Worm Food

Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, 'This is the voice of a god, not of a man.' Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.

Acts 12.21-24

Mohler:

Verse 24 reveals a stark contrast between Herod and the word of God. Herod was a great king, who was arrayed in splendor, and who received the adoration of the people, but now he is food for worms. His glory and power were fleeting. The word of God, however, increased and multiplied. Luke’s message is clear: the kingdom of man is frail and weak, but the kingdom of God is eternal and unconquerable. John Stott beautifully summarized this contrast:

“At the beginning of the chapter Herod is on the rampage—arresting and persecuting; at the end he is himself struck down and dies. The chapter opens with James dead, Peter in prison and Herod triumphing; it closes with Herod dead, Peter free, and the word of God triumphing. Such is the power of God to overthrow hostile human plans and to establish His own in their place.” (The Message of Acts, page 213)

May we remember that the city of man is indeed a passing thing filled with nothing but death and worms, while the city of God holds out eternal life and life abundantly.

The book of Acts is truly remarkable. Sixteen chapters of the book still lie before us. But consider what has happened thus far. At the beginning of the book, the church consisted of about 100 Christians gathered in a single city who had nothing more than a seemingly impossible mission and a commitment to pray for God’s help. Now, empowered by God’s Spirit and armed with God’s word, those Christians have multiplied into thousands. Now we find Christians scattered far outside the borders of Israel, even including some most unlikely converts, such as an Ethiopian eunuch, a one-time persecutor of the church, and a Gentile army officer. It is almost unbelievable that the story is not even half over! It seems almost impossible. But of course, God was present with his people by his Spirit to fulfill his promises; and as the angel Gabriel told the mother of Jesus at the start of Luke’s first volume, “Nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37).