Title: Herod Dies/Acts 12:20-23
A revival meeting was held at a church. After the first meeting, the revival lecturer greets the members. In this case, you can say ‘Thank you for your kind words’ or ‘Thank you’ or ‘Thank you for your kind words’. In fact, it is better to unify it with ‘I have received a lot of grace’.
However, a female butler said to the revival instructor, ‘Lecturer, instructor, I saw a light shining from the sky above the instructor’s head while he was preaching. Others don’t know, but I saw clearly.” At this time, what the revival lecturer had to say quickly was, “Get away, Satan!”
It is said that God blessed the revival lecturer and blessed the revival meeting, and a great grace came upon him.
That revival lecturer is still saying, “If I had been in a good mood at the time and said, ‘Oh, was it?’, God would not have left me alone.
Herod was about to speak in front of the people, and the people said, "This is the voice of a god, not a man." At that time, Herod should have said, 'What do you mean!' I don't know if it's a Roman emperor or a Gentile king, but Herod is a Jew. He knows the first commandment of the Ten Commandments better than anyone else, “You shall have no other gods before me.”
But he did not give that glory to God.
Because of that, Herod died. It was eaten by insects and died. I'm guessing he died from tapeworms.
It is a great mistake not to glorify God.
There is a Jewish historian named Josephus. This person has documented a lot of the history of the Bible era, which is helping a lot in the study of the Bible.
Josephus wrote this about the death of Herod Agrippa I.
Herod had a great event at Caesarea. It is said that it was an event for the Roman emperor Claudius, but some say that it was an event to promote friendship with Tire and Sidon.
Herod had a bad relationship with the people of Tire and Sidon. Tire and Sidon were port cities and trade centers. So I was in competition with them. By the way, the people here eat food from Judea, so they should have looked good to Herod. So, the people of Tire and Sidon tried to establish friendship with Herod by lobbying Priestus, the servant in charge of Herod's bed.
That is why this event must have been held.
Herod attended the ceremony, dressed in silver woven garments, and when he saw his reflection in the sunlight, people said flattering things. “This is the voice of God, not of a man,” he said.
In fact, there are things that can be called the voice of God. The Bible, the written voice of God. Sometimes, things that clearly feel like ‘Oh, this is God’s voice through that person’
There is.
In this case, it is not the person who speaks that matters. That's the content. If you value that person, great things happen.
But at that time, people said about Herod's voice, saying:
Herod should have dried it quickly, but he accepts it as it is.
At that time, an owl was sitting in the upper row, and when Herod saw it, he said, 'Isn't this what I am about to die?' At the same time, he felt severe abdominal pain and returned to the palace, but suffered from pain for five days and died.
Gentlemen, we must give glory to all God. You must not try to intercept it.
Journalists interview athletes when they win. At that time, they say, ‘This glory belongs to the coach,’ ‘This glory belongs to the coach,’ ‘I want to share this glory with my colleagues who fought with me’ ‘I give this glory to my parents’.
Christian players say, 'Give this glory to God' and then the coaches, coaches, teammates and parents.
Don't Christian soccer players kneel on the ground and pray after scoring? It is a confession and sermon to say, “I give this glory to God.”
Everyone, please give all glory to God.
The book of Acts was written by Luke, and the story of Herod's death is included here to say that "all glory must be given to God" and at the same time to show that "the forces that persecute Christianity become so miserable."
That's right. The forces that persecute the church do not last long. will be miserable. I said it once during the Sunday worship service. When someone investigated what happened to the 30 representatives of Rome who persecuted Christianity, most of them recorded a tragic end.
Among the Roman emperors, the most prominent persecutors of Christianity were Nero and Domitian. But these two died most miserably.
People and forces that persecute the Church are becoming miserable even now.
Herod is dead. However, the gospel that Herod was trying to get rid of is spreading with life and power.
The first part of the book of Acts ends in chapter 12. Chapters 13 to 28 are the second part, which we will check from next week.
Verse 24 can be considered the conclusion of Part 1. So the whole book of Acts is an intermediate conclusion.
“The word of God prospered and continued to grow.”
There are four major areas within theology. Biblical theology that studies the Bible, historical theology that studies the path taken by the church, theoretical theology (systematic theology) that systematically studies doctrines and theories, and practical theology that studies practical fields such as worship and ministry. The word of God prospered and continued to grow.” This is the conclusion of historical theology.
Historical theology is also called “church history,” but it can also be referred to as “the history of the expansion of the gospel” symbolically.
If we change this word to fit today's text, it can be said to be 'The Word Heungwangsa'.
In the first part of Acts, that is, in chapters 1 to 12, the gospel remained in the Jewish world, but in the second part it spreads to the Gentile world.
In the first part, the Jerusalem church is the center, and in the second part, the church in Antioch is the center.
In the first part, Peter is the center, and in the second part, Paul is the center.
Now, at the end of Part 1, let's briefly and concisely summarize the teachings of Part 1.
We must continue the march of witnesses to the ends of the earth, remembering the word of the Lord, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
When Jesus ascended into heaven, two men in white robes told the disciples, “This Jesus will come in the same way you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
We must live a life that can welcome Jesus whenever He comes again, believing that He will return.
The early church experienced remarkable growth. In Peter's first sermon, three thousand people (Acts 2:41), after the birth lameness was healed, five thousand people (Acts 4:4), and then "there were many more who believed and came to the Lord, so a great crowd of men and women “(Acts 5:14), and after that, the number of disciples increased, and even a great crowd of priests followed the word (Acts 6:7).
This history of growth must continue.
The president of a certain seminary said, ‘There should be several churches within the church’. If we take our church as an example, there must be a Shepherd Youth Church within the Shepherd Church, and there must be a Shepherd Eunbit Church, and this is the logic of this. The answer to this is called the meta situation. Megachurches for a while, mega-churches
was chosen as the ideal form of the church, but now it should be a meta church
This person called Metachurch the “transformed church.” Meta means together, behind, and ‘change’, and I think this word was used to mean that the church should change.
To put it simply, the small group movement of the church is that ‘we need to do better in class meetings and missions’.
The early church lived a communal life.
Preaching the Word and praying were the things that the Early Church worked most hard on.
At the same time, I worked hard on salvation.
The apostles were thoroughly conscious of ‘we are witnesses’ and ‘we cannot but speak what we have seen and heard.
The Church was persecuted at birth. Stephen was martyred, and the apostle James was martyred. Peter was imprisoned several times.
However, the saints were scattered to escape persecution and established churches in the scattered places.
Now, the gospel has begun to spread beyond the Jewish world to the Gentile world. Philip preached and baptized the eunuch who was in charge of the treasury of the Queen of Ethiopia, and Peter went to Cornelius's family to preach and baptize.
The powers that persecuted the gospel became miserable, and the word of God prospered and increased.
I told you a little while ago that Acts 1-12 is the first part, and chapters 13-29 are the second part.
By the way, folks, the book of Acts is a Bible that should have a third part. The book of Acts we have ends at chapter 28, but chapter 29 and below should continue to be written.
Because even after the writing of Acts is over, the word continues to flourish and spread.
Missiologists say, 'The book of Acts 2,000 years ago was written mainly in Europe, but today's book of Acts is being written mainly in Asia'. It means that the center of the church movement is now in Asia.
A typical example is the field of overseas missions. Among missionaries in the world, there are now more missionaries sent by non-Western churches, especially churches in Asia, than missionaries sent by Western churches. Not only are there more numbers, but they are also more active.
In the first part of Acts, Peter and Paul in the second part were the central characters, but in the third part, you and I should be the central characters.
A week ago I gave a sermon at a youth meeting. It was a preparatory meeting for young people who went out to evangelize in rural areas in winter, and the theme was ‘Word, Witness, and Power. I preached, 'You are the people who go out to write Acts 29,' and then the wife of the president of Handong Global University gave her testimony. We will work with the heart of recording the book of Acts of Handong.”
We should work with the heart of writing Acts 3 in our own homes and at work.
“The word of God prospered and multiplied.” I prayed and prayed while gaining understanding and courage from these words.
I hope it will be early morning.