Tag Archives: Herod

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – WRAPPING THINGS UP

January 30, 2020Bible Studyfox, Herod, killLuella Campbell

WRAPPING THINGS UP

“Just then some Pharisees came up and said, ‘Run for your life! Herod’s on the hunt. He’s out to kill you!’ Jesus said, ‘Tell that fox that I’ve no time for him right now. Today and tomorrow I’m busy clearing out the demons and healing the sick; the third day I’m wrapping things up. Besides, it’s not proper for a prophet to come to a bad end outside of Jerusalem.'” Luke 13:31-33.

How typically Jesus! Still headed for Jerusalem, He was unperturbed by these Pharisees’ scare tactics. ‘That fox!’ was His response. ‘I’m not afraid of him. My mission and my destination are fixed and Herod can’t do anything about it,’ In any case, Herod did not feature in Jesus’ life as he did in John the Baptist’s. John owed his demise to his attack on Herod’s morals. Jesus had declared war on the warped religious system of the Pharisees that robbed God of any real heart. If anyone was out to get Him, it was the Pharisees, not Herod. Jesus did not buy their story.

What was His mission, then? He put it in a nutshell in His reply. “To clear out the demons, heal the sick and wrap things up on the third day.” Clearing out the demons and healing the sick was His mission to His suffering people – to demonstrate and announce the kingdom of God; and wrapping things up on the third day was the purpose of His coming – to reveal the heart of the Father and to reconcile His alienated family to Himself by giving His life for them.

Jesus knew that His end would come in Jerusalem, the seat of religious power and the symbol of God’s presence among His people, the temple. Jerusalem represented the core of the power struggle between two kingdoms, the dominion of darkness and the kingdom of God. The cry of victory from the usurpers of God’s authority would be short-lived because of ‘the third day’. The religious hierarchy thought that they had silenced Him for good when He hung lifeless on a Roman stake. They did not take seriously either His promise or His power. The ‘third day’ proved them oh, so wrong!

It is ‘the third day’ that vindicates everything Jesus said and did. Other religions may challenge His authority and His supreme Lordship but, for all their theories and their following, all they prove is that they have been horribly deceived. No self-proclaimed prophet, philosopher or seducer of people can silence the voice of the resurrection or disprove its truth. The greatest legal minds have tried and failed. There is too much evidence to prove that Jesus ‘wrapped things up’ when He rose from the dead on the third day and is seated at the right had of the Father in power and glory.

Since He rose from the tomb and is alive today, every believer can be sure that everything else He said is equally true. That means that, for example, He is the only way to the Father. He is the Light of the world; only in Him can we have peace in a troubled world and hope in every hopeless situation. He is the only true revelation of the Father because to see Him is to ‘see’ the Father. He is the source of truth and life.

Jesus calls us to follow Him and those who follow will never walk in darkness. He has given us His Spirit, resident and at work in us, to transform our hearts from greedy and self-centred people to sons of God who resemble the Father in loving generosity and unselfish service to all around us.

Millions of people in every nation who have believed and followed this risen Jesus, are living proof of His resurrection, and so are the millions who have laid down their lives and who are still being martyred today, on the strength that Jesus lives and that His word is true. They have been murdered through the same religious fanaticism that murdered Jesus but, because Jesus lives, so do they. And so can you!

But it’s your choice…

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – PROPHET-KILLER

November 16, 2019Bible StudyElijah, Herod, John, killedLuella Campbell

PROPHET-KILLER

“Herod, the ruler, heard of these goings on and didn’t know what to think. There were people saying John had come back from the dead, others that Elijah had appeared, still others that some prophet of long ago had shown up. Herod said, ‘But I killed John – took off his head. So who is this that I keep hearing about?’ Curious, he looked for a chance to see Him in action.” Luke 9:7-9.

Who was this “ruler”, this Herod who admitted to being the murderer of the prophet John whom Jesus stated to be the greatest of all the prophets?

He was Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, the one who both rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem and was so afraid of a rival that he had all the baby boys in Bethlehem less than two years old put to death after Jesus was born. Herod Antipas was appointed tetrarch of Galilee and Perea and was prominent in the lives of both John and Jesus.

He divorced his Nabatean wife to marry the ex-wife of his brother Philip, and came under the scathing condemnation of John the Baptist for transgressing the marriage law of Leviticus 20:21. “If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity. They will be childless.”

At the instigation of his wife, Herodias, Herod imprisoned John and later had him beheaded after a drunken promise to Herodias’ daughter who had danced at his birthday party. No doubt his conscience bothered him when that he thought that Jesus was John returned from the dead. At the same time he knew this could not be true because he had been responsible for John’s death and had been handed John’s head on a platter.

Herod had an insatiable curiosity to see Jesus in action. It was not because he had any desire to follow him but because he was intrigued by the whole idea of a “miracle worker”. Probably, like many ancient rulers, he needed some form of entertainment to keep him amused – like the kings of mediaeval times who had minstrels and jesters to entertain them.

Herod was a thoroughly secular man. He appeared to have no interest in anything to do with his inner life. He was an opportunist – marrying only for political gain and divorcing when it suited him to make a better match. He was also spineless and very much under the thumb of Herodias, choosing to kill John to satisfy her thirst for revenge because of John’s accusation rather than doing the right thing.

During Jesus’ trial before Pilate, Pilate heard that Herod was in Jerusalem and sent Jesus to him rather than condemn Him himself, since Jesus was a Galilean and under Herod’s jurisdiction. Herod was not interested in Jesus’ guilt or innocence. He wanted Him to entertain him with miracles and, when Jesus refused, he abused Him and treated Him with contempt.

Jesus stated that He had come to bring division, even splitting families right down the middle. No one could be left indifferent to Him. It all depended on what was in their hearts. Those who thirsted to know God would recognise His true identity while others would be offended by His claims and His yoke.

It’s still the same today. God has promised: “‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV), but there is a condition. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6 (NIV).

Herod has no desire to know who Jesus was except to satisfy his curiosity and to his dying day he would never know. To the sincere seeker, Jesus is the Son of God, the one to whom had been given the highest name and the highest position in the universe. He is Lord, and to Him every knee shall bow!

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – THE FATHER’S BLESSING

September 26, 2019Bible StudyHerod, Herodius, jailLuella Campbell

THE FATHER’S BLESSING

“There was a lot more of this – words that gave strength to the people, words that put heart into them. The Message! But Herod, the ruler, stung by John’s rebuke in the matter of Herodius, his brother, Philip’s wife, capped his long string of evil deeds with this outrage: He put John in jail.

“After all the people were baptised, Jesus was baptised. As He was praying, the sky opened up and the Holy Spirit, like a dove descending, came down on Him. And along with the Spirit, a voice: ‘You are my Son, chosen and marked by my love, pride of my life.'” Luke 3:18-22.

What an amazing series of events! John preached “fire and brimstone” and the people flocked to him. Words that put strength and heart into them? How did that work?

Then Jesus appeared to be baptised. The Son of God – baptised? How could He be answering the call to repent? What did He need to repent about? And then the Holy Spirit came in visible form and enveloped Him; and then the Father Himself affirmed Him! Nothing like this had even happened before. What did it all mean?

In John’s Gospel the writer tells us that these things were a sign to John the Baptist that this was the Messiah. It would seem then that though they were related, Jesus and John did not have childhood connections. One lived in Galilee and the other in Judea. This was not a family affair. Each was involved in his own preparation for this climactic event. John needed to be absolutely sure of the one he was presenting as Messiah to the world.

Jesus’ baptism was not about repentance. It had much deeper significance than that. Baptism was about initiation into something – an office, a movement – and identification, agreement, with what was being presented. It was the right thing for Him to do – to make a public statement through baptism that He was one with John in what he was preaching and doing. He could not stand aloof as though He had no part in this prophetic action. After all, He was the subject of John’s message.

Just like Zachariah, who pronounced his fatherly blessing over his new-born son, affirming him as his son and speaking the prophetic words of the angel Gabriel over him, so the Father spoke His Fatherly blessing over Jesus as He stood at the brink of His ministry that would take Him on a road of submission, obedience and suffering.

Jesus was the Son of God. Did He need the Father’s blessing? Like any other human child, it was His Father’s affirmation, ringing in His ears over and over again, that energised Him to fulfil His commission with absolute loyalty. How could He state with such confidence, ‘I and the Father are one”? The Father was the stake to which He was tethered and to whom He gave unswerving obedience because the Father had owned him as “My Son”.

Just imagine how different the lives of many “fatherless” children would be if they could hear those words, “My son; my daughter.” Fathers may be present but absent in the lives of their children – measuring their worth only by what they can produce or achieve. “If you are good, I will love you. If you measure up, I will own you. Otherwise you have no value to me.” What a tragedy that children are valued only for what they can contribute to a father.

God’s love is not like that. There is no clearer picture for humans to understand the nature of the Father’s love than the simple story Jesus told of a rebellious and wayward son whom the father loved anyway because he was his son. To him his son had worth because he was his son, not because he measured up. That bond can never be severed, no matter what. A son is a son is a son.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – HEROD’S STICKY END

May 14, 2019Bible Studyescape, Herod, Peter, soldiersLuella Campbell

HEROD’S STICKY END

“At daybreak the jail was in an uproar. ‘Where is Peter? What’s happened to Peter?’ When Herod sent for him and they could not produce him nor explain why not, he ordered their execution. ‘Off with their heads!’ Fed up with Judea and the Jews, he went for a vacation to Caesarea.” Acts 12:18-19 (The Message).

Judgment on Roman soldiers who didn’t do their job was swift and sure. No commission of inquiry, no lengthy probing into the reasons why Peter had disappeared; the soldiers failed and they must pay for their neglect. Of course they had no answer for Peter’s disappearance. It was a supernaturally orchestrated escape, outside the power of the soldiers to understand or prevent.

In typical ‘Herod’ fashion, because his plan to entertain himself and his Jewish subjects by murdering Peter was thwarted, sixteen innocent Romans had to do instead of Peter. To cool his anger he took off for Caesarea for a breath of sea air!

“But things went from bad to worse for Herod. Now people from Tyre and Sidon put him on the warpath. But they got Blastus, King Herod’s right-hand man to put in a good word for them and got a delegation together to iron things out. Because they were dependent on Judea for food supplies, they couldn’t afford to let this go on too long. On the day set for their meeting Herod, robed in pomposity, took his place on the throne and regaled with them a lot of hot air. The people played their part to the hilt and shouted flatteries. ‘The voice of God! The voice of God!’

“This was the last straw. God had had enough of Herod’s arrogance and sent an angel to strike him down. Herod had given God no credit for anything. Down he went. Rotten to the core, a maggoty old man if ever there was one, he died.” Acts 12:20-23 (The Message).

God’s cup of wrath finally spilled over. Herod’s curriculum vitae was filled with acts of violence and arrogance that clearly indicate who he worshipped – himself! There was no-one quite like him in his eyes. He was so blinded by his self-importance that he didn’t even realise that the people of Caesarea were mocking him, not praising him. He absorbed their flattery like a sponge and displayed like a peacock.

How many times had God given Herod an opportunity to repent? He had had numerous encounters with God through Jesus and through His people but he was so filled with self-importance that he missed every one of them. Just one encounter with Jesus should have been enough to shake him off his pedestal. He was too blind to see his opportunities.

Others in Jesus’ earthly ministry had been transformed by their meeting with Him; Mary Magdalene, Zaccheus, Nicodemus, the dying thief, a multitude of unnamed people who had been healed, the Samaritan woman, the woman caught in adultery, and even the Apostle Paul en route to a mission of destruction in Damascus had met Jesus and never been the same again.

Herod’s meeting with Jesus when He was on trial for His life had left him untouched – just as arrogant, blind and wicked as before. Why? He was too enamoured with himself to need another God to worship. When he foolishly accepted the title of “God”, it put the signature of God Himself to his death sentence. In one swift action, God showed him who was God.

How many times does God give us opportunity to repent and how many times do we miss it because we are too full of ourselves to recognise God’s grace. Pharaoh had at least ten opportunities and he threw them all away. The list of Bible characters who signed their own death sentence is endless.

But others saw and seized the chance to lay hold of God’s mercy. One man immediately comes to mind — David. In spite of a list of heinous sins; lust, adultery, trickery, murder and lies, his immediate response to the prophet Nathan’s challenge was: ‘I have sinned!’ He could not escape the consequences of his choices but he was restored to fellowship with God who was more precious to him than life itself.

What opportunities to experience God’s forgiveness and grace are we missing because we are blinded by arrogance or no sense of need? We must be careful that, like Herod, we do not miss our last opportunity to repent and the hammer falls!

“Meanwhile the ministry of God’s word grew by leaps and bounds.

“Barnabas and Saul, once they had delivered the relief offering to the church in Jerusalem, went back to Antioch. This time they took John with them, the one they called Mark.” Acts 12:24-25 (The Message).

Barnabas and Saul — up to this point Saul was still the learner. Barnabas had been the teacher and initiator and Saul the follower. His apprenticeship would soon come an end and he would become the strong leader of the missionary enterprise that would take the gospel into the heart of the Roman Empire – the very household of Caesar.

Barnabas and Saul fulfilled their commission to take help to the church in Jerusalem. They quickly returned to Syrian Antioch which was fast becoming the new centre of the church, away from Jewish persecution and far more open-minded than the Jerusalem church which was still Jewish at heart.

Another character enters the story — John Mark, a relative of Barnabas. His name has already popped up in Luke’s record, as though he was known to his reader. Who was John Mark? Traditionally he was the unknown youth who fled naked into the dark during Jesus’ arrest. His mother’s home was a gathering place for the church in Jerusalem, where they prayed when Peter was in prison at the hands of Herod.

He was also traditionally the author of the second gospel, having at some stage either accompanied Peter or laid his hands on a copy of Peter’s memoirs which he used as a basis for his gospel story. He had a chequered career as a companion of Barnabas and Saul for a short time on their first missionary journey, and a quitter who was the cause of a serious rift between Paul and Barnabas. Paul and Mark were later reconciled and he became a valuable asset to Paul in his ministry.

Guilt Upon Guilt

July 1, 2015Bible StudyHerod, John the Baptist, killed, raisedLuella Campbell

GUILT UPON GUILT

King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known. Some were saying, ‘John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in Him.’ Others said, ‘He is Elijah.’ And still others claimed, ‘He is a prophet, like one of the prophets long ago.’ But when Herod heard this, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised from the dead!’ For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he married (Mark 6: 14-17).

What a puzzle Jesus was turning out to be! Deny the truth and you’ll come up with every ridiculous invention you can think of. The evidence was staring these people in the face but their verdicts, every one of them, were ludicrous. Had any one of their prophets ever come back to life years, even centuries, afterwards although many of them had died as violently as John had? Elijah? Oh, as far as they knew Elijah wasn’t dead since he had gone up to heaven in a whirlwind. Perhaps Jesus was Elijah come back or even Enoch since he hadn’t died either. Any other offers?

Herod was the only one who knew for certain that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead! After all, he was the one who had him killed. He saw his head on a platter. It had to be John because John because it was John who gave it to him straight like the other prophets who were martyred for their honesty. If John could rise from the dead, then he could do the all miracles Jesus/John was doing.

It’s amazing what people will come up with when they refuse to come face to face with the truth. Herod’s guilt screamed at him morning, noon and night. He had silenced John and now John had come back to haunt him. He thought that, if he shut John up, first in prison, and then in death, his guilt would go away. How wrong he was! Jesus was not John, but He had the same effect on Herod as if He had been John because the truth was inescapable.

For John had been saying to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, 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 (Mark 6: 18-20).

If Herod was puzzled about John, what about Herod? He was just like the soil Jesus spoke about – the footpath where the seed fell but never germinated because the ground was too hard. Why did Herod like to listen to John? Did he think that John’s word alone would appease his conscience without his doing anything about it? In the end it was Herodias who ruled Herod. He feared John but he feared Herodias more. What she said went, even if he knew she was wrong.

This is the definition of a fool – one who knows what is right but does wrong anyway. The Bible calls this “a divided heart”. God or me, me and God? And “me” usually wins. We can judge Herod and call him a fool but how often don’t we act just like him. We fear man more than God and follow our fears rather than the truth.

“The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” ― OswaldChambers

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/233515-the-remarkable-thing-about-god-is-that-when-you-fear (retrieved 01/07/2105)

Take the theory of evolution, for example. It is taught in schools and referred to in every natural history programme on television as fact. Really! Has anything ever just “happened” without a designer or creator, say in a car manufacturing plant? A half completed vehicle stands on the floor awaiting the next day’s additions. When the workers arrive, they are surprised to find the buds of wings which began to sprout overnight. How did that happen? Well, the car decided it wanted to be an aeroplane after all. Give it a few million years and it will become a plane.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? What happens to the car-becoming-a-plane in the meantime? Will it drive on the road or will it fly? What will it do in the interim while it is changing from a car to a plane? After millions of years it will probably be a heap of oxidised metal. What about all the creatures who are supposed to be becoming? Where are they? Why don’t we see some half-way ones, neither this nor that. Even the weirdest and most bizarre creatures function perfectly as they are because they were created that way.

Why have scientists come up with such a ridiculous theory, and why do gullible people believe it? Like Herod, they refuse to face the truth. God is inescapable and, as our Creator, we are accountable to Him. We can kill John, or Jesus, or burn the Bible or make up as many of our own rules as we like, but the truth will just not go away.

In the end we are our own judges. Do away with the truth and we stand condemned by our own fabrication of lies because the truth will still stand when we fall. God has a solution. Change your mind about the truth and give over the Him. He is merciful. He has already provided forgiveness for all our stupidity and rebellion. And He promises real life if we follow Jesus.

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