BARGAINS
THAT WERE COSTLY.
-MATT.
14:1-12.-MARCH 13.-
Golden Text:-“Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a
crown of life.”-Rev. 2:10.
JOHN THE BAPTIST had
been imprisoned about a year when he was beheaded, as narrated in this lesson.
He had preached only about a year, but in that time evidently made a profound
impression throughout Palestine-an impression, however, which signally failed
to accomplish the purpose intended by him-failed to prepare the hearts of the
people, through repentance and contrition for sin, to receive Jesus as the
Messiah. Josephus supposes that he was confined in a dungeon connected with
the castle Macherus. Geike gives us his opinion of the kind of dungeon in these
words: “Perhaps a cage of iron bars like one I saw at Gaza, to which friends of
the prisoner could come with food or for gossip, but with no conveniences or
provision of any kind for living or sleeping, and only a bare stone floor.”
This would account for John’s ability to send his disciples to Jesus,
inquiring, “Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?” We cannot
wonder that his experiences were in some respects disappointing to him, though
from our standpoint we can see that he did the work which the Father intended.
This may serve as a lesson to us. We, too, should do our parts faithfully as
unto the Lord and leave all the results in his hands, assured of his wisdom and
power to overrule all things to the final accomplishment of his gracious
purposes. The words of the poet are appropriate to John and to many other
faithful souls,-
“We live in
deeds, not years; in thoughts, not breaths;
In feelings, not in figures on a dial. He most lives
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best.
That life is long which answers life’s great end.”
As there is a
striking resemblance between John and Elijah, his type, so there is a strong
resemblance between the experiences of John and those of the faithful
Church,-the great antitype of Elijah. While Elijah fled from Ahab, his real
persecutor was Jezebel, who sought his life. So John the Baptist was
apprehended and finally executed by Herod, but his real opponent was Herod’s
wife, Herodias. Similarly the greater Elijah, the faithful body of Christ in
the flesh, has suffered and will yet suffer further at the hands of civil
power, yet the real persecutor behind the civil power has been the antitypical
Jezebel mentioned in Revelation 2:20-the antitypical Herodias-the nominal
Church adulterously allied to the kingdoms of this world while nominally
espoused to Christ. All Bible students will recognize the various pictures of
this apostasy in Revelation, whether they understand the resemblance distinctly
or not.
HEROD, HERODIAS AND SALOME.
Herod the Great left several sons ambitious to be his successor.
Herodias married the eldest of these, anticipating that thus she would become
the queen. The Roman Emperor decided otherwise and chose Antipas, the Herod of
this lesson. Thereupon Herodias, still strong-willed and ambitious to be a
queen, brought her captivating influences to bear upon Antipas, induced him to
repudiate his former wife, and to accept her as queen instead. John the Baptist,
preaching against sin, had evidently declared in public against this unlawful
union-declared that Herod and his wife were living in adultery-the king
separated from his own wife and improperly associated with his brother Philip’s
wife. We cannot wonder that such haughty, ambitious, and lawlessly disposed
persons as Herod and Herodias must have been should feel resentment against any
preacher who would dare to call in question the conduct of the regal pair. The
result was the imprisonment of John. Evidently this course was instigated by
Herodias, who had everything to fear from John’s preaching. If Herod should
feel conscience-stricken, or if the people should become aroused to such an
extent as to influence his course aside from his conscience, the results would
surely be disastrous to her interests. She would not only lose the high social
position she had sacrificed her life to attain, but she would lose everything
and become a homeless wretch. Evidently she strove to incite her husband to
put John to death at the time he was imprisoned; but her influence was offset
by Herod’s fear of the effect of such a course upon the people, who esteemed
John to be a prophet.
The queen, still plotting, determined to take advantage of the king’s
birthday festival. She knew the king’s disposition, and that on such occasions
it was customary to have great hilarity and to use intoxicating beverages with
more than usual freedom. It was the custom of the time for such gatherings of
men to be entertained by dancing girls in more or less transparent garments,
executing voluptuous dances; and the queen arranged that the king’s party, as a
special honor, on this occasion should be served by her daughter by her former
marriage, Salome. Her scheme was extremely successful: the king and his
courtiers were charmed, and instead of the paltry gift usual on such occasions,
the king, under the heat of wine and his admiration for his adopted daughter,
told her to ask whatever she desired-even to the half of his kingdom (Mark says).
THE KING’S BAD BARGAIN.
Only a judgment unbalanced by excitement and alcohol could have made so
rash a promise, and bound it with several oaths, as the original indicates.
Here is one of the advantages possessed by the Lord’s people. They are not only
protected from such excesses and the distortions of natural judgment caused
thereby, but additionally, as the Apostle intimates, they receive the “spirit
of a sound mind.” (2 Tim. 1:7.) The mind of Christ, the disposition of Christ,
lifts the heart from such follies and places it upon more reasonable things.
It gives us a truer estimation of values. Whereas the spirit of the world, the
spirit of pride, the spirit of ambition no less than the spirit of envy, tends
to pervert the judgment, to give false conceptions of value.
Along this line we call to mind various bad bargains: amongst others that
of Esau, who for a mess of pottage sold his birthright as the first-born of
Isaac, the natural heir of the Abrahamic promise. We call to mind Judas’ bad
bargain, by which he received thirty pieces of silver, sold his Lord, and lost
everything. Herod’s was one of these bad or costly bargains. He lost his peace
of mind as the lesson records-“The king was sorry.” We may be sure that his
mind was frequently disturbed with the thought of his injustice, and the
further thought that quite probably his crime was against one of the Lord’s
special favorites-against a prophet. The popularity of Jesus did not evidently
become so general until after John’s death. Herod, hearing of the matter about
that time, was perplexed, and wondered whether or not there might be some truth
in the Grecian theories that the dead were not dead, but had power to
communicate through other living persons, after the manner of spirits through
mediums in the present day. His mind was troubled, yet he was not penitent.
Similar conditions prevail today: people do those things which they
recognize to be wrong, they violate their consciences, they feel sorry; yet
this is not the godly sorrow, for, as the Apostle explains, a godly sorrow-a
sorrow of the kind which God recognizes and appreciates-leads to repentance.
Every other sorrow is apt to have an injurious effect merely, but a godly
sorrow is profitable. It leads to repentance, to reformation, to
reconciliation with God through his appointed provision in Jesus. Let us as
the Lord’s people seek to be filled with the Lord’s spirit, and proportionately
emptied of the worldly spirit, the spirit of intoxication and the spirit of
self-will, and have the spirit of a new mind, of a sound mind. Yet if any find
himself in sin through yielding to the desires of the flesh, let him remember
that each step in the downward way is a step to be retraced if ever any good
shall result, or is to be attained in the future. Let such make haste at any
cost to seek the Lord, and to be purged, washed, cleansed, in the merit of the
precious blood, and henceforth more than ever be on their guard against sin.
DID JOHN ACT IMPRUDENTLY?
It is not for us to sit in judgment upon the course of John the Baptist,
to determine whether or not he exceeded his duty in his criticism of the king
and queen. We are inclined, however, to think that he did exceed his duty. So
far as we may be able to judge, there were many officials at the time against
whom serious charges might have been brought by Jesus and the apostles, yet we
have no evidence that any of these ever took the course which John took. Jesus
was before Pilate, and, later on, was before this very Herod, yet we have no
record that he ever said a word on the subject concerning which John felt free
to speak; Paul was personally before Agrippa and Felix and others prominent in
that time, some of whom, according to history, were disreputable men, yet he
made no personal attack upon them, and his only appeal was to Agrippa, “I would
that thou wert altogether as I am, except these bonds,” and this was in reply
to Agrippa’s remark, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”
In our understanding of the teachings of the Scriptures it is not the duty
of the Lord’s people to go through the world rebuking sin, but preaching the
Gospel. It is the Gospel, which we preach by our words and by our lives, that
is the “power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” We emphasize
this, because it is our observation that some of the Lord’s people feel it
their duty to copy John’s course in such matters rather than to copy the Lord
Jesus and the apostles, and we believe that herein they err. The Gospel is not
sent to break men’s hearts but to bind up the broken-hearted-to heal those
whose hearts are already broken. Sin and its natural penalties are the
sledgehammers which are breaking men’s hearts. The great time of trouble which
is approaching is God’s method apparently for the breaking of the hearts of the
whole world-to prepare them for the balm of Gilead and the general blessings of
the Millennial age which shall follow it. He who uses the Gospel as a hammer
has mistaken his commission, which for the whole Christ reads, “The Spirit of
the Lord God is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach good tidings to
the meek, to bind up the broken-hearted,” etc.-Isa. 61:1.
A PARENT’S INFLUENCE, FOR GOOD OR EVIL
The power of Herodias over Herod is illustrated by her power over
her daughter Salome. The king’s generous offer must have carried weight in the
mind of a young girl. Riches, splendors, apparel, palaces, apparently flitted
before her mind; but as her previous course had been under her mother’s
direction, she now sought the mother’s advice, “What shall I ask?” (Mark
6:24.) Here we have an illustration of parental influence. Evil woman as she
was, Herodias evidently had retained the affection of her daughter and her
absolute confidence and obedience. It was hers to direct the young mind into
good or evil channels. To some extent this is true of every parent,
particularly of every mother. How great, then, is the responsibility of
fathers and mothers for the course of their children! The spirit of a sound
mind in the Lord’s people will certainly prompt them to use this mighty
influence, which is theirs by natural relationship and opportunity, so as to
guide those under their direction into right paths.
Alas, how some, even Christian mothers, fail to seize such opportunities
and to direct their children in the heavenly ways. They seem to have so much
of the worldly spirit themselves that, even while desiring to sacrifice their
own earthly interests for the cause of the Lord and to lay up treasure in
heaven, they shrink from having their children participate, failing to realize
that wisdom’s ways are ways of pleasantness and that all other paths lead to
present and future trouble. They fail to appreciate the Apostle’s words,
“Present your bodies living sacrifices, holy, acceptable to God, which is your
reasonable service.” Every other course is unreasonable, irrational, unwise.
Some one has put these words into the mother’s mouth in answer to the
daughter’s desires for the great things proffered her by the king: “Little
fool, you know not what you ask: what would all these things be to you and me
unqueened and outcast, as we may be any day if John the Baptist live?” The
mother’s thought evidently was that with the Prophet out of the way all other
advantages were accessible to herself and her daughter. She bade her daughter
ask for the head of the Prophet and that at once, here, now, on a charger (one
of the large platters used at the feast). Haste was deemed necessary lest the
king’s ardor should cool and his better judgment take control-while the flush
of excitement and liquor was upon him, and while his counselors were present
who had heard the oath, and before whom any indecision in respect to a prisoner
would stultify himself. The king yielded, yet Herodias was not saved from the
fate she dreaded; for history records that within ten years her ambition
prompted Herod, against his better judgment, to solicit at Rome an additional
dignity. The request was refused, and Herod was deprived of his dominion and
banished to Lyons in Gaul, where he died.
POSSIBILITIES OF THE FUTURE TO US.
We have already referred to the fact that John the Baptist was an antitype
to Elijah, and to the fact that the Gospel Church, Head and body, the Christ in
the flesh, is still the higher and grander antitype. For eighteen centuries or
more this grander Elijah has been preaching righteousness in the world and
calling for repentance, etc., announcing the coming of the Christ, the
glorified Church, as the Kingdom of God to judge and to bless the world. As
Elijah only found a few loyal to God in Israel, so Elijah the second found only
a few ready to meet Jesus in the flesh, and similarly the great antitypical
Elijah (the Church in the flesh) has found only a few, a little flock, to heed
and to properly prepare for the Kingdom. Nevertheless it is the work designed,
and, as foretold by the Prophet Malachi, the failure to accomplish larger
results means that the Kingdom will be introduced not peaceably but forcefully;
that in order to the establishment of the King of Glory as the Prince of the
earth it will be necessary to smite the nations with the rod of iron, to break
them in pieces as a potter’s vessel, that all the Gentiles may seek unto the
Lord, and that the knowledge of the Lord may fill the whole earth, that his
Kingdom may come, and his will be done on earth as in heaven.
Another point here: The first Jezebel persecuted the first Elijah so that
he fled into the wilderness, and even after his coming again and performing a
great miracle and turning the hearts of some to the Lord, he was a second time
obliged to flee from Jezebel, who sought his life. In the case of the second
Elijah, John the Baptist, the experiences were somewhat similar, and the
Herodias Jezebel succeeded eventually in accomplishing the destruction of the
Prophet. In the case of the third Elijah (the Church in the flesh) the woman
Jezebel is mentioned by name (Rev. 2:20); and her pernicious work, the flight
of the Church into the wilderness (Rev. 12:6), and her return from the
wilderness condition since Reformation times are all known. Now we are to anticipate a second attack upon the true
Church (not upon the nominal system), and this may mean, as in the case of John
the Baptist, a second and a seemingly complete victory of the Babylonish woman
and her paramour, the world, over the faithful members of the body of Christ in
the flesh. We shall certainly not be surprised if the matter so results; but
this and all things must work together for good to those who love the Lord. We
must all die to win our heavenly prizes beyond the veil. The Elijah class this
side the veil must and will be vanquished, but the apparent defeat only hastens
the Kingdom glories, powers and blessings promised. “Be thou faithful
unto death and I will give thee a crown of life.”
GO TELL IT TO JESUS.
The disciples of John knew where to go with the message-where to find
sympathy and consolation in respect to their loss. There is a lesson for us in
this. To whom shall we go with trials, difficulties, sorrows, troubles,
disappointments? The Lord invites us to come to him with everything which is
too heavy for ourselves, with every care. He cares for us and will grant the
blessing to trusting souls. Doubtless those who went to Jesus became his
disciples, and thus their trials in connection with their leader and teacher
brought them into closer knowledge and fellowship with the great Teacher. And
so it will be doubtless with those who are the friends of the Lord’s people at
the present time: the vengeance of the antitypical Jezebel upon the antitypical
Elijah will move their friends and associates to still greater love and
interest, and will be the means of attracting more closely to the Lord the
“Great Company.”
OUR GOLDEN TEXT.
Those who prepared the lesson evidently did not see that John the Baptist
belongs to a separate class of the saved from those addressed in the text. No
promise was made to John of a crown of life. That promise belongs to us, the
Gospel Church-called chosen, and faithful. John, however, will have a great
blessing, for we mark again our Lord’s words, “There hath not arisen a greater
prophet than John the Baptist-and yet I say unto you that the least in the
Kingdom is greater than he.”