01.16.2015 New Testament: Matt 12.32

To read the Bible in a year, read Matthew 12.22–50 on January 16, In the year of our Lord 2015

By Don Ruhl

Jesus cast demons out of people, and His enemies, the Pharisees, declared that He cast demons out by the power of Satan. Yet, Jesus cast out demons by the power of the Spirit. Therefore, the Pharisees equated the Holy Spirit with Satan. The Holy Spirit and Satan are as opposite from one another as any two beings could ever be. However, the Pharisees had become so hardened in their beliefs, that they could not recognize the work of the Holy Spirit when it was right before their eyes. Therefore, Jesus revealed,

“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 12.32). 

If someone equates the work of the Holy Spirit with the devil, there is nothing that can be done for such a person. He is lost, irretrievable from his sin, not because the Lord is weak, but that person has gone so far into sin that he will not repent, even if he sees a clear display of the Spirit’s work.