But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.
There is no question that religious speculation can easily cross into the realm of ridiculous superstition. Then, as now, the conjectures concerning Christ ran a broad spectrum.
Among the Jews, those with a spiritual/biblical background, the conjectures ranged from:
- The specific "it is Elias" - a prophecy of the Old Testament.
- To the Scriptural "it is a prophet" - God had given them prophets in the past.
- To the general "as one of the prophets" - they were reminded of the prophets.
It’s notable that none of them recognized Him as Christ.[1] We can expect that even among the religious, very few will come to see Christ for who He is.
Then there was Herod. The wickedness of this man was well-documented.
- He had taken his brother’s wife.
- He had John the Baptist killed on the whim of that woman.
We see him here torn in his conscience, ridden with guilt, and still unrepentant. Finally, by Christ’s crucifixion, Herod has only an interest in seeing Jesus do a trick. He had grown thoroughly hardened in soul.
This explains much of what we see in our world these days. As evil men wax worse and worse, their consciences get stricken with guilt. Choosing not to repent, they conjure up all sorts of fantasies about spiritual things—especially about Jesus. Finally, they become so hardened of heart and soul that they, like Dawkins, boldly claim that God should speak to them personally that would not convince them God is. He claimed that if it happened; he would assume himself hallucinating. He’s not completely wrong. He is in truth is so thoroughly deceived that his conscience is seared, cold, and hard to God.
But with God, all things are possible. As long as Dawkins or any like him have breath, there is reason to pray that they come to see Christ as Savior.
#ReligiousSpeculation #ConjecturesAboutChrist #HerodsConscience #HardenedHearts #PrayForSpiritualAwakening
Hardened Hearts: A Torn Soul and Unrepentant Heart
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.
For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.
If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.
For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.
My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org
Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/
Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more
Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give.
Mark 6:16 (KJV) Hardened Hearts
No comments:
Post a Comment