You know, we don’t think about John the Baptist very much. He’s listed in the first part of three of the Gospels—the Synoptic Gospels [“synoptic” means “to give a comprehensive, or overall, view”]. But Jesus made a statement about him that I think is really worthy of our consideration. Matthew 11:11 says, “And He said in an authoritative way, ‘Of them that are born of woman…,’” That’s everybody! “‘…Of them that are born of woman, there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist…;’” Then He qualifies this statement. He says, “‘…but he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John.’” That’s a paradoxical statement. Everybody is born of woman. But then Jesus says, “‘…but he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John.’”—is greater than all the rest who have been born.
The answer is, as you well know, John was not privileged to be in the kingdom. He’ll be saved, and there will be those written about in the Old Testament who will be saved if they lived according to the plan of God under which they found themselves. But now, Jesus has established a kingdom that’s worldwide—that’s eternal in its nature. And the kingdom is the church. And He’s the head of the church. And He’s the king of the kingdom. And He’s the divine Son of God, and He becomes our “elder brother” is the way we describe it, because all of us are heirs of God, and joint heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ. So, we’re in God’s family, and we are brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ Who has made all of this possible. Well, that’s a beautiful play of words that Jesus has there. “…of all of them that are born of woman, there is none greater than John the Baptist.”
How much contact did Jesus have with John? Well, there’s not a lot recorded. But you must remember that he’s a cousin of Jesus. So, there’s no telling how much contact they had while they were growing up. John the Baptist…
John knew he was going to die, and he wasn’t afraid to die. We have, in all three of these accounts, the fact that John was put to death by Herod. And a Herodian family is listed in about four different men that are found in our New Testament. And they are all descendants of Herod the Great. He’s the one who tried to kill Jesus when Jesus was born, [Matthew 2:13]. He was a vile and wicked man! He had six wives—possibly ten wives. And he had a number of sons and daughters.
What we’re going to find is that John preaches something that one of these daughters takes offense to because she has married her uncle, who is also in the bloodline. John says, “it’s not right for you to have her,” [Matthew 14; Mark 6; Luke 3]. The Old Testament condemns adultery. “Thou shalt not commit adultery,” [Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 5:18, etc.]. The New Testament condemns adultery, [Matthew 5:27-28, 32; Matthew 19:9, 18; Mark 10:11-12, 19; Luke 16:18, Luke 18:20; Romans 13:9-10; James 2:11]. It has never been a popular subject for preaching. Our country is filled with adultery. Adultery means you have married someone that it is not lawful for you to have—somebody else’s wife or somebody else’s husband. It’s been a common practice, I guess, since the human family’s been here.
But John is going to get into trouble because he denounces the adultery of Herod and Herodias. They are head of the province of Galilee. He’s the king. And you don’t say that to a king. Let me read to you from Mark’s Gospel, and he records this, I think, quite well for us. I’m beginning with Mark, chapter 6, and verse 12: “They went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil, and healed them. King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ Name had become well known. Some were saying, ‘John the Baptist has been raised from the dead; that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.’ Others said, ‘He is Elijah,’ and still others claimed, ‘He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of long ago.’ But when Herod heard this, he said, ‘John, the man I beheaded, has been raised from the dead.’”
What would that do for you? Well, that would terrify you, no doubt about it. Many of the people were very superstitious in that time, but the Jews had, by this time, a belief in resurrection—to some degree—not ALL of the Jews, but some of them. But our Lord will certainly teach resurrection all during His personal ministry, and this would become the heart and theme of preaching the Good News to people that are dying. Through Jesus Christ, Who’s our Savior and has been resurrected, YOU may be resurrected, too. You may live again. In fact, ALL the dead will rise in Jesus Christ, some under a resurrection of eternal life and some under a resurrection of eternal punishment, [Matthew 25:31-46; Romans 2:5-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18].
[Continuing to read from Mark 6, beginning with verse 17: ] “For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married. For John had been saying to Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ So Herodias nursed a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she was not able to, because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard John, he was greatly puzzled; yet he liked to listen to him.
“Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee…” I hadn’t noticed this until I studied for this lesson. The leading men of Galilee would be Jews! They went to Herod’s birthday celebration. Now, here Herod is, he’s NOT a Jew—he’s a Gentile—and he comes from a family that all the Jews hated. Herod was hated by ALL of them. He was oppressive, he was hard, he was mean! He was a sinful man to the core. There’s no doubt about that, and his whole family has been that way. And SO, these “men of Galilee” went to this birthday, and I’m surprised at that.
[Continuing to read from Mark 6, beginning with verse 22: ] “When the daughter of Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.
“The king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.’ And he promised her with an oath, ‘Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.’
“She went out and said to her mother, ‘What shall I ask for?’
“‘The head of John the Baptist,’ she answered.
“At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: ‘I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter…’”
Boy, this is gruesome! A lot of stories have been made about this, even an opera. All kinds of paintings in the medieval times have been painted concerning this. And I might add right here that if you go to the Bible lands, and then go to Italy, you’ll find three different cathedrals that “have the head of John the Baptist.” Brother Payton [a friend and brother in the Lord to Harvey] asked one of them in Italy—he said, “I just saw this at Rome. Now here’s one in Florence—the head of John the Baptist.” The guy brother Payton was speaking to said, “That one up there [in Rome] was when he was a boy. This one was when he was a man!” Ah, you can tell a tourist anything you want, and they’ll believe it, too!
[Continuing to read from Mark 6, beginning with verse 26: ] “The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her…”
Now, think of this. It means he was greatly distressed. It’s already said that he knew that John was a righteous man.
[Continuing to read from Mark 6, beginning with verse 27: ] “So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.”
We know where this was. There’s a fortress on the other side—on the western side of the Jordan River that’s called “Machaerus.” It was one that Herod had built. The ruins are still there. And someplace, maybe in that area, John was buried. But it’s still there, where probably this scene took place.
Look at this point. Herod had John arrested, bound and put in prison. Bound and put in prison. A good man, preaching, preparing the way for the Lord Jesus Christ, a servant of God, and a man whose preaching was so effective that the whole nation was stirred by what he had to say. And even Herod liked to hear him preach, we’re going to see.
What was the charge that Herod brought against John? Well, it’s not listed. But here’s what I listed. If the king had been honest, he would’ve said, “You’re preaching what my wife doesn’t want to hear.” That put Herod on the spot. “Don’t preach on adultery because we’re in it.” Not only adultery, but also a form of incest, since he married a relative. Herod married his brother’s wife. I think that’s pretty low. Even that society at that time thought it was.
So John said, “It is not lawful…” What’s the law? Well, they knew the law! “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” The Ten Commandments were in effect, and, dear friends, they are still in effect, with the exception of “Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.” Every one of the others are repeated in our NEW TESTAMENT! You STILL can’t kill! So, these are eternal principles for the human family from God Himself! And in most countries, adultery is not tolerated. Even they had a law against it, or feelings against it.
So, verse 19 says, “Herodias nursed a grudge…” That describes her. Have you ever carried a grudge? Boy, that’s a terrible thing to nurse! It eats the heart of the person who carries it. She had to think about John all the time—what he said. She wants him put out of the way. She doesn’t want to see him or hear him anymore. So, she wanted him killed! But she was not able to do so. So, what does that amount to? Well, it was frustrating! Her sweet, dear husband, who had broken up two families to marry her, won’t do now what she wants him to do!
Can the king kill John? Oh, yeah, the king can kill anybody. And I might add that Herod killed two of his favorite wives, and the two sons of his favorite wife, Mariamne. We know where he killed them. The place is still there—at the New Testament city of Jericho, where he built a magnificent palace, and he had a swimming pool there, and he drowned his sons. Roman history tells us that. Boy, what a family!
Politics corrupt a lot of people! Those that are in high office have a double obligation before God—to be honest, to do what the law demands and to recognize that they have the charge of the lives of many, many people. “To whom much is given, much is required,” [Luke 12:48]. That’s an eternal principle.
So, Herodias was frustrated because she couldn’t get John killed. But verse 20 tells us why Herod wouldn’t give in. It says, “…because Herod feared John and protected him…,” The king fears a man? John didn’t hold back anything. He told it like it was, and the people came to him, and then they were inspired by that, and many of them turned to him. Our Lord complimented him. There wasn’t anybody like him before him! He’s OUTSTANDING!! He’s a man of God—dedicated to God. He feared no man—no person on earth.
Friends, it ought to be that way for all of us. We must obey GOD rather than man. It makes no difference what our society says, or even what close friends may say. What does GOD say? That’s what we’ve got to DO!! Even if it’s family opposing us, dear friends! And that’s hard to do. There’s no doubt about that.
Here’s this man, Herod. He knows John is a righteous man. He liked to listen to him preach. Isn’t that amazing? Herod must have been an interesting man. But he was greatly puzzled. He couldn’t put all of this together. What was John preaching? He was preaching the coming of the Messiah! And he was pointing out the fact that JESUS is this Messiah, and Jesus is a citizen of Galilee. He’s under the domain of this Herod.
“Go tell Herod, that fox,…” [Luke 13:31-33]. Sly as a fox. Our Lord was not afraid. When they brought all the charges against Him, our Lord didn’t even answer. He went to the death that He knew was predetermined by God Himself. He obeyed God and was not afraid of man. There’s our prime example. But John becomes an example, too.
You know, this is a strange mixture—this husband [Herod] and this wife [Herodias]. She wants John killed and Herod doesn’t. She cannot stand what he’s saying, but it hasn’t bothered Herod that much. Herod often called John to him, and he heard John preach and teach. And he was perplexed by John’s teachings. But friends, that means he was interested enough to call John back. It means that he was interested enough that he was mulling it over even though he was perplexed.
You know, I’ve often thought that there must be some good in practically every human. There’s always a mixture. We’re not 100% good or 100% bad, I don’t think. Here is one of the wickedest men on earth, and there’s some good in him. He doesn’t want to kill John. And here you look at Herodias. [Harvey pauses.] I may have to retract. [Harvey laughs.] I don’t know whether there’s any good in her or not. She wants John killed, but she can’t kill him. Maybe she could have used some kind of subterfuge and gotten some guards to kill John, but even she didn’t do that. The mixture is there.
Someone has said that all of us as Christians are fighting a civil war all the time. It rages within our hearts—within our minds. And every time we make a choice, one is calling one direction, and one is calling another direction. Our dear Lord is teaching us, but His adversary, the devil, “goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour,” [1 Peter 5:8-9]. He’s at us all the time. There’s not a time that he doesn’t come. He may leave us for a season, like he did our Lord, [Luke 4:13], but he’ll be back. He may tempt us through those who are close to us. He may tempt us by the goods of this world. He may tempt us to want fame as well as fortune. But he tempts us! And the battle goes on. What will it be? Which side will I choose? And we have to choose it over and over and over! We don’t make one choice that always stands. We must remember that we, too, can fall.
Well, finally the opportune time comes. Herod is influenced by his wife, but he’s influenced by John. And so far, John had been winning out. But the opportune time comes when Herod has his birthday party. What can we learn from that? Circumstances change. If there’s anything you can count on, it’s change.
We’re here today because of a lot of major changes in the Lord’s church. I didn’t see Mack Lyon’s program this morning. [Mack Lyon is a minister of the Gospel, and he teaches the Bible via a television program, “In Search of the Lord’s Way”, which airs in our area early on Sunday mornings. He preaches for a congregation of the Lord’s church in Edmund, Oklahoma,] But several of you have already mentioned to me that he talked about the major changes that are taking place in the church of Christ. Dear friends, they’re taking place also in all of the major denominations in the United States. They’re taking place in the Roman Catholic church. Change!
Some changes are good, but some changes are bad and some changes are so drastic that they are terrible! You can think of people who changed, who at one time knew the Lord and loved the church and were totally converted to the Lord—and they left for one reason or another. Maybe they got too busy with the world. But change brought change in their life.
So everything changes here all of a sudden.
You know, “today is the day of salvation”, our Lord says, [2 Corinthians 6:2]. He means we have an opportunity to do good, to live for God. And there are opportunities around us. But there are opportunities to do evil as well. What will we choose? Well, the wise person seizes the opportunity. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do with all thy might,…” [Ecclesiastes 9:10; see also Colossians 3:23]. GRAB the opportunity!
Herodias sees the opportunity here—Herod’s birthday feast. She’s going to use her own daughter to seduce Herod, and the rest of the men that are there, it appears to me, and then she knows what she can do. We have to make decisions. Circumstances very often determine what decision we make—because of the circumstances of the hour. So she’s going to seize the opportunity, and the opportunity is Herod’s birthday. This is a banquet, and there are high officials that are there; there are military commanders that are there; there are the leading men of Galilee.
Do you know what the capital city is up there in Galilee? It’s Tiberius. It’s named after Tiberius Caesar. And the city of Caesarea, which is down by the sea, was named after Augustus Caesar. Look at the Roman influence on all of Palestine.
Now who are these Herodians [those related to, or descended from Herod]? Well, they’re not full-blooded Jews, you see. They’re Idumeans [whose forefathers had been forced to convert to Judaism a century before], and they have gotten in with the Romans, and they have conquered, and they are in all of the positions of leadership. That’s why they’re there. When Pilate, who represented the Roman government, was trying Jesus [putting Jesus on trial], he sent Him over to this Herod we’re talking about, because when Pilate found out that Jesus was from Galilee, he thought he could wash his hands of it and put the blame on Herod. Herod sent Jesus back to Pilate and said, “I find no fault in Him,” [Luke 23:13-16—neither Herod nor Pilate found any basis for the Jews charges against Jesus]. Herod had longed to hear Jesus, the Scripture says, [Luke 23:8]. And Jesus spoke not a word to him, [Luke 23:9]. Why? “Give not that which is holy to the dogs,” I think [Matthew 7:6]. This man wasn’t interested in conversion. He just wanted to hear Jesus because this is the one that John had prophesied concerning. I think it all ties together.
And so, at the banquet, Herodias has her daughter to dance. Well, you know, we’ve always pictured this girl as 10 or 12 years old. I’ve seen the pictures where they’ve drawn it [the scene at the banquet], and show just a little girl. There is a passage in the writings of Josephus [a Jewish officer in the war with the Romans that occurred A.D. 66-73] that I read this last week that I didn’t know anything about. He uses a Roman term that describes a girl that is between 16 and 20 years of age. Hey, I think she was fully developed. I don’t think these men would have lustful desires toward a 10 or 12 year old. I think the dance that she danced aroused their feelings. The Scriptures indicate that. And how much did her dance arouse Herod? Who would say on the spur of the moment, “I’ll give you whatever you ask! This is great! Ask what your heart desires! I’ll give it to you! Even if it’s up to half of my kingdom!” Now, is that foolish? Boy, that’s a horrid thought!! Something aroused him to such a degree that he’d make a statement like that! I think it was lust. And I think that all of the men there probably were aroused in the same way. And I think Herodias knew that the daughter could do that very thing! Why would she want the daughter to dance for him? What did that mean?
Her [the daughter/stepdaughter] name was Salome. Josephus is the one who names her[in his writings, and he puts in this word, korasion, which was a Greek word that meant “maid of a marriage of early age”. And so they would get married as young as 16 years of age. And so she “danced the dance.” Josephus says the Romans did not consider the dance decent. They considered the dance the property of prostitutes to arouse the feelings of men! I didn’t know that either. That’s an interesting statement. And that’s from Josephus. And guess who he is quoting? He’s quoting two of the Roman writers and poets, Cicero and Suetonius [Cicero was a lawyer, orator and politician; Suetonius was a biographer and wrote Lives of the Twelve Caesars]. The Romans did not consider the dance in any way related to anything spiritual. They thought it was the property of prostitutes.
David danced before the Lord. But he danced by himself. There are dances today that are sensual . I don’t even have to describe or explain them. We all know what they are. There could be dances that would be all right, but we’ve got to watch where we are and what our influence is.
And the Scripture said, “…she pleased Herod and the guests.” She PLEASED them. Herod made this foolish promise, “I’ll give you half—up to half of my kingdom.” Emotions or passions should never overrule reason! I wrote this down as a comment on this passage: “And reason should be guided by Truth!” Friends, I’ve said that a number of times. We’re in an age when many in the church are talking about EMOTION—“we need more emotion in our services”. There is a place for emotion. There is a place for emotion in our lives. It’s part of our spiritual makeup. There is the intellect. There is the emotion. There is the volition. Volition is the will to do something. If we make up our choice of anything in life according to how we feel—and if we make our choices based only on feelings [emotion], we do a lot of foolish things. But if we make our choices based on reason, and that reason has been educated by God’s Truth, then we can make the right decision, and later we can “feel good” about it, and be happy and rejoice.
Now, Herod is in the heat of emotion because of her dance. They’re all worked up [their desires are stirred up by the emotions they feel], and he makes this foolish statement. “Ask whatever you want, and I’ll give you up to the half of my kingdom.”
Well, she runs over to mother. “What shall I ask, Mother?” [Mark 6:24]. You know already what mother will say. I have written this statement by this verse: “Parents are the source of the guidance of life!” We all get our start there from our parents. We all get our earliest impressions there. We choose what is good and what is bad. We learn to make decisions. And if you grew up in a Christian home, you have the best start of all because your parents wanted you to choose what is right before God. Don’t go along with the crowd. Don’t let your fleshly appetites dictate what you always choose. Choose what is right! You want to have a good life, a fulfilled life, a happy life.
Herodias asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter, [Mark 6:24-25]. I’m surprised that television hasn’t made something of this. It likes some grisly things that really shock you. But, here’s a banquet. We’re having a birthday celebration, and they don’t have a cake with candles on it, so they bring in the head of John the Baptist. What would that do for you? I think that could spoil a good appetite! But look at the mother. Herod’s stepdaughter takes John’s head right over to Mother. This is what Mother requested, so she gives it to Mother. What a mother!! [This last sentence is said in a very sarcastic way.] This is real, dear friends! This is real Bible history here!
Now, what about John? He had no defense. He had no trial. He could make no statement. He could not defend himself.
What about the daughter? She was submissive to her wicked mother. She obeyed the wrong voice.
What about Herod? He was trapped! He’d gotten himself out on a limb [he had created a situation he could not, or would not, change]. He said, “Ask anything you want.” Don’t ever say that! I can remember asking my Dad, “Will you give me whatever I ask?” Maybe all of us have tried that at one time or another. He said, “No I won’t give you whatever you ask!! What do you have in mind?” Whatever I had in mind, he’d always say, “NO. You’re not going to get that.” And you knew it—that’s the way it was. That’s the way it ought to be, actually, when whatever I was asking for was out of the ordinary and was foolish.
So, Herod, is there no way out? Yes…there is a way out. Stand for the Truth! Say, “I am not going to kill this righteous and just man! I didn’t include that when I said ‘anything’! I will not do it!” Well, what would your friends think? Well, there might have been some who said he didn’t keep his word. But I would imagine the majority of them would’ve said he’d done the right thing. Would you make your wife mad? OHHH, YES!!!! She’d have been mad! Next time, she’d ask for HIS head!!
What about the daughter? Ah, she’s a pawn in all of this. She doesn’t know what’s going on. She’s just doing what her wicked mother tells her to do.
Hey, is there “peer pressure” here? Yeah, Herod has got an audience of his peers sitting out there, and he doesn’t want to disappoint them! He’s afraid of them! Peer pressure has always been one of the greatest tools of the devil. Boy, it is hard to stand out from the crowd. I know. You know. And he wasn’t going to do it. So the high officials and the commanders and all of the leading men of Galilee, they were high on emotions when they saw the dance, and they shared these emotions with Herod, and Herod is what? Is greatly distressed after this request. I didn’t know this. Here’s an interesting word. The Greek word is [and here the cassette tape is unclear. Working from the King James Version, which translates “greatly distressed” as “exceeding sorry”, the transcriber used An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words by W. E. Vine, and found the Greek word to be the adjective perilupos, which translates to “very sad, deeply grieved, or intense grief”]. And it’s translated deepest grief, and it’s only used one other time in all the Bible. And guess where it is? It’s when Jesus is in the garden of Gethsemane, in Mark, the 14th chapter, verse 34, and He is “greatly distressed” [King James Version: “exceedingly sorrowful”].
Boy, what a language we have our New Testament written in!! It’s just as graphic as it can be! The Greeks had a word for it. And that’s really true.
And so Herod immediately sent the guard. The Latin word here is especutator, meaning “those who watch”. Our English word is “spectator”. There was a section [unit] of the Roman soldiers that were called especutators [specutators ?], and they stood watch, and that’s who he sent. That word is used in the Latin version of our New Testament.
So a head was brought to Salome. She gave it to Herodias, and Jesus would later commend John. Jesus had already loved John. Jesus already knew what he was doing. And John baptized our dear Lord.
Herod and Herodias and Salome died in shame. But they’re scheduled for judgment before God. And you and I will be there.
John lived by God’s Word. The principles of Truth mattered more to him than life! And there’s our lesson.