This is based on a sermon of my pastor, Robert Englehardt.
Matthew 2:1-20
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of
Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to
Jerusalem, 2 saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For
we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was
troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief
priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the
Christ was to be born.
5 So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of
Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
6'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are
not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler Who
will shepherd My people Israel.'"
7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the
wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them
to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and
when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him
also."
9 When they heard the king, they departed;
and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it
came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they
rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house,
they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.
And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold,
frankincense, and myrrh.
12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream
that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country
another way.
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an
angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise, take the
young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you
word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him."
14 When he arose, he took the young Child and
His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of
Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the
prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son."
16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was
deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to
death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts,
from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined
from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the
prophet, saying:
18 "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation,
weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be
comforted, because they are no more."
19 Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel
of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, "Arise,
take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those
who sought the young Child's life are dead." NKJV
We don't hear this part of the Christmas
story often, but it is very relevant to today.
We are still right in the middle of the spiritual war of good versus
evil; Satan versus God. Satan is still
allowed to roam in the world, but God also gave man dominion over the
earth. Sure Satan is out there, but with
the Holy Spirit of God we can bind him up and stop him. It's our choice whether we use the power of
dominion granted us by God to stop Satan or to let him run rampant over us.
In the story of the Magi they are so glad
that the star leads them right to Jesus.
We should feel as they did when we meet Jesus and accept Him into our
lives. They decide not to tell Herod
where Jesus can be found due to a dream that they know was divinely given. This stops Satan in his tracks for a moment
in using Herod to destroy Jesus. We can
do the same today by following God's leading.
Of course, Satan is not going to relent until
the final day he is tied in chains and thrown into the fiery pit. So Herod sends men to kill every boy in the
town of Bethlehem that could have been born since the date the wise men told
him they first saw the star for the King of the Jews. He went straight from being angry at the wise
men not coming back to murder. There was
no way he wanted this new born King of the Jews thwarting his authority as the
current ruler appointed by Rome over the Jews.
So there were many innocent little boys, ages estimated from new born to
two-years-old, killed all due to one man's desire not to lose his position of
authority. We have seen similar stories
all over the news about people murdering innocents for various reasons.
The first example of sin leading to murder is
Adam's sin leading to ejection from the Garden of Eden. It was followed next by Cain killing his
brother, Able, with a rock out of pure jealousy over God liking Able's offering
better. Cain just grabbed what was
available and used it to end Able. He
even contemplated it ahead of time because he lured Able out into the field
with him. It's man's heart that leads to
such deeds and they will find a way to commit the act no matter what means it
takes.
Another example is David with Bathsheba. He sins by taking her himself and then
sending orders to make sure Uriah, her husband, dies on the front lines of
battle. All of this because David had
sinned, knew it and could not get Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba in order to
cover for her pregnancy. At least David
repented of his sin by confessing it to God, but Cain never did that.
Now Joseph is a man of God and when he gets a
dream to take Jesus to Egypt, he gets up in the middle of the night and off
they go without waiting for daylight. He
obeyed the message of the angel sent by God and thus Satan's plan to take out
Jesus via Herod was foiled. Another
example of how following God's lead takes us out of danger into safety even if
we must move out of our own country to a foreign land for a time. Today we may not have to move to a new
country, but we will be moved out of our comfort zone in order to step out in
faith with God.
So who is Satan after today? Which innocents murdered may have been the
next great threat to Satan for their strong faith in God? What has the world lost due to us letting
Satan in and pushing God out of the picture?
There are still many battles to be fought no
matter how close to the end times people may say we are. Which side are you fighting on?
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