Consider these questions as you dwell in Acts 12:20-25:

1. In this passage, Herod's demise is depicted in a dramatic and vivid manner, illustrating the consequences of his failure to give glory to God. How does this event serve as a powerful reminder of the sovereignty of God and His ultimate authority over human endeavors, even those carried out by individuals in positions of power?

2. The contrast between Herod's fate and the progress of the Gospel message is striking. Despite Herod's attempts to hinder the spread of the Word, we witness a significant outcome: "But the word of God increased and multiplied." How does this highlight the unstoppable nature of the Gospel's advance, and what lessons can we draw from this for our own lives as messengers of God's Word?

3. The incident involving Herod's violent death serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of seeking personal glory and failing to acknowledge God's supremacy. How can we apply this lesson to our own lives, ensuring that we prioritize giving glory to God and faithfully proclaiming His Word, knowing that His purposes will prevail regardless of any human opposition?

Transcript:

 As I said, this is just the perfect story for the Christmas season. Someone being struck down by God and eaten by worms.  Yeah, this is an interesting story, to say the least. I always remember it because when I was in my early high school years, I listened to a thrash metal band, a Christian thrash metal band, called Vengeance Rising. And they had a song entitled, “Herod's Violent Death” that was about this incident in the book of Acts. I listened to it this morning, I don't recommend it that you listen to it. It's not terrible But it's just not very good either, but it tells the story and talks about this passage. And so, here we have these five verses what in the world is Luke telling us this story for?

Well, to understand why he's doing that, we have to go back to what happened before. Who was opposing the Apostles? Well, who was imprisoning them? Well, it was Herod. And so, we saw in the last passage that we looked at that Herod was trying to stop the spread of the gospel, but the gospel was going forward because God was in control.

Ultimately, right, God is the true king. He is the one who is fully in control. And the efforts of humans are not going to stop the advancement of the gospel. No matter who you are, no matter how much power you have, God is going to win because he does his perfect well. And so, this whole incident happens where Herod is speaking to these people and They say that, that what he has to say is the voice of a God and not a man.

Well, he accepts this praise, for lack of a better word, and does not give glory to God. And he is struck down and eaten by worms. Now that is a violent death, is it not?  Imagine being there. Imagine seeing this man struck down. And immediately they know that he is eaten by worms. I mean, this is something else.

But where we want to focus is on verse 24. But the word of God increased and multiplied. Now you see it, right? You understand why this story is here.  Herod is struck down and he is eaten. He has tried to stop the gospel, but he is struck down and eaten. God prevails and the word of God increases. God's word is going to go forth.

Whether or not humans are, um, supporting it or not. Whether they are trying to stop the gospel, the word of God is going to continue to go forth, increase, and multiply. And so, as we think about what this passage means for us, yeah, let's get some application out of this one, right?  But what is that application?

That we want to be the ones who proclaim the word of God. We want to give glory to God for all things. Not glory come to us and let us, uh, see ourselves as being in a high position, but instead we give glory to God. And then we proclaim his word because that word will continue to increase, that word will continue to multiply.

People will come to faith. People will hear and believe. So may we be the people who proclaims God's word and gives glory to God in all things.