John Killed for Preaching Against Herod (11/26/2023)

Speaking Truth to Power and John the Baptist’s Confrontation of Herod

Let's turn in our Bibles to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 14. Matthew chapter 14, and the title of this message is Speaking Truth to Power. And this is what John the Baptist did. He spoke truth to power when he preached to King Herod.

We'll get into that in a moment. But last week we looked at the parables of Jesus and I had pointed out the significance of when the exact time that Jesus started to really speak to the people in parables.

It was after Israel's leaders had rejected him. So instead of talking to them plainly, when the scribes and Pharisees were around, Jesus would often speak in a cryptic way so as to hide his teachings from them, not wanting to cast his pearls of wisdom before swine, as it were.

And one application that we took away, or could take away from that, is when you come across someone who has made their decision, pretty obvious how they feel about God and his word, we should take that same approach.

Not speak in parables necessarily, but if somebody rejects the Gospel, there's no point in continuing to share it with them when you know they're going to scoff and mock. If it's clear they rejected it, hey, don't bother.

And actually when Jesus stands before King Herod, which we'll get to at some point, you remember what happened, Jesus wouldn't give him the time of day. But now John, at least up until this point, John was sort of languishing in Herod's prison.

And sometime between chapter 11 and chapter 14, Herod put John to death. So now we're going back and getting the details of that. So let's look at Matthew chapter 14. We'll cover verses 1 through 12. This is the beheading of John the Baptist.

Matthew 14, starting in verse 1. At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report about Jesus and said to his servants, This is John the Baptist. He is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.

For Herod had laid hold of John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because John had said to him, It is not lawful for you to have her. And although he wanted to put John to death, and as Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the multitudes because they counted John as a prophet.

But when Herod's birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. Therefore, he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. So she, having been prompted by her mother, said, Give me John the Baptist's head here on a platter.

And the king, that is Herod, was sorry. Nevertheless, because of the oaths, because of those who sat with him, he commanded it to be given to her. So he sent and had John beheaded in prison, and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl.

And she brought it to her mother. Then his disciples, that is John's disciples, came and took away the body and buried it and went and told Jesus. And when Jesus heard it, he departed from there by boat to the deserted place by himself.

And then it'll go into the story of the feeding of the 5 ,000, which Lord willing, we'll cover that next week. So let's start out with Herod. We see that Herod killed John the Baptist. But first, who is Herod?

Well, there's more than one Herod in the Bible. This is Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great. So Herod the Great, as he was known, was king when Jesus was born. You remember how he had all the children in Bethlehem, two years of age or under, killed.

Well, that was Herod the Great. That's this Herod's father. So Herod the Great was alive when Jesus was born. But now 30 years later, his son Antipas, he has been made Tetrarch. Sometimes we call him King Herod, but actually this Herod is not the king.

He is a Tetrarch, meaning he ruled over a fourth of his father's kingdom. And we learn here that John the Baptist was put in prison. Herod put him there.

Why?

Because John the Baptist was preaching against Herod the Tetrarch.

Why?

Because Herod had taken his brother's wife to be his own. Okay, so this is a violation of the, what is it, the seventh commandment against adultery. Did kings really have the authority to do this? Well, several decades ago, there was a ruler in this nation who got caught committing adultery.

And there were some pastors who preached against him. But he didn't have the authority, not to say that he would do this, but even if he wanted to, you know, leaders today don't really have that authority to just put someone into prison because preachers are speaking against them.

Well, Herod did have that authority. John preached against him for adultery. And Herod put him into prison. And he's been languishing there for some time. We covered this a few chapters ago. Remember when John the Baptist was starting, seemingly starting to have doubts.

And he sent messengers to Christ. So we covered that. But John, at this point, he has now been killed. And Matthew now is going over the story with more detail. After all, according to Jesus, if you remember in Matthew 11, what did Jesus say about John the Baptist?

You know, those born among women, basically Jesus was saying he is the greatest prophet Israel had ever seen. So just as his life was important, so was his death. So Herod took a liking, long story short, Herod took a liking to his brother's wife.

And he decided he's not king, but he's in this position of power. So I'm just going to take her as my own. So this is a violation of God's commandment against adultery. And John the Baptist, as a faithful preacher, you know, John had something to say about it.

I think a lot of people today would say, John, that's the realm of politics. That's none of your concern. Certainly, like I said, a few decades ago when pastors preached against that president, that's what some people said.

And you could make the argument for a pastor today that he has other things he should be focusing on. But one thing you can't argue is John the Baptist was raised up as a prophet to the nation of Israel.

So if one of Israel's leaders was doing this, John had every right to preach against it. And that's what John did. Now, John realized this was risky. You know, Herod was not used to having people say anything against him.

He was surrounded by yes men. So John, he called a spade a spade, and he called out Herod and Herodias as adulterers. And he knew it was a risky move. And also Herod, Herod would have killed John. But Herod knew if he put John to death, that was also going to be a risky thing.

Because why? The people in Israel, despite how the leaders viewed John, the people regarded John as what?

A prophet.

You know, John the Baptist was a very popular man among the people. So if Herod put John to death, that could lead to an uprising. So he kept John locked away until his mistress, or whatever you want to call her, she schemed with her daughter.

There was some dancing, and I'm sure some alcohol involved, no doubt. Herod makes this foolish oath, so as not to look bad in front of his guests, when they trick him into saying, I'll do whatever you want.

Okay, behead John the Baptist. Well, he's in a position now, he doesn't want to, he wants to save face. He does that. Now, did Herod want to do that? You see the statement that he was sorry. Okay, so a few notable things about this passage in verses 1 and 2.

Now that John had been dead for some time, when Herod hears about the miracles of Christ, he immediately assumes that this must be, Jesus must be John the Baptist, risen from the dead. Now, does that seem like a logical thing to assume?

It's kind of a strange thing for him to think. I think it shows us that Herod is, might we say, haunted by what he did. So he put John to death. Later, he hears about the miracles of Jesus, and his first thought is, well, it's John, and John has come back.

So he killed the prophet of God, and it's like he can't get over it. I think he knew, on some level, what he did. And these thoughts keep running through his mind, how he put John to death. And instead of seeking the Lord and his forgiveness, Herod is sort of living in a state of paranoia, as all of this weighs heavy on his mind.

So the first thing we learn is what guilt can do to a person. Guilt that weighs on the mind can lead a person to think and do some irrational things. Obviously, Herod should have sought the Lord's forgiveness, but his pride, whatever it was, he didn't do that.

The next thing we learn is how destructive adultery can be. Now, adultery in America in the year 2023, or it's just the 21st century, it's kind of commonplace. And it's kind of built into the court system and the laws that, hey, if you do this, it's no big deal.

Well, it was a big deal back then, and it's still a big deal in the eyes of God, I assure you. But there are always consequences. There are always unintended consequences. And if someone, just think about it, if somebody would leave their husband, if a woman would leave her husband and then hook up with his brother, this is probably not a woman you can trust.

And she puts Herod into this situation that he did not want to be in. So the lesson here, if someone is willing to commit adultery, if they would do that to their own spouse, what do you think they're going to do to you?

So those of you who may be, you know, there's always going to be somebody in the future tempted, and they think, well, this person's special, and they're the one for me, and they rationalize adultery in their mind.

Well, like I said, if they would do that to their spouse, what do you think they'll do to you? So Herod paid a price, and it affected him deeply. The next thing about this passage, and this is just an interesting side note.

Now, the next few things I'm going to talk about, don't make assumptions of what I'm trying to say, all right? So there's some teachings that Christians have got from this passage, and we're going to go over them because this is the section that people claim that, hey, this is where we got these doctrines.

But notice in verse 6, Herod is celebrating what event? Yeah, he's celebrating his own birthday. So this is one of two instances in the Scripture where a person celebrates their birthday. The other is in Genesis chapter 40 where Pharaoh celebrates his birthday.

So you only see two people in the Bible celebrating their birthday, Pharaoh and Herod. And here is what some people have concluded over the years. I think most people are familiar with one or two churches or one or two groups that they think it's wrong to celebrate birthdays.

Who knows of a group that believes and teaches that? Yeah, the Jehovah's Witnesses would say it's wrong to celebrate birthdays. You ever wonder where people got such an idea? Like there's no commandment in the Bible against it.

The Bible is pretty much silent on the issue. But actually they would point to passages like this. So the reasoning goes because the only thing we have to go on in Scripture where a birthday is celebrated, it's two pagan kings celebrating themselves.

And that has led some Christians, albeit a small minority, into the view that practicing or celebrating one's birthday is either vain and or pagan. Now I said don't assume too much. Don't say that I'm trying to make that argument.

Hey, listen, I think celebrating birthdays is fine. But if you've ever wondered where that came from, people are claiming to draw out of this text. So I bring it up not because I'm trying to teach that or anything else, but most people are aware of Jehovah's Witnesses and a few others who would say celebrating birthdays is wrong.

This is where they get it out of. Now does the Bible say it's wrong? I think it's important to bring it up because this is the difference between reading the Bible and recognizing some passages are descriptive, some are prescriptive.

What is this where Herod celebrates his birthday? Is this God or the apostles teaching on whether or not we should or shouldn't? Is this prescriptive? No. The Ten Commandments are prescriptive, like the command against adultery.

Thou shalt not commit adultery. That's prescriptive. This is descriptive. It's simply telling you that, hey, this is what they did. The Bible is not making any argument either for or against. So long story short, most churches, certainly ours, I mean this isn't even something that we really think of, but you don't want to make rules where God has not made a rule.

So we would not go along with that teaching that it's wrong to celebrate birthdays. Another thing, speaking of birthdays, there's going to be a big birthday coming up in what, four weeks or so? Whose birthday is that?

Yeah, Jesus' birthday, right, on December 25th. And, of course, most people recognize that Jesus probably, almost certainly, wasn't born on December 25th. Again, there have been some Christians throughout history.

Right here in New England, the Puritans made the celebration of Christmas, the birthday of Christ, they made it what? Illegal. It was actually illegal to celebrate the birth of Christ. So, again, whether you think it's right or wrong, here's what we would say.

Scripture says, Romans, in regards to these matters, Romans 14 .5 says, One person esteems one day above another, another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. So whether or not you want to celebrate your birthday, someone else's, or the Lord's birthday, I mean, that's up to you.

So don't judge someone else who does do it or doesn't do it. Amen? Can we agree on that? This is what Paul says in Romans 14. Do not judge your brother. Like, it's foolish to judge people over stuff like this.

All right, let's turn to Mark chapter 6. Mark 6 is what you might call a parallel passage to Matthew 14. Mark gives us a few extra details with this story surrounding John's death. As you're turning to Mark chapter 6, though, another thing that people have drawn from this passage, not only have they found some prohibition against celebrating birthdays, they've found, supposedly, seen a prohibition against what?

What else happened at this birthday? Yeah, I mean, who's heard of Christian churches in the past, at least, making some rule against dancing? Who's heard of that? Yeah, I remember there was a funeral here a few years ago, and somebody stood up and shared a memory.

And they said, I remember back in the day when this church had a rule against dancing. And they said, I'm so glad. Now, what that had to do with the funeral is another story. But they said, I'm so glad things have changed.

I'm not actually sure whether or not this church had a rule, or that's just how they perceived it. But the point being, back in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s, there were churches where the pastor would preach against dancing.

So you're at least familiar with that. So where would you come up with an idea that the Bible is against dancing? Well, they would point to, again, a passage like this, saying, who are these people dancing?

And look at what they were doing. And that's just stuff we should stay away from. So you remember those days. Is there a verse in this passage or anywhere else that says, thou shalt not dance?

No?

I mean, I've never seen it. If there is a verse, you let me know. Are there certain types of dancing? The church would probably be against.

Yeah.

But should probably exercise wisdom here and take it on a case-by-case basis. Herodias' daughter, she's dancing for Herod. Presumably, she's dancing in a provocative manner. I think that's safe to say.

I think it's always safe. If you're dancing with your own spouse, you're probably good. If you're married and you're dancing with someone else who's not family, there's a good type of dancing, a bad type of dancing, and probably a lot of gray area in the middle.

But again, these are some subjects that we don't usually touch on. But this is a passage that some people would point to for, again, the birthday and the dancing thing. So the church doesn't want to make laws and rules where there are no rules.

So let's get focused in on the story. This is a parallel passage, and there's something different about this section in Mark 6, something that some have seen, maybe even a contradiction with what we saw in Matthew.

I want you to see if you can spot it, okay? So let's read Mark 6, starting in verse 14. It says, Now King Herod heard of him, that is, Jesus, for his name had become well known. And he said, John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.

Verse 15, Others said, It is Elijah. And of course, once we get to Matthew 16, Jesus is going to ask his disciples, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And they're going to go through all these.

Some say you're John the Baptist, some Elijah. And there's all these rumors going around who Jesus was. So verse 15, Others are saying you are, or Jesus, he is Elijah. Others said, It is the prophet. This is the prophet that Moses spoke of, the Messiah, or one of the prophets.

Verse 16,.

But when Herod heard, he said, This is John, whom I beheaded. He has been raised from the dead. Again, I just have to believe that Herod, John's memory is haunting him. Verse 17,. For Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John and bound him in prison.

So now it's going back, telling us what happened. That he was bound in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her. Because John had said to Herod, It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.

Therefore, Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him. But she could not. For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man.

And what?

Herod protected him. In other words, Herod protected John. So Herodias, she's really mad. She wants John dead. She's pushing for it. But Herod protects John. I realize you want to kill him, but you can't do that.

And when he heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly. So Herod actually went to John the Baptist and spoke to him. And even though John was preaching against Herod, Herod wanted to hear more.

He wanted to hear what he had to say. Verse 21,. Then an opportune day came when Herod, on his birthday, gave a feast for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee. And when Herodias' daughter herself came in and danced and pleased Herod and those who sat with him, the king said to the girl, Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.

He also swore to her, Whatever you ask of me, I will give you up to half my kingdom. I don't care what you think. This is a foolish, stupid thing to say. I don't think you're going to argue with me on that, are you?

Verse 24,. So she went out and she said to her mother,.

What shall I ask?

And she said, The head of John the Baptist. So you can see Herodias. She's not a woman of high moral character. Verse 25, Immediately she came in with haste to the king and asked, Saying, I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

And we've all heard, you know, the idiom or the phrase, you know, Deliver someone's head on a platter, right? And obviously that's where it comes from. Verse 26, And the king was exceedingly, what?

Sorry.

Yet because of the oaths, Because of those who sat with him, He did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded his head to be brought. And he went and beheaded him in prison, Brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl.

And the girl gave it to her mother. And when his disciples heard of it, They came and took away John's corpse and laid it in a tomb. Okay, now did you spot what was different? Who spotted it? Who thinks they spot?

I won't call on you to have you explain it. Raise your hand if you think you spotted the difference. Okay, so a couple of you. Here it is. Matthew 14 verse 5 says that Herod wanted to put John to death, But he didn't because of the multitudes.

But Mark 6, 19 and 20 say that it was Herodias, Herod's new wife or mistress. She is the one who wanted to kill John, But she couldn't because Herod protected him, Knowing that he was a just and holy man.

Okay, so it seems to be that one passage says Herod wanted John to die, And the other passage said no, Herod was actually protecting John so that he wouldn't die, right? On the surface, it kind of seems like a contradiction.

That's what a lot of people have said. It would be really easy for me to kind of skip over this. Because even if you at home read through the Bible every night, every day, If you read through the Gospels, you're probably not going to pick up on this.

Most people wouldn't. But, you know, I'd rather deal with it here and now in church Rather than have someone read something on the Internet That, hey, the Bible contradicts itself, And here's two passages from, you know, And you're thinking, well, the pastor just preached on this.

He never said anything. I'd rather you hear from me now than read something on the Internet. Or for the younger people who might be here or listening. I just have to warn you, when you go to college, You're going to have professors.

You might have this in high school. I don't know. But you're going to have professors. If they know you're a Christian, They're going to hone in on you And try to destroy your faith in the Word of God.

So if it hasn't happened yet, it's going to happen. So I would just rather deal with it here in church Rather than having somebody catch wind of this later on. I will grant that, on the surface, This can appear to be a contradiction.

But we believe that the Bible is God's Word. We believe that it is inerrant. And what's the other word we believe about the Scripture? It is infallible. So inerrant and infallible. That doesn't mean every translation is inerrant and infallible.

But God's Word is. Inerrant means it's not wrong. There's no errors. Saying the Scripture is infallible is to say There cannot be any errors. And yet, again, on the surface, It seems like there's an error or a contradiction.

Let's start out with this. Here's what everyone seems to agree on. It was Herodias, Herod's mistress, She was really the one who was most upset. She was really the one out for blood. Towards the end, the last days of John's life, It becomes clear that Herod does not want to kill John.

He seems to start out that way, but Towards the end, Herodias basically has to trick And manipulate Herod into doing it. We saw, he was sorry, he didn't want to do it. So here's what happened. When you take Matthew's account, and you take Mark's account, You take the Gospels, and you have four different stories of the same events, You know, if you ask someone what happened, An eyewitness of an event, And you ask another eyewitness, They're going to have slightly different details.

This is just the way it works. To get the full story, you have to interview everybody. And put the pieces together. When we do that, and take the four Gospels, Here's what we learn. Herod had arrested John.

Initially, yes, Herod wanted to put John to death. But he didn't, because he feared the people. He feared an uprising. But, over time, having interactions with Herod, John, excuse me, having interactions with John, Herod's feelings began to change.

It may even have been the Holy Spirit convicting him. We're not sure. Probably. Herod was not used to people criticizing him. Nobody dared. So, when John confronts Herod, He is enraged. He is enraged.

But, John the Baptist is a unique man. And he wanted to hear what he had to say. So, the more interaction they had, The point is, Herod's heart, His attitude starts to shift. Here's what one commentator says, It is apparent that Herod had a superstitious fear of John.

Even after having him killed, He started to hear reports of the public ministry of Jesus and was perplexed about the reports. At first, thinking that Jesus was John the Baptist resurrected. Scripture portrays a gradual pattern of Herod's relationship with John the Baptist.

It started out as one of hate and anger and then gradually changed over time. Even after John's death, Herod's attitude shifted from confidence of John's death to one of almost paranoia that John had risen from the dead.

While some may think that such a love-hate, fear-respect relationship unlikely for a man of Herod's rank, Keep in mind that Scripture records King Ahab having a similar relationship with the prophet Elijah.

And I would just add King Saul. King Saul and David. Didn't he go back and forth many times? I want him dead. He's trying to kill him. Then he's sorry. Then he wants him dead again. Then he's sorry. So, the fact that Herod wanted John dead and then he changed his mind or his feelings changed, it's not a contradiction.

His viewpoint evolved. In fact, the commentator continues, Matthew 14, 3 -5. In Mark 6, 17 -20, rather than being contradictory, they showed the progression of Herod's complex relationship with John. Okay, so I don't know about you, I'm satisfied with that answer.

As a matter of fact, it seems to make a lot of sense. So, the Bible, the point being, the Bible does not contradict itself. You just need the four Gospels to complement each other to kind of get the whole story.

And besides, if Scripture was written by men, simply men writing their opinions, what they thought, as the critics say, if the Bible was simply a book written by men, you know what men do with their mistakes?

They like to edit them out. Like, if the Bible really is the work of mankind, men would edit out the mistakes. It's like this sermon. If I really mess up bad in this sermon, later on, I can just edit that right out.

And it's real simple. But that's what would happen in Scripture. So, the fact that it's there and it was left there, I think it's just more evidence the Bible is true. Okay, let's finish this up with an application.

We've looked at the different subjects of the day that, you know, maybe churches argued about, birthdays and dancing. We looked at that. I don't know, that was fun for me. I don't know about for you. We've looked at this supposed contradiction in Scripture, seeing that it's not really a contradiction at all.

Let's end with the most important thing, which is the Gospel application. Like, what does this story have to do with me? What's the benefit for us as a church? Well, the death of John the Baptist was significant.

John lost his life because he was a preacher of righteousness. Jesus would say something similar of himself. In the Gospel of John, chapter 7, verse 7, Jesus spoke about how the world hated him.

Why?

Because he said, The world hates me because I came to testify of it that its works are evil. That's why Herod initially hated John, because he preached against his sin. Why did the world hate Jesus? Because he said, Hey, what you're doing is wrong, and you need to repent.

Why do most people in the world dislike Christian preachers? Because they preach against sin, and they call people to repent. That's the nature of it. Why did John the Baptist preach against Herod? Did John hate Herod?

Herod hated John, at least at first. Why did John preach against Herod? Contrary to what Herod thought, he did it because he loved Herod. John the Baptist actually loved Herod. He didn't love him and the things that he did, but he loved his soul enough to tell him the truth.

Here is what John knew. He knew that verse that would be written, that adulterers shall not inherit the kingdom of God. John wanted Herod to repent and be saved. Matthew Henry writes this about the passage.

He said, Herod would profusely reward a worthless dance, while imprisonment and death were the recompense of a man of God who sought the salvation of his soul. John the Baptist loved Herod enough to tell him the truth.

That's what every preacher does. When a preacher preaches against sin, calls people to repentance, they might get that negative reaction, but it's because they love people enough to tell them the truth.

Hearing that message, Herod was angry. But you know, that is the exact message that Herod needed to hear. We don't see any evidence later in his life that he came to believe on Christ. I think that evidence should suggest otherwise.

But that is the message of the gospel, that a person repent of their sin, believe on the Lord, and be given everlasting life. So, the application just as John cared for Herod's soul, so the Lord cares for the souls of the lost.

Repentance, the Gospel, and the Kindness of God

Let's pray. And Father, how thankful we are that you loved us enough to give us your word. Lord, you loved us enough to send Christ into the world, to die on the cross for our sins. And as your word says, it is the kindness and goodness of God that leads to repentance.

Give us ears to hear, and Lord, give us opportunities to speak and be able to share the good news with others. That God has sent a Savior into the world. His name is Jesus, and it's in His mighty name we pray.

Amen.