Image by Enlightening Images from Pixabay
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!I have not seen a death circumstance as embarrassing as that of John the baptist yet this is one of the biggest lessons of the bible. A man so feeble and stupid; who does not recognize the law became a leader in a land.
This is one evidence of the prolonged Roman conquest of the Jews. When a king lacks the discipline to defend a value, his land is given over to a buffering authority from which justice will prevail.
Herod knew the values and he feared the prophets but lacked discipline; yet he is king. Pleasure is the easiest way to bring a nation on its knees.
A man so consumed in the flesh, a man so carnal, a man as unstable as Reuben does not have the capacity to weave the deity of a kingdom upon his head.
To your level, this is why a gate keeper cannot be a manager at a point until he improves not just intellectually but most importantly, morally.
The knowledge of morals are not intellectual stuffs; they are spiritual things. A spirit can tell a native doctor that he must not indulge in sexual activity in a certain period of time for a piece of charm to be effective but you cannot tell a programmer to abstain from sex for his html knowledge to grow. So you know a kingdom bound to fail when leadership precision is given to intellect more than morals.
Morals supersede intellect. And so a king called Herod Antipas wanted to marry his brother Philip’s wife called Herodias because of his influence. John the baptist had told Herod that he could not marry Herodias for such practice was against the Jewish laws.
Herod had a great respect for John: Mark 6:20~ 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.
The best he could do for the sake of Herodias was to arrest John and keep him in prison. Herod would later kill John against his own wish but to fulfill the demands of Herodias his brothers wife.
Would you wish that your promise be fulfilled in exchange of an eternal torment? The ability to hold judgement over pride is one attribute of God that cannot be compromised. Hold the values of God so much that you may desire to uphold the judgement of God against your ego.
Herod’s ego led to the eternal torment of his soul. John the baptist was never out of his mind for he still feared he may come back to hunt him. And so while every other persons of the country of Jesus were suggesting that Jesus was a reincarnated Isaiah or one of the prophets of old, Herod strongly thought Jesus was John the baptist. Mark 6:16~But when Herod heard thereof, he said, it is John whom i beheaded; he is risen from the dead.
I understand so much that temptations abound with the end that our values be compromised but with knowledge of the spiritual significance of morals we can set right priorities. May we uphold God’s laws over pride. In his laws lie the pillars of nationhood.
