Read and Believe in Jesus.

“Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” Matthew 12:32

.

.

REVIEW – Jesus was confronted again by the uber-religious Pharisees, this time on Sabbath Law. Oh, the things they did NOT know!

Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, who originally “rested” after six days of creation and set the seventh day (Sabbath) apart for rest for His people, is confronted for eating a few kernels of grain to assuage hunger, and for healing a poor, crippled man on the “day of rest.”

This day was created by God out of mercy for mankind, not for a DAY OF DIABOLICAL, pride-building, gut-twisting fear of offense. Sheesh!

.

.

Matthew 12:22-23.

A man in the grips of Satanic beings who prevented him from seeing or speaking was brought to Jesus.

(Stop for a minute and imagine this man’s life. Tormented in body and soul; unable to control wild movements that caused him terrible pain (cutting, falling into fire), unable to tell anyone about it or even ask for help, constantly in a deep darkness of body and spirit.)

Truly a picture of Hell.

But “someone” brought him to Jesus, and Jesus healed Him! WOW!

“Can this be the Son of David (the Messiah)?” the amazed watchers asked.

YES!!

.

.

Matthew 12:24-30.

“NO!” cried those sour Pharisees.

WHAT??

Then they gave their shocking explanation for the Son of God’s loving goodness toward this man. “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons, that this man casts out demons.”

This is the pit of despicable (and stupid) utterances. Giving credit to Satan for what God has done through His Son via the Holy Spirit? I would not have been surprised if the earth had opened and swallowed them whole.

.

Jesus knew their thoughts, of course, and reasoned aloud, for the people’s sake (I believe).

“1) Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.”

“2) If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?”

“3) If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons and daughters cast them out. Therefore they will be your judges.”

“4) But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.” And finally,

“5) How can someone enter a strongman’s house and plunder his goods, UNLESS He first binds the strong man?”

This is so reasonable; it’s hard to believe why the people might have been tempted to believe the Pharisees’ rash statement. These “teachers of the law” did it out of jealousy, of course. Jesus was taking away their importance, making them seem stupid in the eyes of the people, who had stood in so much awe of them.

.

.

Matthew 12:30-32.

Jesus then drew the line in the sand. “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

And the ‘coup de gras.’ (The final, deadly cut.)

“Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will NOT be forgiven. 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 the age to come.”

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good …. or make the tree bad and its fruit bad. You WILL know a tree by its FRUIT.

Then Jesus turns to the dark-hearted Pharisees,

“You nest of snakes! How can you speak GOOD, when you are EVIL? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The GOOD person out of his GOOD treasure brings forth GOOD, and the EVIL person out of his EVIL treasure brings forth EVIL.”

“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for EVERY CARELESS WORD they speak, for by your WORDS you will be justified … and by your WORDS you will be condemned.’

.

.

(NOTE: These may be the harshest words Jesus has ever spoken to anyone. He has taken the pronouncement of the Pharisees that His power comes from Satan, and condemned them to hell for it. They looked like “good” trees, but the fruit of their mouths/hearts betrayed them. Those words came straight from a heart full of evil. Their words were UNFORGIVABLE, then and in the age to come.)

(Can we commit the ‘unforgivable sin’ today? Are you terrified that you might have? I’ll venture to say that if you are afraid you did, you probably did not. Your fear and remorse are signs of repentance. If so, you can go to God, confess what you believe was that sin, and God promises – for Christ’s sake – to forgive you.)

(These Pharisees did NOT repent. They hardened their hearts and sought all the more to destroy/kill the Son of God. In fact… they did kill Him, and then lied to cover it up.)