“Not all political leaders who persecute the church, and not all individuals who belong to a mob burning churches and killing Christians, die instantly or suffer horrible deaths. But all of God’s enemies will face God’s judgment.”

Arrogant and evil rulers will always be judged.

God does not change. So what we find God to be like and to be doing in the Old Testament we also find in the New. Sure, Christians believe in progressive revelation, the idea that God did not fully reveal himself from day one, but instead he did so over time.

Or as Alec Motyer has put it, “Progressive revelation is a movement from truth to more truth and so to full truth.” Here I want to discuss how God has dealt with rulers and the nations. We find plenty of this in the OT of course. And the principles found there continue into the NT.

There are some changes however. In the OT God had one special nation that he called and worked with to bless other nations: Israel. In the NT people from all nations and tribes and tongues and ethnic groups comprise the one people of God: the Body of Christ.

So we get a bit less discussion about particular nations, rulers and governments. But it is still there. Here I want to look at the matter of arrogant and wicked rulers who are no match for the living God. In Daniel 4 for example we read about how God brought Nebuchadnezzar down for not giving God the glory. See my write-up here.

Now I want to discuss another such ruler – one from the NT. I refer to the political ruler of Judea during the time of the disciples: Herod Agrippa. We read about him in Acts 12. The first five verses say this about him:

About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

And it is the death of Herod I want to focus on here, as found in verses 20-23:

Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

Many people are especially struck by the reference to worms, and may miss the bigger theological picture. God struck him down because he did not give glory to God. More on that in a moment, but it should be pointed out that the Jewish historian Josephus also gives a similar account of his death, although with more detail.

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