The Unpardonable Sin

 

And the disciples came and said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries [musterion – hidden spiritual truths] of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. "For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore, I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.                       Matthew 13:10-13

In Matthew 13, Jesus preached eight parables dealing with the kingdom of heaven; in fact, he changed His whole method of teaching and it troubled the disciples. The above exchange was their response to this change. Jesus answered with this explanation: "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.“ He said the kingdom of heaven is not a physical place but a reality experienced only by those who believe. One can never understand these mysteries apart from faith. Jesus was now teaching the disciples by parables so that they would begin to understand the dynamics of a kingdom relationship with God. So, what caused Jesus to change his teaching approach?

Beelzebul

Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, "This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?" But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons." And knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, "Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and any city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason, they will 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.                          Matthew 12:22-29 

The answer to that question is revealed in the above passage. Jesus heals a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and the immediate response of the Pharisees is to accuse Jesus of being empowered by Beelzebul, the ruler of demons; He could not be the Messiah, the Son of David. Jesus explains that if He casts out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. The Jewish leaders have rejected Jesus as the Messiah even though they knew He was the Messiah. This was because Jesus had performed certain miracles that only the Messiah was able to do.

Messianic Miracles 

The wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; like the crocus, it will blossom profusely with rejoicing and shout of joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble. Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; the recompense of God will come, but He will save you.” Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah. The scorched land will become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, its resting place, grass becomes reeds and rushes.               Isaiah 35:1-7

Some time before the coming of Jesus, the ancient rabbis divided miracles into two categories. From the above passage in Isaiah 35, which refers to the Kingdom Age, they concluded that certain miracles could be attributed only to the Messiah. Anyone empowered by the Holy Spirit could perform most miracles. There were certain miracles, including the healing of leprosy, casting out demons in one who is mute, and healing of one born with birth defects, including blindness, that would require only the Messiah to fulfill. Jesus did miracles in both categories. Because of this rabbinic teaching, the rabbis would recognize the Messiah by the performance of the messianic miracles. Jesus performed three specific miracles with this intention in mind: the healing of a leper (Luke 5:12-14), the healing of a man born blind (John 9), and the casting out of a demon from a blind and mute man (Matthew 12:22).

Leprosy

According to the ancient rabbis, there was no cure for leprosy. Remedies for leprosy were left out of Rabbinic writings. Lepers were to be avoided. When a leper passed by, he/she was to shout "Unclean! Unclean!" The Rabbis confessed that they were powerless in the presence of this living death. They taught that the possibility of any cure for the leper needed to come from God! (Sanhedrin 98b/Talmud) One of the titles given to the Messiah by the Rabbis was – Messiah the Leprous. Rabbinic teaching held that the King Messiah would relieve all misery and disease. The Messiah would heal the Jewish lepers. Leviticus 13 and 14 give instructions on leprosy, its identification, and the religious rites. 

There are two references to leprosy being healed in the Old Testament, one found in Numbers 12 when Miriam (Moses's sister) was struck with leprosy for seven days to address her insubordination toward Moses, the ordained man of God, and Naaman, a Syrian captain (non-Jew) who was healed by washing seven times in the Jordan River. In both cases, faith in God was in play.

While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." And He stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." And immediately the leprosy left him. And He ordered him to tell no one, "But go and show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."                     Luke 5:12-14

The first messianic miracle was the healing of a leper. Under the Mosaic Law, the only time it was possible for a person to be defiled by a living human body was if he touched a leper. Usually, under the Mosaic Law, one could only become ceremonially unclean or defiled by touching a dead human body; touching a dead animal's body; or touching a live unclean animal's body, such as a pig. The only time defilement came from a living human body was through contact with a leper.

From the time the Mosaic Law was completed, there was no record of any Jew who had been healed of leprosy. While Miriam was healed of leprosy, this was before the completion of the Law. Naaman was healed of leprosy, but he was a Syrian Gentile, not a Jew. From the time the Mosaic Law was completed, there was never a case of any Jew being healed of leprosy. The one healed was instructed to present himself to the priest for verification and to make an offering consistent with Leviticus 14.

A Man Born Blind 

As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him." We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. "While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world."                John 9:1-5

The significance of this miracle is that it required the ability to create or recreate parts of the human body, an ability only found in a deity. There was a great deal of argument surrounding this miracle and who actually performed it. Jesus explained to the disciples that this miracle was necessary so that the works of God might be displayed in him. The Pharisees actually excommunicated this man from the Temple, but Jesus later found him and made sure he understood who Jesus was. In John 9:35-38, Jesus heard that they had put him out, and finding him, He said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him, and He is the one who is talking with you." And he said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped Him. The Pharisees knew this was a messianic miracle.

Demon Possessed 

Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw.                     Matthew 12:22 

The third messianic miracle is the trigger that causes Jesus to declare the Pharisees unreachable. It is essential to understand that demons can be cast out only if the name of the demon can be ascertained. In this case, the man was mute, so there could be no physical way to cast out the demon. As discussed above, the Pharisees accused Jesus of being of Beelzebul, a Philistine God associated with Baal. Jesus was introducing the spiritual kingdom of God to all who would believe in Him.

Blasphemy Against the Spirit

"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 people, but blasphemy [blasphemia – resisting the witness of the Holy Spirit] against the Spirit shall not be forgiven [aphiemi – fail to pardon]. Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”               Matthew 12:30-32 

In the above passage, Jesus was declaring that the Pharisees and other Jewish leaders had committed blasphemy against the Spirit. Through the Messianic miracles, they knew who He was, yet they rejected Him. The Holy Spirit is the revealer of truth, and to reject the clear revelation of the Holy Spirit is to commit the unpardonable sin. In John 16:13-15, But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore, I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you. The leaders of Jesus’s day were given the same sentence as the devil and his demons.

An Evil Generation

An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah"                    Matthew 16:4

"You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it."                            Acts 7:51-53 

“You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the sons of Israel, and for the alien who sojourns among them. “But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from among his people. “Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him.”                   Numbers 15:29-31

Raising Lazarus

Jesus performed one more messianic miracle at a unique moment in time, sending a clear message to Israel's leadership. As a result of the rejection of His messianic claims after the second messianic miracle, Jesus pronounced a judgment upon that generation of Israel for being guilty of the unpardonable sin, the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Then He said something else. He also said that because of this rejection, there would be no more signs for the nation except one, the sign of Jonah, which is the sign of resurrection. In John 11:1-44, that sign was given with the resurrection of Lazarus. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after he had been dead for four days.

The fact that Lazarus was dead for four days is very significant. According to the teachings of Pharisaic Judaism, when a man died, the spirit of the man hovered over the body during the first three days. During those three days, there was always a possibility that resuscitation could bring him back. On the fourth day, the spirit of the man descended to Sheol or Hades, and from then on, resuscitation was impossible; only a miracle of resurrection could accomplish this. The fact that Jesus waited until Lazarus was dead for four days showed that they would never be able to explain away the resurrection of Lazarus by claiming mere resuscitation. Thus, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after four days, this again created a stir:

Therefore, the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council, and were saying, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs. If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation." But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish." John 11:47-50

In response to the raising of Lazarus, the Sanhedrin met and deliberated. During the deliberations, they carried out the final rejection that had already occurred. As a result of the second messianic miracle, they rejected His messianic claims. The response to the miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus must be a sentence of death. It was Caiaphas, the high priest, who led the Sanhedrin in rejecting Jesus and pronouncing the sentence.

Sinning Willfully

not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY." And again, "THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE." It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:25-31

For many, the above passage is deeply troubling, suggesting that the believer can lose his salvation. A closer look at the passage and the context of the book of Hebrews is necessary. The author wished to reassure Jewish believers that their faith in Jesus as Messiah was secure and reasonable. He tried to prepare them for the impending disaster – the destruction of the Temple and its related religious practices – as predicted by Jesus many years prior. They would no longer need the Temple or religious practices since Jesus, as the High Priest, would be sufficient for each believer. 

There are many examples of true believers receiving punishment from God for ungodly activities. Consider Ananias and Sapphira or King David. As Hebrews 12 reveals, the discipline of the Lord is necessary for all believers to share in His holiness (Hebrews 12:10). The issue at hand in Hebrews 10 is that of rewards, not salvation. The quality of our fellowship with Him on earth and the rewards we receive in the next life are at hand. As it says in Hebrews 10:36, we have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. 

But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.               Hebrews 10:32-36