John have I beheaded but who is this!
Job Anbalagan
"And Herod said, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see Him (Jesus)" (Luke 9:9).
Herod desired to see Jesus because he heard of many miracles and wonders performed by Jesus and also because he wondered whether John the Baptist whom he had beheaded was risen from the dead. Herod had beheaded John the Baptist because the latter stood against the sin of adultery committed by the former. John made a debut from the wilderness and started preaching a message of repentance to the backsliding Israel. He gave a very simple message to the backsliding people of God. He spoke to the Pharisees and Sadducees who came to him for baptism, calling them, "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to fee from the wrath to come? ( Math.3:7). Even the Pharisees and Sadducees came forward to be baptized of John. Such was his powerful message on repentance! John did not perform any miracles to attest his prophetic ministry. His message was very simple but was harsh. The people feared and respected him because they counted him as a prophet. Then what cost his precious life?
Herod had laid hold on John and bound and put him in prison because John pointed his finger at Herod, and spoke to the latter about the sin of adultery that he had committed by living with the wife of his brother Philip. John told Herod, "It is not lawful for thee to have her (Herodias). In fact Herod did not want to kill John in the first instance. It was only at the behest of the daughter of Herodias, Herod consented to behead John. Herod was sorry when the daughter of Herodias, on the instructions of her mother, asked him for the head of John.
At last, the head of John was brought in a charger and given to the damsel. John stood against the sin of adultery committed by the king of Israel. He could have got his favor for continuing his further ministry. He could have continued with his ministry if he had not raised his finger against the king. Was a prophet required to speak to the king in authority against the sin of adultery? John exposed the sin of adultery in public gaze. "It is not lawful for thee to have her". His message was a very short one. But it was addressed to a king who had all the authority to punish him.
Herod took his brother's wife when his brother Philip was alive. This is the sin of adultery. If someone marries the spouse of another person during the life time of the latter, it is nothing but the sin of adultery. Divorce merely gives a legal sanction of separation between the husband and the wife but does not separate them in flesh because God had made the husband and wife one flesh and no man should put asunder those whom God had joined (Mark 10:8). Divorce does not permit the spouse divorced to "have" the spouse of another person or to remarry another person during the life time of the other spouse. Herodias was the spouse of Herod's brother, Philip.
Before the second advent of Jesus, the way of the Lord has to be prepared. We have to cast out this sin of adultery out of the camp. The revival will never break out if we compromise with the Herods and Herodias' in our midst. Let us not behead the Johns who speak the truth in our midst.
If a John is beheaded, another powerful John will be raised from the dead. John was beheaded but Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth, appeared on the scene and repeated the same message very clearly in the gospels.
Please read Mark 10:2-12. A husband and his wife become one flesh when they marry one another. Jesus said that it was only Moses who allowed the people of Israel to write a "bill of divorcement "due to the "hardness of heart"."But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. For this cause......they twain shall be one flesh....." Jesus finally warned, "Therefore, what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder".
Pharisees wanted to put away their wives and came to Jesus and asked Him tempting whether it was lawful for a man to put away his wife "for every cause"? ( Matt.19:3). Jesus gave this commandment to the Pharisees who sought to put away their wives. The Pharisees wanted to know from Jesus the cause for such a divorce. Jesus replied that it was Moses who gave this commandment due to the hardness of their hearts. Jesus did not give any commandment to us for putting away our unfaithful spouses. Jesus simply quoted the commandment of Moses as mentioned in Deut.24:1 to 4. According to the Mosaic law of divorce, a man could write a bill of divorcement if she found no favor in his eyes because he had found some uncleanness in her. The cause for divorce according to the Mosaic Law was "some uncleanness in her". The husband could not tolerate this uncleanness in his wife due to the hardness of his heart. She could not find favor in his eyes due to this uncleanness. Can we apply the same standard of "some uncleanness" for divorcing wives under the New Covenant? No. God forbid. The apostle Paul exhorts the husbands to love their wives "even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it" ( Eph.5:25). If some preacher quotes the Mosaic Law to justify divorce, he is truly a false teacher. Jesus said very clearly to the Pharisees, "but from the beginning it was not so" (Matt.19:8). According to Jesus, the matter of divorce was not in the heart of God when He created Adam and Eve. If anyone wants to divorce his spouse even on the ground of adultery, he or she must be in the category of the Pharisees only.
Jesus did not want to overrule the Law of Moses but attached a string to the Law of Moses. If anyone wants to divorce except on the ground of adultery, he/she should remain unmarried and should not marry during the life time of the other spouse.
If a couple becomes one flesh after marriage, nobody should or can separate each other in flesh, either by divorce or otherwise. Only the death of a spouse separates each other in flesh. No man or judge has any power to separate what God has joined together. To our great surprise, we find many pastors solemnize such unholy and unscriptural marriages. To add salt to the injury, they also encourage their congregations to divorce their spouses and marry again.
To read more in this regard, please click click here.