THE MAN WHO HAD WORMS

ACTS CHAPTER 12

Sermon of the Week #200801-January 6, 2008

The story of Acts chapter twelve is the story of a man who had worms three times. But before we consider this wormy fellow, we have to set up the story with what goes before his malady. Herod the king put forth his hand to afflict certain of the Church, and he killed James the brother of John with the sword.

The infant Church of Christ not only had religious enemies from the first, but now about twelve years later they run afoul of enemies in high places on the secular side; and ever since the Church has always had enemies in high places from both sides.

Where does the edict about prayer in school, same-sex marriage, legalized murder in abortion, laws against teaching the Biblical story of creation come from? It comes from high places in the land.

Note then that the inspired historian tells us that Herod saw what he had done, it pleased the Jews, and so he decided to kill Peter also. One sin brings on another; sin gets lonesome, no one sin likes to be by itself. Kill one Apostle, and you have to kill another. Take one shot of drugs, and you have to take another. Smoke one weed and you have to smoke another. Sin by itself gets lonesome, and must have fellowship with another. He put forth his hand and seized Peter, also.

It is interesting to note that when James was killed there was no provision made for a successor to his Apostleship? The only Apostle who ever had a successor was the Apostle Judas Iscariot.

Another thing we might note in the killing of James is that the Lord does not always spare His leaders. James, an Apostle, was finished off in one sentence, “He killed James the brother of John with the sword.” The Lord did not really need James. The Lord does not need you; the Lord does not need me. The Lord does not really need anybody, but we surely do need the Lord. There is no one in the Church who is indispensable, but the Lord Himself.

In Mark 10, James and John had asked Jesus to let them sit, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Jesus said, “Are you able to drink the cup I am about to drink, and they said we are able.” Jesus granted that part of the request when he said, “My cup indeed you shall drink.”

James drank the cup by dying an early death in a dying sacrifice. John drank the cup by giving his life in a long-living sacrifice. Which one of the two was the hardest? It appears in retrospect that James had the easier part of it. The moment his head left his body he was in the presence of the Lord. But John had to stay over for over ninety years, living a life of sacrifice. Paul said to all Christians, “Present your bodies a living sacrifice.” Of course, it is easier to live our lives in the Lord, just as long as we are not expected to make any sacrifices, beyond showing up for services whenever it is convenient.

So Peter was imprisoned, and delivered to sixteen soldiers to guard him. He was chained to two of them and guards before the door kept the prison. The night before Herod was planning to kill Peter, he was asleep. We might wonder how he could sleep at a time like this.  Peter could relax because he remembered the conversation he had with the Lord in John 21. Jesus told him that when he grew old he would be bound and carried to a place he would rather not go. This he said in regards to his death that would glorify God. Peter knew he was not old enough yet to fulfill that prediction the Lord made, and so he fell asleep, and waited for the Lord to deliver him.

The same night Herod planned to kill him, Peter was sleeping between two guards, and a light shined in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood by him; smote him on the side, and said, “Rise up quickly.” It seems the light did not awaken him as much as the jolt of the angel. Sometimes the light of the Word of God may not awaken us; we do not see some obvious truth until we receive a jolt that helps us see. How many graves have to be dug, how much pain has to be endured before we wake up?

We cannot help but see a microcosm of the gospel in this story. Peter was bound with two chains in the prison; we in like manner are prisoners of sin. Jude mentions fallen angels kept in chains in darkness until the judgment of the great day. Then a light shined in the cell, and an angel stood by him. For us, we have received the Word of God, called in Holy Writ—the lamp unto our feet. The angel smote him on the side and said, “Rise up quickly,” and his chains fell off from his hands. Like Saul of Tarsus in Acts 22, we who have believed and repented have been told, “Why tarriest thou, arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.” Next, the angel told him to cast thy garment about thee and follow me. Peter tells us in his first epistle, “Hereunto were you called, for Christ also suffered leaving us an example that we should follow in His steps.” But that is not all; Peter was still in the jail. We too are still in the world; we must endure unto the end. Jesus told the Church at Smyrna in Revelation 2, “Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee the crown of life.” Not until they had passed through the big iron gate was Peter delivered? We all must pass through the big iron gate of death; some to eternal bliss, and some to eternal ruin. Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, said to some that big iron gate is wide, that leads to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby, and to some the big iron gate is narrow, that leads to life, and few there be that find it.

The big iron gate opened, we are told, of its own accord. God had installed an electric eye, and the gate that some say took fourteen men to open, swung open for the angel and the Apostle. And straightway the angel departed from him.

We have such things as electric eyes today. Doors swing open to us as we approach super markets, and other places. Isn’t it wonderful that science has finally caught up with the Bible? Peter ran as fast as he could to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying, and it appears they had been praying for Peter almost all night.

A maid came to answer, named Rhoda. When she knew Peter’s voice she opened not the gate for joy, but ran in and told that Peter stood before the gate. They told her, “Thou art mad.” She confidently affirmed that it was even so.

Sometimes skeptics may say that the believer is mad, and deny the truth of God’s Word. You may not know all the answers the skeptic may throw at you about your faith, and you are not required to know all the answers, but you are required to declare like Rhoda to every critic regarding the truth of God’s Word, “IT IS SO!”

Then we are told that when they finally opened the gate and saw him, they were amazed. Peter told them what happened, and went to another place. Herod searched for Peter and could not find him; he sent to every house where he might be. They never found Peter, and this reminds us of Jeremiah 36:26 when the king was searching for Jeremiah, and could not find him. When the Lord hides someone, no one can find him. In fact, when God hides anything, no one can find it. For one thing, God has hidden the day, and the hour when Jesus will return. Jesus said He did not know Himself. Some today know a lot more than Jesus.

So Herod examined the guards and commanded that they be put to death. It was obvious that a miracle had been performed; but Herod would not give the glory to God, and blamed the innocent guards as a cover-up. This was the same plan the chief priests made at the resurrection of Jesus. It was evident that Jesus had arisen from the dead, so as a cover-up, they blamed the disciples for stealing the body, and paid the guards to spread the lie.

Herod then went to Tyre and Sidon where a political issue had arisen between him and the constituency there. Their country was being fed from the Herod’s influence, and on a set day, he arrayed himself in royal apparel and sat on a throne and made an oration. The people shouted that his voice was the voice of a god and not of a man. It is the same old story today. People will vote for anyone who promises them a hand-out.

At that moment an angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. The worms ate Herod; actually, he was eaten of worms three times. The first time he was eaten of worms is the one mentioned here.

THE FIRST EATING

Herod was eaten of worms because he gave not God the glory. Note how the angel of God smote Herod, and the angel also smote Peter. When he smote Peter he only awakened him, but when he smote Herod he killed him. This is a commentary on how the gospel affects different people. Jesus said, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned.” When you hear the gospel, it will do one of two things to you. It will either save you, or damn you. The gospel will take you to Heaven, or it will send you to Hell. Herod gave not God the glory, and was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. But not only was he eaten of worms in this instance, he was also eaten of worms a second time.

THE SECOND EATING

The second time he was eaten of worms was after he died. The book of Job refers to the eating in these words, “The worm shall feed sweetly on thee.” That is something to remember. One of these days the worms are going to feed on you. The worms are going to gnaw on you. Herod was eaten of worms two times; once when his innards had been infested with night-crawlers and next in his grave?

Edgar Allen Poe has a poem called “The Conqueror Worm.” The poem tells the story of a band of angels coming down to earth to look at the play of mankind. He depicts the angels sitting in a theater viewing the play, and as nearly as I can remember the words of Poe it goes like this:

“Lo, tis a gala night within the lonesome latter years

An angel throng bewinged bedight in veils and drowned in tears;

Sits in a theater to see a play of hopes and fears

While the orchestra breathes fitfully the music of the spheres.

Men in the form of God most high mumble and mutter low

Hither and thither they fly mere puppets they who come and go;

But see amidst the mimic rout a crawling shape intrude

A blood red thing that writhes from out the scenic solitude.

It writhes, it writhes, the men become its food

And angels sob at vermin fangs in human gore imbued.

Out, out all the lights, and over each quivering form

The curtain like a funeral pall comes down with the rush of a storm.

And the angels all pallid and wan

Uprising, unveiling affirm

The play is the tragedy man

And the hero the conqueror worm.

Herod was eaten of worms twice. It is not a pleasant thought, but it is one that you need to dwell upon. It not only could happen, but it will happen to you and to me.

The Christian can take heart in the fact that Paul says in 1st Corinthians 15, “Although this body is sown in corruption, it will be raised in incorruption, it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power, it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body, it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. Thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory though our Lord Jesus Christ.” Herod was eaten of worms once, then twice, and now for the third feast of worms.

THE THIRD FEEDING OF WORMS

The third eating for Herod will be in eternity. In the gospel according to Mark in the ninth chapter is the statement of Jesus about the third eating of worms. He says, “If your foot, your hand or your eye shall cause you to stumble, it is better to gouge or cut them off rather than to be cast into the unquenchable fire; the fire where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.” That statement by the way is from the Lord Jesus Christ. I did not make it up. What I have personally learned about Hell is what I learned from Jesus. He had more to say about Hell than anyone else in the New Testament. The Lord in these verses compares Hell to the garbage dump. The Greek word for Hell here is Gehenna. Gehenna was the garbage dump of Jerusalem. I have seen garbage dumps, the fires were always burning and the vermin was always there.

I know that there is nothing uplifting and inspirational about this. It is not supposed to be. The threat of Hell is a negative approach to the gospel, but it is a purifying approach to the gospel. It is still true that God is love; He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to die for us to save us from such a fate as this. Remember Herod was eaten of worms and gave up the ghost. He was eaten of worms three times; once in his stomach, once in his grave, and then in Hell. Now hear this in conclusion.

CONCLUSION

After the death of Herod, the inspired historian has this message, “Herod was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost. But the Word of God grew and multiplied.” Let Herod do his worse. Let the atheist today do his worst. Let the devil do his worst. Let them stretch forth their hands to afflict the Church of Christ.

When all is said and done the Word of God will still grow and multiply. Churches have been closed and Christians put to death in many places in the world today. More people are being tortured for their faith today than ever before, and yet we receive letters from many places in the world begging for Bibles, and that tells us the Word of God grows and multiplies.

And so, as we stand with our feet planted firmly on the vantage ground of the twenty-first century, and peer back through the corridor of time on the panorama of past events, and view the wrecks of those kings and men who have butted their heads against the Rock of Ages, and gone down broken in defeat, the words of Julia Ward Howe come thundering in our ears,

“Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord,

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.

He hath loosed the fateful lighting of His terrible sword;

His truth is marching on.

He hath sounded forth the trumpet that shall never can retreat,

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat;

O be swift my soul to answer Him be jubilant my feet

Our God is marching on.

I have seem Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps,

They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps,

 I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;

His truth is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,

With a love within His bosom that transfigures you and me,

As He died to make men holy let us live to make men free;

Our God is marching on.”