King Herod Stricken by an Angel

Herod accepted the idolatry of the people as his due. A glow of gratified pride overspread his countenance as he heard the shout, “It is the voice of a god, and not of man!”TT 80.2

But suddenly his face became pallid as death and distorted with agony. Great drops of sweat started from his pores. He stood for a moment transfixed with pain and terror; then turning his livid face to his horror-stricken friends, he cried in hollow tones, He whom you have exalted as a god is stricken with death.TT 80.3

Suffering excruciating anguish, he was borne from the scene of revelry. A moment before, he had been the proud recipient of the worship of that vast throng; now he realized he was in the hands of a Ruler mightier than himself.TT 80.4

He remembered his persecution of the followers of Christ, his command to slay James, his design to put to death the apostle Peter. He remembered how in mortification and rage he had wreaked vengeance on the prison guards. He felt that God was now dealing with him. He found no relief from pain of body or anguish of mind, and he expected none. Herod knew that in accepting the worship of the people he had filled up the measure of his iniquity.TT 80.5

The same angel who had come to rescue Peter had been the messenger of judgment to Herod, laying low his pride and bringing on him the punishment of the Almighty. Herod died in great agony of mind and body.TT 81.1

The tidings that the apostle of Christ had been delivered from prison and death, while his persecutor had been stricken by the curse of God, were borne to all lands, leading many to a belief in Christ.TT 81.2