BEHOLDING THE EVIL AND THE GOOD : PART TWO
Copyright 1994 - 2008 Endtime Prophecy Org
Last Updated : July 23, 2006
Forms Of Chastisement, Repentance And Fruit Of Chastisement
Was Jesus Forsaken?, Our Blessed Hope, Frail Body Of Flesh,
Short Victory Of The Wicked, Turned Away In Pain, Turned
Away In Anger, God's Curses, Blessing Of Seeing God's Face
Fruit Of Willful Disobedience, Blasphemy Against The Holy
Ghost, The Blood Atonement, Urantia Book, Personal Choice
Putting aside the true nature of UFO's, it is because Satan
is the god of this world that he was able to offer the
things of the world to Jesus during His time of temptation
following His forty-day fast in the wilderness. The Apostle
John clearly identified the temptations of Satan when he
wrote the following in his first Epistle:
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is
not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the
flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is
not of the Father, but is of the world." (1 John 2:15-16)
I believe that it is also because Satan is the god of this
world, that he and his minions, with God's permission, are
allowed to influence the elements and powers of the Earth in
order to chastise the wayward souls of men. As can clearly
be seen in the case of the United States of America, even
though war may be far from her shores at this present time,
the Lord's chastisement can also come in the form of floods,
droughts, earthquakes, mudslides, brushfires, tornadoes,
lightning strikes, hailstones, severe snow storms, prolonged
freezing temperatures and other forms of 'natural' disaster.
While hard-hearted men may try to downplay God's Hand in
such things, attributing them instead to 'Mother Nature', or
to 'El Nino', or to 'La Nina', the truth of the matter is
that such disasters affect how and where people can live,
how much food is produced to feed the population, the growth
of the national economy, etc. While some countries may be
punished for their sins and unbelief through invasion and
war, all of these other less obvious forms of chastisement
can be just as effective in the Lord's Hands. What is truly
sad is the fact that while some honest Israelites viewed
these events as the Lord's punishments upon an idolatrous
backslidden nation, as in the drought during Elijah's day,
most Americans are totally oblivious to these things.
Just as we parents do not delight in having to punish our
children when we see them doing wrong, so likewise, the Lord
would much prefer that we heed His warnings, so that we can
avoid the different chastisements He sends our way. We need
to remember that God does not willingly punish His children;
we bring His wrath upon ourselves. This is precisely what
the Prophet Jeremiah wrote in the Book of Lamentations:
"For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children
of men." (Lamentations 3:33)
However, as we have already seen, being the Good Parent that
He is, the Lord is not one to just idly stand by and watch
us repeatedly ignore His Word and His Rules. He will become
upset eventually. His patience and His mercy will reach a
breaking point. If we consciously and defiantly break His
Rules of Love, then we must expect to pay the consequences
and not complain about it. As I explain in 'Love, Mercy,
Forgiveness And Chastisement', we need to repent, ask for
forgiveness, and make things right again in order to be
restored to our proper relationship with our Father, and
with those whom we have offended. As long as we are just
complaining about the punishment, we aren't really showing
true repentance for anything:
"Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the
punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways, and
turn again to the LORD. Let us lift up our heart with our
hands unto God in the heavens." (Lamentations 3:39-41)
During the time of our chastisement, we need to remember
that, as with our natural children, punishment is normally
only a temporary situation to bring us to our senses. Once
that occurs, once we learn the lesson that the Lord is
trying to teach us, like most parents, He eases up on us and
brings us back into the circle of His fellowship. If He
didn't do this, none of us would survive; and we would all
lose hope; so thank the Lord that His mercy endures forever:
"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory;" (2 Corinthians 4:17)
"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but
grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable
fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby." (Hebrews 12:11)
"It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not. They are new every
morning: great is thy faithfulness...For the Lord will not
cast off for ever: But though he cause grief, yet will he
have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies."
(Lamentations 3:22-23, 31-32)
"For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great
mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face
from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I
have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer."
(Isaiah 54:7-8)
"Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have
poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the
Lord GOD." (Ezekiel 39:29)
This article began with a question regarding whether or not
there might be times when God cannot look upon evil. The
case cited was that of Jesus upon the cross. In their
attempt to explain that God did not really forsake His Son
as He hung dying on the Cross, some Bible students have
suggested that when the Lord said 'My God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me?', it wasn't because He was doubting His
Father's Presence, but rather because He was indicating to
those at the foot of His Cross, that He was fulfilling yet
another Scripture found in Psalm twenty-two. Whereas on
other occasions the Lord would normally name the particular
Prophet whom He was quoting, on this particular occasion, He
did not. While this is indeed a possibility, I tend to view
things a little differently. Perhaps God the Father actually
allowed His Son, during His greatest moment of suffering, to
indeed think that He had been abandoned. In order for Jesus
to become the Perfect Sacrifice for sin, perhaps it was
necessary for Him to feel the full weight of what it means
to be a sinner totally abandoned by God and without hope in
this world. Consider what the Apostle Paul wrote in his
Epistle to the Ephesians:
"Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in
the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is
called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at
that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of
promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But
now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made
nigh by the blood of Christ." (Ephesians 2:11-13)
This issue of hope is an integral part of the writings of
the Apostle Paul. Whereas those who do not know Christ are
indeed hopeless, over and over again Paul emphasizes that
not only should we be filled with hope, but that we belong
to the God of hope. Consider the following verses:
"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of
the Holy Ghost." (Romans 15:13)
"For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of
righteousness by faith." (Galatians 5:5)
"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being
enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his
calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance
in the saints," (Ephesians 1:17-18)
"For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness
dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his
cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him,
I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body
of his flesh through death, to present you holy and
unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue
in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away
from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which
was preached to every creature which is under heaven;
whereof I Paul am made a minister;...To whom God would make
known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among
the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:"
(Colossians 1:19-23, 27)
"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;"
(Titus 2:13)
"That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible
for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and
stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;"
(Hebrews 6:18-19)
If we stop to consider for a moment of all of the suffering
and pain that Jesus endured prior to His Death, the idea of
feeling temporarily abandoned by His Father seems quite
plausible to me. Jesus was whipped with thirty-nine stripes
until His back was probably a raw mess. A crown of thorns
pierced His head. His hands and His feet were pierced in a
very excruciating manner. His body had been hanging for
hours stretched out in an un natural manner upon the Cross
making breathing difficult. His side was pierced by a Roman
lance. He was hot, tired, thirsty, and very near death. In
short, the Lord was at the weakest point in His entire
Earthly life. While in His heart and in His Spirit the Lord
knew who He was, where He had come from, and where He was
going, I just feel that in that final moment, He may have
become weak and been overcome by His flesh so that He would
feel the full weight of what it is like to be a hopeless
sinner abandoned by God. I base this upon verses such as the
following:
"And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and
kneeled down, and prayed, Saying, Father, if thou be
willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will,
but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him
from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony he
prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great
drops of blood falling down to the ground."
(Luke 22:41-44)
"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the
spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
(Matthew 26:41)
"Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied
with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the
sixth hour." (John 4:6)
"For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points
tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Hebrews 4:15)
In the eyes of the world, in the eyes of Satan, as Jesus
hung dying on the Cross, this was their moment of 'victory'.
They erroneously assumed that they had silenced the Son of
God once and for all. In his pride and vanity, Lucifer must
have thought that he had dealt a death blow to God's plans;
however, in actuality, we know that he had done the exact
opposite. It was the very wrath of the corrupt Jewish
Elders, and the wrath of Satan himself, which has resulted
in the highest praise, the greatest hope, and the greatest
victory this world will ever know. As the Patriarch Job
wrote, while they boasted of their deeds, the victory of the
wicked was indeed short; and some day soon they will weep
and wail when they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds
of Heaven with Power and great Glory:
"Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of
wrath shalt thou restrain." (Psalms 76:10)
"Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon
earth, That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the
joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? Though his excellency
mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;
Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which
have seen him shall say, Where is he? He shall fly away as a
dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away
as a vision of the night. The eye also which saw him shall
see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold
him." (Job 20:4-9)
"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him,
and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the
earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen."
(Revelation 1:7)
As the sky over Jerusalem grew dark that 'tragic' day, I
believe that God the Father turned away His Face from His
Son, not because He was truly abandoning or forsaking Him,
but possibly because He simply could not endure to see the
suffering of His beloved Son at the hands of the wicked
unbelieving Jews who were making the Lord suffer such an
agonizing, cruel and humiliating death. I am reminded of the
words spoken by Queen Esther after she was informed of the
evil plot which Haman had planned against her people:
"For how can I endure to see the evil that shall come unto
my people? or how can I endure to see the destruction of my
kindred?" (Esther 8:6)
In like manner, the Prophet Jeremiah has been dubbed by some
as the 'weeping prophet' because he wept for his stubborn
people, the Jews, who felt the wrath of God under the powerful
hand of Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar:
"Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the
destruction of the daughter of my people. Mine eye trickleth
down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, Till the
LORD look down, and behold from heaven. Mine eye affecteth
mine heart because of all the daughters of my city."
(Lamentations 3:48-51)
Thus, it is possible that in the final hour, God may have
turned away His Face because He could not endure to watch
His Son suffer on the Cross for the sins of an undeserving
world. Another possibility is that He turned away to weep
because of their lack of faith in His Son. When Jesus saw
the unbelief of the Jews, He likewise wept just prior to
raising Lazarus from the dead. Some people have suggested
that the Lord wept because He loved Lazarus. While this may
also be true, I believe it was primarily their lack of faith
which saddened Jesus the most:
"When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also
weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and
was troubled, And said, Where have ye laid him? They said
unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the
Jews, Behold how he loved him! And some of them said, Could
not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have
caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus
therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It
was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye
away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead,
saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath
been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto
thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the
glory of God?" (John 11:33-40)
Another strong possibility, based upon other Scriptures, is
that God was turning His Face away from the sins of the
people in anger and in disgust, and not away from His Son
whom He loved dearly. The Lord was totally outraged by the
sins and hard-heartedness of the unbelieving Jews. Could it
be that God was turning His Face away from them, just as
they had turned their faces away from His Son in disbelief?
As most Christians know, Isaiah fifty-three is a prophetic
chapter which deals with the sufferings of Christ. In this
chapter we find the following verse describing how the Jews
turned their faces away from Jesus:
"He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from
him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."
(Isaiah 53:3)
Througout the Old Testament we find verses which support
this view of God turning away from His people in anger. For
example, in the case of the destruction of Jerusalem by the
forces of Nebuchadnezzar, the Prophet Jeremiah informs us
that the Lord turned away from their pleadings, and totally
ignored them in His anger. He didn't even want to hear their
prayers because He was so upset with them:
"We have transgressed and have rebelled: thou hast not
pardoned. Thou hast covered with anger, and persecuted us:
thou hast slain, thou hast not pitied. Thou hast covered
thyself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass
through." (Lamentations 3:42-44)
To have the Lord turn His Face against us is definitely a
very serious matter. It indicates that we have truly
displeased Him in a very great way. In like manner, our own
natural children know that when we don't even want to look
at them, or even to have them in the same room as us, that
they have passed the point of no return in their testing of
our patience. Following are some additional verses which
deal with the topic of the Lord turning away His Face in
anger:
"Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day,
and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them,
and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles
shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are
not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among
us? And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the
evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned
unto other gods." (Deuteronomy 31:17-18)
"When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and
when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it
be done against a nation, or against a man only:"
(Job 34:29)
"Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear
them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as
they have behaved themselves ill in their doings."
(Micah 3:4)
"And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what
their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation,
children in whom is no faith." (Deuteronomy 32:20)
Notice that in the final verse above, part of the reason
that Moses says that the Lord is going to turn His Face
against the children of Israel, is because of their lack of
faith; just as we saw a lack of faith at the time that our
Lord was crucified by the unbelieving Jews. Sadly, God's
Face has been turned against the Jews ever since; and will
remain so until they are totally humiliated in the eyes of
the world, and repent of their unbelief. I discuss this
topic in more detail in such articles as 'Is God A Racist?'.
Despite the fact that King David was a man after God's own
heart, he also felt abandoned by the Lord because of his
sins. His wonderful Psalms are full of pleadings before the
Lord. Consider the following examples:
"<<To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.>> How long wilt
thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide
thy face from me?" (Psalms 13:1)
"Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in
anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake
me, O God of my salvation." (Psalms 27:9)
"LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand
strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled."
(Psalms 30:7)
"And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in
trouble: hear me speedily." (Psalms 69:17)
"Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble;
incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me
speedily." (Psalms 102:2)
"Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy
face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the
pit." (Psalms 143:7)
As can be seen, when God hides His Face in the Bible, it is
usually symbolic of His abandoning His people and leaving
them to their own devices while He chastises them. On the
other hand, when the Lord doesn't hide His Face from us,
depending upon our standing with Him, it usually means one
of two things; either a curse or a blessing. As I explain in
the article 'Salvation Of Animals: Fact Or Fiction?', in the
case of Adam and Eve, when they transgressed the Word of the
Lord by partaking of the forbidden fruit, thus showing their
lack of love and respect for the Lord, things really began
to fall apart. In the following verses, we find the First
Pair trying to hide themselves from the Face of the Lord:
"And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the
garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid
themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the
trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and
said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy
voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked;
and I hid myself." (Genesis 3:8-10)
When Adam and Eve again met the Lord face to face right
after their fall, He pronounced a variety of curses against
everyone concerned. He cursed Satan to crawl upon the
ground; He made Eve submissive to Adam and told her that she
would bring forth children in sorrow; He said that there
would be enmity between the Godly line of Seth and the
Satanic line of Cain; He told Adam that he would have to
sweat and toil to bring forth his own food from the ground
which was also cursed; and finally, He drove them out of the
Garden of Eden completely. After wicked Cain slew his
righteous brother Abel, part of his curse was also that God
would turn His Face against him for evil:
"Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of
the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be
a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to
pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me."
(Genesis 4:14)
A few short chapters later, when the Lord turned His Face to
look down upon the world, His heart was grieved by the
wickedness of man; and thus He decided that it was time to
do something in order to correct the situation. That of
course was the worldwide Flood which came in Noah's day:
"And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD
that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his
heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have
created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and
the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it
repenteth me that I have made them." (Genesis 6:5-7)
In the first Book of the Prophet Samuel, after the pagan
Philistines had stolen the Ark of the Covenant from the
children of Israel and taken it to Ashdod, in order to show
the Philistines that they had their faces turned towards, or
were fellowshipping with, a false god, the Lord had the
statue of their idol Dagon fall to the ground a number of
times. What is significant about this event is that we are
told that Dagon fell upon his face:
"When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it
into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when they
of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was
fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the
LORD. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold,
Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark
of the LORD; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his
hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of
Dagon was left to him. Therefore neither the priests of
Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the
threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day."
(1 Samuel 5:2-5)
In the Book of Revelation, when the Lord finally looks down
upon the Earth, or turns His Face towards it, and decides
that it is time to put a stop to the wickedness of man, the
reaction of the evildoers is to try to hide themselves from
the Face of the Lord:
"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich
men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every
bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and
in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and
rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that
sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:"
(Revelation 6:15-16)
To add a degree of balance to our understanding of what it
means to see God's Face, there is a positive side to this
issue as well. As I explain in the article 'The Seeing God
Face To Face Dilemma', sometimes God's Face can be turned
towards us in loving support and fellowship. Such is the
case with Moses who saw the Lord face to face on quite a few
occasions. This positive experience resulted in the various
commandments which to this very day have formed the basis
for most of the world's laws governing human behavior. This
was such a wonderful experience for Moses, that we are told
that his face actually shone for some time after each of his
encounters with the Lord; so much so that he was even forced
to wear a veil:
"And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai
with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he
came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin
of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron
and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin
of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.
And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of
the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with
them. And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh:
and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken
with him in mount Sinai. And till Moses had done speaking
with them, he put a vail on his face. But when Moses went in
before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off,
until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the
children of Israel that which he was commanded. And the
children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of
Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face
again, until he went in to speak with him."
(Exodus 34:29-35)
Sometime later, Moses taught Aaron a blessing, as commanded
by the Lord, which has been used by many Christians and Jews
since the time it was first spoken. Again, it is significant
how the Lord chooses to symbolize His blessings upon His
children by turning His face towards us:
"Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye
shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them, The
LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine
upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his
countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."
(Numbers 6:23-26)
King David, who was a direct ancestor of Jesus Christ, also
prophesied concerning what a blessing it will be to be able
to behold the Face of the Lord at the time of his glorious
resurrection, when he will be transformed, and possess a body
just like the Lord:
"As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall
be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness."
(Psalms 17:15)
A few verses earlier in the very same Psalm, King David
besought the Lord that He would keep him as the apple, that
is, as the pupil, of His eye. In other words, David was
asking the Lord for His blessing and protection:
"Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow
of thy wings," (Psalms 17:8)
In the New Testament, Jesus also made mention of the fact of
how the guardian angels of our children behold the Face of
their Father in the Heavenly Realm:
"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for
I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold
the face of my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 18:10)
Having now studied such a wide selection of Scriptures, we
can see that the direction in which God's Face is turned is
very important. We have also seen that the reasons why God
may choose to look upon us, or else to turn away from us,
are varied. It all depends upon our personal life and walk
with Him. If we please Him, just as a child tries to please
his parents through obedience, then the Lord will likewise
look upon us with favor and smiling approval; but, if we are
disobedient, then as with our natural parents, we can expect
to see the Lord's stern look of disapproval, and should be
in fear of judgment. In his discussion concerning those who
are knowledgeable of the Lord's Word, yet who continue to
sin in spite of it, the Apostle Paul gave a very fitting
example when he wrote the following:
"For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the
knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice
for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and
fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries."
(Hebrews 10:26-27)
Paul then explains that those who initially accept Christ's
Atonement, and then later reject it, or call it 'an unholy
thing' through unbelief, should look forward to the most
severe chastisement of all:
"Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be
thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God,
and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was
sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the
Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:29)
This is indeed a very serious sin! I believe that this is
what Jesus was referring to in the Gospel of Matthew when He
spoke about blasphemy against the Holy Ghost being the only
unforgivable sin:
"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. And whosoever
speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven
him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall
not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the
world to come." (Matthew 12:31-32)
My understanding is that to blaspheme the Holy Ghost is to
reject the Salvation that God offers through the witness of
the Spirit of Truth. What is the witness of the Spirit of
Truth? It is that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of
God who died for the sins of the world. It is through this
Act of Divine Love that God the Father has manifested His
Grace, what Paul calls 'the Spirit of grace', to the world.
When Paul talks about doing 'despite' to the Spirit of
Grace, he is referring to insulting God Himself, and calling
Him a liar, by rejecting the Salvation that He offers
through Jesus Christ. The word 'despite' is derived from the
Greek word 'enubrizo', pronounced en-oo-brid'-zo, which
means to insult. In other words, the Holy Ghost, or Spirit
of Truth, is an extension of God Himself. To blaspheme the
witness of the Holy Ghost is to blaspheme God Himself.
What I find particularly alarming about this is that there
are certain extremely deceptive pseudo-religious groups in
existence today, such as the followers of the Urantia Book,
who do this very thing. While they claim to believe in Jesus
Christ as the Son of God, they have trodden His Sacrifice
under foot. As Paul states, they claim that it is an unholy
thing. The Urantians boast that they have been 'enlightened'
by a 'new revelation'. According to this 'revelation', God
didn't send His Son to purposely die on the Cross for the
sins of the world. They claim that the idea of God's wrath
only being appeased by the bloody murder of His Son on the
Cross is barbaric and totally un necessary. According to the
Urantians, in order to be saved, all that one has to do is
to be good and forgive others, and all will be well. In
short, precisely as the Apostle Paul wrote, these people are
insulting God by rejecting His Spirit of Grace. It is for
this reason that I refer to the Urantia Book as the Unbelief
Book; because it robs people of their faith in the Sacrifice
of Jesus Christ.
While they may not realize it now, someday soon, God will
hold such deluded people accountable for their rejection of
the Sacrifice of His Son; and moreso than those who have
never known the Truth, because they have known the Truth,
and yet they have rejected it. Not only that, but these
wicked followers of the Urantia Book are actively leading
the Lord's precious sheep astray by setting a doctrinal
stumbling block in their path. As Jesus pointed out, this is
an extremely serious crime in God's eyes as is demonstrated
by the following verse:
"But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which
believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were
hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth
of the sea." (Matthew 18:6)
Christians who become deceived by such false prophets as the
Urantians need to wake up! Concerning these kinds of people
who teach such heretical doctrines by exchanging the Truth
for a lie, I am reminded of the following verses:
"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put
darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter
for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20)
"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of
them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them." (2 Corinthians 4:4)
In his Epistle to the Hebrews, the Apostle Paul makes it
very clear that the Blood Atonement of Jesus Christ is an
Everlasting Covenant. It is not something which can be
broken by some deceptive New Age false doctrine:
"Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our
Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the
blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every
good work to do his will, working in you that which is
wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be
glory for ever and ever. Amen." (Hebrews 13:20-21)
In the final analysis, what it really comes down to is our
personal choice. Since the Garden of Eden, this is what the
Lord has been trying to teach all of us; that is, to choose
His way over Satan's way. If we choose rightly, if we choose
the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ at Calvary, and walk in His
Commandments of Love, then we will continually behold the
good side of the Lord's Face. On the other hand, if we are
foolish and choose wrongly, if we reject that Sacrifice and
all that it stands for, then the Lord will have to show us
His stern countenance. If we continue to ignore the Lord's
pleadings, He may even turn away from us for a while until
we have learned the lessons that He is trying to teach us;
but, we have the promise that He will never forsake us
altogether once we have been called by His name, for His
mercy and His love are everlasting:
"For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his
truth endureth to all generations." (Psalms 100:5)
"But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to
everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness
unto children's children; " (Psalms 103:17)
"The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with
lovingkindness have I drawn thee." (Jeremiah 31:3)
With these inspiring verses, I am going to bring another
article to a close. I trust that it has been an inspiration
and a blessing in your life.