Did Israel blaspheme the Holy Spirit by stoning Stephen?

Did Israel blaspheme the Holy Spirit by stoning Stephen?

Brian Kelson answers:

Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is not rejecting God's messengers. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit is crediting the miraculous to Satan or his minions. See Matt.12:24-32,  Mk 3:20-30. Paul never blasphemed the Holy Spirit btw, such claims are based upon ignorance. Israel nationally did not blaspheme the Holy Spirit, certain individuals might've.

With God there is no such thing as three strikes and you're out, this is a humanist idea. Besides which, rejecting Stephen was no less than they had done previously with his Lord and the prophets before that. If we count the individual prophets we are way past three ROFL.

MA has made Acts 7 more than it is, they needed to do this to prop up their view that Paul brought in the dispensation of grace during Acts. Thus they have to get rid of Israel nationally. This they are not able to do from Scripture which clearly says Israel remained God's people, to whom God was stretching forth His hands all the way to Acts 28 where they were finally put aside for a season and the imminent return was postponed.

Here is the main problem. The timing of the cross. IF we have the Lord crucified at the 69th week of Daniel 9, then there are only 7 years left. This is so tight that some MA teachers find it necessary to add a year. But if it was the 69th year, how could Paul write that Israel were not cast aside many, many years later? The answer is a simple one, Christ was not crucified at the 69th week, this is impossible.

Most eschatologists are agreed that Rome was the legs of iron in Neb.,s dream. The antimessiah does not come from Rome.

Daniel 8:8-11 clearly says the antimessiah will come from one of the (northern) divisions of Alexander the Great's kingdom which NEVER included Rome. So we have a huge problem. If Christ was crucified at the 69th week, then the antiChrist should have been (practically in Jerusalem) to sign the peace treaty with Israel at the beginning of the last week or 7 years, but there wasn't a power strong enough to take on Rome at that time. Rome does not produce the antimessiah. So the crucifixion was not at the 69th week.

I think we can assume angels can do math, and Gabriel told Daniel that Messiah would be cut off at the 62nd week. If the angel forgot to add the 7 and we do it for him, we are giving our opinion and adding to Scripture, but if we leave the 7 out of the 70 then the cross was the 62nd week and we have 8 weeks left or 56 years to the end.

All the nonsense of adding a week because of the parable of Lk.13 is crazy stuff. Adding a week to what? There is no need to add a week because Israel were never to be cut off at the Cross, Messiah was cut off but not for Himself. There is nothing in prophesy which says Israel would be cut off when Christ was. As I said in the last email, Passover was the beginning of Israel's national deliverance, not the point where they were judged and to be cut off because they rejected God's love. Passover is the FIRST step, not the last.

Continuing on,,,,,,MA teaches that, instead of returning in wrath, Christ returned in Grace, sharing the Mystery Program with Paul on the Road to Damascus, perhaps not just then, but in the general time vicinity.  

Oh so now they are taking a literal return for Israel and exchanging it for a non-literal return in grace? This is borderline ridiculous as well. Did the Lord's feet didn't touch the Mount of Olives in Acts 9.

Christ didn't return on the road to Damascus, He spoke from heaven, which was all OT and Gospels. When we take the literal return of Christ and adulterate it with an idea discarding the literal return,  we are sure out of line with Scripture. The Lord had spoken from heaven practically all of Israel's history. Apart from this, Paul writes Israel were not cast aside, the Gentiles were included according to prophesy, not the mystery, and there to provoke Israel. Paul promote his own apostleship to provoke Israel, what for if he is preaching the one new man creation? Israel has no place in the new post Acts program. Christ didn't give Paul the mystery in Acts 9, if he did, Paul kept it to himself for many years. These MA ideas are based upon their confused view of the Acts. The return of Christ will be visible, and very dramatic. His return is not only in wrath, but to save all Israel. More of this shortly.

Nothing happened at the stoning of Stephen other than the ministry moved out of Jerusalem. The disciples had been instructed to begin their ministry there, Lk.24:47. After Acts 7 and the rejection of the message in the capital city, the message went into Judea, and then Samaria where Paul began his labors, Acts 9. Nothing nationally took place at the death of Stephen, it was the close of the witness in Jerusalem though Paul did return there after Damascus.

The book of Acts follows the Lord's instructions. The testimony begins in Jerusalem, the Judea, then Samaria, then moves out to the scattered Jews in the world. In Chapter 12 we have another death, namely James. This terminates the testimony in Israel and the disciples are scattered outside the land and the witness goes with them.

So again, if God did not set Israel aside until Acts 28, which I now believe, Praise the Lord, what was it about that particular point of time or the particular event of the stoning of Stephen or just WHAT, exactly, caused Christ to postpone his descent way back in Acts 7??  

Now we can see that Acts 7 is nowhere near the time frame of the last weeks of Daniel's 70. But why didn't the Lord return? Why was it postponed? This is a very easy question to answer.

John the Baptist wasn't Elijah (Mal.4:5) but he could have been, how?  Matt.11:14 and 17:10-13 explains that it was dependent on Israel's acceptance of him.

The establishment of the Kingdom at Christ's return was dependent on Israel's acceptance of Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah. This is why Christ did not return. Let us see Peter's words again;

Act 3:13  The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.

Act 3:14  But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;

Act 3:15  And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.

Act 3:16  And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Act 3:17  And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.

Act 3:18  But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

Act 3:19 
1. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out,
2. when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

Act 3:21  Whom the heaven must receive UNTIL the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.

The return of the Lord was conditional upon Israel's repentance and conversion. Convert means to turn back for they had turned away from the Lord. Here are the words of Moses;Deu 30:1  And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath driven thee,
Deu 30:2  And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; Deu 30:3  That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
Deu 30:4  If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:
Deu 30:5  And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.
Deu 30:6  And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Deu 30:7  And the LORD thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee.
Deu 30:8  And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.

Here are the words of those who remembered this, and the prophets calling Israel to turn back to the Lord;Neh 1:7  We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

Neh 1:8  Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:

Neh 1:9  But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

Jer 29:10  For thus saith the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.

Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Jer 29:12  Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

Jer 29:13  And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Jer 29:14  And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.

Isa 55:6  Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:

Isa 55:7  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Hos 14:1  O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.

Hos 14:2  Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips.

Joe 2:12  Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

Joe 2:13  And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Joe 2:14  Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?

Zec 1:3  Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.

Zec 1:4  Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.

The Scriptures are very clear, Israel was to turn back to the Lord, THEN He would turn back to them. Is it any wonder Paul wanted so desperately to save his kinsmen according to the flesh. Provocation was to get Israel to repent and turn back, which is why the great doxology of Romans 11(:34) includes Isaiah 40.

The book of Acts is the history of God stretching forth His hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people, but instead of changing their hearts and turning back to God, they continued in rejection up until the last witness in Rome to the scattered Israelites there. They like their countrymen everywhere else remained non-committed and Paul pronounced the judgment prophesy of Is.6 against the entire nation and they were set aside.

So here is a summary.
Christ was never going to descend at Acts 7, there remained many years of Daniel's prophesy to run. The abomination of desolation wasn't in the Temple at Acts 7, Paul went in for a lawful service in Acts 21 which he would never have done if the antimessiah was in control of the Temple.

Christ did not postpone His descent at any time during Acts, it was the end of the ages yes, but not the close of them. It was the last hour, but not the end. The closing events of Matt.24 were yet to be seen, Jerusalem was not surrounded by the armies of the antimessiah Lk.21, which again, is not Rome. Paul could not write many years after Acts 7 that the night was far spent if Christ was supposed to return at Acts 7. Paul would not write to the Thessalonians that the Day of the Lord would not overtake them as a thief if it was to have taken place in Acts 7. Acts 7 was just the rejection in the city of Jerusalem, after which the message widened. Israel remained God's people when Romans was written. Paul's hope was the hope of Israel which the 12 tribes also hoped to come, Acts 26:6-7.

Christ did not return in Acts 9. He spoke from heaven as He had always done for Israel.

According to the Lord's instructions, the witness went out in Jerusalem then Judea first, then Samaria, then, after another martydom; James, out to the scattered Israelites in the world. In all areas of witness, the testimony was refused. The book of Acts covers nearly 40 years, the number of probation. Israel failed, the Lord didn't change his mind Candy, Israel refused to change theirs and what could have been, did not happen.

The bringing in of the Kingdom during Acts was conditional upon Israel's repentance and conversion; that is turning back to the Lord, then He would turn back to them. This they refused to do despite the incredible confirmations accompanying the Word.

When the Lord returns he comes in wrath and mercy. Wrath upon those who suppressed the truth but in mercy upon others, there is only one Coming of the Lord. Paul refers to Moses in Romans 12:19 that the believers were not to seek vengeance, for it was the Lord's right. Paul has no idea that the Lord was supposed to come in Acts 7 when he wrote Romans.