25 Execution of John The Baptist

Herod Antipas heard the stories of Jesus who was quickly becoming extremely well known. By the time Herod was also hearing of the stories of Jesus he had already had John the Baptist beheaded. He carried this out prior to Jesus beginning His ministry. Suspicious as he was he began to express the notion that the miracles of Jesus must be attributed to a reincarnation of John the Baptist. He knew John to be a man of God and thought this was an appropriate explanation for the miracles of Jesus. Some who were trying to explain the ministry and His miracles said He must be Elijah the prophet or one of the other prophets that has come back to life. They were expecting Elijah to return before the Day of The Lord, which is the Great Tribulation. Jesus knew that John must come first as the messenger announcing the first advent of the Lord Jesus.Jesus had explicitly identified this person as John the Baptist (Matthew 11:7-10). This parallels well with Isaiah 40:3 and John 1:23. However, it was well known that when the Lord would come to bring the terrible Day of Judgment upon the earth it would be preceded by an appearance of the prophet Elijah. So Herod not wanting the Day of The Lord to occur was sure it was John the Baptist who had risen from the dead. Beside he was sensing an immense amount of guilt for taking John’s life for political reasons. He sought to preserve his dignity and prestige over taking John’s life.