Transcript:
Reading then from Matthew, chapter two, the first 18 verses. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men came from the east to Jerusalem, saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him, and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea, for it is so written by the prophet.
And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him. After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star they had seen when it rose, went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly, with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. Now, when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you.
For Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him. And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt. I called my son, then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men then was fulfilled the prophecy that was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping in loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children.
She refused to be comforted because they are no more the word of God. Thanks be to God.
Beloved Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ever since the legalization of abortion, it seems like the womb is one of the most dangerous places for a child. But once that child is born, oh, then the government wants to step in and takes a great interest in that child. Car seats, for example, now have expiration dates. Your crib can't have slats in it anymore.
Just in case your child would want to stick his head between those slats and get stuck. You can't even raise it up and lower the thing and reach in. Oh, that you can't do anymore either. And then high chairs, they've got all kinds of warning labels on them now. And on and on it goes, with all kinds of different laws being passed to make sure that this world is a safer place for your child.
Once that child is born.
As we go back in history, we can read about a time when that wasn't the case. There was a baby that was born who was so hated by the government that they sent out armed soldiers to try and kill him.
After Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph settled down in a little town of Bethlehem. And we read how wise men were following this star. They visited Jerusalem, asked for directions to the one who was born king of the Jews. And then they saw the star again, wound up in Bethlehem, knocked on a few doors, and Mary answers one of those doors. They see the child and they give to that little toddler everything that any toddler would ever want.
Gold, frankincense and myrrh.
We sing songs. That last song that we sung was about wise men. There are several Christmas carols about wise men. But tonight we're going to look at someone else who is rather prominent in this chapter.
And I don't think there are any Christmas carols that mention his name. I don't think think there are any songs at all where we would sing about him. This man's name was Herod. Herod is the person to whom the wise men came to ask for directions. Herod the Great.
This great Herod occupied the throne of some of the most brilliant and most, well, greatest of all kings, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, just to name a few. But the great Herod had disgraced the throne upon which he sat. By making all kinds of deals with the Romans who held Israel in subjection under the dictatorship of Caesar, Herod the Great earned his reputation in two very different and distinct ways. Early in his career as king, he cut taxes down to one third. He built aqueducts to bring fresh water into Jerusalem.
He made Israel one of the key trading places for Travelers coming from the east and coming from the west. He built beautiful buildings throughout the capital city and much joy, much to the joy of the Jews. He rebuilt the temple. He poured an absolutely incredible amount of gold into the rebuilding of the temple, making it look somewhat as impressive as it did way back in the days of Solomon. You may recall that after the exile, the Israelites were allowed to return to their land.
They were allowed to rebuild the temple, but they really couldn't afford to build it up to the magnificence that it had been earlier. And so they were grateful to Herod for restoring the beauty of the now refurbished temple. Temple.
It wasn't because Herod was sympathetic toward the Jews. He also built temples to other pagan gods throughout the region. And he also built for himself an incredibly magnificent palace. But he had made some impressive improvements to Jerusalem. He let the Israelites worship God in relative peace, so long as they would continue to pay tribute to Caesar and not cause trouble.
Herod knew what palms to grease and which ones to cut off. Herod was not only popular, he was ruthless. He killed anyone and everyone whom he thought was a threat to his throne. A brutal man. He killed his father in law, he killed several of his 10 wives.
He killed two of his own sons. And for all that he is remembered for, well, if he had had his way, Jesus would be among his victims. So for all that he has accomplished, this is what he is remembered for. The words spoken by the prophet Jeremiah and recorded for us here in Matthew. A voice was heard in Ramah weeping and loud lamentation.
Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they were no more.
How enormously sad that day had to be. Can you imagine what it would be like to have a troop of soldiers come into your little town of Bethlehem and not only come into the village, but come into your home and grab your youngster, your two year old son out of your your hands and kill him.
And then helplessly watch as that scenario is repeated again and again and again throughout the village. According to Boccaccio, a 14th century writer, he said that 144,4000 children were murdered. Now most Bible scholars today disagree with that because Bethlehem was not that big. And they think, they claim, this was one of the minor slaughters carried out by King Herod. They even tried to make it sound a little smoother for us, saying there really couldn't have been more than 20 children slaughtered in that day.
But even then there would have been 20 mothers, there would have been 20 fathers to whom Herod had brought unspeakable grief.
Today, in this widespread celebration of Christmas, we like to think that everyone was excited, everyone was happy, happy about the coming of our Emmanuel. The wise men certainly were, but there were some who weren't. Herod. Herod made the claim to the wise men that he wanted to come and worship this child as well, who had been born King of the Jews. But in reality, as we read, he wanted to kill him.
Without ever meeting him, without ever meeting this child, Herod revealed his true ugly personal hatred for the Christ. Knowing he was the Christ, he asks, where is the Christ to be born? He knew Herod the Great was a horribly demented man whose mind was not corrupted so much by a disease, but corrupted by his selfish ambition. He was so selfish that he would put his family's interest on a back burner just so that he could pursue his own desires and his own ambition. As I said earlier, he had killed two of his own sons because he thought they were a threat to his throne.
He murdered entire households if anyone in that household dared to oppose him. He continually canvassed his courts and his advisors to see if there was any kind of plot to overthrow him. And if there was any kind of discontentment, he would make sure that the person who was discontent was killed. He had no regard for anyone, man, woman or child. He had no regard for life, at least not the lives of others.
A person could be as innocent as a. As a little child and be executed because King Herod thought he was some kind of threat. Herod the Great was not only the king and not only on the throne of David, he was pretty much on the throne of his life. He was king of his own little universe. And when it, when it comes right down to it, this world is full of people who are like Herod.
When they hear about the Christ without ever meeting him, they're filled already with a hatred for him. They perceive Jesus as someone who's going to dislodge them from that throne that they have set up for themselves, that governing of their own lives, living how they want to live. And when you get right down to it, they're absolutely right. When you know Jesus Christ as your Savior and as your Lord, he will dislodge you from the throne that you have set yourself on. And so selfish people, well, really most people, Jesus comes as a personal threat.
He also comes as a political threat. Historians tell us that Herod was an unusually successful king. Palestine was a horribly difficult place to govern for the Romans who had conquered the rest of the known world. But the Israelites, those Israelites in Palestine, they were continually rebelling against the Romans. Before Jesus was born, there were several major uprisings already in 132 to 135 BC.
A peace without Rome suppression lasted for four years. There was another attempt at 117 B.C. and then in 66 BC, there was an uprising that basically left Israel Roman tyranny free. They got rid of all the idols in the. In the temple.
They lived for seven years without Roman oppression. And then the soldiers came and they came down hard, making sure that would never happen again.
So again and again and again, Rome would send soldiers to this tiny little part of their domain to keep the citizens in line. When Herod became king, he actually brought peace to that part of the world. Now, the Romans were still in the area, but Herod had appeased the Jews enough that they were no longer waging this ongoing battle against the Roman Empire.
There was a zealot or two that would kill a Roman soldier, but that was taken care of very quickly through public executions. A cross would be set up and those who opposed the Roman government would be nailed to it and raised up for all to see. It was a most horrible, painful, awful death, a wretched way to die.
But these public crucifixions, they were an incredible deterrent for any insurrectionist wannabe. Herod's perverse willingness to kill anyone and everyone who opposed him not only gave him security, but there weren't a whole lot of people who wanted to oppose him either. He was in total control of the kingdom. Now, having said all of that, can you imagine the consternation that he must have felt when this troop of camels comes into the village? This whole group of wise men come, they stop at the palace and they ask, where is he who is born king of the Jews?
True to form, when he found out that he had been deceived by the wise men and he became exceedingly angry. And in typical fashion for Herod, he carries out the brutal slaughter that we read about from Matthew chapter two, hoping that he had killed the one who was born king of the Jews, the one who would oppose him.
If you read the publication Voice of the Martyrs, you will realize that the actions of Herod are not all that unusual for those who hate this child that was born in a manger and placed in a feeding trough, wrapped in bits of cloth. Herod's actions are typical of this clash that exists between the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world. This is what in my youth we used to call the anthesis, the two kingdoms clashing together. We live in a country, thanks be to God, where for now, we are able to come and worship. We celebrate the freedoms of religion that we have in this country.
But there are a lot of countries that don't have that freedom. There are countries that oppose the rule of Christ. Some oppose it so fiercely that they will not allow anyone who confesses Christ as their Savior to enter into their borders. And they will persecute and torture and even kill Christians who are anyone that claims to follow Christ. And they do this because they realize, as did Herod, that Jesus Christ really is the.
The Christ. He really is the true King of kings and Lord of Lords. They won't admit that, by the way. They won't admit it. But they realize if they allow Jesus to have any kind of recognition within their countries, it's only going to be a matter of time before he takes over.
And that, my dear congregation, my dear friends, that is exactly what is happening. Why do you think persecution is on the increase? Why do you think that every now and then on the news you see public executions? They take place a whole lot more than the news ever brings. There are public executions of Christians taking place regularly.
They take place because Christ has a foothold in their countries and Christianity is on the increase and they don't know how to stop it. And so, like Herod, they try to regain power through fear, killing anyone that opposes them. They try to use these executions as a deterrent to anyone who is considering confessing Christ as their Lord. And just like in Herod's day, it doesn't work. It doesn't work.
The war in the Ukraine, it's happening because Christianity has doubled in size in the Ukraine. Doubled in size every year over the last five years. Well, Satan's not going to leave that alone, is he? But it doesn't work. It doesn't work in Islam countries because the younger generation is growing up and they are tired of a God who hates.
They're tired of a God who demands death to all infidels. And they want to learn more about a God who loves. They want to learn more about a God who promises life and not death. It doesn't work because the kingdom over which Jesus rules is not of this world. Jesus said as much in John chapter 18.
He's on trial and Pilate asks him, are you the King of the Jews? That's what all these people are saying, are you? And Jesus responds by saying, my kingdom is not of this world, and it's not the kingdom of Jesus is a kingdom of the heart. When the Spirit of God takes over a person's life, that person becomes a member of the kingdom of God and that person's whole life changes. Jesus the King affects everything about the believer.
The love of God fills the person's life. They're willing to endure persecution for the sake of Jesus Christ. It happened in the early church, it's happening today. The church of Jesus Christ will endure persecution. It will increase under persecution.
The church of Jesus Christ will endure the terror of wicked rulers, and the gates of hell will never, never prevail against it.
Which leads us to the third element of Herod's opposition and hatred of this newborn King, Jesus. And that's the demonic element. In First John, chapter three, we read, for this purpose, the Son of God was manifested. For this purpose, he was revealed to us that he might destroy the works of the devil. That's the reason why the second Person of the Trinity came into this world to destroy the works of the devil.
In reality, Herod was but an instrument of Satan. Satan wanted to use him to destroy the Son of God. That's what that passage in Revelation that was read earlier by Ben is all about. The language is very mysterious as you read Revelation 12, but it pictures Christ being born to the church. The woman with the Crown that has 12 stars on her head, she is the church.
After the birth of Christ, he is ultimately brought into heaven, as it says in Revelation 12. That happens when Christ rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. But where does that leave the church? Well, as was read the woman, the church is now in the wilderness. She's in the desert.
We are as a church between the ascension of Jesus Christ and the return of Jesus Christ. We're like the Old Testament Israelites wandering through the desert, on our way to the promised land. Like the Old Testament church, we're on our way to the promised land. But now we're in the wilderness. We're in the desert.
And just like God took care of the Israelites when they were in the wilderness, so also we have the assurance that God takes care of us as we wander through the wilderness. Satan the dragon tried to use Herod. He's tried to use so many more since then to destroy the Savior. He continues to pursue the church. Herod's scheme, as we read here.
His scheme, Sending those soldiers to Bethlehem. Even though it caused heartbreak, it caused death, it didn't accomplish what he wanted to accomplish. Killing the one who was born, the one who would be and is and always will be the King. Of kings and the Lord of Lords. As we read by God's special revelation, a dream given to Joseph, Mary, he takes Mary and Jesus to Egypt For a while, even before all of those soldiers came to Bethlehem, Satan's plans were overturned.
And they always will be. They always will be. Oh, make no mistake, there is a cosmic war going on far, far more significant than the war in Ukraine, far more significant than what takes place in the Gaza. It is a war not between man versus man. It is between Satan and the church.
Revelation 12 tells us the reason why evil is so pervasive, the reason why Satan is so aggressive today. It's because he. He knows his time is short and he knows he's already been defeated. This cosmic war rages fierce in countries throughout this world where Christians are being persecuted. But it doesn't just go on in other countries.
It goes on in every heart inside of you. There is a war raging on between the old nature that desires to do that which desires to fall in and do that which Satan tempts us with, and the other side, the new nature that desires to serve God. And you and I know full well that this side that serves the devil seems to win a whole lot more often than it should. We're really not a whole lot better than heaven. Maybe our hatred isn't expressed as brutally as Herod expressed it, but it's hatred just the same.
Anytime we fail to express our love for God, anytime we put God on a back burner, we put Jesus Christ on a back burner so we can do something that we want to do do.
That's hatred. That's hatred. Congregation the wonderful good news is Jesus is already the victor over that hatred. Unlike Herod, who was constantly surrounded by death, Jesus, the true King, has a regard for life. He has a regard for your life.
Life. He came to conquer death so that you and I could have life. Jesus says in John 10, verse 10, I have come that you may have life and that you may have it abundantly. Abundantly. So whereas Herod could not take the life of Jesus, Jesus freely gave up for us his.
His life on the cross so that we can have that abundant life that he speaks of in John 10. And now he calls you to follow him. You see, Christmas isn't about the wise men. It's not about the old little town of Bethlehem or about Herod. Christmas is about Jesus, the son of God, coming into the world.
The wise men come came to worship Jesus. Herod wanted to kill him. And for all of the treacherous ways to in his Perverse rule. Only a few short months after Herod sent those soldiers into Bethlehem to do that horribly tragic event, killing those babies, Herod himself died. Oh, congregation.
God is not mocked. God is not mocked. Neither Herod's hatred nor Satan's power could keep Christ from accomplishing his mission of saving his church. Christ accomplished that mission not by replacing Herod on the throne after he died. He accomplished it by facing the same horrible death.
Death as did those zealots who rebelled against the Roman Empire. They were crucified because they fought against the tyranny of Rome. Jesus was crucified in the fight against the tyranny of Satan. The zealots lost the battle. Jesus Christ won his battle.
He won the victory for you and for me. So that we can be freed from our sin, so that we can be reconciled to our Father in heaven. So that we can be children of God, for that is what we are. John says, as Joshua says near the end of the book, named after him, choose you this day whom you will serve, the God of death or the God of life, the God of hatred or the God of love. Let's pray together.
Our Father in heaven, we see how tumultuous the life of Jesus was already at the very beginning. How all the way, even then, all the way to his death on the cross, to being laid in a tomb. He suffered for us. And Father, we are so thankful that he did. Because we would have had to face that sorrow were it not for him.
We would have had to face death, eternal death, were it not for him. But thanks be to God, he was victorious over Satan. He rose from the dead and now is at your side where he makes intercession for us. O Lord, we pray that your spirit would fill us, that we may choose you to be our God, and that we may have that assurance that we are given that abundant life that Jesus promised. We're given the promise that many mansions have been prepared for us through the death of Christ on the cross.
And that even as Jesus left, so also he will return to take us to be where he is. Lord, we long for that day. We long for the day when he returns. And we can see him face to face when he returns. And we can stand before the throne of the God of love.
Lord, as we tarry here, fill us with that love so that we can be ambassadors for you to this cruel world, drawing a people to yourself. Hear us we pray. Lord, in Jesus name, name. Amen.