Herod’s Death
Then Herod went from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there a while. 20 He had been quarreling with the people of Tyre and Sidon; they now joined together and sought an audience with him. Having secured the support of Blastus, a trusted personal servant of the king, they asked for peace, because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply.
21 On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. 22 They shouted, “This is the voice of a god, not of a man.” 23 Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.
24 But the word of God continued to increase and spread.
25 When Barnabas and Saul had finished their mission, they returned from Jerusalem, taking with them John, also called Mark.
My Understanding: I just love how God works! As I prayed to him, I asked him if this song was in my mind for a reason, and if he had something he wanted to teach me and/or for me to share from this song and from His Word, that he would let me know. Then, I began reading where I had left off reading in the Word last, and in the very first paragraph I read these words: “Because they depended on the king’s country for their food supply.” I knew immediately that the Lord was going to speak on the subject of what or who we depend on to meet our needs instead of depending on God and his love to supply our every need.
At the beginning of Acts 12 is the story of Peter’s miraculous escape from prison. King Herod had arrested him and others who belonged to the church, intending to persecute them. He put to death with a sword James, the brother of John, then he had Peter placed in prison. And, he intended to bring him out for public trial after the Passover. Yet, God had a different plan for Peter. He miraculously delivered him from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating would happen to Peter. He freed Peter from prison, Peter went and told many of Jesus’ followers of his miraculous deliverance from the king’s prison, and then he left for another place. When Herod could not find Peter in the morning, he cross-examined the guards and then ordered that they be executed. Herod was a nasty fellow, in other words, and not a friend of believers in Jesus Christ.
Then, we have recorded in Acts 12:19b-25 that there was a conflict between the king and the people of Sidon and Tyre (modern day Lebanon which borders Israel and Syria) who were under his domain. The people of Tyre and Sidon sent a peace delegation to the king, using in some way their relationship with Blastus, the king’s personal servant (perhaps his treasurer), for their purposes. The reason they were concerned over the king’s wrath against them is that they depended on the king’s country for their food supply. So, they were willing to make peace with the king in order to get food, it appears.
I don’t know with great certainty all that is behind this part of this story because this is all the information I have been given. Yet, what I do see is that the king was angry with these people for some reason and they were dependent on his country for food, and so they went to make peace with him. What I believe God would have me say here is that we should never compromise our faith in Jesus Christ in order to make peace with a wicked king because we are dependent on him and/or his country for food. God will supply all that we need. His word says that. And, we need to stop placing our trust in man thinking man can somehow save our nation from terrorists or save our economy from collapse, etc., because one day we are going to wake up and realize that our own national leaders are the terrorists in our own nation and in other countries, our own leaders are robbing the people of this nation blind, and that when they are finished with us, there will be nothing left. If we place our dependency in man instead of in Almighty God, then when these things happen and we are shocked by them because we didn’t know they were coming, our faith may be shaken and we may even be tempted to “make peace,” i.e. to compromise with wicked men because we think we need them to survive. We don’t! All we need is God Almighty!
The Bible tells us that a day is coming when those who refuse the mark of the beast will not be able to buy or to sell, we will be persecuted for our faith in Jesus Christ and some of us will even be martyred for our faith. If we don’t make that decision now to place our complete trust in God instead of in man, how much harder it will be then to break away from that dependency on man and government to supply our needs and to think that the only way to survive is to compromise – make peace. Don’t ever make peace with evil and wicked men. Make your peace with God today while you still have today and make him the only one you depend on because all else will pass away and may disappoint us. God’s word will never pass away and he will never fail us or fail to deliver upon his many promises to us.
Then the story skips to an appointed day in which there was a celebration to honor Claudius Caesar, the emperor of Rome. Herod went all out and donned his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They praised him as a god, yet Herod did not deny their acclaims and sat silent and allowed their voices of admiration to proclaim him as a god. Immediately, because he did not give praise to God and deny their claims of godhood by telling them that God Almighty is the only true God and that he, the king, is a mere mortal, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died. Wow! You don’t mess with Almighty God!! We should stand in awe and in reverence of God and never think for a moment that he is any less than who He is! Herod misjudged God and he miscalculated what God was capable of doing to him, and he guessed wrong! We don’t want to guess wrong! We don’t want to play with fire thinking we won’t get burned. Don’t take God lightly. He is all powerful, all knowing and he is ever present everywhere, so he knows what is going on in our lives, and he takes it seriously even if we don’t.
I know the Bible tells us that an antichrist is coming who will set himself up as a god and will try to make himself out to be God (like Satan did). Yet, God is going to allow this for a time, times and half a time in order to bring his judgment upon man and upon the earth. Yet, one day God will judge his divine instrument of judgment and he will be thrown into the lake of fire along with the beast. Herod, long before he ever accepted this praise of man as a god, acted as though he was a god and had the power and authority of life and death over man. He did many of the same things as this antichrist will do in persecuting the saints of God and killing all those who refuse his mark. Yet, I believe this will only serve to further the gospel of Jesus Christ, just like it did in Herod’s day and at the time of his death. The word of God continued to increase and to spread. Amen! God triumphs over man! And, we need to know that so that we do not compromise with evil thinking that is our only path to freedom or to having our needs met. We need to depend on the love of God to meet our every need.
Depending on Your Love / Tom Beard
Let them go, let them trust in all the things that they can see
Things that tie them to this world, the things that they believe
But I’m holding on to something more than all I understand
Living in a faith that knows I’m gonna spend a lifetime
Depending on Your love
Depending on Your love
When nothing else is true,
I’ll still be trusting You
Depending on Your love
Hey, I know faith is proof of what I cannot see
And nothing I can say or do will prove a love that first loved me
Giving love as You have loved is something You command
Standing here without my pride, I’m starting from the inside
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