Grace to You :: esp Unleashing God's Truth, One Verse at a Time

MacArthur Daily Bible

Reading for Today:

-Genesis 35:1–36:43
-Psalm 9:6-10
-Proverbs 3:27-30
-Matthew 12:22-50

Notes:

Genesis 35:2–4 Put away the foreign gods. Moving to Bethel necessitated spiritual preparation
beyond the level of an exercise in logistics. Possession of idolatrous symbols such as figurines,
amulets, or cultic charms (v.4, “earrings”), including Rachel’s troubling teraphim (31:19), was no
longer tolerable. Idols buried out of sight, plus bathing and changing to clean clothes, all served to
portray both cleansing from defilement by idolatry and consecration of the heart to the Lord. It had
been 8 or 10 years since Jacob’s return to Canaan and, appropriately, time enough to clean up all
traces of idolatry.

Genesis 35:5 the terror of God. A supernaturally induced fear of Israel rendered the surrounding city-
states unwilling and powerless to intervene and made Jacob’s fear of their retaliation rather
inconsequential (34:30).

Matthew 12:46 brothers. These are actual siblings (half brothers) of Jesus. Matthew explicitly
connects them with Mary, indicating that they were not cousins or Joseph’s sons from a previous
marriage, as some of the church fathers imagined. They are mentioned in all the Gospels (Mark
3:31; Luke 8:19–21; John 7:3–5). Matthew and Mark give the names of 4 of Jesus’ brothers and
mention that He had sisters, as well (13:55; Mark 6:3).

DAY 18: What is the unforgivable sin that Jesus spoke of?

According to Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:31, the unforgivable sin is “the blasphemy against the
Spirit.” The sin He was confronting was the Pharisees’ deliberate rejection of that which they knew to
be of God (see John 11:48; Acts 4:16). They could not deny the reality of what the Holy Spirit had
done through Him, so they attributed to Satan a work that they knew was of God (v. 24; Mark 3:22).

Someone never exposed to Christ’s divine power and presence might reject Him in ignorance and “it
will be forgiven him” (v. 32)—assuming the unbelief gives way to genuine repentance. Even a
Pharisee such as Saul of Tarsus could be forgiven for speaking “against the Son of Man” or
persecuting His followers—because his unbelief stemmed from ignorance (1 Tim. 1:13). But those
who know His claims are true and reject Him anyway sin “against the Holy Spirit”—because it is the
Holy Spirit who testifies of Christ and makes His truth known to us (John 15:26; 16:14, 15). No
forgiveness was possible for these Pharisees who witnessed His miracles firsthand, knew the truth of
His claims, and still blasphemed the Holy Spirit—because they had already rejected the fullest
possible revelation (Heb. 6:4–6; 10:29).

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