Exalt the Lord

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I recently spoke at the home church which I attend, and I thought I would put my talk onto paper (or pixels!) to post here. Since our church had finished a study of Galatians, but had not yet started our study of Ephesians, it was left to me to decide what to speak on. As I’ve done on this blog, I decided to simply draw once again from my personal study. My bride-to-be and I have been reading through Acts lately, and the last part of chapter 12 stuck out to me. To be honest, I’m not sure I ever remember reading the story before. It doesn’t seem to be a common passage of Scripture to reference, particularly when it’s at the end of a more famous passage about God sending an angel to release Peter from prison. But it’s in there for a reason!

“And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, ‘It is the voice of a god, and not of a man!’ And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.” Acts 12:21-23

Lovely passage, isn’t it! The Herod this is speaking of is Herod Agrippa I, grandson of Herod the Great, the not-so-great king who ordered all male babies under the age of two killed, shortly after Christ’s birth. Herod Agrippa I was mostly a Jew, descended from the Idumaeans, south of Judea, who were forced to live as Jews, but who were really subservient to Rome. He was constantly catering to the desires of the Jewish authorities, feigning observance of their customs, but at the same time he balanced that with making overtures to Rome, in order to maintain his good standing in that circle. We see a glimpse of his quest for popularity with the Jews in the beginning of the chapter, where he puts Peter in prison when he sees that his murder of James gained him some favor with the Jews.

“Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (These were the days of unleavened bread.)” Acts 12:1-3

Herod was very deliberate in his persecution of the early Christian church. He knew that God was greater than he was, but he was determined to carry on a popularity contest. For a king to be proclaimed a god was not an uncommon thing, as we see from the Roman Caesars of that period - that very fact might speak to his affinity to the pomp and temporal glory of Rome. But as Matthew Henry points out, the fact that he was the king over the Jewish people, and supposedly a strict observer of the Jewish Law, makes the fact that he accepted the proclamation without objection that much more of an offense.

“Many heathen princes claimed and received divine honors, but it was far more horrible impiety in Herod, who knew the word and worship of the living God, to accept such idolatrous honors without rebuking the blasphemy.” - Matthew Henry

And so God struck him dead. Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian, gives an account of this occurrence:

"After Agrippa had ruled in Judea for three full years, he traveled to the city of Caesarea, which in the past was called Strato's Tower. There he put on an exhibition in honor of Caesar, declaring this to be a festival for the Emperor. And there came a large number of officials and those of a high-ranking status. At sunrise on the following day he put on a robe made of all silver and walked into the theater. Then the silver shown brightly as the sun's first rays fell upon it and he sparkled in the sunlight, dazzling the crowd and causing a sort of fear and trembling in those who were viewing the spectacle. The crowds then began to shout from various parts of the theater, words which in truth were not for his best, addressing him as a god, and crying out, "We have in the past honored you as a man, but now we honor you as one with a nature greater then any mortal being.”"The king did not rebuke, nor disagree with the flattery of the crowd . . . Shortly afterwards he experienced a violent attack with a severe pain in his stomach . . . The king was carried quickly into the palace and word of this account reached the ears of all his subjects, that it would not be long before he died . . . And when he had suffered for five straight days from the pain in his stomach, he died at the age of fifty-four after ruling for seven years.”

Even one who didn’t claim Christianity seemed to recognize that something out of the ordinary had happened. Other accounts talk of Herod seeing an owl that years before had signaled his rise to prosperity, and now marked his doom. But we can see from Scripture that in reality, it was a punishment from God, not just for his efforts to persecute the early church, but for failing to give the glory to God, and for going so far as to accept the crowd’s proclamation that he himself was a god.

This story seemed to me to bear a resemblance to the story of Saul in I Samuel 15. Saul was ordered by God to destroy the Amalekites, and to leave nothing alive - man, woman, child, or animal. So Saul set out to destroy them, but he made the critical mistake of taking exception to God’s specific order to leave nothing alive. He captured Agag, the Amalekite king, alive, and took some of the animals alive as well. When Samuel confronted Saul about his disobedience, Saul claimed that the animals were for sacrifice to God. Samuel’s reply was this:

“And Samuel said, ‘Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” 1 Sam 15:22-23

Saul was serving himself, not God, and in essence, his disobedience was a prioritizing of himself as greater than God. That’s where I see the similarity - disobedience to God is claiming to know better than the One Who is all-knowing, all-wise, and all-powerful. It’s setting ourselves above Him. In the case of Saul, the end result was the same as Herod - eventually he would lose his throne, albeit not in the drastic manner in which Herod lost his.

I find it interesting also that it doesn’t mention Herod specifically claiming to be a god, just setting himself up to be proclaimed as one, failing to rebuke the crowd, and failing to give God glory. In Acts, just two chapters following the story of Herod’s demise, we find that Paul and Barnabas ended up in a similar situation, but with a very different reaction on their part and very different results. Paul had just healed a man who had been lame his whole life, and when the people of Lystra saw that, they began to proclaim that Paul and Barnabas were gods:

“And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, ‘The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.’ And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, And saying, ‘Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therin.’” Acts 14:11-15

Paul and Barnabas vehemently denied the title of “gods”, and showed humbleness before the people. Their reaction was quite the opposite of Herod’s. Herod had been prideful, and not refused the blasphemous acclaim, while Paul and Barnabas showed much abhorrence at the idea, lowering themselves from the pedestal that the people desired to put them on, and giving glory to the true Source of the miracle that had been performed.

“Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility.” - Proverbs 18:12

Think also of the example of Christ, and His servant-hood, despite being one with God himself. As He himself said -

“But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” - Matthew 23:11

This was said in the context of the Pharisees and their false piety and customs, but it also applies in general to human pride, I believe. Even though Christ himself was the Son of God, he showed humbleness, and glorified His Father. He never denied His God-hood, but he carried out his life as a servant-leader, showing submission to His Father. Even the One Who has every right to be, and should be, glorified and honored, humbled himself for our sakes. Unlike Herod, who, following severe persecution of the believing church, was hailed as a god, and was justly punished by the One true God.

“But the Word of God grew and multiplied.” - Acts 14:24

Herod’s efforts to destroy those who followed Christ and achieve a greater fame and glory than God himself were to no avail. In spite of his best efforts, he still went back to dust, and God’s Word was furthered.

“For all flesh is as grass, and all glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withered, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the Word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” 1 Peter 1:24-25

As with Saul and Herod, failing to show humbleness, and failing to give glory to God with our lives, holds dire consequences. We need to humble ourselves before God, as Christ did, and as we should do in becoming more like Him. We must obey His Word, and proclaim His power and glory. As a part of being humble before God, we should also be giving God the glory and praise in everything we do, lifting Him up. Humbleness is not just abasing ourselves, it’s exalting the Lord our God.