The Daily Fountain Daily Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 30 June 2020 – TOPIC: A TERRIBLE END
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TOPIC: A TERRIBLE END
READ: ACTS 12:12-25 (NKJV)
12. So, when he had considered [this,] he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.
13. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer.
14. When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of [her] gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate.
15. But they said to her, “You are beside yourself!” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “It is his angel.”
16. Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened [the door] and saw him, they were astonished.
17. But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren.” And he departed and went to another place.
18. Then, as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers about what had become of Peter.
19. But when Herod had searched for him and not found him, he examined the guards and commanded that [they] should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Caesarea, and stayed [there.]
20. Now Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; but they came to him with one accord, and having made Blastus the king’s personal aide their friend, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food by the king’s [country.]
21. So on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them.
22. And the people kept shouting, “The voice of a god and not of a man!”
23. Then immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and died.
24. But the word of God grew and multiplied.
25. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem when they had fulfilled [their] ministry, and they also took with them John whose surname was Mark.
THE MESSAGE:
The text today began with the triumph of the righteous. Midway, it presented the terrible end of the wicked and concluded with the victory of God’s word. Our concern however is in the terrible end of King Herod, which came on the day he accepted the people’s declaration of him as a god, taking the glory of God to himself! He was smitten by an angel, eaten of worms and died! Considering this sequence, one would see that Herod was still alive when worms started feeding on him.
Wickedness cannot end in glory. God is a righteous judge, who rewards every man according to his works. The end point of Herod was a typology of hell, where worms feed on condemned souls while they are alive (though dead – the second death). What a horrible thing! You do not need to be Herod to end that way. Sin is wickedness and sinners will end terribly. The solution is total repentance and abstinence from sin and wickedness.
PRAYER: Save me from a terrible ending, O Lord!
