“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.” (‭‭Matthew‬ ‭12:31-32‬).

     And to then further confirm this, we read again in Mark, “but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit NEVER has forgiveness, but is guilty of an ETERNAL SIN" (Mark 3:29). Which is a sin that endures for “all perpetuity”. Which is a sin that can “never be pardoned.” And since “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), an “eternal sin” carries with it a penalty of damnation that persists “even from everlasting to everlasting.” Which is a crippling judgement. One which likewise cripples the human mind when attempting to fathom something that is “entirely without end”.

     For a mere handful of words, Mathew 12:31-32 has a massive amount to say. And all with a unique and distinctive gravitas. For nowhere else in the great book of redemption and love, which from beginning to end, consistently speaks of “a future and a hope” and of a golden plan and purpose to “prosper us and not harm us“ (Jeremiah 29:11), and where we come to learn that whilst the wages of sin IS death, that for all of those sins, “the gift of God is ETERNAL LIFE through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23), that though we may be guilty, there is no condemnation IN CHRIST (Romans 8:1), nowhere else besides in the book of Revelation with “the mark of the beast” do we read of a condition where the reach of forgiveness through “the gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus” draws a disqualifying line in the sand. Being a line that even the mighty hand of Jesus that wrote in the sand forgiving the woman caught red-handed in adultery (being a metaphor for the church) will not be able to erase.

     As a particularly weighty admonition, one thing this scripture DOES say is that “under certain conditions”, blasphemy MAY be forgiven. Which is the specific circumstance of speaking “against the Son of Man”. However, at the same time, as a unequivocal warning shot across the bow of all creation, whilst blasphemy may be forgiven in some circumstances, it plainly goes on to say NOT under every circumstance. Which is the singular and unique disqualifier of specifically speaking “against the Holy Spirit”. For it says that whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, “either in this age or in the age to come”. For to speak against the Holy Spirit is a lifestyle that has arrived at such a degree of spiritual ruin or perdition, that it is beyond the will or the ability to repent. And as such, is completely deaf to the great labour of love of “the Helper” whom Jesus sent to help every sinner find redemption in Christ. Which is to be those who have arrived at a completely seared conscience (1 Timothy 4:2).

     Blaspheming the Spirit is to arrive at such a state of spiritual ruin, that the Holy Spirit can no longer reach you. For your conscience has been entirely and irreversibly seared. Which, like Pharoah (being a metaphor for all those who resist the many and diverse endeavours of the Holy Spirit to soften their hearts), is to eventually arrive at such a place of hardness of heart against God (because of their great love for the world and their own ways, and an unwillingness to repent), that the Holy Spirit has to eventually stop trying. And like Pharoah, they ultimately become filled with their own ways. For when the Word says that “God hardened Pharoah’s heart” (Exodus 9:16), what it means is that God stopped trying to soften Pharoah’s heart and to restrain Pharoah’s stubborn rebellion, and as such, when God stopped trying, Pharoah simply became full of his own intents and ways. God simply facilitated a process that Pharaoh himself initiated. Because, after all, the Bible also repeatedly states that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, i.e. Exodus 8:15 and 32.

     For God DID try everything with Pharaoh. God sent TEN plagues. And we only need to look to Revelation 2:10 to understand what Christ means by TEN. TEN has the symbolic meaning of “an indefinite time span”. By sending TEN plagues, God shows us that He tried everything. The Holy Spirit will strive indefinitely, in an indefinite number of ways, and for an indefinite time span, to reach each and every one of us until He eventually determines that we are completely deaf to His endeavours as the “soul of man’s Helper”. Which is to have arrived at the state of complete spiritual ruin which is that of “perdition”. Which is a state of complete spiritual apostasy and rebellion. Which is the type and class of “the antichrist”. Which is why the “son of perdition”, represented by Judas Iscariot, is a class of all those who are thoroughly lost. “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.” (John 17:12).

     The son of perdition refers to those who, like Judas, “fall away”. And falling headlong, all their sides shall burst open in the Field of Blood (Acts 1:28). For the streets shall flow with blood (Ezekiel 28:23). Who, like Pharoah, are likewise entirely lost. And, like Pharoah, because of pride, will be overcome by a Red Sea stained with all their blood. Apostasy is a complete defection away from the LORD, which, when we look at the word “apostasy” appears to be related to the word “apostle”, and would suggest that an “apostate” is anyone who falls away or defects from the foundational teaching of the apostles, being “the foundation upon which the church is built” (Ephesians 2:20). For the word tells us clearly that in these last days there will be a great falling away. Which is all those who completely defect from the house of God, “Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Where the “man of sin” or the “son of perdition” is he “who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians‬ ‭2:4‬). For do those who reject God in favour of their own ways, of their own truth, of their own life, not make themselves like God? For did Jesus not say that He is the way, and the truth, and the life? Do they therefore not exalt themselves above God? And as such, do they not sit as God in the temple of God? Are they not all those sons of the evil one who “Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand” (Matthew 13:13)?

     It is THESE who are those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit. And it is these for whom there will be no pardon. Not because God doesn’t want to pardon them. But because they themselves are so hard of heart and filled with morbid self love that they cannot repent. For is it not true that forgiveness is conditional upon repentance? For does the inviolable counsel of God not plainly state, “IF we CONFESS our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (‭‭I John‬ ‭1:9‬)? Is “IF” not a conditional statement? Does it not imply that the end result of forgiveness is “conditional” upon some prior proposition being first fulfilled before forgiveness is extended? Which is confession? That the end result presupposes a prior happening first occurring, failing which, the end result can simply not come into effect? And, therefore, that forgiveness is not “automatic”? And should not be automatically assumed? For if one is so hard of heart that he is unwilling or unable to repent, how then can he then receive God’s willing forgiveness?

     So again, this hardness of heart showcases not a hardness of heart of God, as some may be inclined to think of a God who speaks of an unforgivable sin, but rather the hardness of heart of man to reach for that olive branch of forgiveness. For God IS a God who is willing that NONE should perish, and that ALL should stand up in the last day (2 Peter 3:9). For our God is a God of mercy, and kindness, and who has an enduring and everlasting soft heart, a Father with such a soft heart, that He laid down the life of His Son for us, a Father who has a plan to prosper each and every one of us and to not harm us, and to give us all a bright hope and an everlasting future.