WE ARE STUDYING THE FOUR GOSPELS MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE AND JOHN TO KNOW THE LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST. TO KNOW HIM IS TO LOVE HIM.
Our Savior was rejected in Nazareth see;
Then He;
We see that He;
He then tells us how to get saved;
Jesus ends His Ministry in Judea and;
John the Baptist Exalts Christ.
Jesus finished His Ministry in Judea and went up to Galilee but did not take the long road the Jews normally take to avoid going through Samaria but went straight to a place called Sychar near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there.
Jesus and the Woman of Samaria.
Jesus returned via Samaria to Galilee and we see The Rewards Of Service John 4:28-38, The Growth Of Faith John 4:39-45 and lastly The Reward Of Trusting Jesus’ Word John4:46-54.
Back in Galilee after a year in Judea;
Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds.
Nazareth’s loss was Capernaum’s gain. The people in the latter city recognized that His teaching was authoritative. His words were convicting and impelling.
The Sermon on the Mount.
And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him:
The Beatitudes. Salt and Light.
Christ Came to Fulfill the Law
Retaliation and Love Your Enemies
Secret giving and secret praying
What to Seek and Whom to Serve
Ask, and It will Be Given & The Golden Rule.
Rewards Of Faith, The Great Physician
The Helper Of The Needy And The Friend Of Sinners
a Sermon Christ in Me by Dr. Sidlow J. Baxter.
Hope for the hopeless. Tender Ministry to Maid and Women. Curing the Incurable and Raising the Dead
The sending forth of the twelve in Chapter 9 opens the third year Jesus’ public ministry
The Harvest Is Plentiful, the Laborers Few
Messengers from John the Baptist
Come to Me, and I Will Give You Rest
The Parable of the Sower Explained
The Mustard Seed and the Leaven
The Parable of the Weeds Explained.
Jesus’ Parables of the Hidden Treasure-The Pearl of Great Value-Fishing Net.
Matthew 14:1-12
The Death of John the Baptist
At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus,
And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.
For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife.
For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her.
And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.
But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod.
Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask.
And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist’s head in a charger.
And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath’s sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.
And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.
And his head was brought in a charger, and given to the damsel: and she brought it to her mother.
And his disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus.
Frederick Brotherton Meyer, a contemporary and friend of D. L. Moody and A. C. Dixon, was a Baptist pastor and evangelist in England involved in ministry and inner city mission work on both sides of the Atlantic presents it to us this way regarding Matthew 14:1-12.
FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS’ SAKE
In the terror arising from his stricken conscience, Herod made confidants of his slaves, overleaping the barriers of position in his need of some ears into which to pour his fears. He had not finished with John. There is a resurrection of deeds as well as of bodies. The only way to have done with a sinful deed is to confess it and make reparation.
What true nobility John displayed in summoning the king to the bar of eternal justice! He might have said, “It isn’t seemly,” or, “It isn’t politic;” but he puts it on more unassailable ground, which Herod’s conscience endorsed: “It is not lawful.”Herod was luxurious, sensual, superstitious and weak. He was easily entrapped by the beautiful fiend. To tamper with conscience is like killing the watch-dog while the burglar is breaking in.
How splendid the action of John’s disciples! Reverent love and grief made them brave the king’s hatred. In hours of lonely bereavement, the best policy is to go and tell Jesus.
We thank William MacDonald (1917-2007) who, for more than forty years, written directly about the key issues of Christianity. Leaving a promising business career as an employed investment analyst with First National Bank of Boston “at the foot of the Cross”, he had travelled worldwide, proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ for the Believer’s Bible Commentary on Matthew 14:1-12
John the Baptist Beheaded
14:1, 2 News of Jesus’ ministry flowed back to Herod the tetrarch. This infamous son of Herod the Great was also known as Herod Antipas. It was he who had ordered the execution of John the Baptist. When he heard of Christ’s miracles, his conscience began to stab him. The memory of the prophet whom he had beheaded kept coming before him. He told his servants, “It’s John. He has come back from the dead. That explains these miracles.”
14:3 In verses 3-12 we have what is known as a literary flashback. Matthew interrupts the narrative to review the circumstances surrounding the death of John.
14:4, 5 Herod had abandoned his wife and had been living in an adulterous, incestuous relationship with Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. As a prophet of God, John could not let this pass without rebuke. Indignantly and fearlessly, he pointed his finger at Herod and denounced him for his immorality.
The king was angry enough to kill him but it was not politically expedient. The people acclaimed John as a prophet, and would have reacted, perhaps violently, against John’s execution. So the tyrant satisfied his rage momentarily by having the Baptizer imprisoned. “The ungodly like religion in the same way that they like lions, either dead or behind bars; they fear religion when it breaks loose and begins to challenge their consciences.”
14:6-11 On Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias so pleased the king by her dancing that he impetuously offered her anything she wanted. Prompted by her wanton mother, she brazenly asked for John the Baptist’s head … on a platter! By now the king’s wrath against John had somewhat subsided; perhaps he even admired the prophet for his courage and integrity. But although he was sorry, he felt he had to fulfill his promise. The order was given. John was beheaded and the gruesome request of the dancing girl was granted.
14:12 John’s disciples gave their master’s body a respectful burial, then went and told Jesus. They could not have gone to anyone better to pour out their grief and indignation. Nor could they have left us a better example. In times of persecution, oppression, suffering, and sorrow, we too should go and tell it to Jesus.
As for Herod, his crime was finished but the memory lingered on. When he heard of Jesus’ activities, the entire episode returned to haunt him.
Please pray the Holy Spirit-The Paraclete will use these sermons and studies to bring many to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
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