Who Will Rule?


Acts Chapter 12

“Herod the Great, the villain of the Christmas story, slaughtered scores of innocent children in an attempt to rid the world of Jesus. His son, Herod Antipas, was the dark power in the gruesome birthday celebration when he ordered John the Baptist’s head to be served upon a platter, and he later played a small part in the crucifixion of Jesus. Herod Agrippa entered Luke’s story, killing James and imprisoning Peter in the text of Acts chapter 12. Later in the story, Paul would stand before Herod’s son, Herod Agrippa II. Spanning this sixty year story were four generations of Herods, defiant of God, powerful and arrogant and cruel, bringing all their considerable resources of cunning and violence against the Christian way.
         But, and this is important, Herod Agrippa was a minor irritant in this story. His pomp and pretention was all show – his interior was worm eaten, diseased, and hollow (verse 23 of Acts 12). Meanwhile this life of Christ that we embrace and engage in as a Christian community pulsates with interior energies, building the life of love and salvation from the inside out, word by word, act by act.
         What’s at stake for us, practically speaking, is the issue of who is going to be the Lord of our lives: the God who reveals Himself in Jesus and saves us or the Herod who pretends to be a god and tyrannizes us.”
- Eugene H. Peterson -

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