John Shut Up in Prison - Luke 3:20

Luke the physician wrote how multitudes came to John to be “baptized”, and “as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John, whether he were the Christ, or not. John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I comes, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people. But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, ...”, and in chapter three and verse twenty of his book Luke shared how Herod, “shut up John in prison” where we read:

Added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison.

The verse reads, “Added yet this above all, ...” Luke began with the word, “Added” or “joined, annexed, repeated, increased and proceeded to speak again” “yet this above all” which means “even so and indeed the words over and against each, every, the whole and everything”. Luke shared how John continued to speak against Herod's transgressions to the degree that the following event occurred.

The verse goes on to say, “... that he shut up John in prison.” Luke continued with the words, “that he shut up John” which means “that Herod incarcerated and confined John” “in prison” or “within a guarded and watched cage or holding place”. Luke shared how Herod “arrested” John and incarcerated him within a “prison”.

When we think through Luke's words in this verse, we see how adversely John's words affected Herod. Not only was he convicted by John's words, but his wife “Herodias” was troubled by John's words as well. Herod's solution to John speaking against him was to “incarcerate” John, and although Herod thought he was disrupting John's life, he actually was falling directly into God's plan for the salvation of man. God loves people, and when they receive His Son Jesus as their personal “Savior and Lord”, their existence and words will affect and convict others. Although people pay a price for believing and trusting in the gospel of Jesus Christ, their ultimate destination will be to live eternally with God and not within a “prison”.

Next time Luke shares what happened when, “Jesus also being baptized”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".