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7/25 Reading Portions: Judges 8; Acts 12; Jeremiah 21; Mark 7
Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. Acts 12:23
WORMS
Herod Agrippa I did not rebuke the crowd who hailed him to be…
“…a god, and not a man!” Acts 12:22
Flavius Josephus records some other details concerning Herod’s death in his work, Antiquities of the Jews (19.8:1), thus corroborating the truth of Acts’ historical account. According to Josephus, Herod’s flatterers also cried out: “Be thou merciful to us; for although we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a man, yet shall we henceforth own thee as superior to mortal nature.” Herod did not rebuke them, and as stated in our verse today, he died a miserable death proving the words of the crowd to be false concerning his immortality. Yet why such a gruesome death recorded here in Scripture?
Herod received the glory and boast of their words, which is reserved for God alone. YHVH God declares:
“I am the LORD; that is My name; My glory I give to no other, nor My praise to carved idols.” Isaiah 42:8
Herod’s death is only a glimpse of the righteous judgment due to arrogant unbelief in robbing the Creator and Redeemer of His glory. Their end will be an eternal torment, which the Lord Jesus, in quoting Isaiah 66, describes as a place…
“‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’” Mark 9:4
Does this truth apply to you and me as Christ’s disciples saved by God’s grace? No. And yes. While it will not apply to us in the eternal judgment before God’s throne in that Day, because of the corruptions still remaining in our mortal flesh, it does apply to us in our responsibility toward Christ and stewardship of His gospel.
According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism and C. H. Spurgeon’s A Puritan Catechism, the answer to the first question in both catechisms, “What is the chief end of man?” is this: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” Supporting texts are 1 Corinthians 10:31 and Psalm 73:25-26. When we glorify God in Christ, we are most blessed of God, are most joyful in God, and possess the most peace from God. Whenever we take God’s glory for ourselves, however, we miss the mark of our chief purpose and our ultimate goal. Whenever we rob God of His glory or fail to boast in Him by boasting in ourselves or something else, our faith is struck down; it as if our souls were eaten by worms. May we, by God’s grace, daily boast in Christ and His cross. This is our chief end and joy.
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14
