Festival of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist
Posted on August 29, 2023 by under
Scripture: Isaiah 38:9-22 (NKJV)
38:9 This is the writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:
10 I said,
“In the prime of my life I shall go to the gates of Sheol; I am deprived of the remainder of my years.”
11 I said,
“I shall not see Yah, the Lord gin the land of the living; I shall observe man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12 “My life span is gone, taken from me like a shepherd’s tent; I have cut off my life like a weaver. He cuts me off from the loom; From day until night You make an end of me.
13 “I have considered until morning—like a lion, so He breaks all my bones; From day until night You make an end of me.
14 “Like a crane or a swallow, so I chattered; I mourned like a dove; My eyes fail from looking upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; Undertake for me!
15 “What shall I say? He has both spoken to me, and He Himself has done it. I shall walk carefully all my years in the bitterness of my soul.
16 “O Lord, by these things men live; And in all these things is the life of my spirit; So You will restore me and make me live.
17 “Indeed it was for my own peace that I had great bitterness; But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
18 “For Sheol cannot thank You, death cannot praise You; Those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth.
19 “The living, the living man, he shall praise You, as I do this day; The father shall make known Your truth to the children.
20 “The Lord was ready to save me; Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.”
21 Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a lump of figs, and apply it as a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover.”
22 And Hezekiah had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?”
Devotion
“O Lord, by these things men live; And in all these things is the life of my spirit; So You will restore me and make me live.”
Hezekiah is sick unto death, prays to the Lord, and the Lord delivers him and extends his life. His prayer is a “deliver us from evil” kind of prayer; a prayer for deliverance from “every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation.” The Lord answered by delivering him from this evil of body. He did not die until later, but he did die.
John the Baptist was in prison. This was his temporal reward for faithful preaching (none of this “best life now” nonsense). He was about faithfulness, not about comfortable living. But he never got out of prison. He was beheaded. Does this mean God did not hear his prayers? Quite to the contrary. God gave King Hezekiah a small, temporary deliverance from evil. He gave John the Baptist the ultimate, great big deliverance from evil, by grace, through faith in Christ.
The Lord be with you, strengthen you for faithful service to Him, and deliver you from the evils of this day and all days, until the day that He gives you the ultimate deliverance from evil, and takes you from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven.
Prayer: O Lord, as Thou didst give unto Thy Forerunner and martyr to proclaim Thy Word before princes and not be ashamed, we pray that Thou wouldst grant to Thy saints a zeal for a faithful confession in all times of persecution, Who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Almighty and Merciful God, of Whose only gift it cometh that Thy faithful people do unto Thee true and laudable service: Grant, we beseech Thee, that we may so faithfully serve Thee in this life, that we fail not finally to attain Thy heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
