His Head On A Platter Yet He Lives Forever With Christ
A sermon by Elise Beatrice

Matthew 14:1-12. The death of John the Baptist. 

Lord, please, let Your Holy Spirit take over and help us, my God, as we read this. And thank You for teaching us what You want us to know today and what we’re supposed to learn from this passage in Jesus’ name. Lord, we love You, and we bless you. And we thank You.
Thank You for providing. Thank You, Lord God, for nourishing us with Your word in truth in Jesus’ name. Help us know why You want us to read this today. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

"When Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus, 2 he said to his advisers, “This must be John the Baptist raised from the dead! That is why he can do such miracles.” 3 For Herod had arrested and imprisoned John as a favor to his wife Herodias (the former wife of Herod’s brother Philip). 4 John had been telling Herod, “It is against God’s law for you to marry her.” 5 Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of a riot, because all the people believed John was a prophet.
"6 But at a birthday party for Herod, Herodias’s daughter performed a dance that greatly pleased him, 7 so he promised with a vow to give her anything she wanted. 8 At her mother’s urging, the girl said, “I want the head of John the Baptist on a tray!” 9 Then the king regretted what he had said; but because of the vow he had made in front of his guests, he issued the necessary orders. 10 So John was beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. 12 Later, John’s disciples came for his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened."

Wow. This is a very cruel act because if you’re moral, you wouldn’t do something like that. And no moral mum would ask her daughter to do such a thing, and no moral daughter would go ahead with what she said. But Herod regretted it as soon as he said that, but now, because he was a king whose words meant a lot, he had to go ahead with it, knowing that it was really such a cruel act. But that is not really what the Lord wants us to know today, to see how cruel they were. But He wants us to learn from this that this is the fate of a faithful servant of God because if you are a faithfulservant of the Lord, devoted to Him, and you live for Him, your life is going to end up in a way, similar, worse or less. But it is not going to be easy for you. Why? Because we are in this evil world, and when many people are so contented and comfortable in their ways, they don’t want that to be threatened. They don’t want that to change. So, they will find anyone who comes with the truth a threat to them. 
And, of course, we are in the battle between good and evil. So, the family of Herod and his wife Herodias and daughter is showing the evil side, how the enemy, the devil, uses people as his vessel to do his evil work. In the meantime, what do we do? 
Even the good people are persecuted by evil, by the opposition. If Herod had not opposed what John the Baptist wasteaching, there would be no problem. If Herodias had not felt exposed by John the Baptist, she would not be driven to do that. But of course, she saw someone who had read through her, and I’ve seen through her and said yes and exposed the sin that she did not even think someone might have known.
But he openly spoke it, and for this, she did not like that. So, we are called to speak the truth, and we are called to expose evil where evil is needed to be exposed. And we are called to bring people to the truth, to point out that whatyou’re doing is wrong so that other people can see it in order to not do those wrong things.
And this, why? Is it because we love trouble? No, we don’t love trouble. It is because we want those people to come to repentance, for we know how it’s going to be if any of them were to die in their sins because what is coming ahead is going to be such an unpleasant time.
So when you know that, it’s like someone is about to fall in the fire, you dive and reach out to want to grab them to stop them from falling in that fire. You’ll do your best because, for them to see the fire in the first place. Because if they’renot seeing the fire, they will fall. So for this, you reach out and say to Herod, ‘You are going out with your brother’swife.’ 
This will, so that he can amend his ways.
But what do we do? John the Baptist, knowing this truth,
Should he keep quiet? No If he kept quiet, he would be tolerating sin. What he knew to be true he had to speak it. If he did not speak, he would be contributing to that same sin. And even if these people were to be condemned when they die, the Lord would say, "John the Baptist, you knew the truth, but you do not tell those people. So I hold you responsible."
So, we must speak the truth when the Lord presents that truth for us to be spoken. That is the truth in this message. Andat the same time, this message teaches us to welcome the things that are presented before us and to stick to the truth and what our part is to play. And we do that part with love and sincerity and truth without trying to compromise the truth.Because when we try to compromise the truth, we are also sinning against the Lord. So yes, John the Baptist knew what they could do, but he did not shy away. Because, do we shy away from the truth for fear of what the people are going to do to us?
No, we should care more, worry more about what God thinks because if we escape persecution from someone who does not like the sound of the truth, and if we have saved ourselves from not speaking the truth, trying to escape persecution from one person like that, then we’re going to fall anyway in the wrath of God, which is worse than being persecuted by the opposition.

So, for this reason, if you are called to preach the gospel, you must carry your cross and follow Christ. So, John the Baptist was an innocent man whose head was chopped for no reason just because he spoke the truth. Christ was crucified for no reason, but He was crucified for our sins, yes. 
But do you see? John the Baptist was sent ahead of Christ to make way for Him. So the baby John the Baptist came ahead to make way for baby Jesus. And 30-something years later, he is there as an adult, making way for the same Jesus. So that was his job. So now when the time came, when Christ now came, and he saw that, okay, now his job has ended.

And what happened to him? If it was not his time, God would not have allowed it to happen. He said, “Christ must increase, and I must decrease.” So, for this, since he came to make way for the Lord, now the Lord was there, and his job was finished. It was time for him to go to heaven and rest. It was just sad that his departure had to be such a cruel thing that the enemy had done. But just as the crucifixion of Christ was such a cruel thing, not thrown upon them by God, but by the evil who used humans for their evil work. So, for this reason, we must preach the gospel when we are called to preach, with love and with peace, with joy. 
Because John the Baptist lost his head, many people were saved by his existence on this. And though Christ was crucified on the cross, billions of people are saved. So yes, we cannot fear. 
John the Baptist had prepared the way with the baptism of repentance to bring everyone to be clean in order for Christ to arrive, and Christ came as the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit. But, first, there had to be the work of John the Baptist to prepare the way in order for the work of the Holy Spirit to come upon them, because they have first begun with the baptism of repentance.
So, that is why it is very important that we repent of our sins in order to welcome Christ and His Holy Spirit. Yes, this is the life of a Christian. It is not easy to be a Christian, but this is the life of a follower of Christ who remains truthful to His teachings. 
If you compromise the teaching of Christ, you don’t go through that. If you’re a false teacher, you don’t go through that. But if you’re faithful to the Words of God, you’re bound to go through a different, you know, not the way of John the Baptist, it could be a different way, it could be verbal persecution, it could be spiritual persecution like the one I go through. And it could be the physical persecution, like many Christians are going through all over the earth.
But surely we know for sure the truth, and the truth sets free. We know that by pleading that truth to someone, they could just be set free. And what can be more rewarding than saving a soul, than rescuing someone with God’s truth. So yes, judging from the life of John the Baptist, it is not easy when you are faithful to God. And judging from the life of Christ on earth, it was not easy. 

Herod and his wife and daughter were representing the world, hating John the Baptist, who did good things and who they knew was a prophet, and the same ones who persecuted Christ were representing the world. They were hating Christ for the truth. And when we’re speaking the gospel, there are many people around who will not like that.
They are also representing the world, the opposition because they don’t like the sound of the truth that reminds them of the things they’re doing, which are not good for them and which leads them into darkness. So, even though it is tough, what do we do? Do we quit? No, we don’t. We plead to save as many people because we know the fate of those who are not saved when they leave this world. And it’s not a pleasant thing, and we wouldn’t want anyone to end up in hell. 
So we plead with love to whoever wants to listen, and God gives His teaching every day because He loves them. He loves His creation, He loves His people and wants them to be saved and wants them to be with Him in heaven. And for this, He never ceases to teach, to point people in the right direction. He never ceases to use whoever is ready to rescue those who want to be rescued. 

So thank You, Lord God, for Your grace and Your mercy, Your immense love for all. Thank You, my Lord, that You never give up. You are always the last one to turn from people. When they turn from You and don’t want anything to do with you, You keep on pleading, You keep on sending many to them, You keep on using many for them. And when they don’t listen, eventually, that’s when you turn Your face away. But You’re never the first one to turn Your face away, for You want people to see Your beautiful face. So thank You, Lord Jesus, that You are always full of love, undying love, and You have demonstrated it on the cross for all. 
And I just pray that they will accept it, that many will welcome what You've given them on that Cross. 
O Lord, thank You so much for every single one that You save. 
We love You and bless You for being good always in Your glorious name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.