What confusion there has been on the subject of the unpardonable sin! How many -- some of them in mental institutions -- have been haunted by the fear that they have committed this sin, even while Bible teachers themselves are so far from agreed as to what the unpardonable sin is!
Surely those who know the gospel of the grace of God will not strike fear into the hearts of their hearers by the threat of an unpardonable sin, for
“...we have redemption through His blood, THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS, ACCORDING TO THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE” (Eph. 1:7).
“Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. BUT WHERE SIN ABOUNDED, GRACE DID MUCH MORE ABOUND:
“THAT AS SIN HATH REIGNED UNTO DEATH, EVEN SO MIGHT GRACE REIGN THROUGH RIGHTEOUSNESS UNTO ETERNAL LIFE BY JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD” (Rom. 5:20, 21).
Surely there is no room for an unpardonable sin here. It has been well said that sinners who die in unbelief in this dispensation of grace will go to the lake of fire with all their sins unpardoned, but not because one of them was unpardonable.
Our Lord’s warnings about the unpardonable sin had the coming of the Holy Spirit in view. Nor was this because the Holy Spirit is a more important member of the Trinity than the Holy Father or the Holy Son. It was simply that with the coming of the Holy Spirit to plead with Israel all three members of the Trinity would have done their part to bring the nation to repentance and salvation.
All through Old Testament times Israel had resisted the Father. The Father, in turn, had sent the Son, who had taught and labored among them, only to be rejected too. Now the Son was to send the Spirit, and Israel would have her last chance. Hence the Lord said:
"Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men . . . neither in this world [age] neither in the world [age] to come" (Matt. 12:31,32).
As the number seven in Scripture speaks of perfection so the number three speaks of completeness. God Himself is a trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The number three, too, is stamped upon His creation. We ourselves have the number three stamped upon us, for we are body, soul and spirit. The structural universe bears the same number, being made up of time, space and matter. And each of these again is threefold. Time: past, present and future. Space: length, breadth and height. Matter: energy, motion and phenomena.
And the Scriptures, in dealing with the universe, designate "Things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth" (Phil. 2:10) . . .
And thus it was with the nation Israel. When our Lord warned Israel's leaders that sin and blasphemy against the Holy Spirit would not be forgiven them, it was simply because the Holy Spirit was soon to descend and give them their third and last opportunity to repent. And after all their sin and blasphemy against the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit did come down at Pentecost, working among them so mightily and confronting them with such overwhelming proof of our Lord's kingdom rights that their continued rejection of Him was utterly inexcusable and unpardonable.
Yet they did continue in their rebellion. They had resisted the Father and the Son, and now Stephen had to say: "Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost."
THREE BRUTAL MURDERS
Every student of the Word should know the three brutal murders around which all history revolves. These three murders represent Israel's response to God's threefold call to repentance. They explain the unpardonable sin and form the background for the dispensation of grace.
It was John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets, who was sent as the forerunner of Christ to call Israel to repentance. He was beheaded by Herod, the wicked and licentious "king of the Jews." After John, Christ Himself took up the cry: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Him they crucified.
Then, at Pentecost, Israel was given a third opportunity to repent, until they shed blood again, stoning Stephen to death.
It should be noticed, too, that their guilt, as well as their bitter enmity, increased with the second and third murders. As to the beheading of John the Baptist, they permitted it. As to the crucifixion of Christ, they demanded it (Luke 23:23,24). As to the stoning of Stephen ["full of the Holy Spirit"], they committed it, casting him out of the city with their own hands and stoning him there.
And so that generation in Israel committed the unpardonable sin which our Lord warned would not be forgiven, either in that age nor in the age to come.