Hello all, I am new to the forum, and I have been doing some thinking. However, this is not about me, so I will cut to the chase. In this thread, I will explain a Universalist view on ‘forgiveness’ as it pertains “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”.
To understand my explanation, it is crucial to understand the concept of Preterism. I’m sure many of you are familiar with the concept, and perhaps some of you believe in this view. Preterism is the view that the prophecies of Jesus in the Gospels, as well as the prophecies of the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation have already happened.
A justification for this view would be in Matthew 16:28, where Jesus says “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom”. With this in mind, the Preterist view is that that Kingdom already came. This “Kingdom” was a literal city-state here on earth.
The Futurist will argue about the “Millennial Reign with Christ”. However, keep in mind that John speaks in metaphors, and not everything is to be taken literally, as is the case with Daniel’s prophecies. Is it possible that this 1000 year reign is figurative for a new holy city coming into existence? Is it possible that “1000 years” is a metaphor for a long period of time? Keep in mind that time was not to be taken literally in the other prophecy book in the Holy Bible, the Book of Daniel.
It is crucial to understand this view to understand what I am about to propose: That the lack of forgiveness for those who blaspheme refers to forgiveness on earth, and not necessarily in the second life. In other words, blasphemers would not inherit this new kingdom because they will not follow Christ. All of you are familiar with what Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 6: Adulterers, thieves, drunkards, etc “will not inherit the Kingdom of God”. Paul also writes in the very next line “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of Our God”. So what Paul really says is that some of these sinners will inherit the Kingdom, while others won’t. The difference between the two? Simply following Christ!
So what does this have to do with blasphemy? Simply that these blasphemers could not be accepted into this new city-state because they were not willing to submit themselves to Christ! This has everything to do with something here on earth, and nothing to do with Heaven or “Hell”. The logic is two-fold. First, only those “sanctified” by God would be openly welcomed into this new city-state, simply because those who rejected Christ would pollute the city with their ungodliness. Those who deny Christ aren’t going to live in his example. When the Jews who “blasphemed” accused Jesus of having an unclean spirit, they essentially said “Our way is better than yours, we are the holy ones and you are a servant of Satan”. How can one follow and live by the example of Christ if they refuse to acknowledge that this is the superior way!? Moreover, these people not only thought their way superior, but deemed the way of Christ to be demonic. However, we all know that in fact the Pharisees were very corrupt. The truly holy ones, those who followed the example of Christ, would not want the Pharisees to pollute the new city with their sin and hatred! They would not be welcomed in! The same can be said of the unrepentant adulterers, thieves, etc. Because they were not willing to submit themselves to Christ’s example of how to live life, they would not be welcomed into the new city! Look at Revelation 22:15, talking about this new “city”. John writes “Outside are the dogs, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood”. This implies that those who don’t follow Christ would be outside of this city, which contradicts the popular interpretation of Revelation that this chapter talks about a literal Heaven and a literal never-ending, burning Lake of Fire.
However, there is an even more literal interpretation of all of this. Jesus, in Matthew 19, tells a man “follow me” in order to enter into the Kingdom. Those who followed him would surely heed his warnings in Matthew 24 about the “signs of end times”. And what does Jesus instruct these people to do? They are to “flee to the mountains”! (Matthew 24). These end times, in the Preterist view, refer to the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. However, those who ignored him and continued in immorality, those who who blasphemed against him and continued living life by their own accord, these people WOULD NOT HEED THE WARNING. Therefore, when the end times came, they would not be prepared, and would therefore suffer destruction at the hand of the Romans starting in the year 70 AD! Those who forsook their ways, who accepted Jesus as their savior rather than calling him a servant of Satan (blaspheming), they would survive because they would have literally fled Judea!
Remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees in Matthew 23! Those who did blaspheme were Pharisees who remained convinced of their ways rather than submitting to Christ. Jesus asks, in verse 33, “how will you escape the sentence of Gehenna?” (The term “Hell” here is a mistranslation). Jesus wasn’t at all saying here that these people would burn endlessly. No! In the Preterist, Universalist view, he was literally telling them that because they refused to listen to him, because they would not flee to the mountains, they would be killed by the Romans upon the siege, and many of them would literally have their bodies thrown into the fire of Gehenna by the Romans!
IN ESSENCE, those who blasphemed against the Holy Spirit were literally condemning themselves to suffer destruction at the hands of the Romans because they would not submit themselves to Christ, and would therefore not heed his warnings about the siege to come. Furthermore, like practicing sinners, they would not be welcomed into the new city, so that they may not pollute it.
) as soon as we see them. In the meantime, please post an intro in the Introductions section so we can greet you properly.
