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by Sandy Shaw
John the Baptist had been beheaded but the living Lord Jesus Christ is now going around preaching and healing and exercising a most powerful ministry and the man who was responsible for the death of John, King Herod, is deeply troubled. Yes, kill a prophetic John and you have a Jesus to reckon with.
Kill a prophet and you have to face the living God.
It is possible to kill a messenger of God, but the Holy Spirit enables the message to live on.
John had lived a selfless and sacrificial life. John had brought the Word of God at a time when the Word of God, coming afresh, was so greatly needed. John carried out that ministry which Almighty God sent him to exercise.
There was a faithfulness and courage and boldness in John which is to be much admired.
In Herod we see the destructive power of a weak will.
Then we have Herodias, who had had become his wife officially, and in whom we see the ruthless influence of her hard sinful heart. In that palace, there had been overt immorality, and John had pointed this out in his preaching.
It can be dangerous to preach in such a manner. It can be more dangerous not to preach in such a manner.
Salome, Herodias’s daughter, is the youthful victim of a wrong relationship.
We are read here in Matthew Chapter 14 of a multiple and multiplied tragedy.
Matthew focuses upon John the Baptist. Herod aligns John with what he has been hearing about Jesus. This is some powerful testimony to the ministry John exercised.
John’s preaching had invaded the lives of Herod and Herodias. There was so much that was so very wrong in their relationship. John had challenged them, and they resisted and rebelled and behaved appallingly.
Do remember that John had been preaching repentance, and encouraging the people to produce fruits that they have repented before Almighty God. John would not preach in any general vague manner leaving his listeners upon the air. John preached straight and in a relevant concrete clear concise manner.
How would men react to John’s preaching today?
Imagine how this would have been received in the royal circles within the palace. John was consistent no matter to whom he preached. No wonder Jesus spoke so highly of this man.
Mark tells us in his Gospel that Herodias hated John.
Herod and Herodias were not in the least interested in repentance and becoming right with Almighty God.
John found that there was an extraordinary price to pay for faithfulness to the Word of God, just as many do so today. This is what was at stake, then, and this is what is at stake in these present times.
Preaching the Word of God has never been easy nor popular.
If you are a preacher of the Gospel, and teacher of the Scriptures, remember there is a price to pay, and you will never become popular, and should you do so, take time to examine your preaching and teaching.
Alexander 'Sandy' Shaw is pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship in Nairn, Scotland. Nairn is 17 miles east of Inverness - on the Moray Firth Coast - not far from the Loch Ness Monster!
Gifted as a Biblical teacher, Sandy is firmly committed to making sure that his teachings are firmly grounded in the Word.
Sandy has a weekly radio talk which can be heard via the Internet on Saturday at 11:40am, New Orleans time, at wsho.com.
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