Tag Archives: killed

Guilt Upon Guilt

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GUILT UPON GUILT

King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, ‘John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in Him.’  Others said, ‘He is Elijah.’ And still others claimed, ‘He is a prophet, like one of the prophets long ago.’ But when Herod heard this, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!’ For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he married (Mark 6: 14-17).

What a puzzle Jesus was turning out to be! Deny the truth and you’ll come up with every ridiculous invention you can think of. The evidence was staring these people in the face but their verdicts, every one of them, were ludicrous. Had any one of their prophets ever come back to life years, even centuries, afterwards although many of them had died as violently as John had? Elijah? Oh, as far as they knew Elijah wasn’t dead since he had gone up to heaven in a whirlwind. Perhaps Jesus was Elijah come back or even Enoch since he hadn’t died either. Any other offers?

Herod was the only one who knew for certain that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead! After all, he was the one who had him killed. He saw his head on a platter. It had to be John because John because it was John who gave it to him straight like the other prophets who were martyred for their honesty. If John could rise from the dead, then he could do the all miracles Jesus/John was doing.

It’s amazing what people will come up with when they refuse to come face to face with the truth. Herod’s guilt screamed at him morning, noon and night. He had silenced John and now John had come back to haunt him. He thought that, if he shut John up, first in prison, and then in death, his guilt would go away. How wrong he was! Jesus was not John, but He had the same effect on Herod as if He had been John because the truth was inescapable.

For John had been saying to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled, yet he liked to listen to him (Mark 6: 18-20).

If Herod was puzzled about John, what about Herod? He was just like the soil Jesus spoke about – the footpath where the seed fell but never germinated because the ground was too hard. Why did Herod like to listen to John? Did he think that John’s word alone would appease his conscience without his doing anything about it? In the end it was Herodias who ruled Herod. He feared John but he feared Herodias more. What she said went, even if he knew she was wrong.

This is the definition of a fool – one who knows what is right but does wrong anyway. The Bible calls this “a divided heart”. God or me, me and God? And “me” usually wins. We can judge Herod and call him a fool but how often don’t we act just like him. We fear man more than God and follow our fears rather than the truth.

“The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.”  ― OswaldChambers

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/233515-the-remarkable-thing-about-god-is-that-when-you-fear (retrieved 01/07/2105)

Take the theory of evolution, for example. It is taught in schools and referred to in every natural history programme on television as fact. Really! Has anything ever just “happened” without a designer or creator, say in a car manufacturing plant? A half completed vehicle stands on the floor awaiting the next day’s additions. When the workers arrive, they are surprised to find the buds of wings which began to sprout overnight. How did that happen? Well, the car decided it wanted to be an aeroplane after all. Give it a few million years and it will become a plane.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? What happens to the car-becoming-a-plane in the meantime? Will it drive on the road or will it fly? What will it do in the interim while it is changing from a car to a plane? After millions of years it will probably be a heap of oxidised metal. What about all the creatures who are supposed to be becoming? Where are they? Why don’t we see some half-way ones, neither this nor that. Even the weirdest and most bizarre creatures function perfectly as they are because they were created that way.

Why have scientists come up with such a ridiculous theory, and why do gullible people believe it? Like Herod, they refuse to face the truth. God is inescapable and, as our Creator, we are accountable to Him. We can kill John, or Jesus, or burn the Bible or make up as many of our own rules as we like, but the truth will just not go away.

In the end we are our own judges. Do away with the truth and we stand condemned by our own fabrication of lies because the truth will still stand when we fall. God has a solution. Change your mind about the truth and give over the Him. He is merciful. He has already provided forgiveness for all our stupidity and rebellion. And He promises real life if we follow Jesus.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Available on www.amazon.com in paperback, e-book or kindle version or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

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Dying To Rule

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DYING TO RULE

“He then asked, ‘And you — what are you saying about me? Who am I?’ Peter answered, ‘The Messiah of God.’ Jesus then warned them to keep it quiet. They were to tell no one what Peter had said.

“He went on, ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man proceed to an ordeal of suffering, be tried and found guilty by the religious leaders, high priests and religion scholars, be killed and on the third day be raised up alive.'” Luke 9:20-22 (The Message).

Peter was rosy with enthusiasm and inspiration when he declared, ‘You are God’s Messiah,’ but he had no clue what it meant.

It was imperative that Jesus correct their misconception of what the Messiah was all about, but it was as though He were talking to a stone wall. In this situation the disciples had selective hearing because they did not want to believe that Jesus was anything else than a deliverer from their hated enemy and oppressor, Rome. They saw and read everything through the spectacles of their misunderstanding.

He didn’t even need to tell them not to broadcast what He had revealed to them because it was as though He had never said it. It was an invisible barrier between Him and them. I believe that He longed for them to understand what He was telling them so that He would have emotional support, especially when the time drew near for Him to go to Jerusalem for the ordeal.

Jesus often used the term, Son of Man, to refer to Himself in preference to “Son of God”, which had a double-barrelled meaning. It was much more than a reference to His humanity.

In Daniel 7:13, 14, Daniel saw in his vision a human-like figure approaching the throne of God. “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshipped Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

“Son of Man” seems to have a three-fold meaning: He was human; He was representative man, and He was anointed of God to have the authority and power to rule. But, at the same time, He was recognised as more than just a man because He received the worship of all nations and His kingdom was supreme and eternal.

Would the disciples have recognised in His use of “Son of Man” to refer to Himself, that He was clearly stating who He was? Possibly, but they only saw half of the implications of that title. Daniel spoke of His authority, power and glory, but Isaiah spoke of His suffering.

We get the clearest prophetic picture of the character and the suffering of the Messiah in Isaiah’s “servant songs”. With hindsight it is easy for us to see in Jesus the fulfilment of these prophecies but those who lived before the cross could not make sense of them as long as they missed the atoning work of the Messiah as essential to His mission.

As we wait for the return of our Messiah to take His place as king over all the kingdoms of the earth, it is easy for us the miss the clues to His coming if our focus is on the geographical and political. We scan the horizon for some evil political figure who will brazenly declare that he is God, but miss the fact that the spirit of antichrist operates in every religious figure within the church who lures people to follow him instead of Jesus.

These charismatic figures have huge followings, and people flock from all over the world to hear them and yet, as the Father urged the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration, ‘This is my beloved Son; listen to Him,’ Jesus is as near to us as our breath. Not even Moses or Elijah can take His place.

Once again I urge you, “Follow Jesus. You will never get lost.”