SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/6/2022 9:13 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-6 “Herod’s Reason”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew 14:3-11
Message of the verses: “3 For when Herod
had John arrested, he bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias,
the wife of his brother Philip. 4 For John had been saying to him, "It is
not lawful for you to have her." 5 And although he wanted to put him to
death, he feared the multitude, because they regarded him as a prophet. 6 But
when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them
and pleased Herod. 7 Thereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatever
she asked. 8 And having been prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me
here on a platter the head of John the Baptist." 9 And although he was
grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and
because of his dinner guests. 10 And he sent and had John beheaded in the
prison. 11 And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl; and she
brought it to her mother.”
I want to quote from John MacArthur’s commentary as
he quotes from what he calls “one writer comments “When the dish was brought in
with the bleeding head on it, no doubt [Salome] took it daintily in her hands
lest a drop of it should stain her, and she tripped away to her mother as if
bearing her some choice dish of food from the king’s table. It was not un common to bring the head of one
who had been slain to the person who ordered it, as a sure proof that the
command had been obeyed.” “It is
reported that when the head of Cicero was brought to Fulvia, the wife of
Antony, that she spat on it, pulled its tongue out, and drove her hairpin
through it. The early church father
Jerome believed that is what Herodias did with the head of John. That particular barbarism cannot be verified,
but it would not have been the least out of character for Herodias to have done
such a ghastly thing.”
It
is believed that Herod’s morbid fascination with John and with the miraculous
and supernatural really had nothing to do with genuine seeking after the truth,
and it certainly had nothing to do with seeking salvation. It was just probably the religious curiosity
of unbelief that is impregnable to God’s truth, love, or grace. Herod is not the only one who dabbled in
Christian truth as there is a story in Acts chapter eight of Simon the magician
who seemed to be dabbling in the truths of Christianity and then he tried to
buy the power of the Holy Spirit with money showing his true colors.
We
see in the 9th chapter of Luke that after Herod had John beheaded
that he inquired about Jesus and “kept trying to see Him.” We know from Scripture that Jesus made no
effort to see Herod and would not allow Herod to see Him until it was His
Father’s time. There was a time when
Jesus once sent a message to Herod when it was reported that Herod wanted to
kill Him saying “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform
cures today and tomorrow and the third day I reach My goal” (Luke 13:32). Jesus just went about the mission that His
Father had for Him to do and left the king to his unresolved fear, to his
unrelenting sin, and to his doom of damnation.
We can read about how Jesus had to go and see Herod as Pilate forced it
but Jesus did not say one word to him.
We read “Now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus; for he had wanted to
see Him for a long time, because he had been hearing about Him and was hoping
to see some sign performed by Him. And
he questioned Him at some length; but He answered him nothing…And Herod with
his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in
a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate” (Luke 23:8-9,11).
We
see in great irony that “Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that
very day; for before they had been at enmity with each other” (Luke
23:12). We see these two ruthless men
and former enemies now built a friendship around the common bond of crucifying
the Son of God.
MacArthur
concludes “Herod rejected Christ, and Christ rejected Herod. For fear of a woman, for fear of his
reputation, for fear of his peers, for fear of his throne—and for lack of fear
for God—he damned his soul forever.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: Herod like so many others feared the wrong
things, for only the fear of God is the right kind of fear and if you fear Him
you need not fear anything else.
My Steps of Faith for Today: To fear the Lord, and I am not talking about trembling
fear but reverence kind of fear and the reason is that I am His child and He is
my God and Father.
6/6/2022 9:46 AM
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