Chapter 12

The unpardonable sin is not adultery, not suicide, not the constant repetition of any sin, not using profanity, not calling your brother a fool, not falling away. These are the most common concepts of the unpardonable sin. The unpardonable sin is listed as a sin against the Holy Spirit, and therefore we ought to understand the five sins against the Holy Spirit which are listed in the Bible:

1. Resisting the Holy Spirit — Acts 7:51. This sin can only be committed by an unbeliever. Resisting the Holy Spirit simply means to reject Christ as saviour with emphasis on the convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit — John 16:8-11.

2. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit — Matthew 12:31. This sin can only be committed by an unbeliever. It is rejecting the ministry of Christ while Christ is ministering on the earth.

3. Lying to the Holy Spirit — Acts 5:1-3. This sin can only be committed by a born again believer and it is a sin of false motivation.

4. Grieving the Holy Spirit — Ephesians 4:30. This sin can only be committed by a believer and it is any sin which the believer commits.

5. Quenching the Holy Spirit — 1 Thessalonians 5:19. This is a believer performing human good. When the believer is controlled by his old sin nature he performs human good.

In Mark 3:28 we have some comfort with regard to the unpardonable sin. The fact that all sins shall be forgiven is a source of comfort. This statement has to be correlated with the doctrine of unlimited atonement. Since Christ died on the cross for all of the sins of the human race it is obvious that all sins can be forgiven. So whatever the unpardonable sin happens to be one thing is obvious: it is not a sin in itself because Christ bore all sins on the cross. It is listed as a sin for reasons of nomenclature and categorising but it is obvious that Christ could not carry it on the cross; it was not poured out upon Christ and it was not judged. There is really no such thing as an unpardonable sin in the strict sense of the word because Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree. Every sin that has ever been listed in the Bible as a sin were poured out upon Christ — 1 Peter 2:24; 2 Corinthians 5:21. So in the strict sense the unpardonable sin is not an unpardonable sin, it is an unpardonable act, and the unpardonable act for which Christ did not die is rejection of Himself — unbelief and/or rejection of Christ, that is the unpardonable act.

It is stated in many ways, depending upon the dispensation, and you have to remember that in this particular passage we are in the dispensation of Israel.

The character of the unpardonable sin

1. It is an act committed by an unbeliever.

2. It is impossible for the believer to commit the unpardonable sin — Isaiah 1:18; 44:22; 1 John 1:7; Psalm 113:12.

3. It is a single sin or act, it is not progressive or repetitious (except in its expression, i.e. rejection of Christ once and every time the gospel is heard it is continually rejected).

4. It is unpardonable. There is nothing in the plan of God that provides forgiveness for it.

5. It is condemned. When this act of unbelief is operational it is always condemned — John 3:18.

6. The alternative to this unpardonable act is to believe in Christ and be saved, but if rejection persists to the point of death then there is no hope.

The background for the unpardonable sin is found in the first 23 verses.

Verse 1 — “At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were hungry, and they began to pick the ears of corn and to eat [kept on eating].” And this was taboo. This was as bad as going to the beaches where the girls are! Or chewing bubble gum on Sunday!

Remember that the Sabbath is a principle of grace. God rested on the seventh day because everything that man needed in innocence had been provided, there was nothing more He could do for Adam in his original state. So the Sabbath is a picture of grace: God providing and man receiving the benefit of that provision. In Israel they rested on the Sabbath (the seventh day) in order that they might be reminded of the grace of God. However, religion had reached in and grabbed the Sabbath and distorted it into the most awful type of legalism. For example, we learn from the Mishna and the Talmud exactly some of the taboos for the Sabbath. It was unlawful to carry food from one house to another; an ass could not be led out on a road unless its covering and its trappings had been removed before the Sabbath; and egg could not be boiled by putting it near a hot kettle or on a hot cloth or in sand which had been heated by the sun on the Saturday; it was unlawful to extinguish a lamp on the Sabbath or to light one after the Sabbath began; it was unlawful to move furniture on the Sabbath except when used as ladders, and then only for four steps; it was unlawful to wear any ornament on the Sabbath because it might be construed as a burden, and carrying burdens on the Sabbath was forbidden; the Pharisees used to spend many hours arguing whether it was lawful to tie your sandals on the Sabbath or not; it was forbidden to fix a leaky barrel on the Sabbath, and finally they came to the place there they decided it was forbidden to stop a wound from bleeding on the Sabbath; a very interesting taboo in the Talmud had to do with dentistry: false teeth or a false plug in the tooth could not be worn on the Sabbath. If you had taken out your false teeth (and they had false teeth in those days apparently) you could not put them back in; it was also forbidden on the Sabbath to sew, to reap, to plough, to bind sheaves, to thresh, to winnow, to sift, to grind, to bake, to shear, to wash, to dye, to weave, to shave …

This is just a sampling of about 2,500 taboos which had been set up for the Sabbath and it can be seen how the Pharisees were probably just waiting for this one. The disciples weren’t stealing either. The corn was left in the fields for the poor of the land or for anyone who was hungry or any stranger in town. On the Sabbath you couldn’t buy food anywhere. You could go to the edge of the field and wait until the Sabbath was over and then go in and help yourself.

Verse 2 — the criticism of the Pharisees. “Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day.” In other words, they are saying that this is wrong. The first thing we could say about the Pharisees is that they aren’t minding their own business.

Verses 3-7, the Biblical defence.

Verse 3 — “But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did.” He goes to the scripture, 1 Samuel 21 (All these taboos are extra-biblical, they have nothing to do with the scripture. There is nothing in the Bible which says that you can’t eat corn on the Sabbath day); “when he was hungry, and they that were with him.”

Verse 4 — “How that he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?” Obviously this was on the Sabbath and David did it on the Sabbath, and if he did it there is obviously there is a law of expediency that says that if you are hungry on the Sabbath day, so what, eat.

Verse 5 — “Or have ye not read in the law,” Numbers 28:9,10, “how that on the Sabbath day the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?”

Verse 6 — “But I say unto you, that in this place [here] is one greater than the temple.” In other words, if the priests were allowed to go into the temple, and before that the tabernacle, and perform certain activities on the Sabbath, and they were blameless in this matter. How about the fact that here is the person about whom everything in the temple and the tabernacle represented? Everything in them represented the Lord Jesus Christ and He is now here, in this place. Jesus Christ has the right to make pronouncements for, after all, the Sabbath was a memorial to what Jesus Christ would do for the human race.

Verse 7 — “But if [second class condition: “if” and you don’t] ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice [Quotation from Hosea 6:6], ye would not have condemned the guiltless.” So Jesus is saying His disciples have a right on the Sabbath to eat, that the whole purpose of the Sabbath has been misunderstood, that religion is out of line and that you can do things on the Sabbath (or, in our case, on Sunday). Principle: Live your life as unto the Lord, not as unto a lot of mixed up, hypocritical, self-righteous, legalistic and ignoramus-type believers.

So He says “guiltless.” Religion and ceremonialism is incompatible with that which it is supposed to represent — grace.

Verse 8 — “For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” In other words, the Sabbath day was made for the Lord, not the Lord made for the Sabbath. Therefore if the Lord wants to tell what the Sabbath means and how it is to be utilised he has the right to do so. The word for “Lord” is deity. Jesus Christ is God and the Sabbath was made to point out His grace.

Verse 9 — begins a second Sabbath controversy. “And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue” — and He is bound to get some static in there!

Verse 10 — “And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered,” his hand was completely paralysed and useless. “And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days?” They were going to try to trip Him up. Remember that the Talmud tells us that it wasn’t even lawful to stop bleeding on the Sabbath! That’s the way these legalists looked at it. Religion is always a source of oppression even as grace is always a source of freedom and liberation from oppression.

“that they might accuse him.” They are going to try to tie Him up now and in this way get rid of Him.

Verse 11 — “And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep.” He is going to hit these people really close, business! “and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?” Now they all approved of that because here is an interesting thing: religion always depends on money. Jesus stopped them cold with this one. He answered the first one by the Word of God; He answers the second one by a very beautifully developed principle about something that existed at the time. The Pharisees are not about to cut off business. Religion never will!

Verse 12 — the analogy is made. “How much then is a man better than a sheep?” The Pharisees’ big front of course was that they were interested in people, or so they said. So obviously when Jesus asks this question they all have to admit that people are better than sheep. If they don’t they will lose face. “Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the Sabbath day.” So Jesus tells them it is all right to do well on the Sabbath. Why should you switch your modus operandi because of a day? If the purpose of the day is to glorify God it means that there must be consistency.

Verse 13 — the credit card defence. Jesus now presents His credit card that He is God. “Then said he to the man, Stretch forth thy hand.” Undoubtedly there are other people in the synagogue with infirmities but He doesn’t heal anyone else. “And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like the other.” In other words, He healed him. But remember the principle: Jesus performed acts of healing not to alleviate suffering but to demonstrate who and what He was, because the important thing is not how you feel in time but where you spend eternity. And every miracle performed by Jesus or the disciples was designed to focus attention upon the person and the work of Christ, that man might believe in Him and be eternally saved.

Verse 14 — “Then the Pharisees went out, and held a council against him, how they might destroy him.” They couldn’t refute His arguments. He met them with scripture; He met them with modus operandi; He met them with logic, and they just simply couldn’t face it. So while they were holding a council, deciding how they would kill Him, Jesus Christ was going through the city presenting His credit cards.

Verse 15 — “But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence: and great multitudes followed him and he healed them all.” When he moved out and these people went after Him, He just turned around and healed everyone that was sick in the crowd, and that was the message He sent back to the Pharisees.

Now look: the one who is here is the God-Man, the unique person of the universe, undiminished deity and true humanity in one person forever, the only saviour, the only way of salvation.

Verse 16 — “And charged them that they should not make him known.” The word “charge” means to give a strong command. Why should they not make Him known? Because Jesus Christ Himself had to present His credit cards, verse 17.

Verse 17 — “That” introduces a purpose clause; “it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying,” (Isaiah 42:1-4, Jesus must first of all present His own credentials to fulfil Old Testament signs and then they who have been healed will have the opportunity of representing Him)

Verse 18 — “Behold my servant, whom I have chosen [the Lord Jesus Christ]; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased.” The Father is speaking and He is pleased with the Son in the incarnation: “I will put my spirit upon him.” And this is the first point of introduction to the so-called unpardonable sin as it exists in this passage. “My spirit” is a reference to God the third person; “upon him” is literally, “in him.” God the third person indwelt the humanity of Christ to sustain Him during His earthly ministry. At the end of this chapter the Pharisees are going to express their rejection by saying that He doesn’t perform these miracles in the power of the Holy Spirit, but He performs these miracles in the power of Beelzebub [a title for Satan]. And in this way they express their total rejection of Jesus Christ. This rejection is the unpardonable sin. In this case we have religion rejecting Christ.

Verse 19 — “He shall not strive,” He will not wrangle, “nor cry.” Jesus Christ was not a cry-baby. During His ministry He cried three times and always with a purpose. He didn’t complain that everyone was against Him, etc.

Verse 20 — “A bruised (perfect passive participle: a “being bruised” reed, literally) reed shall he not break.” The reed is a blade of grass that even though you step on it and crush it it is going to bounce right back, that’s the resurrection; “and smoking flax,” a candle about to go out; “he shall not quench,” a reference to the cross. When Jesus Christ was hanging on the cross, what bruised Him? Our sins, the sins of the world which crushed Him. The point is: while He is crushed beneath the weight of all of these sins he is going to come up again — resurrection. And even though the candle burns and flickers faintly it isn’t going to be quenched. In other words, He will stick it out on the cross until He bears every sin that the human race has ever committed. And when He is taken off that cross the sins of the world have been paid for.

“till he send forth judgement [justice] unto victory.” Justice is the fact that sins, all the sins of the human race, demand judgement and judgement occurs at the cross. And that is why our sins will never be judged and that is why at the last judgement where you only have unbelievers, and these unbelievers are resurrected to stand before the great white throne, they cannot be judged for their sins. The basis of their indictment is human good, all of their good deeds. They are judged according to their good deeds and they are cast into the lake of fire on the basis of them.

Verse 21 — even though these Jews in this generation of Jesus Christ’s ministry rejected Him, i.e. the religious leaders, the Gentiles accepted Him. “And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.” The word “trust” is simply the word for faith, and it reminds us once again that inside of our frontal lobes is a non-meritorious system of perception — faith.

Verse 22 — once again we have the credit card of the Messiah. “Then was brought unto him one possessed of a demon,” which caused the person in this case to be blind and dumb, “and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.” This is very dramatic in the Greek. We have two present linear aktionsarts. When this man could speak for the first time he couldn’t stop talking, he had been wanting to for years.

Healing

1. There are three categories of illness, as far as it’s source: physiological illness, psychosomatic illness (caused by worry, fear anxiety, etc.), demon induced illness. Medicine is familiar with the first two categories but demon-induced illness is a field all in itself and generally speaking medicine is not aware of it. The only way to get rid of demon-induced illness is by getting rid of the demon.

2. The third category, which is demon-induced illness, can only be healed by means of removing the cause. The cause is demon possession.

3. Jesus healed this person by removing the demon. That is the mechanics.

4. In verse 38 the Pharisees ask for a sign, and this sign was given to them in verse 22, the removal of the demon.

5. The Jews seeking a sign conforms with the statement of 1 Corinthians 1:22. The Jews ask for a sign. The Jews ask for a sign because they have robbed themselves of the greatest sign. There are all kinds of signs. The Sabbath day is a sign and the Jews have destroyed the greatest sign of all by legalism. Having destroyed this sign, what do they demand? Instead of demanding doctrinal teaching of grace, the true principle of the Sabbath, they demand a miracle. Principle: When people get away from doctrine they want miracles because they are emotionally oriented instead of doctrinally oriented. 6. The Sabbath was a sign of grace but the Jews turned this sign into legalism and empty ceremonialism.

7. Jesus in this context performed a miracle on the Sabbath day in order to bring out the true meaning of it. And the true meaning here was the fact that the Sabbath was a sign to the Jews.

8. Christ is the reality and the true meaning of the Sabbath. Rejection of Christ means loss of the true sign.

9. Since the Sabbath is removed by legalism Jesus provides two new signs: the miracles of verses 13, 15, 22, and later on the doctrine of verses 38-41.

Verse 23 — the reaction of the crowd. Remember, the Pharisees are plotting to kill Him. They hate Him, they are the religious crowd. “And all the people were amazed,” imperfect linear aktionsart: they keep on being amazed, “and kept on saying, Is not this the son of David?” The son of David is a technical phrase for Messiah. They were saying that this must be the Messiah. The people latched on to what Jesus was doing. They understood the true meaning of those miracles which was to focus attention on the fact that Messiah was here. They caught on and they understood that Christ was here and they recognised the true issue in salvation. Jesus has been performing various categories of miracles, “And all the people were amazed,” imperfect tense, they kept on being amazed, and because of their amazement it led them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. “Is not this the son of David?” Son of David: title for Messiah. They recognised Him as Messiah which means not only saviour but the one who fulfils the Messianic covenant recorded in 2 Samuel 7:8-16; Psalm 89:20-37; 2 Chronicles 21:7. They kept on saying: “Is not this the son of David?” This means that different people in the crowd reacted at different times and they recognised Him for what he was. In other words, as a result of the ministry which we have been studying there was a tremendous response from the people. But notice it was the people who responded and from verse 24 we will see the response of the religious leaders. The people receive Him as Messiah; the religious leaders reject Him.

Verse 24 — the first statement of the unpardonable sin as it existed at the time of the incarnation. “But when the Pharisees heard it.” They hear about the people responding, they hear about people believing in Jesus Christ; “they said.” The aorist tense indicates a point of time when each one of them heard it, and when they heard it they all did exactly the same thing.

The first statement on the unpardonable sin

1. There is a contrast between this verse and verse 23. The religious leaders say the exact opposite of what was said by the people.

2. Since the Pharisees cannot deny the validity of miracles all they can try to do is discredit or explain them away. They did not say a miracle has not been committed; they do not say at any time, He did not really do this, it is a fake. Never once do they deny the validity of the miracles. The principle is: the miracles are thoroughly accredited. In all of the historical accounts it is never suggested or implied that Jesus did not perform these miracles, it is always the attempt to explain them away.

3. Hence they attribute the miracles to Satan (Beelzebub) rather than to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.

4. Remember that the Holy Spirit sustained the humanity of Christ during His earthly ministry.

5. Under the true doctrine of kenosis Jesus did not depend upon His divine attributes to perform His miracles, He depended upon the Holy Spirit.

6. This sets the pattern for the believer in the Church Age.

“This one [not “fellow"] doth not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub [the title of derision for Satan].” Beelzebub means prince of dung, literally. If they were talking about Satan in awesome tones they would call him Satan, the devil, or Lucifer, but they are talking about Satan and Jesus Christ and they want to make it a complete picture of derision. They do it under this title of Beelzebub, “the prince of the demons.” In other words, Satan is in charge of all demons. So here is the unpardonable sin as committed during the earthly ministry of Christ. Important: only during the earthly ministry of Christ. Technically the unpardonable sin is rejection of Christ as saviour but in different ages Christ is rejected in different ways. They have to reject Him in the context of their own day. Here they are saying in effect that Jesus Christ is working for Beelzebub, so they ascribe to Satan the miracles which Jesus Christ performs in the power of the Holy Spirit and this is tantamount to rejecting the person and the work of Christ as they had it at that time. The principle of the unpardonable sin is always the same, it is found in John 3:18.

Verse 25 — remember, they thought this. In verse 24 the words “they said” is a reference to a thought. They said this to themselves: that Jesus Christ is casting out demons under the power of Beelzebub who rules the demons, and that the reason that Jesus can handle all of these cases of demon possession is because He is working for the devil. But this is stupid as we shall see.

The omniscience of Jesus Christ: “And Jesus knew their thoughts.” To know is a perfect tense, which means He knew it inherently from eternity past; “and said unto them.” And note that Jesus now demonstrates by parables, logic, sarcasm, and rhetorical questions. First of all He is going to show them the impossibility of Satan casting out demons, or anyone working for Satan casting out demons in the power of Satan. Since He is going to use logic Jesus begins with a premise, and His premise is axiomatic: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation [is devastated, ruined]; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.” The axiom is used under three phases of life which existed at that time. First of all a kingdom: they were a part of a kingdom, the kingdom of the Jews; a city: they lived in the city Jerusalem; these people had families. So He takes it from family life to city life to national life. And it is true of a family, a city and a nation: if there is division there is desolation and devastation.

Taking this premise He starts using inescapable logic, developed in verses 26-28. In order to do this He uses a very well-known debater’s technique. He assumes for the moment that the supposition of the Pharisees is correct, and He demonstrates that their supposition is ludicrous. The premise is an axiom, everyone accepted this to be true.

Verse 26 — “And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself.” The word “if” is a first class condition [let’s assume that it’s true that Satan is divided against himself]; “how then shall his kingdom stand?” Obviously this does not demand an answer, they know the answer.

Verse 27 — we have again a debater’s first class condition “And if I by Beelzebub cast out demons.” And He doesn’t go on and say, How can Satan’s kingdom stand? He gives it another twist which absolutely floors them. There is nothing they can say to this; “by whom your children cast them out?” When it says “your children” [it should be “your sons”] He is referring to the prophets who have performed miracles in previous years, the last 100-200 years, and there have been a certain number of miracles where demons have been handled by Spirit-filled men. And so consequently He says: “By whom do your sons cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges.” That is the end of the argument right there. They have already contended that all of these miracles that have occurred in that day and in previous days were performed by the power of God and they have already put this in writing. And since it is already put in writing by the scribes and the Pharisees they can’t turn around and erase it. Not only have they put it in writing but they have taught it. They are on record as saying that all of these miracles that have been performed by others were performed by the power of God. So they are hung! — “They shall be your judges.”

Verse 28 — “But if I cast out [present linear aktionsart: keep on casting out] demons by the Spirit of God [1st class condition: and I do], then,” introduces the logical conclusion, “the kingdom is here.” Jesus Christ is the King, the Messiah. In all of the prophets of the past, especially in Isaiah, it was declared that the servant of Jehovah [Isaiah 40; 42; 49; 50 ;51] accomplishes his miracles in the power of the Spirit. So since He accomplishes them in the power of the Spirit this was the sign of His coming, and so the kingdom is there, the Messianic kingdom and the fulfilment of the Davidic covenant.

Verse 29 — He goes to a parable. “Or else how can one enter into a strong man’s house.” A strong man is a person who is sitting by the window which the burglar is trying to open and is armed to the teeth, waiting for the burglar to climb through. That’s a strong man’s house. In other words, they are ready for him. The word “strong man” doesn’t mean strong man in the sense of great strength, it means a person who is prepared and ready and waiting for the burglar. He is ambushing the burglar.

Now the strong man’s house is the devil’s world (the devil is the ruler of this world) so how can he enter the strong man’s house and “spoil his goods” [rob him], except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house [rob him]” .In other words, what He is saying at this particular point is: Christ is engaged in a perpetual conflict with Satan, so obviously Christ cannot be on Satan’s side because He is constantly in conflict with him. In all of these cases of demon possession where Jesus cast out the demons there was antagonism between them, and Jesus ordered the demons to do something they didn’t want to do. They were armed and ready and waiting for Him but His power was greater. And so He is simply pointing out: Look, I have come into the devil’s world and found many members of the human race who were afflicted with demon possession, and under demon possession they can’t even use their own volition. And I have come in and removed the demons and I couldn’t do this unless I had power over demons.

So to cast out demons Christ must have power over Satan and against Satan. It would be impossible for Jesus to cast out demons in the power of Satan because Satan cannot cast out Satan.

Verse 30 — the principle. This is a description of the Pharisees who are Satan’s human emissaries. First of all it should be noted that Satan is the ruler of the world and he operates through two agencies: a. Through angels, known as demons; b. Through certain kinds of people, and in this case, unbelievers — religious type. The Pharisees are actually working for the devil, they are religious, and actually they are on the same side with the demons.

So Jesus now makes the issue clear. “He that is not with me is against me.” Jesus is here representing God, He is the Messiah, and the Pharisees are against Him; “he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” To gather with Christ is evangelising with Him, serving Him, and the Pharisees are not evangelising and leading people to heaven, they are scattering abroad which is an idiom for judgement. The Pharisees are leading people to judgement. In other words, if you follow the Pharisees you will wind up in hell. They have a big system of human good that you can perform to work your way into heaven! They teach salvation by works and they are leading people to hell. Jesus Christ is here presenting the gospel, salvation by grace, and He is simply getting ready to point out to them now that they are actually on the side they claim He is on.

Verse 31-32, the second statement on the unpardonable sin.

Verse 31 — “Wherefore I say [keep saying] unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto [with reference to] men.” All manner [all categories] of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven because they are put out upon Christ at the cross and judged. “Shall be forgiven” is future tense, anticipating the cross which hasn’t occurred at this point. But there is an exception to all of this: “but the blasphemy of [the word “against” is not found in the Greek] the Holy Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men.”

There is a parallelism here. Satan is the ruler of the world. He is working through demons and he is working through religious type characters. God is speaking to the world at that time through His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit indwells Jesus and actually performs these miracles. And Jesus speaks and gives the gospel in the power of the Spirit, so that you actually have a parallelism. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is rejection of the gospel here, and these people who are working for Satan cannot help but reject the gospel, the gospel offends them. So these Pharisees take a look at the gospel and say, No, whereas the people responded: This is the son of David. This is a blasphemy against the Holy Spirit who is simply dealing with them with regard to the gospel. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in conviction. Jesus is actually there so the Holy Spirit deals with Jesus; He is there and so the Holy Spirit is dealing with these people about Christ.

What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? First of all the word “blasphemy” means to malign. It is maligning the Holy Spirit. It is always the same: rejection of Christ. It is always the Spirit who deals with regard to the gospel — John 16:8-12. When people respond to the gospel they are responding to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The pre-salvation ministry of the Spirit is convicting or convincing.

This facet of rejecting Christ cannot occur today. Remember that this was the end of the Jewish Age, the Age of Israel. Christ has to be on earth and He has to be performing miracles, and He has to be seen and rejected by the Pharisees. Today we are in the Church Age and in the Church Age we have again John 16:8-11. The Spirit is still performing this ministry of convincing and today it is simply a matter of rejection of the gospel. It is tantamount to the same: blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, rejection of the gospel, all the same; different dispensation, therefore different nomenclature. In Acts chapter 7:51 it is called resisting the Holy Spirit.

Verse 32 — “And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him.” Many of the people spoke against Him. To speak against Christ is one thing but when you face the issue and reject Him as saviour this is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, because it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to make an issue out of the salvation work of Christ. Saul of Tarsus probably spoke against Jesus more than any man that ever lived but he was later on saved. When he was finally faced with the gospel he didn’t malign the Holy Spirit; “but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world [age, the Age of Israel], nor in the world [age] to come [the Church Age].” When Jesus was on earth it was the Age of Israel. There are several passages which mention the unpardonable sin in the Tribulation: 2 Thessalonians 2:11,12; Revelation 13:4,6; 14:9-11. In fact there are passages which deal with it in every age but always it is the same sin — rejection of Christ.

Verse 33 — the illustration. “either make the tree good.” The tree is the Lord Jesus Christ and Jesus is putting it on the line to the Pharisees. He says, in other words, recognise me for what I am. I have performed these miracles, I have cast out demons, I have declared the gospel, recognise me as the absolute good — believe in me; “and its fruit good,” a reference to the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, the work of Christ. The good fruit indicates a good tree and the Pharisees must recognise Jesus for what He is through His production; “or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by his fruit.” In other words, he lays it on the line: I am the tree, either you accept me or reject me, and He points out to them where they are at that point. They have said that the fruit is corrupt by saying that He performs His miracles in the power of Satan and that He casts out demons in the power of Beelzebub. This is where they stand at the moment and He wants them to know where they stand so that by one change of decision any of them can have eternal life. All they have to do is to change their minds about Christ.

Verses 34-37, the application.

Verse 34 — the principle. Jesus now calls the religious leaders the same thing that John the Baptist did, a generation of poisonous snakes. The viper was the most common venomous snake in Palestine. The reason He calls them this is because every time they open their mouths and say anything it is works, and they are spreading poison.

“ … how can ye, being evil.” Notice: religion is evil [present linear aktionsart: always evil, on Satan’s side]; “speak good things? for out of the abundance [overflow] of the heart [frontal lobe].” What they say is the overflow from the mind. They think it; they say it, “the mouth speaketh.”

Verse 35 — the parable. “A good man out of the treasure of his frontal lobe bringeth forth good things.” Jesus is the good man. Notice that doctrine is called treasure, because doctrine is the most valuable thing in the world: “and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.” The most valuable thing to the unbeliever is evil. That is, his treasure. Human viewpoint is his treasure, salvation by works is his treasure, and therefore he brings forth evil things. By this parable He is saying very simply: You are the ones working for Satan.

Verse 36 — the explanation. “But I say unto you, That every idle word that man shall speak.” An idle word is any statement of salvation by works. That is an idle word. Any time that someone maligns the Holy Spirit by rejecting the gospel, any system of legalism, any system of religionism, this is the idle word. This is: Out of the evil treasury they bring forth evil things. These Pharisees “shall give an account in the day of judgement.” Why? What is going to be judged in the day of judgement? Good works, human good. Who says you can be saved by good works? The Pharisees here and, of course, any system of religion. The Pharisees here say you can be saved by good works, so they are not only going to be indicted for their good works but they are going to be indicted on the basis of saying that you can be saved by good works.

Verse 37 — “For by thy words thou shalt be justified.” What are the words that justify you? Declaration of faith. You either think it or say it but this is what justifies; “and by they words thou shalt be condemned” — said to the Pharisees. The Pharisees are unbelievers, and yet they can be saved. As unbelievers they are going to be condemned for the human good which they produce and for the declaration of human good, the human good which they say.

Verse 38 — the sequel. “Master.” When they said “Master” they committed spiritual adultery. Jesus Christ is addressed by believers as Lord. The word “Lord” in the English is a substitute for the Greek word meaning God. But they called Him “Master", which means “Good man.” In other words, they were trying to say: Well, you are good. So they called Him “Master,” and when they did they committed spiritual adultery. They put human good in place of salvation; “we would see a sign.” The Pharisees have just rejected the sign or miracles which we have already studied. Since they have rejected the miracles which Jesus has performed He is now going to go back to the Old Testament and give them a doctrinal miracle — Jonah. They have rejected His miracles so He is going back into miracles that are just as real to them because they have the Old Testament scriptures. And notice: What is written in the Bible is much stronger than a miracle in God’s viewpoint. What is stronger than what you can see? The Word. Here is a chance for Jesus to perform more miracles. “Show us a sign,” and yet He has been performing miracles for almost a year now. But Jesus gives them the strongest possible sign — Bible doctrine [Jonah].

Verse 39 — “But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation.” What is the word “adulterous” here? An adulterer here is a person who puts good works in place of Jesus Christ for salvation, any system of salvation by works. In other words, putting a substitute [good works] in place of Christ as saviour. Who are the adulterers? The Pharisees, “seeking after a sign.” They are constantly seeking after a sign and yet they have rejected every possible type of sign that has been given; “but no sign shall be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah” — this is doctrine.

Verse 40 — the doctrine declared. “For as Jonah was [imperfect linear aktionsart: “kept on being”] three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Every Pharisee believed in Sheol which is the heart of the earth. Sheol is a Hebrew word; later on we have a Greek word, hades. Every Pharisee said: If I am lucky, and if I perform enough good deeds, when I go to Sheol in the heart of the earth I will go to be in Abraham’s bosom. But if I am not I will go to the place of torments. Now Jesus is saying He will be three days and three nights in Sheol. His human soul is going to be there. And here is the sign: if He was three days and three nights in Sheol (they know when they go to Sheol they don’t come back, they know all about Sheol) and He comes back from Sheol, what does He do? He is resurrected. And these same Pharisees will all be alive within a year and a half when Jesus comes out of the grave. The sign that they are going to get is resurrection.

Verse 41 — “The men of Nineveh [the Assyrians] shall rise in judgement with this generation.” The word “with” is a preposition of association and it means this generation will reject the greatest sign of all, the resurrection. And when Jonah went to Nineveh there was a great revival and thousands and thousands of Assyrians accepted Christ as saviour, and they are going to stand in resurrection bodies and live with God forever, whereas these self-righteous, religious Jews are going to spend eternity in the lake of fire. The sign will be complete, for here on the one hand are resurrected Assyrians who responded to the grace of God and the gospel, and on the other hand you Pharisees who in your self-righteousness and your human good have rejected Christ and blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, you are going to have the perfect judge: a group of people more despised by the Jews than any people who have ever lived — Assyrians in resurrection bodies.

Verse 42 — Who else do the Jews despise? And who is the Queen of Sheba? She’s an Arab. Sheba was a very famous kingdom in southern Arabia. And why was Sheba such a famous kingdom? Because it was a gold mine. The Queen of Sheba made a long journey to get doctrine and here are the Jews facing doctrine in the person of Jesus Christ. She had such a desire for doctrine, the “wisdom of Solomon” is doctrine, that she travelled all of the way from Sheba to visit Solomon.

Verse 43 — “When the unclean spirit.” They have talked about Jesus casting out demons under the prince of demons; “is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places.” This is a picture of the Pharisees. Apparently some of these Pharisees have been demon possessed and the demons are gone. The reason that the demons were removed from the Pharisees is so they could accept Christ as saviour, so that their volitions would operate. Under demon possession the volition cannot operate. If you are going to have a chance to be saved then first of all the demon has to be cast out, so all demons were removed from Pharisees. We don’t know how many Pharisees were demon possessed but Jesus is simply telling us here that He has removed all demons from Pharisees. But what do they do? Do they exercise their volition through faith and believe in Christ? No, they “walk through dry places,” they stick with religion. And yet, in their religion they are seeking refreshment; “seeking rest” is literally refreshment; “and findeth none.” There is no refreshment in religion. Religion is salvation by works or legalism. There is no refreshment in legalism, there is no refreshment in hypocrisy, in salvation or spirituality by works, there is no refreshment in self-righteousness.

Verse 44 — “The he saith, I will return into my house.” Returning to the house is the temple, which represents the principle of legalism and apostate Judaism, and Jesus says later on that this house or this temple is desolate — Matthew 23:38; “from whence I came out; and when he is come he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.” The temple is empty, it has been taken over by Judaism and, of course, religion is empty. “Swept” means self-righteousness there; “garnished” is decorated. So they have this system of self-righteousness and it is even decorated. Later on this will be called whitewashed tombstones, a beautiful outer righteousness but inside they are full of dead men’s bones.

Verse 45 — “Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” In other words, this is the period of grace for these men but if they persist in rejection they will come to a place of terrible demon possession, and this is the devil’s communion table of 1 Corinthians chapter 10; “Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.” Jesus is saying that the time will come when He will let the demons back, and when they are permitted to come back it will be worse than it was before. He says: You’ve had your chance now, and what do you do when your mind is free from demon possession and you can exercise volition? You go to religion, you go to legalism, you go to self-righteousness, you go to the temple. And because you go back to the temple you will meet the devil at his communion table and you will again be demon possessed.

Verses 46-50, an identification of brotherhood.

Verse 46 — “his brethren” are four half-brothers and we will find them mentioned in Matthew 13:55. After the birth of Jesus Joseph and Mary had four sons and several daughters. The first of the sons is James who wrote the book of James and became a believer after the resurrection. The second is Jude, the third is Joseph Jr, and the fourth is Simon. These are the brethren who “stood without desiring to speak with Him.”

Verse 47 — “Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee”.

Verse 48 — “But he answered and said unto him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? At this point Jesus sets aside family relationships for eternal relationships. When He says, “Who are my brethren?” He is saying, With whom will I be related forever?

Verse 49 — “And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!” All the disciples were men, yet He says: Behold my mother. What does He mean? Motherhood is an intimate relationship that comes by physical birth. He is related to these through spiritual birth. And when He says, Behold thy mother, he is referring to the fact that they are born again and that His mother and His brethren are those who are born again, and those who are born again are those with whom He will have an eternal fellowship and at the time He says this none of His four brothers and none of His sisters are even saved. And so they are unbelievers, but the disciples to whom He refers here are born again. And so the real family is not the family of physical birth but the family of the new birth. And once again He hits the Pharisees.

The Pharisees, the Sadducees and the scribes: how did they get their jobs? They were born of aristocratic families. They were related to the proper people, they were in the proper families, they were in the social register which was nothing more or less then the Sanhedrin. And Jesus is saying once again to the Pharisees, You are aristocrats, you have family relationships, you were born from an aristocrat. My true aristocracy is made up from regeneration. It is not who your father and mother were from physical birth, it is What think ye of Christ?

Verse 50 — “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father.” The will of the Farther is defined by 1 John 3:23, “that ye believe in his son, Jesus Christ.” It is believing in Christ.

In other words, Jesus is saying there is a new family, and you get into this family by doing the will of the Father, believing in Christ. All of the emphasis is on the new family, on regeneration.