Bible Study Seattle

When people really start studying the bible, many worry that they may have committed the unforgivable sin.

“If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that.  All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.” 1 John 5:16-17

What is the sin that leads to death? What if I accidentally committed it? The short answer is that that sin can only be consummated in our second life. It is not a sin that is committed rashly or accidentally. It is a huge sin that is galvanized over many years. Think of Pharaoh. God gave him many chances to repent. It was only after ten large plagues that God made the waters come back to drown him. The Unforgivable sin ends with second death.

“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” Revelation 21:8

That the Unforgivable Sin takes years to cultivate is told in Isaiah:

“The one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.” Isaiah 65:20

A hundred years to cultivate this sin! That’s a lot of stubbornness. “Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city.” Revelation 22:14

Those that don’t do His commandments are forbidden from eating of the trees of life so that they will eventually die again. Here’s another view of this dynamic:

“Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.  If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain.  If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.” Zechariah 14:16-19

God will withhold rain to those that don’t go up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. That will mean poor crops and eventually second death. Hebrews paints another picture:

“It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,  who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age  and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.  Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.  But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.” Hebrews 6:4-8

“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.  Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.  How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?  For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”  It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:26-31

The Unforgivable Sin is many years of obstinate rejection of everything God stands for in the second life. Second death is the result.