John’s Murderers (Part A)

We stand with Him. I don't know if we communicate that enough to the lost souls of the world. I don't know if they see that in our face when we are saying to them, we are committed to Jesus Christ, to Christ of the Bible, of the New Testament and the Old. He is our God. We will not bow down to anybody else's idea regardless of their credentials or their experiences or their accomplishments or whatever. They do not match what is preached in the Word.

It does not match our conviction. We are in the Gospel according to Mark chapter 6 verses 14 through 29. Verse 14, Now King Herod heard of him, 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. Others said, It is Elijah. And others said, It is the prophet, or one like the prophets. But when Herod heard, he said, This is John, whom I beheaded.

He has been raised from the dead. He himself had sent and laid hold of John and bound him 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 protected him. And when he heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly.

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, saying, Whatever you ask me, I will give you up to half my kingdom.

So she went out and said to her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. 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 the king was exceedingly sorry.

Yet because of the oaths and 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. When the disciples heard of it, they came and took away his corpse and laid it in a tomb. This consideration is entitled John's Murderers. But to introduce it, I'd like to go to the book of Daniel briefly, because there in chapter three, we have that familiar story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And those men stood firm in the face of those who would kill them for their faith because they knew what they believed. And they knew what they believed because they knew in whom they believe. And I think all Christians should know not only what they believe, but in whom they believe, so that when there are those that rise up and try to move us away from the things that are dear to us that have to do with our salvation and our knowledge with God, we can refuse them. John, he preached the word.

He too knew what he believed and in whom he believed. And these men, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they said straight out that they would not bow down to any other god. In fact, when the word was brought to King Nebuchadnezzar about their stance, in Daniel 3, verse 12, they reported to the King Nebuchadnezzar, they do not serve your gods, just like that.

Would the world say that about us? Christians do not serve anybody else's god. We have nothing in common with anybody else's ideas about God. These men in Daniel 3 did not care about consequences, I said, neither did John. Daniel 3, verse 17, this is how they responded to the king. He will deliver us from your hand, O king, but if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods. I mean, right up in his face, saying, yeah, you're the king, you've got the power to kill us, but there's a king of kings, and we're more interested in him than you on these matters, we stand with him. I don't know if we communicate that enough to the lost souls of the world, I don't know if they see that in our face, when we are saying to them, we are committed to Jesus Christ, the Christ of the Bible, of the New Testament and the Old.

He is our God, and we will not bow down to anybody else's idea, regardless of their credentials, or their experiences, or their accomplishments, or whatever. If they do not match what is preached in the word, it does not match our conviction. And then they were cast into the midst of the fire. It tells us in Daniel 3, verse 25, and they were not hurt. Their bodies could have burned, but their soul would never have been hurt, which is the case with John the Baptist. They chopped off his head, but he was not hurt.

John is having a good day right now. Nebuchadnezzar reported in verse 25, as they came from the midst of the fire, then Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came from the midst of the fire. That's going to be said about us when we leave this planet. We came from the midst of the fire and entered into his gates with thanksgiving in our hearts, because he is God. And we're not confused about this, nor are we asking anybody's permission to believe these things.

No matter what the consequences are, let's not forget that as we go through our consideration. You know what Nebuchadnezzar said about them? Quoting him in verse 28, they yielded their bodies to their own God.

How profound. Daniel 3, verse 28, they have frustrated the king's word and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve nor worship any god except their own. May this not be lost on us.

We're not trying to fit in with people. We're trying to get them to fit into the kingdom, to press in the straight and narrow. To do that with truth and attempts to believe. When Job said, though he slay me, I will trust him. He said, I don't know what God's doing. I don't like what he's doing, but he's my God. That truth does not go away. And no matter what he grants or does not grant, he's still my God. He is worthy. And nobody can take that away from me, not even me.

That's the kind of faith I want. I struggle. I struggle with God, you know, just the things he allows to happen.

But I don't struggle with who he is. So with that, we look now at verse 14. Now King Herod heard of him, 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. Well, let's talk about this fake king, Herod. Rome did not consider him a king.

God did not either. His father was Herod the Great. He was a great monster. And this Herod the Great, this Herod Antipas, who we're talking about in verse 14, his father ordered the slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem. Just to remind us of how brutal these people were.

All of them were thoroughly evil, and there were several of them. And here, this Herod Antipas, he hears about the miracles of Christ, and this is his response. Mark gives us the most detailed account of this event. He tells us about Herod's response, and then he goes back and he's going to give us the details that led up to the beheading of John the Baptist. But at verse 14, John has already been murdered by Herod and his group. And Matthew and Luke, they don't refer to Herod as a king. Only Mark does.

He ruled in Galilee and to the east of Galilee for about 35 years. But here's a point coming from verse 14. How typical of the Christless to be wrong about Christ and have not only useless opinions about him, but harmful opinions about him. Harmful to themselves and harmful to whoever is foolish enough to listen to them.

I was one. They don't understand the realities of God, the spiritual realm. The bits and pieces that they have, they misinterpret.

But they don't mind spewing it. And so here is Herod. This is John the Baptist risen from... Ah, shut up!

You're wrong. That won't stop him, will it? Verse 15, others said, it is Elijah. And others said, it is the prophet or like one of the prophets. Technically, Elijah could not be said that he had risen from the dead because he did not die. It was what is called translated. He was taken to heaven alive in a very dramatic way in a flaming chariot.

That's how I'd like to go. Some of you would prefer maybe a bike with eight anger bars on fire, but going to the Lord, same destination, a little different style. In 2 Kings 11, that's where the story is, that he entered into heaven alive. But many Jews believed because of Malachi chapter 4 that someday Elijah would return to fulfill the prophecy of Malachi 4.

And we'll be here a long time opening that one up, but suffice it to say that John came in the spirit of Elijah and before the Lord's great incoming return, his great return, the spirit of Elijah will be active yet again. But there's never a shortage of those who are not only duped by Satan, but very comfortable with Satan's lies about Jesus Christ. They don't do anything about it, except continue to hold on to it and resist those who might have more light than they do. Unlightened human beings, their views about Jesus, again, they are worthless in the end and they are harmful. Well, they're valuable to Satan, to the underworld, to those forces of evil in the spiritual realm that hate human beings, all of them. And Satan doesn't like those who he uses, he hates them.

But he uses them nonetheless. To equate Jesus Christ with Confucius or Buddha or Mohammed or anyone else is to expose one's ignorance about the person of Jesus Christ and who he is. Ignorance at the least, rejection at the most, and a lot of stuff in between. Because between Christ and every other person in Adam's race, that race being a ruined race by sin, between Jesus Christ and all the others, there is this fixed, immeasurable gap, this distance. Man is created and born into a ruined race, he's born into the wrong kingdom. But Jesus Christ is the maker of heaven and earth.

John's Gospel, chapter 1, All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made, that was made. How do these guys come along and say, Okay, that verse we like, but this one we don't like. This is true, we can trust it, but this one you can't trust.

So I'm supposed to trust you, telling me what to and what not to trust? How about I just take the whole thing and let the Holy Spirit sort it out in me? But this is something that they get away with, and it is sad to see how many people profess the Lord, even say they love him, and then walk around saying, Well, you can't trust all the Bible. You can't believe it all. God is not capable of protecting his word.

I'd rather not be on that team. To give Christ and his word prominence, but not preeminence, that is a trap from hell, and it can damn a soul. And so Herod here, Herod Antipas, is giving him prominence. Oh, he's risen from the dead, that's something we all can't do, that's a prominent feature, but it doesn't make him God in the eyes of Herod.

Verse 16, he continues, Mark giving us the history of the event. But when Herod heard, he said, This is John, whom I beheaded. He has been risen from the dead, so he's doubling down, this is his opinion.

This is not only an admission to guilt, but it is a boast to evil. It is John, whom I beheaded. He's risen again. Herod, who else have you beheaded? How many others have there been?

Those 35 years that you ruled like your father, though not as vicious as your father because you weren't as smart as him in the realm of evil, how many others have you killed? Sounds very appealing to the gullible and those who are into sensation. It feels spooky, what's happening? People rising from the dead, reincarnated. We don't believe in that reincarnation stuff, categorically rejecting it. What makes superstition baseless? Is it has no proof. Proof is in fact against it. Because you get away with something one time doesn't mean the superstition is true.

It has to be consistent. And it was, by the way, no single murderer of John the Baptist. It was a nest of them. There was, of course, Herod, Antipas, as the story clearly tells us, Herodias, his stolen wife, and her wicked daughter, Salome, says the historian Josephus that that was her name.

Then there was, of course, the henchmen, the axemen, not just one. And Herod, he had no problem in believing that a man who had been beheaded could be risen from the dead. See, this is craziness. If he could believe that, why would he not submit to the one who rules over this? Is it possible to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and still be unmoved by it to submit to him?

Absolutely it is. The Pharisees went out of their way to cover up his resurrection. Many in Scripture saw miracles and refused to submit to them. Dealing with what sin has done to the race is tough stuff. It's very real. It's very hard. It's a knock-down, drag-out fight all the way.

It's very ugly. We were just singing this song, Pass Me Not, Why Won't Others Thou Art Calling, Please Do Not Pass Me By. Before I became a pastor, when God called me to the ministry and I had no church, I used to sing that song, Lord, don't pass me by.

But after dealing with the devil's work enough years, maybe if you want to find somebody else, Lord, I mean, what, should I stand here and lie to you and tell you that it's all been wonderful? Paul said, I bear on my body the marks of Christ. I can say I bear on my heart the marks of Christ.

No, not in a boastful way, in a gallant way, but still, nonetheless, it is true, I have hurts from serving Christ that I otherwise would not have hurt or had. And it should be that way to some degree with all of us who serve Christ. All of us take up a cross. A cross is not something you want to take up.

Let's see, I'll have the turkey sandwich with everything on it and a cross, a cross to bear. We don't think like that. But we are called to think like that.

We learn to think this way. It is the teaching of the Spirit in our lives. And so, these fiends, and that's what they were, who had John murdered, they have such power in this world, too much for my liking because there's a real devil and there is a real filtering system. God is getting to the bottom of who is going to serve him and who is not and he's using this life to do it and he will not be moved off of that mission. Luke's Gospel, chapter 13. On that very day, some of the Pharisees came saying to him, get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill you. Of course, he had killed John by that time. And he said to him, go tell that fox, behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow and the third day and I shall be perfected.

In other words, I don't care what you think. If you are against God, your doom is going to be sure. And when he mentions that fox, remember that in those days, foxes were seen as sneaky and sly and destructive. They were more of a nuisance than anything else. They were not these cute little things that you rarely saw crossing the road. They were predators of weaker animals in the eyes of the people who lived at that time. Solomon writes about the little foxes that spoil the vine. They just ruin everything.

Have a good day and some little move from Satan just ruins it for you. Verse 17, for Herod himself had sent and laid hold of John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for he had married her. Well, we can say a lot about these characters, but it can suffice to say in a single word, wicked. Giving the details of the incest that was taking place, she had married her. Her first husband, Philip, was her uncle and so was Herod.

And just to give you an idea of what was going on with these mindless, savage, and eternally damning choices made by these people. Luke 3.19, but Herod the tetrarch, see, Luke does not call Herod, this Herod, a king. He calls him a tetrarch, a ruler of 25% of the land cut up by Rome, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, for all the evils which Herod had done. See, John had dealt with all the evils that Herod had done. John was thorough.

Again, he didn't allow the consequences of his being thorough deter him from doing what he was supposed to do. And so these are the people in his field of ministry. They were not only wicked, but very able to execute their wickedness on others. Verse 18, because John had said to Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. Now Herod was of Edomite and Jewish mixture in his bloodline. He considered himself a Jew. Of course, he used that to his advantage in dealing with the Jews in the region of Galilee and Perea where he had authority. Because he considered himself a Jew, that gave John the right to set him straight according to the law of Moses. And in Leviticus chapter 18 and I think chapter 20, it is very clear he said not to take your brother's wife. And so John gave him sermons on that and other things also. Of course, John the baptizer, his rebukes negatively affected the social standing of Herod's stolen wife, Herodias.

I mean, people would be talking behind her back that that prophet, John, was scolding you publicly. He's calling you out. He was saying you were an illegitimate wife. You were an adulterer.

You were wicked. And she would have none of that. She hated John for this. But John preached in spite of the consequences. We go back a little bit again, Daniel chapter 3 verse 18. But if not, let it be known to you, if God does not answer our prayer as precious as our lives are to ourselves, and we have no right to think that those men and women in Scripture who were persecuted, some to death, some near death, we have no right to think that they were just good with this. I mean, that there was not a problem. They were just as much unhappy with being persecuted and killed as we would be. It's not just a story.

These are real people in real lives. And so when these men were facing the death of a fiery furnace, this was their stance. God is able to deliver us. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up. Something you concocted, something you created, whether it is in the form of a statue or an idea, whether it is an ideology or whatever it may be, if you made it up and it goes contrary to God, we really are against it. It's contrary to us. And this has been part of our Christian heritage forever. Other religions have the same thing. They believe in their gods. Not all of them.

Some of them believe you can believe whatever you want to believe. It doesn't matter. It's relative.

It sounds like it's such a deep word. It's relative. You're going to be a relative of hell if you don't fix that opinion. Oh, that's offensive. Well, you know what? God finds you rejecting His proof and His truth offensive.

And you can side with Him and fix this. I don't know how that sounds to somebody who doesn't like it. As you're hearing me say this, I don't know if you're saying, wow, you're right, brother, I want to give my life to Christ. Well, that's what I want you to say. But maybe you might be saying, who do you think you are?

I'm just a nobody, but I'm talking about somebody who is big and awesome and worthy to be praised. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the Book of Mark. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry, visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. Once you're there, you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the Book of Mark like here on Cross Reference Radio.