Matthew 22:1-14 Blaspheming The Holy Spirit

I've wondered about this part of chapter 22, and I liked how my commentary explained it.  Here is what it said:

"Again, we meet the Father and the Son, and the Son is alive (in spite of what the husbandmen did) and has a bride!  The suggestion is that the Lord Jesus and His church are depicted ... The Father is still inviting the people of Israel to come, in spite of what they did to His Son ... How did the nation's leaders respond to the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the apostles?  They rejected the Word and persecuted the church... How did the king in the parable respond to the way the people treated his servants?  He became angry and sent his armies to destroy them and their city.  He then turned to other people and invited them to come to the feast.  This is a picture of God dealing with Israel.  They rejected the Father when they refused to obey John the Baptist's preaching.  Israel rejected the Son when they arrested Him and crucified Him ... The Holy Spirit came on the early believers and they witnessed with great power that Jesus was alive and the nation could be saved ... But Israel also rejected the Holy Spirit.  (Stephen said so in Acts 7:51).  With the stoning of Stephen, God's patience with Israel began to end, though He delayed the judgment for almost 40 years ... This final rejection is, to me, the awful blasphemy against the Holy Spirit that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 12:22-32.  This was a national sin, committed by Israel ... the rulers rejected the witness of the Spirit, and this brought final judgment.  They had rejected the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and there were no more opportunities left.  This 'sin against the Holy Spirit' cannot be committed today in the same way as Israel committed it, because the situation is different."

Father, thank You for not giving up on me when I was away from You.  I don't know what I'd have done and where I'd be if You had said, "Forget him!"

 

Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford