Message preached Sunday, June 28, 2015 from Mark 6:14-29
Theme: Hard-heartedness toward God’s commands eventually leads us to confusion of soul.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
We come this morning to what we might call an ‘interruption’ in our study of the Gospel of Mark. We’re still in the story of Jesus’ earthly ministry, of course—but the Gospel writer seems to interrupt the story in order to tell us about something that happened in the midst of that ministry. It’s the story of something that happened in the life of the man we’ve come to know as King Herod Antipas.
Now; don’t confuse this man with Herod the Great. Herod the Great was king over Judea at the time when the Lord Jesus was born into this world. He was the man who sought to slay the Lord Jesus in His infancy and failed. Instead, the man that we’re considering this morning was one of the sons of Herod the Great; the one who ruled a generation later over Galilee during the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry. We commonly refer to him as a “king”—and even the Gospel writer Mark refers to him by that general title. But he would most accurately be called a ‘tetrarch’. The name ‘tetrarch’ means “ruler of a quarter”; and this man Herod Antipas inherited the rule of only a fourth of the kingdom after his father’s death.
If you’re the kind of person that tends to talk bad about politicians, then it might be good for you to know that—to the best of my recollection anyway—this man Herod Antipas was the only politician that the Lord Jesus ever said anything critical about during His earthly ministry. He could have said many critical things about many politicians; but He seemed to have spoken negatively of a politician only once—and it was this one. Near the end of His ministry, Jesus was told by some that Herod Antipas was seeking to kill Him; and Jesus said to them, “Go, tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected’” (Luke 13:32). The name “that fox” was Jesus’ way of describing Herod as a crafty and treacherous man. And that he was!
Herod was a man who’s many immoralities and indiscretions and self-indulgences turned him into such a bad ruler that the emperor of Rome eventually banished him to an obscure section of what is now France. But this morning, we look at just one very important event in Herod’s life. We’re introduced to this event in the sixth chapter of Mark’s Gospel.
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Now; the Lord Jesus had just completed a preaching and teaching tour throughout the regions of Galilee—that is, throughout Herod’s jurisdiction. And then afterward, He sent His twelve disciples out—two-by-two—to preach to people that they should repent, and to cast out demons and perform healings in Jesus’ name.
It must be that people began to report to Herod the things that Jesus had done—along with the things that His disciples were doing in His name throughout the region; because in verses 14-16, Mark tells us,
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 like one of the prophets.” But when Herod heard, he said, “This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!” (Mark 6:14-16).
We can see from this that there was a lot of talk going around about Jesus, and many speculations about who He was. Once, when He was walking down the road with His disciples, Jesus Himself turned to them and asked,
“Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:13-16).
Jesus has always been controversial; and people have always had a variety of opinions about Him. They do even today. I believe that most of the time, people’s opinions about Him are not drawn from Scripture; and are therefore uninformed and incorrect. But Peter gave the right answer—that He’s the Christ, the Son of the living God. That was an answer that the Lord Himself approved.
Well; as Jesus was ministering in the days of Herod Antipas, people had a variety of opinions about Him then too. Some, as Mark tells us, thought that Jesus was the Old Testament prophet Elijah. The Bible tells us of how Elijah didn’t leave this earth in the way that everyone else has left it. He was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot. People had the expectation that Elijah would return; and so, because of the ‘Elijah-like miracles’ that Jesus performed, they wondered if that’s who Jesus was. Others thought that He was another one of the prophets from of old, or that He was someone like one of the prophets. Perhaps some even wondered if he was the prophet that Moses promised would one day come—the Prophet; the one that Moses, in Deuteronomy 18, said that God would raise up “like” himself.
Everyone had their opinion. Even Herod himself had an opinion about Jesus. But what a strange one it was that Herod expressed! He said, “John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him” (v. 14). And I even wonder if the people around him weren’t a little concerned, not just by what he said, but also by the way he said it—almost with an attitude of fear and foreboding. I wonder if some folks didn’t even try to offer a more popular suggestion as a comforting alternative. But it seems as if he brushed them aside and repeated: “This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!” (v. 15).
Herod’s idea about Jesus was, quite frankly, a bizarre one. It wasn’t even logical. After all, Jesus and John had both been born about the same time; and John was still alive and very active while Jesus had begun His ministry in Herod’s region. Jesus couldn’t have been ‘John raised from the dead’. But I believe that his words—”John, whom I beheaded”—suggests that there was a great deal of guilt, superstition, and fear in what he said. It’s almost as if a ghost from the past had suddenly come back to haunt him.
It’s one more element in the already strange and confused life of Herod Antipas. But I suggest that this particular element has a very important spiritual lesson to teach us.
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Please keep your finger in your Bible at Mark 6; but turn ahead in the New Testament to the Book of James. In James 1:5, we read,
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him (James 1:5).
That, of course, is good advice. If we want to know what God wants us to do in life, we have but to ask and He will show us. We have His promise that He will answer that prayer. In fact, He has already laid out the steps for living for us—very clearly—in the commandments of Scripture. But then James gives this stern warning to whoever seeks wisdom from God;
But let him ask in faith, with no doubting [and the idea of that word in the original language is “to be at variance with one’s self; to waver in indecision”], for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (vv. 6-8).
I don’t think you could find a better way to describe King Herod Antipas than that! He was a double-minded man. He tried to keep one foot in the boat, and the other foot on the shore. He’d listen to the truth from God, and then want to kill the preacher, and then like what he heard and sought to listen to the preacher with joy—and then wanted once again to kill him. The Bible tells us that he wanted to seek out Jesus in order to hear him; and then later that he sought to put Him to death. He was a man that was driven and tossed by the winds of opinion, or by irrational fears, or by whatever sinful passions happened to pull at him at the moment. And as a result, he was utterly “unstable in all his ways”.
In fact I believe—and I hope I say this, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, with the utmost care and compassion—that there are some forms of long-term mental distortion and confusion of soul that are the inevitable result of that kind of spiritual ‘wavering’. I believe of course that there are, without question, forms of mental disorder that are caused by organic matters that are outside of a person’s control. But I feel very sure that there are also some forms that spring from a spiritual and moral cause—that is, from a long habit of responding in a hard-hearted way to God and to His word. We are, after all, made by God our Creator for a relationship of love and dependency and obedience toward Him; and we can’t keep rejecting Him and pushing Him away without it eventually hurting who we are at the deepest level of our being.
And I believe that this describes Herod. His pattern of hard-heartedness toward God’s commands led him down a road to guilt, and fear, and utter confusion and distortion of soul. He ended up hardening his soul with weird and eccentric ideas about the Savior that God provided for the salvation of mankind.
Let’s go back now to our passage in the Gospel of Mark, and look together at the rest of the story. Let’s see what Herod did to make himself into what he became; and let’s learn not go down the path he traveled.
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What Mark now does is give us something like a ‘flash-back’ in the story. He goes back in time to show us what led to Herod’s fearful and distorted belief that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead. Mark tells us;
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. Because John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife” (vv. 17-18).
Now; get ready for a real ‘soap-opera’. Herod had previously been married to a woman who was the daughter of an Arabian king. And his niece Herodias had been married to his half-brother Philip. But in time, Herod became infatuated with Herodias; and she returned his affections. She moved in with Herod, and agreed to marry him on the condition that he put away his first wife. So, she went from being his niece, to being his sister-in-law, to becoming his live-in adulterous girlfriend, to becoming his wife—and all in a scandalously incestuous relationship.
There is a provision in the Old Testament that a man could marry the wife of his deceased brother in order to raise up children in his name. But there was nothing like that going on here. This immoral relationship was clearly forbidden in the Old Testament law in many respects. And so, John the Baptist boldly confronted it and told him, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” In fact, Mark puts this in what’s called the ‘imperfect tense’; which suggests that John had to repeatedly confronted Herod about this—and no doubt repeatedly called him to repentance.
One of the lessons we can certainly learn from this is that we ought not to be afraid to tell people—even people in high positions of power and authority—that they are not above God’s law, and are obligated to do what God’s word says. We should even be prepared to do so several times. May God help us to be more like John the Baptist in our own day! The world certainly needs for us to do so!
But another lesson we can learn from this is that even when we ourselves are faithful to God and are declaring His word righteously to those who rashly violate it, we may have to suffer for doing so. The Bible tells us elsewhere;
But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison (Luke 3:19-20).
And this, I believe, is one of the first stages that we can see in Herod’s downward slide into a deep and tortured confusion of soul. He knew the law of Moses. He knew that he was doing something that was an abomination in the sight of a holy God. He had been told repeatedly that it was so—and by no less a preacher than John the Baptist. And yet, he hardened his heart and would not repent. He thought himself above it all. In fact, he so hardened his heart against God’s word that he sought to silence the great preacher by locking him in prison.
And you know; people really can’t silence God’s word in that way—no matter how hard they may try. The Bible tells us that our Creator has seen to it that His law is written on people’s hearts; “their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them” (Romans 2:15). I try not to let it worry me too much when people try to push the Bible out of culture in order to advance immoral causes. God has, as it were, placed a constant, non-stop ‘preacher’ within our chests, and we can’t not know what God requires of us. We may try to deaden ourselves to the witness of His law, of course. We may, as it were, sear our own conscience “as with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4:2), so that we no longer feel the conviction of God’s law. But in the end, all we do is hurt ourselves—not His law.
Whenever we feel the rebuke of God’s word in our hearts, the best thing to do—always—is to heed God’s loving rebuke, confess our sins, trust in the blood of Jesus, and repent as soon as possible. That’s the fastest way to good health in the inner-most being.
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Well; Herod didn’t do that. Even though he knew God’s commandment, he didn’t repent of his immoral relationship with Herodias. Instead—as a crowning act to all his other sins—he threw John the Baptist into prison. But then comes another aspect of Herod’s downward slide. Mark tells us;
Therefore Herodias held it against him and wanted to kill him . . . (v. 19a)
Herodias also hated John for his rebuke of her sin. She wanted to do worse to him than merely throw him in prison. But Mark tells us that she was prevented from doing so; and it’s remarkable to see why. Mark writes,
but she could not; for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected him (vv. 19b-20a).
What a divided man Herod was! He hated John for telling him the truth from God’s word, and threw him in prison; and yet, he feared him and protected him from Herodias, because he knew he was a holy and just man! In fact, Herod’s division of soul is shown even more clearly in what we read next. The translation I’m using says,
and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly (v. 20b).
That’s how it reads in the translation I’m using. But the more reliable Greek texts of Mark’s Gospel doesn’t have it that Herod “did many things”. Rather, it has it as it’s found in the English Standard Version—that “he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly”; or as it is in the New International Version—that “he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.”
What a deeply divided man Herod was. He was annoyed by John, but also knew that he was a righteous and holy prophet from God. He wanted to silence John because his message was convicting; but he also wanted to protect him, and went to meet with him and hear him. He hated his message of the demands of God’s law, but also wanted to hear it. And I think the key is in the fact that he was “perplexed” or “puzzled”. He was hesitant to commit, and was halting spiritually between to positions. He’d have one feeling about John, and would hear him speak, and would then have the opposite feeling about him—yet still keep him in prison.
Dear brothers and sisters; that’s a spiritually dangerous place to be. This isn’t the same thing, of course, as being at the place that some people are in their spiritual journey—that is, where they have intellectual problems about the faith, and need to have some questions answered before they can make a sincere commitment. That wasn’t Herod’s situation at all. He was halting and wavering between the call of God to obedience, and the love he had for his own sin.
For anyone who deliberately chooses to stay in that spiritual ‘in between’ place, I believe the strong words of Pastor James are important to hear:
Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”? But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up (James 4:4-10).
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Well; Herod had a great opportunity. He heard John, and could have repented. But he continued to waver until the opportunity was lost. And then, he fell into committing one of the most notorious acts in all of the Bible. Mark tells us;
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, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom” (vv. 21-23).
The word in the original language that is used to describe this girl suggests that she was around 12 to 14 years old. And though we’re not told that her dance was of an inappropriate nature, the performance of a dance at dinner was the kind of thing that a member of royalty never did. And the king’s strange and extravagant oath to her suggested that there was something immorally seductive about it all. Apparently, a simple ’round of applause’ just wasn’t enough.
And it seems to be something that Herodias arranged and took advantage of. Mark tells us,
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” (vv. 24-25).
The beheading of John was the vengeful idea of Herodias. The grotesque display of the head on a platter, it seems, was an additional idea that this creepy girl came up with. And Herod was utterly trapped in the midst of it all by his continual wavering and his lusts. Someone said that, if Herod had been as strong as he should have been, he could have told the girl, “I offered you half my kingdom. But the half I offered you does not include John’s head.” But he was too weak and wavering for that. He now became a complete slave to the fear of man, and a servant of the opinions of those around him.
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 his disciples heard of it, they came and took away his corpse and laid it in a tomb (vv. 26-29).
And that is the story that Mark tells us, in order to explain to us why it was that when Herod heard about the Lord Jesus, he uttered that strange and fearful opinion, “This is John, whom I beheaded; he has been raised from the dead!” Herod was a sick and demented man; and it was his hardness toward God’s commands that helped make him that way. In fact, the time came when he finally met the Lord Jesus. Pilate sent the Lord to Herod shortly after His arrest; and in one of the most tragic ‘lost opportunities’ in all history, all that Herod did was hope—like some immature kid—to see Jesus do some tricks; and then mock Him and send Him away to His death when He wouldn’t perform for him.
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May it be that we never—in any respect—go down the tragic road that Herod went. His hardness of heart toward the rebuke of God’s word—and his refusal to repent—led him to become a divided and wavering man. And in that wavering state, he became so trapped by his own sin that he never escaped. His hard-heartedness toward God’s commands eventually led him to utter confusion of soul.
But I hasten to say that even such confusion of soul can be repented of. We can still become healed, and made whole within by God’s grace, if we will just stop the rebellion and confess our sin—turning to the forgiveness purchased for us at the cross.
May I close by reading the words of someone who did it right? Another king—David—had similarly sinned. He had committed a shameful and shocking act of adultery; and then, when his adulterous lover became pregnant, he sought to cover-up his sin by murdering her husband—a man who had been a faithful soldier in his army. He felt the torment of God’s heavy hand upon his soul for nearly a year; and then, when he was confronted by a bold prophet of God, he finally repented.
After he repented, he wrote the words of Psalm 32—a psalm that many of us, myself included, have grown to love very much. What a pathway to soundness of soul it describes!
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
When I kept silent, my bones grew old
Through my groaning all the day long.
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You
In a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters
They shall not come near him.
You are my hiding place;
You shall preserve me from trouble;
You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye.
Do not be like the horse or like the mule,
Which have no understanding,
Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle,
Else they will not come near you.
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked;
But he who trusts in the Lord, mercy shall surround him.
Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous;
And shout for joy, all you upright in heart! (Psalm 322:1-11).