OUR LORD BEFORE HEROD. Lk. 23:8 And when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceeding glad: for he was desirous to see him of a long season, because he had heard many things of him; and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him. 9 Then he questioned with him in many words; but he answered him nothing. Last Sunday morning we were looking into the picture the Bible draws of the Lord Jesus standing in front of Herod Agrippa, a vile reprobate man that Jesus once called a fox. This same man had heard so many things about Jesus and he wanted to see for himself whether or not they were true so when Pilate sent Jesus to him he was excited by the prospects of some very special court entertainment, with our Saviour as the star attraction. There was nothing about the message he wanted to hear; the Gospel had no appeal for him, he had no concern for his soul s eternal destiny, the message that Christ came to save sinners made no impact upon his hardened heart and his deafened ear! We considered the picture from the vantage point of Herod before Jesus; let s now look at it from the other angle, Jesus before Herod. THE LONELINESS OF THE SAVIOUR As Jesus stood in the court of this rascal do you see anyone else standing beside Him? There is no one there to share the insults and the abuse and the offensiveness that rose up from that place. Nobody raised their voice in Christ s defence. Nobody stood with Him. There was no one in that palace of Herod who stood up for Jesus! That was a congregation who hated and despised Him more than any words could describe. Indeed, how sad it would actually have been if there would have been even one in the congregation who did have sympathy for Jesus and yet said nothing! How sad and how terrible if, - in the midst of that crowd in Herod s palace, - there had been a follower of Jesus mingling with His enemies.
D.G. 2 In the Garden of the High Priest Caiaphas, Peter (the one who said he would never deny Jesus) denied Jesus. We ought not to be in the company of those who deny Jesus, who have chosen to accept another gospel which is not of Christ and His Word. When you are in the company of the world anymore than you need to be it weakens your resolve for Him and silences your voice. And there is Jesus, He stood there bound in shackles, before Herod, like a common criminal, Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place condemned He stood. Yes, He was beaten and bruised, the hair on His face was tugged and pulled but sometimes it s worse than any sticks when people beat you with mockery and insults. Can you see Jesus standing there in all humility? Jesus, the Son of the Almighty God, the King of Heaven, the Creator and Sustainer of life. Can you see Him there bound in shackles standing facing the cruel Herod and his cronies! Can you see Him? He didn t have to be there! With one whisper towards Heaven His Father could have lifted Him up into Glory With one whisper to His Father there would have been legions of angels to His immediate rescue. His Father looked upon that scene and He saw His Son humiliated and shamed as He stood there disgraced in the eyes of these religious people of Jerusalem. This same Jesus had come with the one intention on His mind to bring salvation to His people who needed it so much. Yes, there were already wounds on His body; but how much more painful must have been those wounds tearing His heart! THE LONGING OF THE SAVIOUR His Name shall be called Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins. That s why Jesus was standing there in the court of Herod. It wasn t Herod or Pilate that had captured Jesus; it was the Divine and Sovereign will of Almighty God that He should be there. Yes, before Jesus had breathed His first breath of Bethlehem air He had already been offered upon Heaven s altar as the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.
D.G. 3 He knew that it was the will of His Father to be standing there in Herod s palace; how did He know? He planned it! Why did He plan it? He planned it not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins (I Jn. 4:10). It was the longing of the Saviour that as He stood before Herod He would endure the grief and the misery and the pain of the heart With the bloody sweat still damp upon His brow, with the spittles by now dried into His face, with a sense of the awful penalty of sin bearing down upon Him imagine! the great and only Substitute for sinners was molested by the jests and taunts and attacks on His dignity by the worst of the scoundrels of men! As the chief priests and the scribes (enemies of each other) left the places they were standing and came up to Him and surrounded Him can you see the hatred in their faces? Can you hear the absolute wickedness and evil in their voices? I m sure their loathsomeness of Jesus built up such a frenzy that Jesus could see the devil, - not only in their hearts, but also in their faces. Religious men, educated men, men looked up to in society this one is laughing, this one is sneering, another gestures in the rudest of manners. They are all in harmony against the Saviour, as He stands there bound in shackles all their voices reaching fever pitch, accompanied with all the vileness that sin could muster. And there is Jesus why is He standing in Herod s palace at all? He s standing there for only one reason He is on His way to the cross for it was the longing of the Saviour that He would redeem His people onto Himself. They would mock Him, despise Him, scorn Him and show absolute contempt for His message but yet it was the Saviour s longing Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed (I Pet. 2:24). The loneliness of the Saviour, the longing of the Saviour our closing thought must be this
D.G. 4 THE LOVE OF THE SAVIOUR How difficult it must have been for Jesus to have remained silent! This was Herod s final opportunity to hear His words. Don t think that the Lord despised Herod as much as Herod despised the Lord. I m sure as Jesus stood there, with all the hatred surrounding Him, I m sure the pity of His soul went out to that foolish man on his miserable throne. Remember, Jesus appealed to the heart of Judas; is it not wholly likely that Jesus would have loved to have spoken this one last time also to Herod? Yes, Herod deserved eternity in Hell; he was making fun of the Saviour s sufferings and humiliation; he was treating the Son of God as mere court entertainment but I also believe that God s infinite love was breaking the Saviour s heart. God told Ezekiel, 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? And what did Jesus say one time? Mt. 5: 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. Jesus loved Herod despite what Herod did (I m not particularly saying that Jesus loved Him pertaining to effectual grace, but Jesus nevertheless loved Him for that is what He taught), Jesus even would have blessed him and would have done good to him, and would have been standing there praying for him Oh, what a Saviour! Jesus didn t say a single word but yet, what a sermon He preached that day! How it must have cost the Saviour such a tremendous effort to remain silent, but silent He became Is. 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
D.G. 5 When you are in pain you simply want to cry out; when the agony becomes so great you want to shout; but Jesus remained silent even in Herod s palace. Don t you see what those people were doing? They were making sport of the Saviour; He was the brunt of their jokes. But do you see what else they were doing? They were flinging the salvation of God to the ground and holding on to their own false professions. Faced with Jesus, - the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, - they demonstrated utter contempt. These were the same men just a few hours later who would whip the crowds into such a frenzy that they would call out for Jesus execution, Crucify Him, Crucify Him. Look again at v.11 and see what they did, Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate. They put Him down, they considered Jesus as nothing better than dung. CONCLUSION Don t you see the picture I have been trying to set before you? You might say, David, I don t know how you are able to see it so clearly and make it live the way you do. I wouldn t boast in it for I ll tell you how I can see it so clearly and make it live for you the way I trying to do; I ll tell you why When I see those religiously educated men, robed in their own self-righteousness and importance standing making fun of Jesus I see me. I m afraid that if I had been living in those days I would have been among them; I m afraid that I wouldn t have seen Jesus as the Son of God either. I see Him with the bruises because I would have put some of them there; I would have slapped Him, and the spit running down His face, - that more than likely- would have been mine. I would have tramped Him into the ground if I have got away with it. and friends, don t sit there and think you would have done anything differently!
D.G. 6 There might even be some here this morning and even now, you are among the crowd who are against Jesus. You wouldn t show yourself up like some of the men that night, but neither would you raise your voice in Christ s defence. He s not your Saviour; you don t love Him as such; He hasn t done the work of salvation in your heart not yet, but the message that comes to you this morning is simple, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved (Acts 16:31), for the Bible tells us that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved (Acts 2:21) and it tells us too, Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Do you see them putting that gorgeous robe around Him? - that was their sins of vanity you are seeing, He was being dressed in their pride and in their glittering apparel. How it was to their shame! I look at Him as you look at Him too, and I believe we would have done exactly the same. Do you see the friendships that were made that day? The scribes and the Pharisees, Pilate And Herod (v.12). What a pitiful lot, and scourge on humanity! Hell, - again, - tried to do its worst against Heaven s Best. Believer, do you see it what Jesus did for you? Do you see how much you owe Him? He has bought you with a price and He was paying back that price, even as He stood before Herod like a common criminal. Unsaved, do you see what He had to stand up to in order to purchase the only salvation that is pleasing to God? If you are not saved, leave your place from standing among the Christ-haters and come today and stand alongside the Saviour and those who are His.