The following is taken from Mark 11:30-33..
(Corresponding passages: Matthew 21:23-27; Luke 20:1-8)
(Jesus is questioning the religious leaders who are trying to set Him up to created legal ground to arrest and kill Him):
“Was the baptism of John from heaven (of God) or from man?..”
They began discussing it with each other, saying,
“if we say, ‘from heaven’ He will say, ‘then why did you not believe him (John)?’ But shall we say, ‘from man’?”
They were afraid to answer because of the crowd, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet. So they replied to Jesus,
“We do not know”..
What’s happening here?
(It’s a simple question, even one of opinion).
(Before reading on, please reexamine and try to work through the answer.
I say this because this allows engagement of both your mind and His Spirit, otherwise, we prevent both; and by default train ourselves to just depend on others to feed us answers, and inso doing we stifle and prevent ourselves from mentally + spiritually developing and growing. I see most people doing this. They have a lot of head knowledge, and what results is self-righteousness that (arrogant ignorance), which keeps us from Truth and ultimately God).
They did not seek truth therefore their hearts were not in alignment with truth, but rather they (within their hearts), sought power and prestige (power and prestige which comes from people).
Therefore they were avoiding honesty with themselves and therefore avoiding truth.
They are blind to and not even aware of truth, because they have rejected it for self pursuit. The only thing they can identify and the only way they operate is:
‘What is going to get me what I want?’ Or ‘What will help me to accomplish my goals and give me what I want?’ (It sounds like the mind of a two year old).
It is highly likely (and even illustrated), that they knew John's baptism was of heaven because that was the first answer they considered. However they flippantly rejected giving this answer for fear of being called out due to having rejected John and the baptism of repentance (acknowledgment of one’s sin nature and surrender to God), they would have had to admit publicly before those who give them power and prestige that they are in fact the same as they are, and surrender their authority to Jesus.
Then they considered lying, but then the people would be upset with them, and rise up against them causing them to lose their power and prestige.
Because they rejected truth for self pursuit, they considered it a ‘lose/lose’ situation as they would lose that power authority and prestige they are addicted to as they idolize themselves. So in order to protect that they did not answer.
What this illustrates about the human heart:
When anyone, including ourselves, is avoiding answering, neglecting to evaluate or acknowledge anything, we are hiding something.
When we are hiding something we are being dishonest with ourselves and others.
We keep it in the dark and are rejecting truth even before we hear it.
We are placing this above God.
We keep ourselves in bondage to this thing and due to all of this, what results is a loss of conscience we take ourselves out of alignment with GOd’s will and therefore His protection regarding that.
(Even those who do not know God, can still be doing what God wants them to be doing and thus be in His will, and yet not even be aware of it)
When we deny honesty and truth, we usher in cursing within our hearts and minds and therefore because it is within it will manifest throughout until we bring it into His Light and release it to Him.
What things are you avoiding or keeping hidden?
Let's begin to live honestly, bringing things which we are tempted to keep hidden in the dark, into the light of His Truth!
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