Unchanged

For all that King Herod the “Great” spear headed (the man devised a man-made port that could accommodate hundreds of ships...and while at it, created a fresh pool for his extra palace! And a theater, hippodrome, aqueducts, ad nauseam and that’s not to mention all he had going elsewhere like Second Temple, Masada, etc)....he was never satisfied. 

He believed his own press & paranoia and let the bitter poison of self-importance fester and God eventually called him to account and he died. And his successors were no better. So when his grandson let the same root grow in him (even killing James, imprisoning Peter) & stood in his own shining glory before the people at Caesarea...he let the crowd’s claim of him being a “god” go unchecked...so an angel of God struck him down because glory alone is God’s. 

Enter the last Herod. No better. Yes, Paul was imprisoned at Caesarea, but the gospel was not. It spread and strengthened. And today the building projects of the mighty vision of Herod lay in ruins at the edge of the Mediterranean. Now it’s a broken down port swept by the sea...no palace...no port...no dynasty...just a rubble blueprint...a historical signal to what was...and what does and does not last. 

And the gospel continues to cut through the sea from one generation to the next, amidst the broken pottery. God’s word unchanged.

Amazing.