Great Events of
the New Testament
Lesson #33 – Herod Has
John the Baptist Killed
Family / Teacher Notes
For Sunday, Nov. 14th
Read Matt. 11:2-19; 14:112; Mk. 6:14-20; Lk.
3:19-20; 7:18-23
After the story of the apostles being sent out by Jesus, both Mark 6:14-29 and Luke 9:7-9
tell about some news that came concerning the ruler Herod and what he had done to John
the baptist.
The Herod being talked about in this story is Herod Antipas. You may remember the
story of Herod the Great who the wise men had come to about the birth of Jesus. He was
the one who had sent soldiers to kill the male infants at Bethlehem where Jesus was born.
The Herod in our story today is not that Herod, but is his son, Antipas. When Herod the
Great died, his kingdom was divided among his sons and Herod Antipas was made
tetrarch (meaning “ruler of a small province”) over Galilee. Antipas was cruel and
worldly like his father had been.
John Was Put in Prison (Lk. 3:19,20; Matt. 14:3-5; Mk. 6:17-20) Why had John been
put in prison? When we look at each of the gospel stories, we find out why Herod had
done this.
 John reproved Herod for taking his brother’s wife. Herod Antipas’ half-brother,
Philip, had a wife named Herodias. Antipas talked Herodias into leaving Philip
and marrying him (Mk. 6:17). John had told Herod, “It is not lawful for you to
have your brother’s wife”, and Herod had John arrested and put in prison because
of this (Mk. 6:17-18).
 Herodias (the wife Herod had stolen from his
brother) hated John for saying these things (Mk.
6:19). She encouraged her husband to do these
things to John.
 John also told Herod Antipas that he was wrong for
“all the wicked things which Herod had done” (Lk.
3:19).
Even though John had criticized Herod, Herod did not
really hate John. Mark 6:20 says that “Herod feared John,
knowing that he was a just and holy man, and he protected
him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and
heard him gladly.” Herod knew his own ungodly life and knew that John was truly a
righteous man. He like to listen to what John said. It even says that he was afraid of John,
which probably means that the things John said made Herod afraid because of his sins.
Herod likely also feared John because he was a prophet of God. Even though Herod had
John put in prison, he still had been protecting John from being harmed.
John’s Question to Jesus (Matt. 11:2-3; Lk. 7:18-19). John the baptist heard about the
works of Christ from John’s disciples. During the time that Jesus sent out the 12, John
was now in prison and sent two of disciples to ask Jesus a question: “Are You the One
who is coming, or do we look for someone else?” John is asking if Jesus was really the
Christ that the Old Testament had said was coming.
Was John starting to have doubts? When John was preparing the people for the Messiah
to come, he told about how he would bring a fiery judgment: “And His winnowing fork is
in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean His threshing floor; and He will gather His
wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” (Matt. 3:12).
But John had not seen Jesus do any of that. In time Jesus would bring judgment on the
Jews, and all will face His judgment at the end of time, but John wasn’t seeing this
happen. Maybe John wondered if he had misunderstood who Jesus was. John had not lost
trust in Jesus – in fact, his question expects Jesus to tell him if he wasn’t the Messiah.
There is also another way of looking at this. It may be that John had no doubts at all, but
was sending his own disciples so that they would clearly see who Jesus was. At times
John’s own disciples had been a little jealous of how many were now following Jesus
(John 3:26-30). Knowing that he might be facing death, John may have felt that they
needed to hear for themselves the testimony of Jesus.
Jesus’ Answer (Matt. 11:4-6; Lk. 7:22-23). John had asked, “Are You the One who is
coming, or do we look for someone else?” Jesus does not answer, “Yes, I am the One
coming” or “No, don’t look for someone else”; but instead Jesus invites John to consider
the evidence: Jesus explained to them, “The blind receive sight and the lame walk, the
lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the
gospel preached to them” (Matt. 11:5). Luke 7:21 observes “At that very time He cured
many people of diseases and afflictions and evil spirits; and He granted sight to many
who were blind.”
Jesus is pointing to two Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah:
 Isaiah 35 -- If John was concerned that Jesus had not come reaping vengeance, He
might want to take a closer look at what it said: “Say to those who are fearfulhearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with
the recompense of God; He will come and save you." Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like
a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing.” (vs. 4-6). Jesus had not come at this time to
condemn the world, but to save them (John 3:17). The day of the Lord’s vengeance
would come, but Jesus had come at this time to save. The miraculous signs of giving
sight to the blind, making the lame walk, cleansing lepers, giving hearing to the deaf,
and raising the dead, pointed to Jesus being the true Messiah.

Jesus also answers John’s question by pointing to Isaiah 61:1-2 – “The Spirit of the
Lord GOD is upon Me, Because the LORD has anointed Me To preach good tidings
to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the
captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the
acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God.” As the Messiah
Jesus was to proclaim both “the day of vengeance of our God” and the “acceptable
year of the Lord.” Jesus had been calling sinners to repentance telling them that this
was the time they could be saved, but that there was coming a day of judgment.
So Jesus said to John’s disciples, “Go and report to John the things you see and hear”
(Matt. 11:4). Jesus is saying that He was doing exactly what the prophets had said the
Messiah would do – He was the true Messiah.
The Lord’s answer also ends with a gentle, but solemn warning for John, or his disciples
or for any of us: “And blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over Me.” (Matt. 11:6).
God was showing great proofs of who His Son was, but people needed to be cautious that
they did not let their own ideas of who Christ should be get in the way of accepting the
One that really came. It would be a terrible thing for any of us to end up rejecting
(stumbling over) the one God sent to save us (I Pet. 2:6-8; Isa. 28:16; Ps. 118:22).
Jesus Comments About John (Matt. 11:7-19). As John’s disciples left, Jesus turned to
the multitudes and began talking about John and the attitude of the crowds towards His
own work.
What did you go out to see? When John began his work thousands went out to
see him, so Jesus questions the crowd what they expected when they went to see
John?
 Did you think he was a reed swayed by the wind? Think about how a tall
plant sways back and forth as the wind blows. John wasn’t the kind of man
that would sway whatever direction that people wanted him to go. He was the
kind of man that stood strong and spoke the Truth with boldness - that’s what
landed him in prison.
 Did you think you’d see a man dressed up in fine garments? Literally the
word means “soft” clothing which is exactly the opposite of what a garment of
camel hair is like. That’s the kind of clothing that kings and rich men would
wear. John was just a simple man living simple ways. His glory was not in
how he dressed, but in what he said.
 Did you think you’d see a prophet? Jesus said that it was true John was a
prophet, but John was much more than a prophet; he had come to prepare the
way for the Messiah – so had the people listened to him?
There was no one greater. Jesus said that there has never been a man greater
than John the baptist. That was the highest praise the Lord could give, but Jesus
adds a startling statement: Anyone in the kingdom of God, even if they are the
least important, is greater than he. Jesus is not saying we are better people than
John, but that the privilege of being in the Kingdom of God (which John would
not live to see come) was far greater than any honor that has ever existed.
The Kingdom suffers violence. Jesus said, "From the days of John the Baptist
until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by
force.” There are several ideas about what Jesus meant by this, but it seems likely
that He was reminding them that John was now imprisoned for the sake of the
coming Kingdom. Violent men would try to stop the coming of the kingdom:
Jesus would died on the cross because of it, the apostles would be martyred for it,
and Christians would be persecuted because of it.
John was the Elijah to come. Because the Old Testament had closed with the
promise, “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of
the great and terrible day of the Lord” (Mal. 4:6), Jews expected Elijah to appear.
When John was about to be born, Gabriel promised that he would be the
fulfillment of that prophesy (Lk. 1:17), and would come “in the spirit and power
of Elijah.” John denied being the literal Elijah (John 1:21), but Jesus made it
clear that John fulfilled the prediction of “the Elijah who was to come” (Matt.
11:14; 17:12)
Jesus Criticizes the Attitude of the Crowds. He tells the crowds, You are like children
playing a game. [Imagine that your friend can play a flute. He plays a song and tells you
to dance around to the music like you are happy. Then he plays a sad song and tells you
to act like you are sad. Your friend wants to play a tune and expect us to perform and act
the way he wants you to.] Well the Lord is saying the crowds acted like they should get
to decide what men like John and Jesus should be. The people acted like this all was
some kind of game. Jesus said, in John’s case, he didn’t eat and drink like regular
people. He lived in a wilderness, wore rugged clothing, and ate locusts and wild honey.
And some of they people said, “John has a demon!” Then Jesus said, “I came eating and
drinking like the rest of you, and you say of me, “Behold a glutton, a drunkard, a friend
of sinners!” Jesus’ point is that no matter what we do some of you aren’t happy with it.
Instead of the people deciding what John and Jesus should have been doing or how they
should have been acting, the people should have been listening to these men sent by God
to find out how all of them should have been living.
The Execution of John (Mk. 6:21-29; Matt. 14:6-12). Herodias wanted John dead, but
Herod’s fear of the people and his own respect for John had made Herod want to protect
John. Since Herodias could not convince Herod to execute him, this wicked woman
sought for another way to get what she wanted. [She might remind you of Jezebel in the
Old Testament.] On Herod’s birthday with many lords, captains and chief men present,
the daughter of Herodias (who history calls Salome) danced before the group greatly
pleasing Herod and his party.
In the presence of the men at the party, Herod (likely intoxicated and swayed by lust)
promised to give the girl anything she wanted up to half of his kingdom. Salome asked
her mother what she should request. Herodias chose revenge: “Give me here on a platter
the head of John the baptist.” Caught off guard, Herod Antipas could not back down on
his promise before his dignitaries; but the king was exceedingly sorry (Matt. 14:9). The
order was given and John was beheaded in prison. In came the soldier with the head of
John on a platter and the gory gift was handed to the girl who took it to Herodias.
The disciples of John claimed the body, buried it in a tomb and went and reported to
Jesus that His Messenger who had prepared His way, the first to announce to men that He
was the Lamb of God, had been cruelly put to death.
The Superstition of Herod (Matt. 14:1-2; Mk. 6:14-16; Lk. 9:7-9). As Herod received
more and more reports of the activity of Jesus, questions worried his mind: “John I
beheaded: but who is this, about whom I hears such things?” (Lk. 9:9). Some claimed
that Jesus might be Elijah or one of the ancient prophets brought back. People who had
only recently heard of Jesus concluded that John the baptist had risen from the dead. It
was this report that disturbed the guilty conscience of Herod most. He said to his
servants: “John has risen form the dead, and therefore these miraculous powers are at
work in Him.” (Mk. 6:14).
You may find it interesting to know that Herodias would later push her husband to have
greater rule and to be made a king. When Herod Antipas tried to get that, the Roman
emperor did not like it. His rule in Galilee was taken away and he and Herodias were sent
to another country for the rest of their lives.
Bible Quiz
1. The Herod talked about in this lesson is Herod A____________. (see lesson)
2. Why had John had criticized Herod? (Mk. 6:17,18)
3. What had Herod done to John? (Mk. 6:17)
4. What question did John send the two disciples to ask Jesus? (Matt. 11:2,3)
5. Who wanted to have John killed? (Mk. 6:18,19)
6. What miracles did Jesus point to in Matt. 11:5 to show that He was the Christ?
7. Jesus said that “among those born of women there has not risen one g____________
than John the Baptist.” (Matt. 11:11)
8. How did John die? (Matt. 14:6-11)