Grace, Mercy, and Peace be unto you from
God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
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.
In the name of Jesus
Boy this story sucks
the joy right put of Christmas doesn't it.
A story about violence and death is unpleasant so soon after Christmas,
especially when we are talking about the death of children. Unfortunately, the death of children is all
too common in our society. And there are
many whom those deaths do not bother at all, because they are the deaths of
aborted children. Yet there are many of
us who lament greatly that so many millions of unborn children have died in our
country, and around the world, because of abortion.
But the deaths we
discuss today are not the deaths of aborted children. They are the deaths of children already born,
deaths which took place because of one man’s hatred toward the Christ
Child. These children had done nothing
wrong to cause their deaths. They were
innocent children who were at the wrong place at the wrong time.
These children were
born around the time when, and near the place where our Savior Jesus Christ was
born. His birth went unnoticed by most,
even though He was the Savior of mankind.
Angels announced His birth to shepherds out in the fields. Those shepherds announced His birth to others
in and around Bethlehem. But word didn’t
spread very far. Or, if it did, not many
took notice.
Certainly there was
little notice taken in Jerusalem. We
might have expected word would get there, since Jerusalem is only as far from
Bethlehem as Dodge Center is from Claremont.
God had foretold this Child’s birth through the prophets for ages. Yet, strangely, over a year after His birth,
few knew the Savior had been born.
Few knew until, one
day, a group of Gentiles from a far away country came to Jerusalem and asked
about this Child. They had come to see
the new king, and to worship Him foretold in the Hebrew Scriptures. They had figured the king’s palace was the
right place to look for the new king. So
they came and asked King Herod about this birth.
Even Herod knew
nothing about the birth of a new king.
But he sure caught his attention.
Herod was a very cruel man, and was planning to be king for a long time. He had already murdered several relatives,
because he was concerned that they might want his throne. Herod didn't know who this new king might
be. But he wanted to find out.
So he set out to find
the new king. He checked with those who
knew the prophetic writings, to find out if the prophets had said where the
king would be born. The word came back
that it was in Bethlehem. Herod then
arranged with the Gentiles, who had come to him, to find this king and bring
back word where he was. He wanted to
know where this new Baby King was, so he could destroy Him.
But God intervened in
a dream, and sent the Gentiles on their way home without reporting back to
Herod, therefore greatly angering him.
Since he knew the place and approximate time of the birth. But he didn't know who the Baby was, he took
action to be sure that Baby King did not live.
And that’s where our text comes in.
It says; “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.”
As a result of Herod’s
actions, many innocent children died.
They were slaughtered, because one wicked man with power cared more
about himself and what he wanted than he did the Savior of the world. Imagine the grief those parents suffered over
their loss! Those children were the
first known martyrs after the birth of Jesus, the first to lose their lives,
because someone hated the Savior.
Of all those children
in and near Bethlehem, God spared the life of one. That One was the very child whom Herod was
trying to destroy. God intervened to
save this Child, because the Christ Child had come to be the Savior of the
world. Were He to die at the hands of
Herod’s army, Jesus could not have accomplished what He had come to do.
Before Herod’s army
came to Bethlehem, God sent an angel to Joseph in a dream one night, warning
him of the danger to Jesus, and telling him to take Mary and Jesus and go to
Egypt until the danger had passed. So
they left by night, escaping the slaughter of young boys that took place soon
afterward. Joseph and his family then
stayed in Egypt until Herod died, and the immediate danger was passed.
Yet the danger to
Jesus did not end. This innocent Child
Jesus would die one day, but under different circumstances, and for a different
reason. Te reason he would die came well
before His birth. It happened in the
Garden of Eden, when the devil, having already fallen away from God into sin
and wickedness, led Adam and Eve also to fall away into sin. Their sin and guilt brought death and hell
into the lives of all mankind. Adam and
Eve passed that original sin and guilt on to their children. Each generation of parents has continued to
pass original sin and guilt on to their children.
Those little children
who died in Bethlehem were innocent of anything that would have moved Herod to
kill them. Yet they were not completely
innocent. They, like you and I, are
guilty of committing sin in our lives.
The devil continues to work hard to try to turn us completely away from
God.
Sin moved our Creator
to do many things. It led him to destroy
the world with a flood. It led him to
destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. But, sin is
also the reason why Jesus Christ came as Savior, and the reason why He
died. God demanded that sin be punished
with physical and spiritual death. HE
demanded that blood must be shed for sin.
However, God knew
that, should He punish us for our sins, no human being who ever lived would
enjoy eternal life with Him in heaven.
Every human being is sinful from his youth. There is not one human being ever who has
escaped from the curse. And there never
will be. God knew this would be the case
even before He created the world.
So God also devised a
plan by which He would save sinful mankind.
This plan involved God Himself coming to earth as the Savior. He would come and meet all the requirements
for heaven. He would live a perfect
life. He would even shed His own blood
and suffer for sinful mankind the punishment God required for our sins. God would suffer this punishment even though
He would be perfect and innocent in every sense. The sweetest swap, the righteous chooses
death, so that the unrighteous may have life.
In order to fulfill
this, God must take on human form, so that He could be the complete Substitute
for us and save us from our sins. That’s
why Jesus was born in Bethlehem to the Virgin Mary. That’s why the devil tried with all his evil
might to keep Jesus from doing what He had come to do. That’s why this innocent Child, who escaped
the sword of Herod’s army in Bethlehem, would still ultimately die. He was born to die, the innocent for the
guilty. When Jesus shed His blood and
died for us on the cross, and then rose again on Easter, God’s plan to save us
was brought to a successful close. Good
had triumphed over evil. And we were set
free.
God has set you and me
free in Jesus Christ. We are free from
the requirement to obey the Law for righteousness and eternal salvation. Jesus has done that for us as our
Substitute. We are free from God’s anger
for our sins. Jesus Christ bore the
brunt of that anger in our place.
The path which Jesus
took, the path which all take who are connected to him is not easy. Those children did not deserve to die, Jesus
did not deserve to die. But praise God
that he works through unexpected means, even the death of innocent children to
bring about life for all. This Christmas
and always let us praise him for his infinite wisdom show through the life of
his son.
Amen.
+SDG+
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