Tag: perceiving

15.v. “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 

John 6:14  When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!”  Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Deuteronomy 18:15-18     “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—  just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’  And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken.  I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

Acts 3:22-24     Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.  And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’  And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.

This crowd was willing to support Jesus so long as He gave them what they wanted – bread. It’s easy to criticize how the crowd loved Jesus for the bread He gave them, but we often only love Jesus for what He gives us. We must also love and obey Him simply for who He is – Lord and God.  They saw an opportunity through Jesus.  imagine five thousand people show up at a park, who are hungry and you want to feed them.  Even if you had the means how long would it take to arrange this and supply food for the people?  Jesus did this immediately.  They saw the miracle He had just performed feeding so many.  If He was able to do this, He is a “Prophet from God” and we should make Him King.  They wanted to make Him king so that their lives would no longer be subjected to Roman rule.  They possibly thought that they would never have to work for food again.   He would supply it just like God had supplied mana and quail in the wilderness.  It is also possible that they thought if He was able to do this then making Him King would surely make their life much easier and less harsh.  They would honor Him for what they could get from Him and not for who He was.

It is the same throughout history.  There are shallow commitments to Jesus Christ because He is seen as a supplier of worldly stuff to satisfy the flesh rather than the Holy Redeemer and overflowing satisfier of the soul.  It is right to come to Jesus in full surrender and live to humbly serve, honor, glorify, worship, follow, trust, and obey Him.  Out of this commitment deep within our soul, we can come to Him with a purity of heart for our earthly needs.  In this purity, our requests leave room for the perfect will of God in complete trust of His everlasting love for us.

146. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

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1 Kings 12:25  Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. And he went out from there and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will turn back to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will turn again to their lord, to Rehoboam king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.” So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, “You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” And he set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Then this thing became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to be before one. He also made temples on high places and appointed priests from among all the people, who were not of the Levites. And Jeroboam appointed a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar. So he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he made. And he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places that he had made. He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings.

Psalms 14:1    The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good

Mark 2:6  Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts,  “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts?

2 Corinthians 10:5    We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

1 Peter 1:14-15    As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

Jeroboam had a thought and it was heart deep. Since this happened, then this will happen, and because of that, I must do this.  All of these thoughts took place in his heart.  They took root and he acted upon them.  He replaced God with two golden calves and set times of feasting and sacrificing and placed priests who were not of the tribe of Levites.  He started down a path because of a thought in his heart and then continually took action in-line with that original errant thought.

Nothing has really changed in man over the years.  Thoughts still come into our heart and mind.  Many of these thoughts have a sin origin and unless we take them captive they will lead us on paths to make decisions that capture our heart, mind, and soul and not in line with honoring or following or obeying or trusting God.

We believe the lie or deception or illusion because the word of God is not in our heart and mind.  Our desire for His word has been replaced.  It is not as though we were given a black and white choice in this matter.  It is just not that clear cut.  What happens is we allow the busyness of life and cares of this world to seep into our heart.  It starts with a little neglect of His word and this soon becomes a habit that changes how we see things, how we make decisions, how we think, and what we allow ourselves to think about and dwell on.

Paul gave us “Take every thought captive to obey Christ”.  To understand our thoughts in light of His word we must have His word in our heart with a desire to have it expose wrong thoughts and keep our feet on the path that humbly serves, honors, follows, obeys, and trusts in Jesus Christ.