no compromise part 2
While John may have been a no-nonsense kind of preacher, there was another side to him that is often overlooked. Sure, John could bring the heat when it was necessary but people sometimes forget that John was also a very humble man. We can see this side of John's personality in a short discussion that he once had with some of his students...
John replied, 'God in heaven appoints each man's work. My work is to prepare the way for that man so that everyone will go to him... He must become greater and greater and I must become less and less'" (John 3:26-28, 30).
When you consider the type of person that John the Baptist was, it's
interesting to see
the kind of reward that he received for all his hard work. Now you
might expect that John would have been honored for his commitment and
dedication to God and His Word. You would think that he would have been
recognized for his humility and service. You
might imagine that John would have been admired for boldly proclaiming
God's message, right?
Unfortunately, this was not to be the case.
You see, a first century historian named Josephus tells us that a man named Herod (who was the government official responsible for the Galilee area of Israel during that time) arrested John and had him executed. Josephus tells us that Herod was afraid that John's popularity might lead to a rebellion against his own authority. That may have been true but the Bible reveals the real story behind John's death...
So John spoke out against Herod's immoral marriage to
Herodias, the wife of his brother
Philip and probably told Herod about what is written in Leviticus
18:16: "Do not have sexual relations with your
brother's wife; that would dishonor your brother" (NIV).
This must have
really made Herodias mad because we're told that she held a grudge
against John as a result.
Now it may have been dangerous for John to speak so boldly to a politically powerful man like Herod but it seems that it was even more dangerous to oppose Herodias...
King Herod was probably in such a drunken, messed-up state
that he
basically said to this girl, "You name it, and I'll give it to you-
even up to half my kingdom." Imagine
that- Herod is offering to give up half his
kingdom to a belly
dancer!
But the story continues...
Then the king was sorry, but he was embarrassed to break his oath in front of his guests. So he sent one of his bodyguards to the prison to cut off John's head and bring it to him.
The soldier killed John in the prison, and brought back his head on a tray, and gave it to the girl and she took it to her mother. When John's disciples heard what had happened, they came for his body and buried it in a tomb" (Mark 6:25-29).
Do you know who is the most pathetic figure in this whole
episode? Without a
doubt, it has to be Herod. You see, Herod enjoyed listening to John,
but
he never allowed John's message to influence his behavior!
Like
many people today, Herod heard the Word of God but
never let it really impact his life. When it came down to a
choice
between protecting the life of a righteous man or losing face in front
of his guests, Herod took the coward's way out. How different things
might have been if only Herod had not only heard God's Word
but acted on it.
John's death is also instructive in another way. Consider this: Jesus Himself made the following comment about John the Baptist: "In all humanity there is no one greater than John..." (Luke 7:28). That's pretty good, right? Yet how did John die? His head was chopped off from his body and put on a plate! Again, this was the man of whom it was said (by Jesus no less!) that "there is no one greater"!
So if John was the greatest and God allowed him to suffer this kind of death, then what does that tell us? Well, the question that we need to ask ourselves is this: If it came right down to it, would we be willing to suffer the same fate for our belief in Jesus?
You see, John did the right thing and it cost him his life. He might have lived if he had kept quiet but John refused to take the easy way out. For John, it was more important to obey God rather than compromise. John preferred to speak the truth and let the consequences (whatever they were) follow. Because of this, John became a great example of what James would later write of in the New Testament letter that bears his name...
Because of his uncompromising dedication, John the Baptist is
remembered today as a great man of God. And
so The Doctor's question for today is this...
The Doctor is not a real
doctor but he plays one on the Internet. E-Mail prescriptions are also
available on an individual basis.
Except as indicated, all Scriptural references taken from The
Living Bible, © 1971, Tyndale House Publishers Back
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