Reasoning Through the Bible
Taking a cue from Paul, Reasoning Through the Bible is an expository style walk through the Scriptures that tells you what the Bible says. Reviewing both Old and New Testament books, as well as topical subjects, we methodically teach verse by verse, even phrase by phrase.
We have completed many books of the Bible and offer free lesson plans for teachers. If you want to browse our entire library by book or topic, see our website www.ReasoningThroughTheBible.com.
We primarily do expository teaching but also include a good bit of theology and apologetics. Just like Paul on Mars Hill, Christianity must address both the ancient truths and the questions of the people today. Join Glenn and Steve every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday as they reason with you through the Bible.
Reasoning Through the Bible
S18 || The Fate of John the Baptist || Mark 6:14-29 || Session 18 || Verse by Verse Bible Study
Join us in a gripping exploration of the story of John the Baptist and King Herod in Mark Chapter 6. This episode delves into the intricate themes of power, guilt, and morality showcased through John’s unwavering commitment to truth amidst formidable opposition. We unpack the dynamics of Herod’s character as he wrestles with fear and societal expectations that lead him to a tragic decision – the beheading of an innocent prophet. This episode culminates in a call to embrace moral courage, reminding us that, like John, we too can be messengers of truth in a world desperate for clarity.
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May God Bless you!! - Glenn and Steve
Hello and welcome to Reasoning Through the Bible. My name's Glenn. I'm here with Steve Today. We're in Mark, chapter 6. We're going to hear the story about John the Baptist and what happens to him. We'll see the death of John, and in doing so we get a peek into society in and around the leadership in Jerusalem and Judea at the time, and so it's a very interesting story. It tells us quite a bit about the Lord and about society at the time. So, steve, can you jump in at Mark 6, 14 and read down to verse 29.
Speaker 2:And King Herod heard of it, for his name had become well known and people were saying John the Baptist has risen from the dead and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him. But others were saying he is Elijah and others were saying he is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old. But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying John, whom I beheaded, has risen. For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so, for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him he was very perplexed, but he used to enjoy listening to him.
Speaker 2:A strategic day came when Herod, on his birthday, gave a banquet for his lords and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee, and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. And the king said to the girl Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you. And he swore to her Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you up to half of my kingdom. And she went out and said to her mother what shall I ask for? She said the head of John the Baptist Immediately.
Speaker 2:She came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter. And although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her of his oaths and because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her Immediately. The king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and had him beheaded in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl. And the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about this, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb.
Speaker 1:So, if we remember, there was a Herod when Jesus was born. That was Herod the Great. This Herod is Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great. His official title was Tetrarch. That was given to him by the Roman government. Mark calls him king here in verse 14, because he wanted to be king. He was acting with all the authority of king and he might as well have been king because he had all the control of that. Herod wanted more than he really had. His greed and his lust got to him. Now we have this story here, Steve, where it's the little parentheses in the midst of. Of course, most of Mark is about Jesus, but we have what happened to John the Baptist and he tells us the story, and the thing that I see just overarching in all of this is it seems like Herod is very guilty, Don't you think? To me, that is the primary motivation for what he does here, don't you think?
Speaker 2:Well, he's got this person that has a great following and he's criticizing Herod for what he's doing and he doesn't like that, and so, therefore, he wants to take in silence, to cancel out what John is criticizing him about. So it shows, yeah, that he feels guilty about what he's doing. If he didn't really think what he was doing was wrong, then he would just go ahead and let the person out there continue to criticize him, but the fact that he has him brought in and arrested to silence him, I think, gives an indication that he does feel that what he's doing is not right. What kicks off this story?
Speaker 1:is the beginning there where it says people were saying that John the Baptist had risen from the dead. They were seeing Jesus going around, and so the timeline goes back to what happened to John. The reason why they were saying that Jesus was Elijah was because the last few verses of the Old Testament have a prophecy that before the great day of the Lord, elijah would come, and so that's why they were associating John the Baptist with Elijah. And when John gets killed now we have Jesus going around doing even greater miracles than John did. So people were saying, oh, this was John risen from the dead or this was Elijah that's to come. They recognize that this is a grand movement of God. They just are not sure of exactly what it is. So what was it, steve I think it's verse 18, that got John in trouble. What was he concerned with?
Speaker 2:He's saying that it's unlawful, meaning by the Mosaic law for Herod to be married to his brother's wife, and that is something that, again, as I mentioned before, I think Herod acknowledges that and that's why he wants to silence John. John had gone and said that. Again, as I mentioned before, I think Herod acknowledges that and that's why he wants to silence John.
Speaker 1:John had gone and said that and notice who's who here.
Speaker 1:John was a prophet of God, he was speaking God's message and the king there was a civil leader that was doing an immoral act with his sister-in-law and John had called them out.
Speaker 1:Now, today, if John was a member of a lot of our churches, he would be shunned and they would accuse him of mixing religion and politics. I think here we have an example from God. John was clearly God's messenger. He was clearly doing what God wanted. He was entirely submitted to God. Jesus called him the greatest prophet that had lived. And so John is very specifically going in talking to a secular civil government official and calling out their immoral acts. And so we have here God's message, god's messenger, speaking to a lost world, talking about a moral issue.
Speaker 1:And, steve, today we have a lot of churches that do not want to get involved in public moral issues. They call it mixing of religion and politics. Well, we're not mixing politics here. This isn't political candidates, it's a moral issue. It's an immoral act that was done by a civil leader. And I think, stuart, we have plenty of examples, this being one of them, but there's not a few.
Speaker 1:There's many places in the Bible, where we are commanded to go out and be salt and light.
Speaker 1:We are to follow the civil laws, but we're also supposed to be good citizens and swing the public view to a moral, godly position, and too many churches are just reluctant to do that.
Speaker 1:They've backed out of culture, they've backed out of any kind of influence on civil government on the excuse that it's a mixing of religion and politics. Well, again, john wasn't mixing religion and politics. He was giving God's message, and I think we as Christians have a divine command and an example here of John the Baptist, to go to our culture and speak the truth of God, speak morality to it. If we don't, if we back out, then who's left? Well, the atheists aren't going to swing the culture to a godly, moral position, and one of the reasons why our cultures are so godless is because Christians have gotten out of public discussion on these things, and I just think that the example of John is one that we should hold to Now. We have to remember that we might suffer John's fate. If you go out to people that don't want to hear a moral message, then they may put your head on the platter, but nevertheless, john was in God's will when he did this.
Speaker 2:And the proposal is couched in the wrong way, as you mentioned. That's how they say, though you're mixing religion with politics, when it's really it's politics that are getting involved with the morality of God. That's what the issue is. So, yes, I agree with you wholeheartedly that Christians have taken that and they've cowered back because of non-believers that want to put the narrative in that way in order to silence the Christian people, and I completely agree with you, glenn, is that the Christians should be speaking about the morality of their countries, of what their countries are doing and what their countries are sanctioning doing and what their countries are sanctioning, and we've already witnessed over the past decades what happens whenever Christians stand back on the sidelines and let the political people take the moral position on different areas.
Speaker 2:It just keeps getting morally worse and worse and worse. So a question then arises okay, well, at what point are you then going to speak up? Well, the problem, then, is you've let it gone for several decades, and then, whenever you speak up now, they want to come back, and they want to say no, you don't have any right to speak up. So now is the time to speak on moral issues. Don't let them say mixing religion and politics, come back at them and say this has nothing to do with politics. It has everything to do with the morality of God.
Speaker 1:I find it no surprise that immoral people would take offense at Christians trying to speak morality into the public square. What I do find surprising is that Christians would back out of that conversation. And the first church I was a member of right after I got saved, they were very socially active. They had a letter-writing committee that would write letters to public officials and let them know our positions. They had a social issues committee that would keep track of what was going on in the public discussions. They would invite candidates in. They invite all the candidates in. Some of them would come, some of them would not, but they would invite them in on a Friday night to speak to the congregation. They were very active in these things. The first church I was ever in I thought all churches did this and later I found out that that was sort of unique.
Speaker 1:But our Bible is not just here. With John the Baptist I mean I think of large sections of the book of Isaiah speak against moral issues that were done in countries outside of Israel. We have Nathan, the prophet, confronting David because of an immoral act that he did. We have all, throughout the time of the kings, god telling them that this king did evil. On the side of the Lord. We have many places where God, both in Israel and out of Israel, giving commands that these people did immoral acts, and God demanding that they be moral or suffer the judgment. Think of Jonah. What was his message? He went to Nineveh saying you're doing immoral things. So God's people, throughout the history of our relationship with God, have sent his people out into a godless world to speak moral issues.
Speaker 1:Now again, it's not politics. We're not supporting a political party, my friend. If you think a political party is going to be our Savior, well, you're sadly mistaken. The only Savior we have is Jesus, and he's given us a divine guide. Our job is to be salt and light, to shine light into a dark world and to slow down the decay so that some could be saved prior to our societies falling apart and Jesus coming back. So we'll put that soapbox back in the closet and move on with the passage here In verse 20,. Herod was king and he seemed to have more power. He was the one with the kingly power. But who was afraid of whom in this passage?
Speaker 2:Herod was afraid of John and he was afraid of him, I think, because who he was heralding? He was heralding the Messiah was here, the King was coming and the kingdom is at hand. So I think that is one reason why Herod is afraid of him, Notice again what verse 20 says.
Speaker 1:Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. Knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him he was very perplexed, but he used to enjoy listening to him. I find this to be a real interesting psychological study into this man, herod. He was afraid of John. Well, why would he be afraid of him? Because he knew John was speaking truth and he knew that John was speaking holiness. Yet when Herod, who knew he was not holy, saw holiness, he became afraid. That's what's going to happen when Jesus comes back.
Speaker 1:There's passages where it says people will cry out for the mountains to fall on them because they're so afraid, because they're going to finally see true holiness. It also says that Herod knew John was righteous and holy. He knew it and he kept John safe and he used to enjoy listening to him. But our translation uses the word perplexed. He was mystified by John, he was sort of drawn to him and at the same time repelled by him. So we find this man, herod, who was keeping John safe and he knew he was righteous and holy, and he holds that until he gets into this little jam at this party one night and he had made these oaths in front of his dinner guests. And that's the point where, when push comes to shove, he has John executed. So he knew John was holy and he was keeping him safe, but in the end he finally gives in and does an evil act, which is kill an innocent man, and he killed him knowing he was an innocent man.
Speaker 1:So, steve, I found that there's a lot of people like this in our society and even some in our churches. They'll recognize that Jesus and the Bible and the church represent holiness and they're sort of attracted to that. They're sort of mystified by it. They like to keep their Christianity kind of safe over in the corner and they'll pull it out and listen to it a couple of times a year. But push comes to shove in their life, when it really gets down to brass tacks, they end up deciding a worldly, fleshly decision and not a holy, biblical decision. Have you found that to be true?
Speaker 2:I have found that, and I've always been a little bit enamored with this text here, in that he knows he's a righteous and holy man, he's keeping him safe, yet he makes this promise to his stepdaughter because she pleased him at one point there and he says I'll give you anything, even up to half of my kingdom. Well, that's a silly offer to begin with. And then the second thing is is that when she comes back and says give me the head of John the Baptist, he goes ahead and follows through with it. And then it says, there, he did it because he made this oath in front of the guests that were there and he didn't want to be embarrassed. So I've just found it curious that here he is, he's willing to kill a righteous and honorable man speaking the truth because he doesn't want to be embarrassed in front of the crowd there and because he made this really kind of silly promise to the stepdaughter.
Speaker 2:He's a king. Whatever he says goes forth. What is she going to do if he just steps up and he says, well, no, I'm not going to do that. And she says why aren't you going to do it? Well, because he's a holy and honest man, I'm not going to do that. He's righteous and I'm not going to kill a righteous man, but he caves into her. So I've always found that curious. How many times do we put our faith into the corner or on the sideline because we're embarrassed and we don't want other people to really know that we're believers?
Speaker 1:I find here this Herod to be like a lot of people in our day. He kept John safe because he knew he was holy and I know that's a special thing but he didn't have the strength to throw him away. He didn't have the strength to push him away. He didn't really believe in what John was saying. He was perplexed by that, but he didn't have the strength to get rid of John and send him away or execute him on his own power. He kept him around, kept him safe and he was afraid to embrace it. He was afraid to fully embrace God's message and God's ways. And when something bad happened in his life, he gets in a jam. He ends up deciding to do what was expedient at the moment rather than do what he knew was righteous and holy and good.
Speaker 1:A lot of people are like that today. They convince themselves that they're true Christians and they keep Christianity around and maybe they're a little mystified by it, but they know it's special. But push come to shove in their everyday decisions they get in a hard spot. They're not really seeking God's answers on how to do things. They do what's expedient at the moment, and I've been guilty of the same things at times, and we should always repent of these things. These people will pull out religion every now and then and then try to put it back, but push come to shove, they're going to decide against it in the end. Difficult situations arise in their lives. They cut the head off of any biblical answer and go and do what the world wants. That's what we see here with Herod.
Speaker 1:Herod was sorry. Look at verse 26. He was sorry that he killed an innocent and righteous man, but not so sorry that he refused to kill him. He wasn't so sorry that he stopped, as you said, and refused to do it. And then, later in the timeline, back in verse 16, he was feeling guilty enough to the point that he was in ongoing turmoil about his sin after John had died. John had died and now people are going to saying, oh, john the Baptist is risen from the dead. Now Herod's feeling guilty and he'll feel guilty of that. He'll carry this weight of guilt around with him for the rest of his life. And in this sense of turmoil, steve Herod was feeling guilt and turmoil. How can we get rid of the guilt and turmoil in our lives? Because we carry around guilt and we know that we've done wrong things in the past. Herod didn't accept the answer. Herod didn't have a way of getting rid of it. How could we get rid of the guilt that we're carrying around?
Speaker 2:We initially need to take that guilt to Jesus Christ. We need to come to a realization that we are not doing the things of God. We're missing the mark of what God wants us to do and wants us to be and what type of relationship he wants to have with us. That missing of the mark is called sin. We need to come to the realization that we are sinners and then change our mind about Jesus and that he can make a difference in our life. He's given us promises of eternal life and then place our trust in him. Then we get rid of that initial guilt of what we have Now.
Speaker 2:After that, after we have that and we find that justification, then we go through a process called sanctification. And we find that justification. Then we go through a process called sanctification. That is where, after we're a new preacher, that Paul says we need to put on the new self every day and put off the old self and we need to become more Christ-like. And as we go through that process, we have 1 John, 1.9. That says we are to be faithful, to go and confess our sins to the Father and then he is faithful to forgive them. So we have a way that we can continue to take that guilt away from us on a continuing basis as we become more Christlike in this sanctified process.
Speaker 1:All of us have done wrong things. None of us have any high moral ground to judge anyone else, because we're all guilty of some gross sin. When we come to Christ, that sin gets forgiven and our guilt gets taken away. What happens if we still feel guilty? What happens if I still feel guilt that I'm carrying around with me? And that is, I think, what happens to a lot of Christians is we still feel like we shouldn't have done what we did and we're still carrying around this weight of guilt. And so what do we do then?
Speaker 1:And one thing, steve, I've found is just if we really get into the Bible, if we really memorize these passages 1 John 1, 9 is a good one the little word all, he cleansed us from all unrighteousness, and there's many of those passages, that's. What I just think is that we have non-believers who have no way of getting rid of their guilt. The message to them is to come to Christ. And we have believers that in one side of their mind they know, hey, I'm forgiven, but in another side of their mind they're carrying around guilt. And to that I give the same answer come to Christ. That's what we have, because he is really the answer. We're told in many places that we're cleansed from all these things.
Speaker 1:The other lesson I think we can find here, steve, if we look at what happens in the story, like in verse 25, she goes to her mother. Well, first, this young girl does this dance, he makes the promise, she goes to her mother and the mother gives her what to do and she comes back and asks for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. Now, what I think of there is what a horrible family, right, what a dysfunctional, debased, just horrendously immoral family. I mean, he had a lot of money, power, influence, could have sent his daughter and his wife to the best schools, had servants around them.
Speaker 1:This was the cream of the crop, the tip of the top of the high society people, and look how horrendous their lives are. I mean, what parent would put their young daughter out dancing in front of this group of men from the community, probably in some immoral dance and some degree of undress? That's just not what you do to your daughter. And then just to ask for somebody's head on a platter, I mean I can't think of anything more debased I'm struggling for a word that is horrible enough for this. And the king was supposed to be fair to his subjects and he ends up murdering someone that he knows is holy and righteous. The whole family is just horrible, and these were again the high society people that are supposed to be better than this. Steve does wealth and power bring?
Speaker 2:moral good. No, many times wealth and power brings debauchery and we have many, many stories of that in our life, of society of very, very wealthy people that get together at very crude, debaucherous type of activities that take place at some of these gatherings and get togethers that they have. But no, just being rich and wealthy doesn't bring necessarily sophistication and the belief in God and the control of what God can do in our lives. Most of the time we see these rich people it's really the opposite.
Speaker 1:The ancient philosopher Plato had a story of a cave. That story really has been the basis for much of the worldly system, for how we view education in our world. In his story there's these people that are in this cave and they're backs to the door of the cave and they're seeing shadows on the wall. And somebody gets up the gumption to leave the cave and see. Well, all you're seeing is shadows. And if you come out into the world you'll see the real world out here.
Speaker 1:So the story of Plato's cave is that if we just go into where people are uneducated and if we just educate them on how the world really is, then, boy, they'll be moral, they'll come out of the cave, they'll see the world as it really is and people have viewed all we really have to do to take this immoral, debased, debauched person and if we just educate them, then now they'll act like a moral holy person. And I submit, steve, if you take an immoral person and you educate them now, you're going to have an educated immoral person. And if you take a debauched person now, you're going to have an educated debauched person. Does education equal morality?
Speaker 2:No, it doesn't. Unless you're being educated in the ways of God and you're embracing what is being taught, then you can come out of debauchery, then you can come out of immorality. That's the type of education that we need the ways of God, who he is and through the word of God that he's left us.
Speaker 1:Verse 26,. Although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her. He killed an innocent man because of the peer pressure and because of what he had already said, he wasn't willing to stop and say no, I made a mistake, I should correct this. And we should all get to the point where he said I have made a wrong decision in the past and right. Here is as far as I'm going to go. I'm going to correct it. We should have the power and the ability to admit we were wrong and to back up and go another direction. If we don't, then we'll end up just like Herod and for the rest of our lives feeling guilty for doing something wrong when we really should have had enough intestinal fortitude to back up and do what's right. And I submit we won't have that power unless we submit first in repentance to the Lord Jesus Christ and have His Holy Spirit come in and give us the wisdom to do so.
Speaker 1:The last thing in this story the disciples came and buried the body of John. The last thing in this story the disciples came and buried the body of John. Christians have always buried our dead. Christians never were in the habit of cremating our dead, because we believe in bodily resurrection. Over and over again, the New Testament teaches that our bodies are raised and throughout the Bible, old Testament and New, the Christians always bury our dead. The Bible, old Testament and New the Christians always bury our dead. John's disciples did what was honoring to the dead up until the end. They were his disciples and they honored him up until the very end. Steve, there's so many just gold nuggets in this story that it's just a tremendous lesson for all of us.
Speaker 2:As I was preparing for this study through the book, I found it a little bit curious that there's this little parenthetical story here and the backstory of how John got murdered. But there's a lot to get out of it. I'm glad that we went through it in the way we did.
Speaker 1:And I urge you to be back next time, as we will continue to reason through the gospel of Mark. Thank you so much for watching and listening.
Speaker 2:May God bless you.
