Mar 6:16-18 | KingComments | STEP | History is interrupted here to present Herod’s response to the works of the disciples in the Name of the Lord. In this way it is made clear in what kind of world the servants who have just been sent by the Lord Jesus are doing their service. It is a world in which evil powers are in control. Herod is an instrument in the hand of satan. He is also under the power of his own carnal lusts. We see in him what the world is made of. He also has a conscience. The Name of the Lord is a blessing for some, while he is a threat to others. The latter is the case with Herod. When he hears the Name that has become revealed from the works of the disciples, all kinds of suggestions come up. There are those who connect the powers that Christ does with a John the baptist raised from the dead. Others believe Elijah has come and is at work. Still others have the explanation that it is just another prophet, as there have been so many. All suggestions are based on the imagination of the spirit of people who have heard something, but have never examined Scripture themselves. To Herod, however, it is certain that John himself is at work. To him, it cannot be otherwise than that John the baptist, whom he has beheaded, has risen. Although an executioner beheaded John ( ), Herod knows that he actually did it himself, because he is the commissioner. He may have silenced John, but not his conscience, because that speaks.

‏ Mark 6:16-18

Herod Gets Restless

History is interrupted here to present Herod’s response to the works of the disciples in the Name of the Lord. In this way it is made clear in what kind of world the servants who have just been sent by the Lord Jesus are doing their service. It is a world in which evil powers are in control.

Herod is an instrument in the hand of satan. He is also under the power of his own carnal lusts. We see in him what the world is made of. He also has a conscience. The Name of the Lord is a blessing for some, while he is a threat to others. The latter is the case with Herod.

When he hears the Name that has become revealed from the works of the disciples, all kinds of suggestions come up. There are those who connect the powers that Christ does with a John the baptist raised from the dead. Others believe Elijah has come and is at work. Still others have the explanation that it is just another prophet, as there have been so many. All suggestions are based on the imagination of the spirit of people who have heard something, but have never examined Scripture themselves.

To Herod, however, it is certain that John himself is at work. To him, it cannot be otherwise than that John the baptist, whom he has beheaded, has risen. Although an executioner beheaded John (Mk 6:27), Herod knows that he actually did it himself, because he is the commissioner. He may have silenced John, but not his conscience, because that speaks.

The Testimony of John

It had begun when Herod had had John taken captive and put him in prison. He had done this for the sake of Herodias. Herodias was the wife of his brother Philip, but Herod had taken her and married her. His new marriage did not change the fact that she was “the wife of his brother Philip”. She was and remained so. John had spoken to Herod about his wrongful marriage and told him clearly that this was wrong.

That didn’t please Herodias. John had become someone who had to disappear from her life because of his condemnation of her marriage. But she did not have the authority to do so.

God had arranged for John to have access to Herod’s court. We see here an example that the Word reaches the conscience even where we least would have expected it. We also see here that an unconverted person can listen with reverence when the Word of God is brought. We also see that conscience remains active even when a person does not repent.

Herod had respect for what John said, also because John lived up to what he said. Herod knew him as a righteous and holy man. Out of a sense of reverence he protected John, without doing anything with what John said, although he was addressed and even liked to hear John. But the man was too much of a prisoner of his morally unrighteous and wicked life and of the distinguished position he held. It costs him too much to give that up.