On an appointed day, dressed in royal robes and seated on the throne, Herod delivered a speech to them. The assembled people began to shout, “It’s the voice of a god and not of a man!”
At once an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died. (Acts 12:21-23)
I found it interesting that the word translated “throne” here is the word “bema” in Greek, which is the word also used for God’s judgment seat or Christ’s judgment seat. (Romans 14:10, 2 Corinthians 5:10).
What Herod found out that day was that though he sat on his own bema seat, there was a Bema Seat that sat higher than his. And ultimately he was held accountable by his King.
I talked yesterday about not becoming cynical or jaded by this twisted world. It’s easy to become that way when we see all the injustice that’s out there.
But let us remember that everyone, great and small will be held to account in the end.
That’s our hope.
But it should also keep us humble.
We too will be judged. And only by the grace of God will any of us be able to stand on that day.
Humility, gratitude, and hope. Let that be what grounds us each day until our Lord returns.