Hidden Knowledge

In my previous post we saw that Jesus always taught using parables. These were short stories which had a hidden meaning. Jesus told his disciples that they had been permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven but others had not. To those who were open to his teaching more understanding would be given, and they would have an abundance of knowledge. But to those who did not listen, even what they had would be taken away from them. In this post I want to explore this further.

In Proverbs 1:7 it says,

 “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Only fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

This was written by King Solomon, who is acknowledged as being one of the wisest people who have ever lived. Great people came from all over the world to listen to his wisdom. In the verse quoted he links two things with knowledge and wisdom- ‘fear of the Lord’ and ‘discipline’. The ‘fear’ he is speaking of should be seen as being awe and reverence, rather than dread and foreboding. It has to do with an appropriate attitude of reverence and respect for the Lord who has created all and is over all. It also relates to being in right relationship with the Lord in terms of submitting to being disciplined by him. It entails being obedient to his commands and requirements. It was because Solomon had these necessary attitudes that the Lord chose to give him this great wisdom and knowledge. They were gifts in response to them.

Even though Solomon lived a very long time ago nothing has changed in this regard. If someone chooses to adopt similar attitudes of reverence and respect and submit to the discipline of the Lord; and live in humble obedience to him, then they too can expect to be given wisdom and knowledge. Jesus intimated as much to his disciples. Before he gave himself up to be crucified on our behalf he told his disciples that he would send the indwelling Holy Spirit to lead them into truth. The Holy Spirit would be their teacher and guide. This applies to us in the 21^st C as well. As we saw last week, Jesus said that the ‘secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven’ would be revealed to his followers. If we earnestly seek this knowledge in humble obedience, we will receive it; because it has been promised to us.

We have to now consider what happened to King Solomon. Because Solomon had chosen to seek wisdom God gave him gifts of wealth and a long life as well. The problem was that Solomon became greedy. He is famous for building the Temple to honour the Lord, but he outdid the Temple with the palace he built for himself. It took seven years to build the Temple and thirteen years to build his palace.

Solomon was also disobedient. The requirement of the Lord was that the Hebrews should not take foreign wives because they would influence the men to worship foreign gods. Solomon first made an alliance with the Egyptian Pharaoh and married his daughter. He then went on to marry very many foreign wives that he lusted after. In fact he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. It must have been exhausting trying to keep them all happy. Sure enough, he started to worship their gods, as the Lord warned would happen. He therefore crossed over into spiritual darkness.

In the 1970’s John Todd was a high-up practicing wizard in the USA. He was on the Grand Druid Council, which oversaw the occult activity in that country. It comprised the thirteen top occult practitioners. He was saved out of witchcraft and became a practicing Christian; and was very influential in providing the Church with inside information as to how the occult system operated. He attested to the fact that King Solomon had been one of the most important wizards in history. As much as he had written significant portions of Scripture, after he crossed over to the dark side he also made important contributions to occult literature. He wrote many of the black magic rites and instructions on occult practice.

There is clearly a fine line between pursuing hidden wisdom and knowledge and moving into the dark realm. Solomon wanted to gain wisdom and knowledge which was beyond the scope of what is available to us as children of God. He was ultimately seeking power and control and to be like God. He followed in the footsteps of the dark lord that he came to serve. The problem was that he had to literally sell his soul in order to get it.

 We too have to make this choice. Jesus clearly spelt out that we cannot serve two masters. If we choose to not live with attitudes of reverence and respect, fearing the Lord; and living in disobedience, we will not be given access to the ‘secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven’. We will by default be excluded from receiving the blessing of God. If we choose to pursue the hidden knowledge of the dark realm we are putting our lives at risk and are committing spiritual suicide. The short-term gain that we may receive is far outweighed by the reality that we literally have to sell our soul to get it. My own experience has shown me this is no idle threat.

Questions for reflection:

·         Are you living with attitudes of fearing God and being open to his discipline?

·         Have you been given access to the ‘secret knowledge of the kingdom of God’?

·         Have you crossed over to the other side and want out?