Good Biblical Exhortation is Meet with Bad Human Response
18 So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.
The above verse gives us a pattern that was repeated in the Old Testament, continued into the New Testament and has continued throughout church history. Note John MacArthur’s opening thoughts on this verse:
(MacArthur New Testament Commentary Set (33 Vols.)) Throughout redemptive history fearless preachers have paid the price for boldly confronting sin. It should come as no surprise then that the Lord Jesus Christ, the greatest preacher who ever lived (John 7:46; cf. Matt. 7:28-29), was executed by His enemies. According to traditions (of varying reliability) handed down from the early church, the same fate befell all of the apostles except for John, who was exiled to Patmos. Peter was crucified (upside down, at his request, because he felt unworthy to be crucified as his Lord had been [Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, III, 1]). His brother Andrew reportedly was also crucified; tied instead of nailed to the cross to prolong his suffering. James the brother of John is the only apostle whose death is recorded in Scripture; he was executed by Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:1-2). Philip was said to have been stoned to death in Asia Minor, but not before multitudes came to faith in Christ through his preaching. The traditions vary concerning how Philip’s close companion Nathanael (Bartholomew) died. Some say he was bound and thrown into the sea, others that he was crucified. Matthew may have been burned at the stake. Thomas likely reached India, where some traditions say he was killed with a spear. According to the apocryphal Martyrdom of James, James the son of Alphaeus was stoned to death by the Jews for preaching Christ. Simon the Zealot, according to some traditions, preached the gospel in Egypt, North Africa, and Persia, where he was martyred by being sawn in two. Other traditions place his ministry in Britain, where he was eventually crucified by the Romans. Thaddeus (also known as Judas the son of James [Luke 6:16]) reportedly took the gospel message to what is now modern Turkey, where he was clubbed to death. Paul was likely beheaded at Rome during Nero’s persecution of the church. The New Testament also records the martyrdoms of the fearless evangelist Stephen (Acts 7:58-60) and Antipas, a faithful pastor of the church at Smyrna (Rev. 2:13).
Good exhortation will always be meet with wicked responses. Mankind resists God’s message and takes it out on God’s messenger. Those who speak truth will confront error. Those who want to continue in error will do whatever they have to to stop truth from being spoken. Those who speak God’s word must be prepared to meet the vile of the world. Good preaching is always met with bad response. In fact, it is an indicator of that the good preaching is actually good ... by God’s goodness.
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