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The Prophet As Prisoner - Mark 6:17-20**For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife: for he had married her.**The Truth Declared**Let’s talk just a bit about Herod. This Herod was one of three sons of Herod the Great, who was the king when Jesus was born. This was Herod Antipas. He was a tetrarch, a ruler over the district of Galilee and Perea. We would consider him like a governor today. Herod, in his vanity, liked to be called King Herod, like his father, but he only ruled one small portion of the kingdom of his father and both ruled at the pleasure of Rome.Herod married his own niece Herodias, who had left her husband Herod Philip, who was Herod Antipas’ older brother. John the Baptist when given the opportunity rebuked Herod. I imagine it was to his face when Herod and Herodias come to hear John preach and see what all the commotion was about.Herodias did not like what John preached, calling her marriage fornication and she wanted John dead. Herod, worried about the reaction of the people if he should kill their prophet, instead put John in prison.John, this lowly man from the wilderness, had dared to confront the ruler Herod. “It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother’s wife.” King Herod, your marriage is sinful, the life you are living with your sister-in-law and niece is sinful. I can imagine John pointing his finger at the tetrarch of Rome, sitting in his chariot somewhere on the bank of the Jordan River, “King Herod, you are a sinner and like all sinners, you must repent!”John the Baptist was a pistol and his ammunition was truth. He had already called the most powerful religious and political rulers of his society a bunch of snakes running from God, so it made little difference to him to call the head of Rome’s authority a lawbreaker. To John, truth was truth and it applied equally to all. And though there is greater truth and lesser truth, God’s truth is always the greater truth. Herod needed to hear the greater truth of God.John didn’t worry about what Herod would do to him, if he proclaimed the truth. He could only carry out the command of God and preach the truth of God.**The Truth You Speak**What should we do about God’s truth? First, we better believe the truth, second we better share the truth and finally, we need to stand for the truth.All truth is truth, but God’s truth is paramount. God’s truth is the most important, the most vital, truth because it is eternal truth.The shortest Psalms is the 117th and it says, Psalms 117 O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.The longest Psalm is the 119th and in vs 89 it says, “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.” The 160th verse says, “Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.”Only God’s truth is eternal. Only God’s truth can save your eternal soul. Only God’s truth can deliver you from an eternal hell. Only God’s truth tells us of Jesus Christ our eternal Savior and King.Because God’s truth is eternal and unchanging. Because God’s truth has the power to save the lost. Because God’s truth is Jesus the way the truth and the life, then we, like John should stand up in the power and for the cause of truth.