The words:
“Eternal Damnation,” have strident, if not grating if not simply per near
freezing implications—and surly not to be taken lightly; it tells you, infers
for me: an eternal sentence. I often
thought of this: how God can give man an eternal sentence that harbors the most
threatening conclusiveness man can think of, actually — challenges all reports
of. It is so serious, Jesus Christ
addressed this issue, as did Paul, thereafter, and Matthew, Mark and Luke:
spooky, if not making and shaking the heart to a clanging hysteria. But let me try to unwind this rare breed of
horrors.
I want to take the reader to the Sea of
Galilee, in 2010, I sailed on it, it is a tranquil sea, and most
beautiful. But here is where I want to
start this short but concise train of thought: this is the area where Jesus
grew up; he knew it well (within
the boundaries of Capernaum).
At one stage of Christ’s ministry, he
became very famous among his followers, and becoming more famous throughout
lands beyond. It might be of interest to
the reader, Peter, Andrew and James, to include John, all came from this
area.
As
we all know, Christ’s acts and miracles, astonished all—still do—to include the
Pharisees, high priests—and among the many, were those of course that were
filled with the devils the demons, back in those far-off days of 30 A .D. I do believe the devil
was trying hard to find some disappearance from the Mosaic Law to convict Jesus
with. The old routine, if you can’t get him outright, look for a crack or nook,
anything will do, and make it into a landside and bury him alive with it. And
these scribes came down from the hills, and wherever, writing down every word
he said, trying to catch just one syllable, disconnecting him from the old
laws—and rushing back to the Jewish elite their theocracy of: High Priests, and
King, and Governor from Rome. It sounds
like the politicians today. Anyhow, they were trying to catch him, to entangle
him with the Levitical Law, but that didn’t work.
We must realize the Jews had a
theocracy: the civil law was intermixed with the religious laws—one for all and
all for one; like the ‘Three Musketeers.’
Now these people knew good and well what
they were doing: they were not blind, they recognized Jesus as the Messiah and
by saying this I mean, they willingly rejected the Son of God, Jesus; despite
the fact they knew who he was. On another note, Christ’s miracles were a fact,
they never disputed them—they actually accused the devil for doing those
miracles—gave the devil credit for them, so they implied — that was the deadly
sin: as Christ had said, and said it clearly in particularly concerning casting
out devils, what he said was: “How can
Satan call out Satan…” So they
were saying Christ in essence was doing this with Satan’s powers that he was
inside of him: a pure case of blasphemy. These scribes were actually showing
irreverence, which we call blasphemy to the Holy Spirit, whom was inside of
Christ, not the devil as they inferred.
You see the Holy Spirit, is part of the
Godhead, a part of God’s salvation, those who blasphemy the Holy Spirit, is
turned over to a reprobate mind (Romans 1:
28).
We
must keep in mind, they had the foreknowledge, and with the position they held,
used it to attack the very person they said they were waiting for. Christ cast
out devils, demons right and left, and thus, they focused on that element.
Isn’t that funny, they could have very well focused on his healings, but
didn’t, because they were to solid a fact: walking on water, healing the blind,
raising the dead, they saw these things, unbelievable but documented happenings,
miracles: that was not in dispute, not really, it was overlooked, belittled,
and forgotten.
Let me quote: “…He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the
devils castes
he out devils.” (Mark
3:22)
Gosh, almighty, I’d not want to be in
that man’s shoes, but you can’t get it any straighter than that: right from the
horse’s mouth as they say.
The correct way of thinking, had these
folks not had the depraved mind of the evil one, is: he casts out demons and
devils because he is more powerful than they: that makes more sense to me,
doesn’t it? Christ also inferred: I can
enter Satan’s house and bind him because I am stronger than he, if I wasn’t he
would bind me. That makes sense also, or it should—if it doesn’t then there is
an alternative motive involved with the person’s reasoning. Figuratively
speaking, Rome could enter the lands of Israel—which it did, because it was
stronger than Israel, on the other hand, had the Israel Army tried to enter
Rome, they’d never had made it to a hundred miles outside of Rome before they
got destroyed by Roman’s military might.
But when Jesus was telling this to the
scribes, they were telling him: it is by Satan’s indwelling powers by which you
do these things, and Christ tried to explain, perhaps even to save them by
saying what he knew was coming next, lest they bind themselves to eternal
damnation:
“Your words are directed toward the Holy
Spirit,” although they did not mention him specifically, but that was who he
was indwelled with.
At that instant, they had lost their
salvation: when they inferred it was Satan who indwelled, Jesus, thus, the
doors of Hades were now wide open for them, and Satan, had no more worries of
their on time arrival. Put another way, the Holy Spirit would never come to
their rescue again. We must understand the mission of the Holy Spirit, he
brings the case of each individual before God, if you reject him, and his
nearness, then you rejects God the Father. The Holy Spirit, responds to the
soul’s reception or rejection, and never pressures a person. Every evangelist should realize this, not to
impose, or sell salvation, it is a gift and a matter of opening up the door and
the individual recognizing the Holy Spirit’s call: he will give you a signal, and
you must confirm it, thus, he will indwell you. Rejection is taken very
seriously.
There is no confusing God with Satan;
one does that deliberately, willingly. This is the unpardonable sin, blasphemy
against the Holy Spirit, rejection of his light, by identifying Satan with God,
and knowing the difference.
#916 (6-6-2012)
