Jesus.

THE ACCUSATION WAS REBELLIOUS

But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. (12:28-30)

The third, and basic, reason behind the Pharisees’ accusation was their rebelliousness against God. Jesus had dispelled the foolish charge that He worked under Satan’s power, and the only remaining possibility was that He cast out demons by the Spirit of God.

If He did His work by the Spirit of God, then His miracles were of God and He had to be the Messiah, “the Son of David,” just as the multitudes had considered (v. 23). Every religiously literate Jew knew that the prophets predicted that just such signs would accompany the Messiah’s coming (Isa. 29:18; 35:5-6). They also knew that the Messiah was to be Israel’s supreme and eternal King (Ps. 2:6; Jer. 23:5; Zech. 9:9). “Therefore,” Jesus was saying, “if I am the Messiah, I am also the coming King, and if I am the King, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”

Jesus will not reign on earth in His full glory and divine prerogatives until the millennial kingdom, and after that in the eternal kingdom of the new heavens and new earth. But in widest sense, Christ’s kingdom is the sphere of His rule in any place or age. In that sense He is King wherever He may be, and those who love Him are His subjects; therefore His kingdom was always with Him during His earthly ministry. In a similar way it exists now on earth wherever He is served as Lord. “For [God] delivered us from the domain of darkness,” Paul says, “and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col. 1:13). It is in that kingdom that every believer begins to live the moment he receives the King as His Lord and Savior.

Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, Jesus continued, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder the house. Could not the Pharisees see that everything Jesus said and did was opposed to Satan? Jesus healed sickness and disease, which were brought upon mankind by sin, which, in turn, was brought and promoted by Satan. Jesus raised people from death, which was also a consequence of sin and indirectly the work of Satan (cf. Heb. 2:14-17). Jesus cast out demons, which, as He had just pointed out, was in obvious opposition to Satan. He even forgave sins—something Satan neither would nor could do—and verified His authority to forgive sins by His power to perform miracles (Matt. 9:5-6). Every detail of what He taught and did corresponded to the teaching of Old Testament Scripture. And although the scribes and Pharisees often charged Jesus with opposing and violating their man-made traditions, they could never convict Him of committing sin or of teaching falsehood (John 8:46).

Jesus used the figure of a thief who planned to rob a strong man’s house while the strong man was there. The thief knows that unless he first binds the strong man he has no chance of being successful and, in fact, risks being arrested and seriously beaten in the process.

Jesus’ point was this: “Haven’t I demonstrated before you and all of Israel My power over Satan and his kingdom of evil, darkness, and destruction? Haven’t I demonstrated beyond all doubt that My authority is higher than Satan’s? Haven’t I cleansed people of every kind of disease and freed them from every kind of demonic control and oppression? Haven’t I demonstrated My authority over both sin and death? Haven’t I rescued souls from hell? Who could have such power and authority but God Himself? Who but God could enter the very house of Satan and successfully bind him and carry off his property? I have shown you that I can defeat Satan and a legion of his demonic hosts at will. How could I be any other than your divine Messiah?”

The death blow to Satan was inflicted at the cross and will be actualized in the future; but even before that ultimate victory Christ repeatedly demonstrated His unlimited and unhindered power to thwart and bind Satan. Christ also committed that power to His disciples, and when the seventy returned from their mission, Jesus “said to them, ‘I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning’” (Luke 10:18). Satan is presently still powerful, but His power is limited, his doom is sealed, and his time is short.

Jesus next made clear to the Pharisees that there is no neutral ground as far as relationship to Him is concerned. He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters. It is not necessary to oppose Christ in order to be against Him; it is only necessary not to be with Him. Nor is it necessary to actively interfere with His work in order to be one who scatters; it is only necessary to not gather with Him. The person who does not belong to God is the enemy of God (Rom. 5:10); the person who is not a child of God through Christ is a rebel against God.

There are only two possible relationships to Jesus Christ, and therefore to God: with or against. It is both spiritually and rationally impossible to accept Jesus as a kind man, a good teacher, and a great man of God—and nothing more. Only God has the right to claim for Himself the honor and authority Jesus claimed for Himself; and only God has the power over disease, sin, demons, Satan, and death that Jesus both claimed and demonstrated.

THE ANATHEMA

Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. And whoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age, or in the age to come. (12:31-32)

Few passages of Scripture have been more misinterpreted and misunderstood than these two verses. Because of their extreme seriousness and finality, it is critical to understand them correctly.

Jesus first stated that any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven men. Although blasphemy is a form of sin, in this passage and context the two are treated separately—with blasphemy representing the most extreme form of sin. Sin here represents the full gamut of immoral and ungodly thoughts and actions, whereas blasphemy represents conscious denouncing and rejection of God. Blasphemy is defiant irreverence, the uniquely terrible sin of intentionally and openly speaking evil against holy God or defaming or mocking Him (cf. Mark. 2:7). The Old Testament penalty for such blasphemy was death by stoning (Lev. 24:16). In the last days blasphemy will be an outstanding characteristic of those who rebelliously and insolently oppose God (Rev. 13:5-6; 16:9; 17:3).

But even blasphemy, Jesus says, is forgiven, just as any other sin is forgiven when it is confessed and repented of. An unbeliever who blasphemes God can be forgiven. Paul confessed that, “even though [he] was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor,” he was nevertheless “shown mercy, because [he] acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 1:13-14). “Christ Jesus came into the world,” the apostle continues, “to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all” (v. 15). Peter blasphemed Christ with curses (Mark 14:71) and was forgiven and restored.

Even a believer can blaspheme, since any thought or word that sullies or defames the Lord’s name constitutes blasphemy. To question God’s goodness, wisdom, fairness, truthfulness, love, or faithfulness is a form of blasphemy. All of that is forgivable by grace. Speaking to believers, John said, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

There is one exception, however: blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. Even the person who blasphemes Jesus, who dares to speak a word against the Son of Man . . . shall be forgiven. Son of Man designates the Lord’s humanity, which He experienced in His time of humiliation and servitude during the incarnation. A person’s perception may not allow him to see more than the Lord’s humanity, and if he only misjudges at that level and speaks against Him in His humanness, such a word against the Son of Man can be forgiven. When a person rejects Christ with less than full exposure to the evidence of His deity, he may yet be forgiven of that sin if, after gaining fuller light, he then believes.

It was hard even for the disciples to keep clearly in mind that their Teacher was indeed the Son of God. He ate, drank, slept, and became tired just as they did. Not only that, but many of the things He did simply did not seem to reflect God’s glory and majesty. Jesus continually humbled Himself and served others. He took no earthly glory for Himself, and when others tried to thrust it on Him, He refused to receive it—as when the crowd wanted to make Him king after He miraculously fed the five thousand (John 6:15). It was even more difficult for those outside Jesus’ inner circle to appreciate His deity. Even when He performed His greatest miracles, He did so without fanfare or flare. Jesus did not always look or act like even a human lord, much less like the divine Lord.

But to misjudge, belittle, and discredit Jesus from the vantage point of incomplete revelation or inadequate perception was forgivable, wrong as it was. As already mentioned, the apostle Paul had himself been an ignorant blasphemer of the Lord Jesus Christ of the worst sort and a fierce persecutor of His church. And many of those who had denied and rejected Christ during His earthly ministry later saw the truth of who He was and asked forgiveness and were saved.

But the blasphemy against the Spirit was something more serious and irremediable. It not only reflected unbelief, but determined unbelief—the refusal, after having seen all the evidence necessary to complete understanding, even to consider believing in Christ. This was blasphemy against Jesus in His deity, against the Spirit of God who uniquely indwelt and empowered Him. It reflected determined rejection of Jesus as the Messiah against every evidence and argument. It reflected seeing the truth incarnate and then knowingly rejecting Him and condemning Him. It demonstrated an absolute and permanent refusal to believe, which resulted in loss of opportunity ever to be forgiven. . . either in this age, or in the age to come. Through this age (all of human history), such rejection is unforgivable. The age to come implies that through all of eternity there will be no forgiveness. In the age of human history and in the age of divine consummation, no forgiveness.

Scripture is clear that during His ministry on earth our Lord was submissive to the Father (John 4:34; 5:19-30) and empowered by the Spirit (Matt. 4:1; Mark 1:12; Luke 4:1, 18; John 3:34; Acts 1:2; Rom. 1:4). Peter said that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth “with the Holy Spirit and with power” (Acts 10:38).

Those who spoke against the Holy Spirit were those who saw His divine power working in and through Jesus but willfully refused to accept the implications of that revelation and, in some cases, attributed that power to Satan. Many people had heard Jesus teach and preach God’s truth, as no man had ever taught before (Matt. 7:28-29), yet they refused to believe Him. They had seen him heal every kind of disease, cast out every kind of demon, and forgive every kind of sin, yet they charged Him with deceit, falsehood, and demonism. In the face of every possible evidence of Jesus’ messiahship and deity, they said no. God could do nothing more for them, and they would therefore remain eternally unforgiven.

For penitence they substitute hardening, for confession plotting. Thus, by means of their own criminal and completely inexcusable callousness, they are dooming themselves. Their sin is unpardonable because they are unwilling to tread the path that leads to pardon. For a thief, an adulterer, and a murderer there is hope. The message of the gospel may cause him to cry out, “O God be merciful to me, the sinner.” But when a man has become hardened, so that he has made up his mind not to pay any attention to the . . . Spirit, . . . he has placed himself on the road that leads to perdition. (William Hendriksen, The Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1973], p. 529)

Through Isaiah, the Lord pictured Israel as a vineyard He had carefully planted, cultivated, and tended. He built a tower in the middle of it, representing Jerusalem, and a wine vat in it, representing the sacrificial system. “Then He expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones.” “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?” God asked. “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. And I will lay it waste; it will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it” (Isa. 5:1-6). After the people had been blessed with every blessing and had every opportunity but still turned their backs on God, there was nothing left for Him to do but turn His back on them.

During Jesus’ earthly ministry, the unbelieving Pharisees and all the others who blasphemed the Spirit cut themselves off from God’s mercy, not because it was not offered but because it was abundantly offered yet rebelliously and permanently rejected and ridiculed as satanic.

Within forty years, God would destroy Jerusalem, the Temple, the priesthood, the sacrifices, and the nation of Israel. In 70 A.D. the Romans razed Jerusalem, utterly destroyed the Temple, slaughtered over a million of its inhabitants, and all but obliterated nearly a thousand other towns and villages in Judea. His own chosen people had said no to Him, and He said no to them. Until He returns and regathers a remnant of His people to Himself in the last days, except for a few faithful, they are as a nation totally apart from God.

To unsaved Jews who had heard the full gospel message and had seen its evidence in supernatural power, and to all who would come after them with similar exposure to the truth and the biblical record of miraculous evidence, the writer of the book of Hebrews gave a stern warning: “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard [that is, the apostles], God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will” (Heb. 2:3-4). Later in the letter an even more severe warning to those who reject with full revelation is given: “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame” (Heb. 6:4-6). (For a detailed discussion of that important passage, see the author’s commentary in this series on Hebrews.)

The generation immediately after Christ was on earth was ministered to by the apostles, enlightened by their teaching, and given proof of the truth of the gospel by their miracles. That generation had evidence equivalent to that of those who heard and saw Jesus in person. They had the highest possible revelation from God, and if they refused to believe in the face of such overwhelming evidence, there was nothing more God could do for them. They did not blaspheme; they simply turned away. The guilt of the Pharisees who added blasphemy to unbelief was greater than that of those who saw the same evidence and disbelieved but did not speak against the Holy Spirit. But the rebels in both groups left themselves no future but hell.

In a similar way, people today can so totally turn their backs on God’s revelation that they permanently cut themselves off from salvation. “We must work the works of Him who sent Me, as long as it is day,” Jesus said; “night is coming, when no man can work” (John 9:4).

During World War II, an American naval force in the North Atlantic was engaged in heavy battle with enemy ships and submarines on an exceptionally dark night. Six planes took off from the carrier to search out those targets, but while they were in the air a total blackout was ordered for the carrier in order to protect it from attack. Without lights on the carrier’s deck the six planes could not possibly land, and they made a radio request for the lights to be turned on just long enough for them to come in. But because the entire carrier, with its several thousand men as well as all the other planes and equipment, would have been put in jeopardy, no lights were permitted. When the six planes ran out of fuel, they had to ditch in the freezing water and all crew members perished into eternity.

There comes a time when God turns out the lights, when further opportunity for salvation is forever lost. That is why Paul told the Corinthians, “Now is ‘the acceptable time,’ behold, now is ‘the day of salvation’” (2 Cor. 6:2). One who rejects full light can have no more light—and no forgiveness.