Those Who Bring Good News Must Also Rebuke in Love “But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias , his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done, Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.” ( Luke 3:18–20 ) As I meditate on these verses, I wish to receive the lesson contained in them. (1) John the Baptist, who proclaimed “good news” to the people (Luke 3:18), rebuked “ Herod the tetrarch ” (v.19)—the same Herod Antipas mentioned in verse 1 (Hokmah)—because of “ his marriage to Herodias , his brother’s wife, and all the other evil things he had done” (v.19). (a) The phrase “ his brother’s wife Herodias ” (v.19) refers to the fact that Herod took his brother Philip’s wife, Herodias (Matt. 14:4; Mark 6:17). Around A.D. 26, Herod divorced his first wife—the daughter of King Aretas of Arabia —and...
The living should take this to heart [Ecclesiastes 7:1-4] On Thursday, April 20, 2008, there was interesting news in South Korea YTN 11 o'clock night news. The news was about some people taking pictures for their funerals, writing their last will letters, reading that letters in a mortuary room. I saw most of them crying when they were reading down their letters. Not only did they read down their letters, but they actually went into their coffins in the mortuary room. Then the other person slowly poured the soil over the coffin with a shovel. When I was watching that moment I thought if a person who was inside the coffin heard that sound of the soil, he would probably felt real about his death. The response of those who experienced their dying process was "I wanted to live more." And they said that they remembered their family members the most when they were going through that dying process. I heard the person who is the director of the death experienc...