Luk 12:8 | KingComments | STEP | The Lord has another great encouragement not to be afraid of men, but on the contrary to confess Him boldly before hostile people. This encouragement is that in that case He, as the Son of Man, as the One to Whom the Father has submitted all things, will confess us before the angels of God. He will appreciate every word we say in His favor. The Son of Man will tell the angels that we belong to Him and that we are true witnesses of Him. He will tell the angels that we are His, and that we behave worthy of Him. Angels do immediately what God says. They are out to serve God’s interests. They also have great interest in everything that is done on earth for or against the Lord Jesus. They will wonder why He causes His witnesses to suffer so much. Then He will tell them that His disciples undergo the same that He also underwent. However, if we deny Him before men, if we deny that we belong to Him, this will also be communicated to the angels of God. Angels are powerful beings. With them there is no fear of people. If they see that people deny the Lord Jesus, they will not understand. He will tell them that these people do not belong to Him either. It is not about cases like Peter, who stumbled. He denied the Lord, but did so in weakness and not in rebellion, even though he did it three consecutive times. His deep repentance shows that it was a stumbling and not a hostile attitude toward his Lord. In His great grace Christ forgives every man who has spoken a word against Him. A man may have expressed the meanest things and most slanderous language against Him and acted in the most rebellious spirit, but when he comes to repentance, it will be forgiven. The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is a good example of this ( ). Who has spoken more against Him than he? He is an impressive proof and witness of forgiveness. So will it be with the people when they repent of their rebellion and rejection of Christ. But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not receive forgiveness. That is the fate of “this generation”. ‘This generation’ has the Son of Man among them. Everything He does is through the Holy Spirit, but they attribute what He does to the ruler of the demons, to satan ( ). Such an accusation is the culmination and low point of a series of rejections that has taken on ever stronger forms. Their hatred against Him and their absolute unwillingness to believe cannot be clearer and more definitive than by denying the Holy Spirit. Anyone who attributes to satan the Lord’s many and always undeniable works of power is guilty of the sin that will not be forgiven. This generation, which is the generation in the midst of which the Lord Jesus is, and which has seen everything with its own eyes and heard it with its own ears, will show the undeniable proof of their hardening. They will do so if they reject the testimony of the Holy Spirit in Stephen after the ascension of the Lord ( ). The Lord doesn’t beat about the bush that His disciples will be persecuted. He encourages them not to worry about what to answer to the questions they are asked. And when they ask themselves whether they should say something, they also need not to worry about what they should say. They can count on the help of the Holy Spirit. Here we find the third Person of the Deity Who helps us as disciples. We have seen the friendship of the Lord Jesus ( ), the care of the Father ( ) and now the teaching of the Spirit, and we have also seen the reward in . Everything serves to our encouragement.

‏ Luke 12:8

Fearless confession

The Lord has another great encouragement not to be afraid of men, but on the contrary to confess Him boldly before hostile people. This encouragement is that in that case He, as the Son of Man, as the One to Whom the Father has submitted all things, will confess us before the angels of God. He will appreciate every word we say in His favor. The Son of Man will tell the angels that we belong to Him and that we are true witnesses of Him. He will tell the angels that we are His, and that we behave worthy of Him.

Angels do immediately what God says. They are out to serve God’s interests. They also have great interest in everything that is done on earth for or against the Lord Jesus. They will wonder why He causes His witnesses to suffer so much. Then He will tell them that His disciples undergo the same that He also underwent.

However, if we deny Him before men, if we deny that we belong to Him, this will also be communicated to the angels of God. Angels are powerful beings. With them there is no fear of people. If they see that people deny the Lord Jesus, they will not understand. He will tell them that these people do not belong to Him either.

It is not about cases like Peter, who stumbled. He denied the Lord, but did so in weakness and not in rebellion, even though he did it three consecutive times. His deep repentance shows that it was a stumbling and not a hostile attitude toward his Lord.

In His great grace Christ forgives every man who has spoken a word against Him. A man may have expressed the meanest things and most slanderous language against Him and acted in the most rebellious spirit, but when he comes to repentance, it will be forgiven. The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is a good example of this (1Tim 1:13). Who has spoken more against Him than he? He is an impressive proof and witness of forgiveness. So will it be with the people when they repent of their rebellion and rejection of Christ.

But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not receive forgiveness. That is the fate of “this generation”. ‘This generation’ has the Son of Man among them. Everything He does is through the Holy Spirit, but they attribute what He does to the ruler of the demons, to satan (Lk 11:15). Such an accusation is the culmination and low point of a series of rejections that has taken on ever stronger forms.

Their hatred against Him and their absolute unwillingness to believe cannot be clearer and more definitive than by denying the Holy Spirit. Anyone who attributes to satan the Lord’s many and always undeniable works of power is guilty of the sin that will not be forgiven. This generation, which is the generation in the midst of which the Lord Jesus is, and which has seen everything with its own eyes and heard it with its own ears, will show the undeniable proof of their hardening. They will do so if they reject the testimony of the Holy Spirit in Stephen after the ascension of the Lord (Acts 7:51).

The Lord doesn’t beat about the bush that His disciples will be persecuted. He encourages them not to worry about what to answer to the questions they are asked. And when they ask themselves whether they should say something, they also need not to worry about what they should say. They can count on the help of the Holy Spirit.

Here we find the third Person of the Deity Who helps us as disciples. We have seen the friendship of the Lord Jesus (Lk 12:4), the care of the Father (Lk 12:7) and now the teaching of the Spirit, and we have also seen the reward in Lk 12:8. Everything serves to our encouragement.