The Blind Leading The Blind
Part 2 of 3
But, such was not so with the religious leaders. The Pharisees were more concerned with man’s way of thinking than the Spirit thinking of YHVH. They did what they did best. They looked to outward appearances—on the surface thinking. In 8: 19 of John, Yeshua says the reason they never understood His words was, “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also”. These leaders had ears to hear and eyes to see, yet, they were deaf and blind.
Yeshua said in 9: 39 of John, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind”. Yeshua was speaking to a once blind man the church leaders had thrown out of the church. When these leaders overheard the conversation, they asked in v. 40, “Are we blind also?” Yeshua replied in v. 41, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see’. Therefore your sin remains”. In the all-important spiritual sense, they were blind to YHVH's ideals because all they could see was there own ways.
These are like those that looked on the outside circumstances of Job and said his predicament was because of some secret sin. Bildad correctly attested to the character of YHVH and His judgment when he asked Job in 8: 3, “Does YHVH subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice?” This possibly well-intending man did very little different than many in our churches today. They look at the letter of the law—in this case, YHVH’s justice—and totally miss the “heart” of that justice.
In v. 4, Bildad suggested Job's trouble was because of a sin of his sons. In v. 5, he challenged Job to “earnestly seek YHVH”. Then, he put a “guilt trip” on him in v. 6 saying, “If you were pure and upright, surely now He would awaken for you”. Nowhere is there a hint of concern for the pain and suffering of their friend, Job. As I have heard it asked, “With friends like them, who needs enemies?”
An entire city, our Lord’s beloved Jerusalem, turned a blind eye and deaf ear to the righteous judgments of our Lord. YHVH begins an unfavorable judgment of His people through Ezekiel in 5: 7 saying, “Because you have multiplied disobedience…have not walked in My statutes nor kept My judgments”. Therefore, in v. 8, He says, “Indeed I, even I, am against you and will execute judgments in your midst…” Ezekiel further records YHVH saying in 20: 24, “Because they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, profaned My Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their father’s idols”.
I’m certain some of them had literally turned to worship heathen idols. Yet, many others were like those of whom our Lord spoke in 7: 6-7 of Mark. He records our Lord quoting Isaiah 29: 13, “These people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men”. They are like those in the first chapter of Isaiah, those from which flowed wave after wave of the sacrifice of praise. Yet, they paid little or no attention to the widow and the orphan—the need of the one sitting next to them. And, the beat goes on in many of our churches today.
Click Here To Continue In The 19th Psalm
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