Fear is as much a part of the human existence as eating, sleeping, and breathing. In and of itself, fear is not necessarily a bad thing. It keeps us alive by reminding us of our mortality, keeping us away from things that can hurt or kill us. A fear of snakes keeps us away from the venomous ones when we are not sure whether or not the one laying in front of us has a bite that could kill or not. A proper fear of guns causes us to take precautions in keeping them away from children or those who do not know how to handle them. Fear of going hungry or losing our house may cause us to work harder at our job.
Really, what fear and worry does is reveal what we treasure. We treasure our lives and our comfort and so we fear losing them. We worry when our perceived needs and our desires are threatened. Fear becomes a problem, fear becomes a bad thing, fear and worry become sin when we allow the fear of the things of this world to control our existence and causes us to live in a way contrary to the commands of our Lord.
Fear of the things of this world lead to many compounding lifestyle sins. Living in continual fear over losing something like our money, our comfort, or health leads to anxiety. Anxiety leads to the physical stress which can cause all kinds of health problems. Fear can cause us to become so busy in life that we have no time for anything but work, neglecting family, our health, even our Savior. Fear can lead to depression and despair, keeping us from anything and everything. Keeping us confined to our beds or our couches and unable to serve God or others as we have been commanded. Fear leads to anger. When we fear losing something whether it be a cherished possession or something as simple as the TV remote; when we fear losing it, we lash out the people who we perceive as the threat to that thing.
One of the most common fears addressed in Scripture is the fear of man. Fear of man is the root of so many kinds of sin. The fear of man’s ability to harm or kill us, the fear of man in gaining or losing his approval, fear of rejection, the fear of ridicule, a desire to have a good reputation, to be loved or admired. In Proverbs 29:25 we read that “the fear of man brings a snare.” That fear of man can lead to all those same kinds of things in life that I just mentioned, anxiety, stress, overworking ourselves, depression, self-pity, anger. It is quite amazing to think about, and as you look at the things you struggle with in your own life, I am sure you can easily identify where the fear of man and some form or another is at the heart of many of the sins you struggle with.
This morning, we are going to look at someone who was completely dominated by the fear of man. In the beginning of chapter 14, Matthew takes a moment away from the ministry of Jesus to all describe what is going on in another part of Galilee. Of all of the things that Matthew could have recorded, the words of Jesus, the miracles of Jesus, the apostle makes a note of Herod’s fascination and fear of Jesus and what he had done to John the Baptist. Not only does this give us an account of what happened to the cousin and forerunner of Christ, it also gives us a picture of a man dominated by the fear of man and how it can be the foundation for rejecting the Messiah. Let us go ahead and read this account, Matthew 14:1-13. Read.
We see the story here is told in something like a flashback. We do not know exactly what point in the ministry of Jesus this is as Matthew has been jumping around somewhat, though it is likely within the last year before his crucifixion. He saw back in chapter 11 John the Baptist languishing in prison and we know that he was in prison for roughly a year before he was finally beheaded. The statement “at that time” that begins chapter 14 is not a specific time but rather a general season. Matthew was simply pointing out that at the general time when Jesus was being rejected by the Pharisees as well as the people, as the hostility was beginning to grow, Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus.
Now before we can begin to understand this story we need a little bit of a picture of who this Herod is. Now the name “Herod” is immediately familiar to us because we can go back to Matthew chapter 2 and read that name in association with the birth of Christ. Remember, Herod was the name of the King who the wise men from the East contacted and then sought to kill all of the babies formed around the area of Bethlehem.
That is not our Herod, the Herod of Matthew chapter 2 was known as “Herod the Great,” and he was the first Herod and was actually the King over Israel. Herod the Great was an Idumean , a descendent of Esau, and so was not a Jew, a descendent of Jacob; however, he got in good with Rome and was made king over Israel. This did not go over well with the Israelites, and it did not help that his first wife was a Samaritan woman. Herod the Great died early in the life of Jesus but he had many sons, three of which were given a portion of his kingdom to rule over.
It is somewhat difficult to keep track of all of the sons of Herod the Great because he kept giving them similar names, some of them even having the same name. Three of his sons were Archelaus, Philip, and Herod Antipas. Archelaus was assigned the area of Judea and Samaria, Philip was given the area north of Israel, and Herod Antipas got Galilee and the area east of Galilee known as Perea. This is the Herod that we are dealing with now in chapter 14. Herod the tetrarch or Herod Antipas. The word “tetrarch” is a title, it literally means “ruler of a fourth” but by this time it was just a title for a petty governor. Though Herod the tetrarch liked to refer to himself as a king, and was to some extent, as we see in verse nine, he was not actually a king.
In either case Herod Antipas is our antagonist for this story and he was quite the character. He had ruled Galilee for just over 30 years at this point and had made a name for himself as something of a debauched tyrant. As the Roman installed ruler over the area of Galilee, Herod had the power of life and death over his subjects. Though history does not record any particular massacres like the murder of babies that his father had committed, Herod was no less willing to take the life of anyone who challenged his authority.
Herod Antipas was evil, debauched, shameless, lustful, and given to every kind of sinful excess. He spent the majority of his time at a palace in Tiberias on the southwest edge of the Sea of Galilee. Tiberius was officially the capital of Galilee and it is also worth noting for clarity sake that the Romans named the Sea of Galilee Lake Tiberias. Though Herod sat in the seat of the governor, he did not do much governing, instead focusing his efforts on lavish parties that were so filled with lewdness and debauchery that the phrase “Herod’s birthday” became an epithet across the Latin world for licentious festivals or parties. Herod was obsessed with his own pleasure and worked hard to deny himself nothing. So that was the starting point. But it gets better.
Originally, Herod had married the daughter of the king of Arabia in a political maneuver that was good for him and his Roman masters. But on a trip to Rome Herod had met and fallen for Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. Herodias had seen in Herod Antipas a greater chance for luxury and power and so the two of them divorced their current partner in order to marry one another. This made quite a few people upset. Philip was not happy his wife had been stolen, the Romans were not happy their marriage treaty was broken, and the king of Arabia whose daughter was shamed actually invaded Galilee and would have conquered Tiberias and enslaved Herod had it not been for the intervention of the Romans. But that is a whole another unrelated story.
Not only was Herod now married to his brother’s wife, which was considered incestuous in the eyes of the Mosaic covenant, Herodias was the granddaughter of Herod the Great by one of his other sons. That made Herodias the niece of Herod Antipas, making this marriage incestuous in two different ways. All of that to say, not exactly popular in the eyes of the Jews that Herod was supposedly a part of and ruler over.
As a man dedicated to his own pleasure and always looking for new ways to entertain himself, when Herod Antipas heard of John the Baptist he was intrigued. Herod showed interest in the Jewish religion, technically making himself part of the Jewish Sanhedrin, something I am sure everybody was thrilled about, but when he heard about a prophet going around in the wilderness preaching and performing miracles, he wanted to see for himself and so he had John brought to his palace.
If you remember back to chapter 3, the preaching of John the Baptist had a particular theme to it,” repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He had no misgivings about telling the Pharisees they were a brood of vipers in need of repentance and so his appearance before Herod went about as well as you would expect. Instead of performing parlor tricks and entertaining as Herod had hoped, John stayed with his original message and called Herod to repentance by saying to his face that his marriage to Herodias was unlawful.
This of course did not go over well either with Herod or with Herodias but instead of putting on to death as he wanted to do, Herod had John imprisoned because he feared the people under his authority as they recognized John as a prophet. John was left imprisoned for around one year, likely in a prison that was discovered dug into the mountainside beneath Herod’s palace. It was dug so deep that there would be no natural light and only dank, foul air. The only relief John the Baptist would have had over the course of this imprisonment would have been when he was brought before Herod who continued to be fascinated with the prophet.
Mark 6:10 tells us that “Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him.”
There could not be much more of an extreme contrast between these two men. The only fear in the life of John the Baptist was his fear of God. He no more hesitated confronting Herod and Herodias with their sin than he had confronting the Pharisees and Sadducees back in Matthew chapter 3. This godly boldness did not consider the consequences of speaking the truth even to the most powerful of people. Even though John was aware that continuing to preach repentance would lead to his continued imprisonment or even death, it did not stop them from fulfilling the mission he had been given by God.
This holy boldness is the mark of many great believers throughout the ages. It defined the prophets of the Old Testament who continually confronted the Israelites as well as their kings over their sin and spiritual adultery. It marked men like Stephen and Peter and Paul who continued to preach the truth in the face of persecution and death it is a boldness that has marked many great men and women of the faith throughout the last 2000 years.
In contrast to John the Baptist, Herod was controlled by fear, especially the fear of man. In verse five we are told that Herod feared putting John to death because of the people. He feared that they may revolt if he executed their prophet, but he also feared that John the Baptist would lead the people in rebellion if you let him go. Herod feared losing his power and authority, something that ended up leading to that very loss. Several years after this event, Herod traveled to Rome in the hopes of being made a king by the Roman Emperor Caligula. Unfortunately for him, his political enemies sent word to the Roman Emperor that Herod was trying to raise a rebellion and that being declared king was the first step in his plan. Rather than being executed, Herod and Herodias were exiled to France but still lost everything.
Not only did Herod fear the people that he governed, he feared his wife and his friends. More specifically, he feared losing their admiration and having his reputation tarnished in their eyes. Again, Mark tells us in chapter 6 that Herod had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias. It seems that she was the primary force behind the persecution of John the Baptist and continually pressed Herod to put him to death, the only thing keeping the prophet alive was Herod’s fear of him.
Herod’s birthday celebration that was the event which caused the final demise of John was another celebration in a long line of parties that Herod put on in order to maintain his popularity among the rich and powerful of the area. He constantly sought their approval by putting on more and more extravagant and licentious events, and went so far as employing his stepdaughter to perform a lewd dance before him and his guests.
From Josephus, the first century Jewish historian we learn that Herod stepdaughter was a professional dancer who was highly sought after amongst the powerful in the area. Herod obviously had no problem with using her as a way of boosting his own reputation as well as fulfilling his lustful desires. In verse six where we read that her dance “pleased” Herod, that is simply a euphemism.
In this drunken, gluttonous stupor, Herod lost all of his dignity, all of his sensibility, lost all desire to do what was right and sane and instead, wanting to seem the magnanimous and generous benefactor in the eyes of his guests, blurts out to his stepdaughter and oath to give her anything that she would ask for. Mark includes that he offered anything up to half of his whole kingdom. It is obvious that the provocative dance was planned by Herodias for provoking just such an oath from the drunken and lecherous Herod. Before it had even taken place she instructed her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. In the Greek, the implication in verse eight is that she wanted it immediately, “give me here, now, on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
Being too proud, being too afraid of going back on his word and losing reputation in the eyes of his guests, Herod was unable to break go back on his oath. In verse nine we read “although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of his dinner guests.” He knew that it was wrong, he knew that he had not only the right but the duty to rescind the oath. But he wanted people to think that he knew what he was doing, that he had not made a foolish statement, and so out of fear of losing their respect of his guests, out of fear of losing face with the rich and powerful men who were at the party, the morally impotent, the weak, foolish, prideful Herod, in fear of his wife, in fear of John the Baptist, in fear of the people who were there gave in to the request.
He was sorry, verse nine says. He was trapped and he knew it, but his pride would not let him do what was right. And so he gave in and had John beheaded and his head given to the girl who immediately took it to her mother. There are numerous accounts of this sort of thing happening in the ancient world. Bringing the head of a victim of murder assassination to the one who ordered it was a surefire way of proving the death of the hated enemy. Jerome says that when Herodias received John’s head that she spat on it and drove a spike through his tongue.
The most ignoble of deaths for the most ignoble of men. After a year of imprisonment, John was unceremoniously beheaded because of the drunken promise of a gutless tyrant and the hatred of a woman who did not like being confronted with her sin.
Herod lived in constant fear of man. Even though he was able to order the death of someone in the midst of a drunken party, he still lived in constant fear. Fear of losing his throne, fear of John the Baptist, fear of his wife, fear of all the people around him. Instead of listening to the greatest prophet ever sent to Israel, he had him imprisoned and ultimately executed. Matthew begins this account by telling us that Herod heard the news about Jesus and was terrified that it was John the Baptist risen from the dead. Herod knew what he did was wrong, and the fear of his sin and guilt only adding to his growing list of fears.
In Luke, we read that after Herod had John beheaded he kept trying to get Jesus to come to him because he was interested in this new prophe and miracle worker. But Jesus made no effort to see Herod and would only allow Herod to see him in God’s timing. Even though Jesus traveled throughout the area of Galilee, he never once went to Tiberius, as far as we know he never once even went to the city where Herod lived. It was not until the night of the Lord’s betrayal and mock trial that Herod would finally be introduced to him. After his appearance before the Sanhedrin and pilot, Jesus was sent to Herod and we read in Luke chapter 23, “now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus; for he had wanted to see him for a long time, because he had been hearing about him and was hoping to see some sign performed by him. And he questioned him at some length; but he answered him nothing.”
Herod rejected Christ because of his fear of men and so Christ rejected Herod. For fear of his wife, for fear of his reputation, for fear of his peers, for fear of his throne, Herod lost his soul forever.
So often the fear of man causes us to fail in this life. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be loved or wanting to have a good reputation, we should want both. Prov. 22:1 tells us that, “A good name is to be more desired than great wealth.” As citizens of God’s kingdom we should have a reputation that honors our king. The problem comes when we want these things too much and when we want them for our glory rather than God’s. So often we fail in our charge to live as salt and light in the world, we fail to carry out the command to make disciples of all the nations because of the fear of man. We fear losing our reputation, we fear being mocked or scorned, we fear being rejected by our peers and so we remain silent.
All that demonstrates is that we care more about being liked or respected by men than we care about the kingdom of God and serving our Lord. We spend so much of our lives wanting to fight against what we fear but the answer to fighting the fear of man, the answer to fighting fear of losing our wealth, our comfort, our health, any sort of fear; the answer to fighting fear is not to get rid of it but to accumulate more of it. We need to fight fear with fear. Fear will be an ever present part of our lives, we just need to make sure we are fearing the right thing, more specifically that we are fearing the right person.
Over and over again in Scripture we are called to fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord seems like a step backward, but it is in fact the first step in combating all other fears, all of the fears of this life that lead to sin. Fear of the Lord is essential in the life of a believer. In Proverbs 14:27 we are told that fear of the Lord is the foundation of life and that it is the way in which we avoid the snares of death. In Psalm 31 we read that God’s goodness is stored up for those who fear him, and in Psalm 33 we read that the eyes the Lord are on those who fear him.
It is not just these blessings that come when we fear the Lord, fear of the Lord is the foundation for our ability to fight the fears of this life. What did Jesus say to the disciples back in chapter 10 before he sent them out? In verse 28 Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” What do we have to fear from man? All he can do harm our body, but it is God who stands in authority over our eternal soul.
Greater fear tends to put lesser fears into perspective. A woman with a fear of water will lose that fear if her child is in danger of drowning. We need to have the right perspective on fear and who it should be focused on. As we contemplate the holiness of God, we should fear his justice and wrath. That is what we did a couple weeks ago as we looked at the doctrine of hell, and the thought of it should rightly terrify us.
That is not to say that we should live our lives in terror before the Lord. As we contemplate the justice and wrath of God against sin, we also contemplate his mercy and forgiveness. It is the fear of the Lord that drives our love for him. The more we fear him the more we love him. The fear of the Lord drives are obedient reverence and our worship of his holiness and his perfections.
Exodus 20:20 tells us “the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.” The great blessing in the fear the Lord is that it gives us a hard to flee from sin and run toward obedience. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 7, “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.”
The fear the Lord is the answer to all of our worries in this life. What is the fear of God have to do with the fears and anxieties of this life? It replaces them. It topples them from their idol stands in our heart and replaces them with something far more important. How did Jesus tell us to respond to the anxieties and worries of this life in the sermon on the Mount? And Matthew 6:33 he told us “but seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” It is hard to worry about pointless temporal things like your health or your food or the approval of sinful men when all of your focus is on the kingdom of God. If we have a mature fear of the Lord, it means that we value and revere him above all else, that is how we fight fear with fear.
What we fear shows us what we truly value and how it has taken the place in our heart that should be reserved for God alone. What do you fear? Losing your health, has God not sovereignly and lovingly ordained every day of your life? Do you fear being rejected by man, are you controlled by the opinions of others? Whose approval is more important to you your kings or the people around you? Do you worry about money? What you love and value is being highlighted. What does it mean to follow Christ, to seek first his kingdom? When we fear God above everything else in life, all of our fears will melt away before him.