Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread.) (Acts 12:1-3)
☠️ King Herod wanted to vex the church
☠️ King Herod had James killed by the sword (beheaded)
☠️ King Herod enjoyed the pleasure the Jews took in this murderous behaviour; encouraged, or egged on;
☠️ King Herod proceeded to hunt and arrest others of the church, namely, Peter
⁉️This all happened during the Feast of Unleavened Bread (during passover festivities)
In this snippet of framed time, we see so much spiritual activity, it is mind boggling. The word vex is an outstanding descriptor, a word that can be lengthen to vexed or vexation, meaning afflicted, mortified, irritated, harassed. King Herod wanted the church to suffer public humiliation, persecution, annoyance, and beleaguering for professing Jesus as the Anointed One that fulfilled scripture. King Herod was an earthly murderous king that performed for applause, committing murder, to the delight of the Jews that hated God, and hated His people: he did the devil's bidding, and he is an archetype that helps us see how the spiritual realm operates, even in our modern day.
Absolutely NOT!
So far we have focused on the dark side of the realm. When we turn our gaze to the workers of light, to the sons of God, we see that John's brother James was killed, and that Peter is now the hunted. Does this stop any of these men from completing their mission? Does it cause them hesitation, have them go into hiding, retreating as the Jews and Herod had hoped? Absolutely NOT! Just like their Saviour, they continued to preach the Gospel, for the sake of souls, because dear reader, eternity in heaven hangs in the balance for each of us, and without Jesus, we will not see the Father.
Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear (Isaiah 59:1-2)
Polarized opposite
I am considering beheading. Think with me now. The mind is powerful, and the mouth moves accordingly. Whatever is in the heart pours out when our lips are flapping. We speak life or death, vexation or edification, and what we say indicates to whom we belong; this is why we must guard our lips and restrain our tongues, unless of course, we are praising God Almighty, and encouraging others to glorify Him too. This said, I can see why the wicked want to behead, hang, mute, nullify truth tellers and God lovers. We are their polarized opposite, and while we want them to live eternally in the presence of God, and while we seek to assist in their salvation, they want us to suffer, to be damned, and to die in an untimely fashion. The satanically soaked do not want fully functioning Christians, thus their desire to vex, which sounds a lot like hex... or curse.
They curse us, while we want to bless them: if you belong to God, this ought to make you grin with understanding. We are definitely in a battle, but when on the side of righteousness, we can feel a sense of purpose and delight, to be called to the front lines, with warrior angels all around, fighting the battle in the heavenly realms. We get to be models of humility, kindness, love, and honesty; never backing down, backing up, or hiding away to save our own skins... God already saved us, what could we possibly, be frighted of?
The Jews continued in their ritualistic ways, celebrating a feast of unleavened bread that point directly to the passover and their freedom, given them by God, from captivity in Egypt: and yet... they could not see they could have been set free eternally when Jesus came as the final passover from death to life. In His ministry of miracles, wonders and signs, death, and subsequent resurrection, He gave them a show and tell demonstration that the Kingdom of heaven was not only near, but here, with them. In the seeing and hearing, they preferred their own version of earthly heaven, where they were the kings of their own sandy castles...
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23)
And so it continues, with the murderous hating the hopeful, and the kings of this world wanting us beheaded, so that we cannot profess Jesus Christ as our Lord of lords, and King of kings. They fear our words, dear reader, when what they ought to fear, is separation from God for eternity, once they pass from this fleeting life, into the next.
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power (2 Thessalonians 1:9)
I will end on a happy note. If you have a mouth, because your head still rides safely on your shoulders, and you are a professing Christian, know that your words have the power of God in them, and you must use them with wisdom, for the saving of souls:
So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17)
It doesn't matter what the enemies of God are doing. All that matters is what we are saying and doing! Let us keep our eyes trained on the heaven-lies, our ears attuned to His Word, and our mouths moving according to His will, His way, just as His Son did when He walked in the flesh, amongst men.
No comments:
Post a Comment