Jesus was rejected at Nazareth and at Jerusalem, and his ministry was reaching the peak of popularity. At the same time, the opposition to Jesus and his teaching was growing stronger and stronger.

Jesus had sent the seventy out on a limited commission, and they came back to him rejoicing in all the good in which they had a part. About that same time, word came to Jesus that his forerunner, John, had been put to death by Herod Antipas.

Herod Antipas was a son of Herod the Great, but, unlike Herod the Great, was a weak and miserable man to rule the throne. He was cruel and crafty as his father, but weak in war and vacillating in peace. Like his father, he was given over to all kinds of sensuality and sin.

He had traveled to Rome to see Tiberius Caesar, perhaps to offer condolences at the death of Tiberius' son or the death of his mother. While there, he stayed with his brother Herod Philip (another son of Herod the Great and Mariamne) who was living in Rome as a private citizen, along with his wife, Herodias. While there, he woos Herodias, and then left with her as he headed back to Jerusalem. To try to get this picture firmly in our minds, we need to consider that Herod Antipas had thus married his brother Philip's wife, and, at the same time she was not only his wife, but his niece. Born to Philip and Herodias before this happened was another one of Herod's niece's Salome.

Herodias was an ambitious lady who preferred a marriage to Herod Antipas that was doubly adulterous and doubly incestuous than to sit in a private home with Herod Philip in Rome. Antipas was driven by sensuality and lust; she by ambition. It is true that often our vices are made the instruments with which to punish us. Herodias becomes the biggest problem Antipas has, like Jezebel and Ahab so many years before in Israel.

When he married Herodias he divorced himself from his former wife -- a princess to an Arabian Prince named Aretas. The princess did not wait to be divorced by Antipas; instead she goes to the fortress of Machaerus, then to her father's throne at Petra. Her father breaks off all relations with Herod Antipas, and soon declares war on him.

The people murmured at this sin of Antipas, but he could not help but hear the clear denunciation of sin from the lips of God's prophet John. John was clear in his condemnation of Herod's sin of adultery and incest, and probably denounced all of the king's others sins as well. Like Elijah before him in condemning the sins of Ahab and Jezebel, John stood fearlessly before the king and preached words of truth and justice. Like Elijah before, the words fell on deaf, stony ears. John did not compromise, and as a result of his clear, bold preaching, he is put in a dungeon at the fortress of Machaerus, no longer able to see the sun, to hear the birds sing, or feel the breeze that he was used to in the wilderness around the Jordan. No doubt, he knew that there would be no escape from this prison except by death.

Oh, today to have preachers stand boldly and firmly for the truth of God, and again allow God's righteousness and justice to fill the earth. Oh, for the courage to denounce sin and try to bring men back to God. Certainly, one will not win friends with this course of action, but one will receive the favor of God. May we truly fear no man, but fear the one who can "destroy both soul and body in hell."

TRUST GOD
For many of us, the journey into an unknown and uncertain future is a fearful experience. It's similar to walking through a long dark tunnel without knowing what perils may lie just ahead of us. If the Lord is our Light, however, not only will we be able to see 'light at the end of the tunnel', but the light will be so bright that it will shine right into the tunnel. It will serve as a lamp to our feet and illuminate the path before us. The prophet Isaiah declares, "Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and rely upon his God. (Isaiah 50:10). When we rely on God as our Light, our fears concerning the future are quickly dissipated."
Harry Gipson,
Del Rio, TX