28 “Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” Mark 3:28-30 (NASB)
I am sure most of those reading this have at one time or another become concerned to some degree that they had committed the unpardonable sin. Several people who I have witnessed to have told me that they couldn’t be saved because they had blasphemed against the Holy Spirit. What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? Let’s look at the passage from the book of Matthew that parallels the one I placed at the top of this post.
22 Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. 23 All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?” 24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.” Matthew 12:22-24 (NASB)
What was the purpose of Jesus healing people, raising the dead, feeding thousands of people from a little bit of food, and casting out demons? There are many who teach that that was His primary purpose in coming at all. They take His method of teaching and performing miracles and say that that is our example for how to do ministry. That, however, misses the point entirely. What does scripture say?
1 When Jesus had finished giving instructions to His twelve disciples, He departed from there to teach and preach in their cities. 2 Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” 4 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. 6 And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” Matthew 11:1-6 (NASB)
Jesus’ miracles were signs of who He is. Who is He? What was John the Baptist asking? He asked if Jesus was the one who is to come. This is referring to the Messiah. John saw and heard of Jesus’ miracles and wanted for Jesus to confirm that He is the Messiah not just a miracle worker. However, Jesus simply tells John’s disciples, “Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.” Jesus probably actually performed these miracles and preached the good news in front of John’s disciples. Why? These were all fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecies of the coming Messiah. (Isaiah 29:18,19; Isaiah 35:5-10) So what was the primary reason for Jesus’ miracles? It was to fulfill those prophecies about Himself thereby those who knew the scriptures, like John the Baptist, would know that Jesus was the Messiah.