Herod's Feast and the Demand for John's HeadBible World
3:20Luke 3:20
Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.
John had reproved Herod for taking Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, as his own in an unlawful marriage while her husband was still living, and for adultery, an unlawful life, iniquity, and all his other evils. The rebuke was grounded in divine law rather than Roman law, with warning of future retribution and judgment by God. It was direct, faithful and fearless, a plain call to repent and declaration of God's word that made the proud, sin-hardened ruler tremble in his palace, and John continued to speak the truth without hesitation even though his life was imperiled and in danger.
Herod's shutting up of John in prison was added above all his other evils, an added wrongdoing and an especially grave act following that reproof. Herodias, angered by the rebuke of their unlawful relationship, influenced, persuaded and moved Herod to imprison John in revenge, and she was determined to have him killed. Herod himself honored and feared John as a true prophet and intended to release him, but he yielded to sin and to Herodias's influence and repeatedly delayed his plan from fear of displeasing her.
John's faithful reproof cost him his liberty and ultimately his life, for he was later beheaded through the influence of Herod's wife. His fearless, faithful direct rebuke, given at the cost of imprisonment and with his life in danger yet without ceasing to speak the truth, is the model for the direct warning message to be given in the last days. That work of rebuking kings for sin is to be done again just before the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, to prepare a people to stand in the great day of the Lord.
John had reproved Herod for taking Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, as his own in an unlawful marriage while her husband was still living, and for adultery, an unlawful life, iniquity, and all his other evils. The rebuke was grounded in divine law rather than Roman law, with warning of future retribution and judgment by God. It was direct, faithful and fearless, a plain call to repent and declaration of God's word that made the proud, sin-hardened ruler tremble in his palace, and John continued to speak the truth without hesitation even though his life was imperiled and in danger.
Herod's shutting up of John in prison was added above all his other evils, an added wrongdoing and an especially grave act following that reproof. Herodias, angered by the rebuke of their unlawful relationship, influenced, persuaded and moved Herod to imprison John in revenge, and she was determined to have him killed. Herod himself honored and feared John as a true prophet and intended to release him, but he yielded to sin and to Herodias's influence and repeatedly delayed his plan from fear of displeasing her.
John's faithful reproof cost him his liberty and ultimately his life, for he was later beheaded through the influence of Herod's wife. His fearless, faithful direct rebuke, given at the cost of imprisonment and with his life in danger yet without ceasing to speak the truth, is the model for the direct warning message to be given in the last days. That work of rebuking kings for sin is to be done again just before the second coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, to prepare a people to stand in the great day of the Lord.