We’re going through Mark chapter 6 verses 7 to 29 (Herod/Herodias’ Daughter).

Mark 6:7-11: “And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits; And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse: But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.  And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place.  And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them.  Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.”

Jesus Christ affirmed the historicity of the Genesis account by this statement about Sodom and Gomorrah (as He affirmed the historicity of the Genesis account in several other places in the Gospels).  We all have greater accountability than the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah as well.  We all have their example at least to instruct and to warn us.  Any who hear this very likely have access to the entire Bible even.

Jude 7: “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

Mark 6:12-13: “And they went out, and preached that men should repent.  And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.”

Is anyone so foolish to actually think that repentance for people now wouldn’t have to involve forsaking the sins which Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for, and which their inhabitants who were guilty of the same, will suffer in hell eternally for?  

God also rebuked Jerusalem with the following words in Ezekiel 16:48-50: “As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.  Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.  And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.”

Consider then what repentance for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah would have had to involve in order for God to spare them.  

There are actually a multitude of fools who deny Jesus Christ’s Lordship and teach that people can have a saving interest in Him without forsaking their sins.  These are a curse to mankind in relation to this world as well as the world to come.  Heeding them will surely cause one to have an unfavorable Judgment Day and be sent to the fire of hell; and the bad influence of these prevailing in a city or nation makes it a strong candidate for misery and/or destruction from God’s hand.

Mark 6:14-16: “And king Herod heard of him (Jesus); (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.  Others said, That it is Elias (Elijah).  And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets.  But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.”

Obviously, Herod was wrong about that.  Herod thought this because he was being tormented by a guilty conscience.  

There are several rulers named Herod mentioned in the New Testament.  This King Herod is Herod Antipas (not the Herod who tried to kill Jesus when He was a little child and not the Herod who dies by God’s judgment in Acts chapter 12- though these were members of Herod Antipas’ family).

Mark 6:17-18: “For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife: for he had married her.  For John had said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.”

The Law of God is clear on this matter. 

Leviticus 18:16: “Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.”

God forbid men from marrying a woman whom their brother had been married to.  There was one narrow exception to this in the law- the Levirate marriage.  That exception did not apply in this case.

We also read in Luke 3:19-20: “But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.”

Mark 6:19-20: “Therefore Herodias had a quarrel against him (John the Baptist), and would have killed him; but she could not: For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.”

This rebukes the concept of Calvinistic Total Depravity.  A lost man who comes short of true repentance has spiritual capability- and can still have a significant amount of spiritual discernment.

Herod was willing to do a lot that God required, but not everything.  That is why he remained an unrepentant sinner.  

If John the Baptist had prescribed Herod unscriptural rituals, we have reason to believe Herod would have complied.  That is one key reason that such rituals ought to be opposed.  They counterfeit genuine repentance and genuine Biblical holiness.  

And even the right, Biblical things Herod was willing to do were not enough- not because he didn’t need to do what God’s Word prescribes- but rather because he wasn’t willing to wholly surrender and do everything that he knew ought to do.  

Only those who wholly surrender to the Lord can properly use His law as a guide to faith like it was intended to be.  And anyone who thinks they have surrendered to the Lord who isn’t using His law as a guide to their faith is deceiving themselves.

Since John was a faithful witness for the Lord who didn’t seek the approval of men and kept the lines where they ought to be, he didn’t let Herod off the hook for his contention with God’s Law (i.e. his sin).  This incurred the wrath of Herod’s wife (Herodias) whom John had Herod rebuked for marrying and remaining with.

Yet note that John did not tell Herod that he could not remain an earthly king.  There is nothing inherently evil about an individual having secular power or serving in the State.  The Apostles of Christ baptized a Roman Proconsul (Sergius Paulus) as well as a Roman Centurion and Jailer in the Book of Acts.  This can be confusing, because people who come to have a lot of power generally do evil in getting there, as well as in remaining there.  Also, as we’re about to see, there is increased temptation in having power.  Nevertheless, as Romans chapter 13 shows, earthly governments and law enforcement are ordained of God.  It could not be sin in and of itself for a person to occupy a role in a God-ordained position.  Herod could have used his position as a king to promote righteousness and to execute justice as long as he was in office.

Mark 6:21: “And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee;”

There was absolutely no need for the scene that was about to unfold to ever have happened.  Herod did not need to have a birthday party for himself- let alone one which he invited all the big shots of his region to.  

Herod is acting here like many do who constantly sin and say they’re sorry- and then go back to their sin. 

Herod did need to say that he was sorry and stop doing evil.

Proverbs 28:13: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

Thus, he needed to get in line with the law.  If there was no law at all, it would mean that there is no sin at all.

1 John 3:4: “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.”

Herod’s problem though, like those who constantly sin and say they’re sorry, and then go back to their sin, is that he was unwilling to die to himself and suffer in order to actually cut the sin out of his life.  That is related to how the Bible defines a carnal person in the sense of one who is a sinner; an enemy of God.

Consider:

1 Peter 4:1-2: “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.”

We do not need to violate the light of truth and sin in this life.  Yet in this life, there will indeed always be a conflict between our carnal desires and the will of God.  

Those who strive for God’s favor without dying to self, embracing the reproach of Christ’s cross, and suffering to do God’s will are double-minded people who will inevitably be slaves in some way to their carnal desires.  

This is what is going on with Herod.  Submitting to God and exercising some godly wisdom here would have caused him to never even allow an environment where the following took place.

Mark 6:22-23: “And when the daughter of the said Herodias came in, and danced, and pleased Herod and them that sat with him, the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee.  And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom.”

Herod was a slave to sexual lust as well as the opinions of others.  He could have realized here he had made a mistake in allowing this environment and intervened by telling the loose little woman to get out as soon as she started dancing.  But that would have angered her mother (who was Herod’s wife) and upset the big-shot guests.  But who should care?  What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul, right?  Right.

From available historical writings, it is thought that this girl who danced at this supper was named Salome and that she was in her early teens at this time.  

It is now considered socially unacceptable for a group of men to watch a female under 18 dance like this.  

However, it is becoming increasingly socially acceptable for adults to let other adults who don’t accept their own God-given gender dance like this before children who aren’t even teenagers yet.  

Those who go with the flow of society and don’t look to the standards of God’s unchanging Word are on track to be damned on Judgment Day- and it will be worse for many than it will be for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah then.

Imagine if Herod had stopped the dancing.  It would have angered his wife a lot and probably angered his guests too.  Yet since he had to have a birthday party for himself and invite the big-shots of Galilee, that is what Herod needed to do at this point.  

And since choices have vast consequences, and one thing can easily lead to another, he sets himself up for a foolish oath which proceeds to put him into an even deeper hole which there are even worse consequences for not digging out of.

Mark 6:24: “And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask?  And she said, The head of John the Baptist.”

This girl might have thought she was something special, but she was just being used as a tool by her mother to obtain the murder of John the Baptist through her husband’s power.  

Mark 6:25-26: “And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by (at once) in a charger the head of John the Baptist.  And the king was exceeding sorry; yet for his oath’s sake, and for their sakes which sat with him, he would not reject her.”

It is no surprise that someone who would dance lasciviously before others wouldn’t have the moral courage to say no to this murderous request.  

This was surely a time when a youth should not obey their parents.   

The Bible does prescribe oaths in limited circumstances.

Deuteronomy 6:13 says: “Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.”

When Jesus taught us to “swear not at all” He was obviously speaking of oaths that are not made in the true God’s name or oaths which are inappropriate to make in His name (oaths which are false and/or unwarranted).  

This oath was unwarranted.  

It would have been right for Herod to not have gone through with her request.  

Yet Herod had dug a hole so deep by his foolish decisions, lascivious behavior, and people-pleasing that he had made doing righteousness a thousand times harder for himself than it would have been if he had just put away his wife whom it was unlawful for him to have; and also never had the dumb birthday party for himself to begin with.  

Mark 6:27-29: “And immediately the king sent an executioner, and commanded his head to be brought: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, And brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel: and the damsel gave it to her mother.  And when his disciples heard of it, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.”

Look at the lasciviousness, people-pleasing, and murder which those who teach against Lordship salvation in Christ, and rather teach that God justifies the ungodly in their sin, are promoting and justifying!

They practically shut John the Baptist up in prison and behead him there as well.  Yet they cannot alter the validity of his message which is foundational to the one and only Gospel which can save.

Mark 1:1-5: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.  The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.  John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.  And there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.”

John 1:7-8: “The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.  He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.”

Luke 3:7-10: “Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.  And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.  And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?”

Read the chapter yourself.  You’ll see that his answer to this question was not “nothing.”  

There is plenty that must be done.

Aaron’s email is: [email protected]

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