Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit, the True Family, and the Parables of the Kingdom
This continues the study of the Gospel of Mark. The central point of the study is found in Mark 4:24–25: “Pay attention to what you hear.” We will examine this passage and its meaning, which many have overlooked because of a widespread distorted understanding of the teachings of the New Testament.
1. Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit (Mark 3:22–30)
Jesus is accused of driving out demons by the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons. His response: every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit is guilty of an eternal sin (Mark 3:29).
How to understand this in light of our earlier conversation about Jesus and the Holy Spirit:
- Jesus is not simply “the Holy Spirit” — he is filled with and anointed by the Holy Spirit. Yet because of how mysteriously the Trinity works, the power of the Holy Spirit is fully manifest in him.
- So when the Pharisees say, “He casts out demons by the spirit of Satan,” they are blaspheming against the Holy Spirit who is at work in Christ. Speaking against Jesus’s works is speaking against the Spirit through whom those works are done.
- Why? Because Jesus has come to inaugurate the Kingdom of God, and he does so by pushing back the kingdom of Satan — and he does this by the Holy Spirit.
This is why Matthew 12 distinguishes between two levels:
“Blasphemy against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not.”
- Against the Son of Man: You see Jesus only in the flesh, as merely a man. You look at him carnally and say, “You’re not God.” That misunderstanding can be forgiven — if you look at Jesus just as a man, you may simply misunderstand him. That applies to the Jews Jesus was ministering to before the completion of his work and mission.
- Against the Holy Spirit: But when you witness the works he does — the inauguration of the Kingdom, the manifestation of God’s reign with such undeniable power — and you still call it Satanic, there is no forgiveness left. The Kingdom he brings is the eternal Kingdom; if you blaspheme against the eternal Kingdom itself, there is no other way back to God. Nothing remains for you to appeal to.
In short: Yes — in this context, blasphemy against Jesus is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, because through the Holy Spirit he inaugurates the eternal Kingdom of God. Reject that manifestation knowingly, and there is no path of return.
2. The True Family of Jesus (Mark 3:31–35)
Then his mother and brothers and sisters arrive — Joseph is notably absent from the picture, though presumably part of the family. The mother wants to take control of the situation (they thought he was out of his mind), and the siblings come with her.
His reply: “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And then: “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
So what is the will of God?
- To listen to Jesus.
- To repent and believe — to be born again and enter the kingdom of God.
- To have eternal life; God desires all who would repent to come to life (cf. John 4–5: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work”).
The will of God for all humanity is to enter the Kingdom of Life and be brought back to God — the only way being through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ: his ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension. That is the victorious Kingdom in which we now live, through the millennium and the Holy Spirit.
3. The Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:1–20)
As we discussed: three bad soils, one good soil — and the one good soil yields fruit at three levels (30, 60, and 100 fold).
The striking implication:
- Only about 25% will truly be saved — one quarter of those who hear the word, including some who call themselves Christians.
- 75% will have heard and rejected — for various reasons: busy with life, distracted, indifferent, or unwilling to understand.
- And no one escapes hearing: “the sower has gone out.” Some hear and shrug it off; some go to church and still fall among the bad soils. That’s precisely why Jesus speaks in parables after this — to those who don’t want to understand.
The scope of the mission: first Israel (the privilege of “first”), then the whole world. As Paul indicates (Colossians/Thessalonians), the gospel has been preached to the whole world — nobody is without knowledge of it. Even the people who killed the missionary reached out to them: they heard.
4. Two Kinds of Hearers, Four Kinds of Soil
Mark draws a division:
| Group | How Jesus speaks to them |
| Outsiders | Everything in parables — because they don’t want to understand |
| Disciples | Everything explained privately (Mark 4:34) |
“He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately he explained everything to his disciples.”
If you are a disciple — one who presses on and wants to hear more — the parables are opened to you. If you don’t care, or merely pretend to care and forget, then it stays “just a parable” to you. You think you understand; you don’t.
Alongside the four soils, Jesus adds further parables of the Kingdom: the lamp (v. 21), the seed growing secretly (v. 26), the mustard seed (v. 30) — all wrapped up by v. 34.
5. The Lamp Under a Bushel (Mark 4:21–23) — The Key Passage
Right after explaining the soils and the two kinds of hearers, Jesus tells the disciples: nobody lights a lamp to put it under a basket or a bed — it goes on the lampstand, to shed light.
“There is nothing hidden that will not be made disclosed, and nothing secret that will not be brought to light.” (v. 22)
Important interpretive correction: This is not primarily about the secrets of our hearts or our sins being exposed at judgment day (that’s true, but assumed and not the point here). The context is parables. The “secret” is the hidden meaning of the parables — the secret of the Kingdom.
- For those who press on, the secret will be explained and made known.
- “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear” (v. 23) = if you want the secret, listen — it will be revealed.
- But for others, it will be too late: they will understand only when understanding no longer helps, having refused to understand in time.
6. “Pay Attention to What You Hear” (Mark 4:24–25) — The Center
“Take care what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you — and even more besides. Whoever has, more will be given; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away.”
This is the hinge of the whole section:
- Are you listening? Are you paying attention? If you measure with the measure of the Kingdom, the Kingdom will be measured to you — added to you. You’ll live by the standards of the Kingdom, adjust your life with God’s help, and make the Kingdom the measuring rod of your life.
- If you have no ears to hear — you hear but forget, don’t care, don’t apply — then you don’t have. Yet you still think you’re right: your interpretation, your little quasi-ministry, your version of things. You measure by your own measure while calling it “the Kingdom of God,” because you want to be religious without obeying.
“Whoever has, to him more will be given”: If you truly have knowledge of God, you’ll thirst for more. You’ll hunger for deeper revelation, and more will be given.
“Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away”: But how do you take something from someone who doesn’t have it? Here’s the connection — read it as “whoever thinks he has.” The person who does not have the Kingdom but possesses a false religion he calls the Kingdom — that will be taken away, because it was never the Kingdom, never the gospel, never the truth, never the will of God.
7. Why Jesus Is Addressing This Now
The context explains everything:
- Right before, his mother and brothers tried to take him away — they thought he was crazy.
- The Pharisees claimed he cast out demons by the power of Satan.
They think they have — and what they “have” is precisely the claim that they have. Since they don’t actually have the Kingdom, it will be taken away.
A concrete example of this deception
Those who worship the modern state of Israel — a “fake Israel” — while claiming to be Christians serving Christ, carry the spirit of idolatry. They effectively endorse killing in Gaza; they insist “the Jews are God’s people” even while rejecting Christ, refusing to ask whether the unbelieving Jew goes to heaven or hell. All of it is built on cherry-picked proof-texts (“Scripture says the Jews have a right to the land”) — claims that, rightly read, are not true.
Their pattern: dwell on certain passages, then fanatically push back against any serious attempt at good exegesis — delving into the meaning of Scripture through the Holy Spirit. The moment someone presses in, they resist. Why? Because they think they already have, and that’s enough for them.
And that is exactly the condition Jesus describes:
- Whatever they think they have will be taken away, because it isn’t the Kingdom of God.
- They are not paying attention as they listen.
- They have no ears to hear.
- For them everything remains in parables — because they don’t want to press on.
Summary
- The light is Jesus. When the light comes, it is not hidden under a bushel. Everything secret will be made known — the secrets of the Kingdom will be explained to those who seek.
- But for those who think they have, everything stays a parable. Their own measure, not Christ’s measure, becomes their standard — not the measure of the Word of God.
- The warning of Mark 4:24–25 stands over every hearer: Pay attention to how you listen. Measure with the Kingdom, and the Kingdom will be added to you. Cling to a counterfeit and refuse to hear, and even that illusion will be taken away.
Amen.
