Choose Your Hero Wisely | Matthew 2:1-23

back this morning and we're going to be

looking at two kings.

One is King Herod and the other is King

Jesus.

And King Herod has been known as Herod

the Great. And in human terms, there's

much to talk about with King Herod being

what the world would call a great man.

He was a a great statesman, a great

builder. He brought wealth into the

country that he reigned over and he was

also quite the death of tying. And then

on the other hand, we have King Jesus

who would grow up in the little town of

Nazareth. King of the universe grew up

in a small town and the one now rules

over the kings of the earth and the

other one is in hell awaiting judgment.

And I I titled this this morning, choose

your hero wisely because it's very easy

for us as 21st century Christians to get

caught up in politics and culture and

what the world is seeing might

and power and forget that Christ reigns

that his kingdom is not of this world

but it is in this world because it is in

his people. It is advancing in the

hearts and the minds of people and we

can get very impressed with the kingdoms

of this world and fail to realize that

Christ rules over the kings of this

world. It's important to choose our hero

wisely because we will serve ultimately

what we worship. We will become like the

God we worship. If we worship the kings

of this world, we will seek to be like

them. If we worship King Jesus, we will

favor his kingdom and live for what

truly matters. If you stand with me now

for the reading of God's word,

we're going to read in Matthewapter

2.

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 saying, "Where is he who has

been born king of the Jews? For we saw

his star when it rose and had 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 Christ was to be

born. They told him, "And Bethlehem of

Judea, for so it is written by the

prophets, and you, oh Bethlehem, and 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 came from 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 may come and worship him. After

listening to the king, they went on

their way. And behold, the star that

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 worshiped him. Then

opening their treasures, they offered

him gifts, gold, and frankincense and

myrr. 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, the 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 remain 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 in all that region who were

two years old and under according to the

time that he had from the wise men. Then

was fulfilled what was spoken by the

prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in

Rama, weeping and loud lamentation.

Rachel weeping for her children. She

refused to be comforted because they are

no more.

When Herod died, behold, the angel of

the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph

in Egypt, saying, "Rise, take the child

and his mother and go to the land of

Israel, for those who sought the child's

life are dead." And he rose and took the

child and his mother and went to the

land of Israel. But when he heard that

Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the

place of his father Herod, he was afraid

to go there. And being warned in a

dream, he withdrew to the district of

Galilee. And he went and lived in a city

called Nazare so that what was spoken by

the prophets might be fulfilled that he

would be called. Let us pray. Oh Lord

God, we thank you for Jesus Christ at

the right hand of the father. You do

rule the nations with a rod of iron as

you said in Matthew 28:18. All authority

Matthew 28:18

has been given to me in heaven and in

earth. Father give us

that trust you fully, that trust you

with our lives, with our finances, with

our children, with the future, with our

nation. Because Lord, you are supremely

wise. We bow our knee to you. We confess

that Jesus is Lord. And we trust you to

work all things together for our good

and for your glory. In Jesus name I

pray. Amen. You may be seated.

Well,

we see in this

doing what politicians doing,

conspiring, manipulating,

uh, willing to kill their enemies

secretly. And yet we see God preserves

the child Jesus just as he preserves his

people. Now to this day, the kingdoms of

this world, the men of this world that

run the nations are at war with Christ.

When when various countries try to stamp

out Christ,

the the church flourishes and grows. I I

read an article the other day that China

may become a Christian nation by the

year 2030. I thought I think it was a

secular article, but there's a huge

there's been a huge growth of Christians

in China. Right now, it's still ran by a

dictator and uh Christians are

persecuted and they have their state

church that they they approve certain

messages of, but it's controlled. But

the real church is growing underground.

Christians coming in great numbers for

decades now to faith in Jesus. I ran

also I heard great news a few years ago.

I was like this should be this should be

in the big headlines in all the

magazines and all the news stations.

Great revival in Iran. Perhaps soon

we'll we'll see that regime fall in Iran

and we'll discover that there's actually

far more Christians in the underground

than we realize. We've been hearing word

for years in the Christian community

that that perhaps millions are there now

in the underground church. But but the

kings of this world when they come face

to face with the message that Jesus

Christ is Lord, they can either bow to

him or they can fight him. But Christ

reigns. And just like Herod died and at

the providence of God and God preserves

Christ, the kings of this world also

die. And Christ preserves his people. He

preserves his church. And when the

church is persecuted, it even flourishes

under hostile conditions. And so when I

say choose your heroes wisely, I I tell

it to choose your heroes wisely. We have

to make a decision what we're ultimately

going to serve. Are we going to serve

this world or are we going to serve

Christ? And in whom do we trust? And

whom is our hope? And and we'll see as

we look at this passage that this is

typified in the Old Testament that the

kingdom the kingdom of Christ will

prevail and the kings of this world will

bow the knee. All right, let's look at

our first verse this morning in verse

one. It says, "Now after Jesus was born

in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of

Herod the king, who was Herod the king?"

Very interesting to do some research on

him. First thing that sounds very stands

out to me is his name. When I looked up

the meaning of his name, it means hero.

Hero. His name means hero. His father

antiper named him hero.

He was an excellent soldier. He was

athletic.

He had courage. He had decisiveness.

Things that we admire in men. We admire

those attributes in men. He He was an

excellent soldier.

He was athletic.

He was a cunning statesman.

He was known as a great builder. I have

some of some of the things he built.

One, the Jerusalem temple. He had the

old temple uh torn down and he rebuilt a

new one. The rebuilding of the second

temple to make it in terms of men it was

a glorious masterpiece. Some of the

stones of the temple weighed up to 40

tons. They were a marvel of the ancient

world. When the disciples saw the temple

in Matthew 24, they're like, "Lord, look

at these great stones. Look at these

beautiful buildings." And Jesus said,

"Not one stone will be left upon

another." And he said within a

generation, within 40 years, not one

stone would be left upon another. Now,

why why would anybody tear down this

magnificent temple? Like I said, one

stone could like 40 tons. They wonder

how do they even do it? But when the

temple caught on fire and the golden

roof that Herod had put a golden roof on

it, the gold ran down

And in order for the Romans to get to

the gold, they had to tear those stones

down just like Jesus prophesied.

illustrating that Christ temple made not

of stones but of men prevails whereas

temple fails. It was destroyed. He built

a place called Cesaria Maritima with a

he made an artificial harbor making it a

major port on the Mediterranean Sea. He

built a temple to Augustus that was also

quite incredible. I'm sure it was a work

of art also because it was to it was to

Augustus. We always hear about the truth

temple, but he built other pagan temples

and one to Augustus the emperor. He

built fortresses. He built elaborate

desert fortresses such as Mada with an

aqueduct taking water out to it. It was

one of the last stands of the Jews

against the Romans Romans and the of the

second century. It was it was quite a

feat for the Romans to defeat it. They

had to build a ramp to go up to it.

Incredible fortress out in the middle of

of the desert. He was also known for

building other infrastructure

like like aqueduct pave streets, public

buildings, theaters and numerous cities

like Jericho, South and Hebron. So he

was a magnificent builder. He was a man

of great accomplishment.

He was also known for ruthless to his

enemies and family alike, but also quite

loyal. I told you the story a little bit

a week or two ago about how he had been

a friend to Mark Anthony. But when Mark

Anthony

up with Cleopatra and fought against

Augustus, he knew he knew that he was

going to lose and he went to Augustus

and said, "Augustus, I've been loyal to

Mark Anthony. I will also be loyal to

you and

made him the king of Judea.

Also very significant is he was anime.

An Idian

is the Latin form of Edomite.

He's from he was he was a descendant of

Esau

and the area of Nabakia. Now, Edom had

been conquered century and a half

earlier or so. And so, the came

under under the uh Israel, the Hasminian

rule, the the ruling power of the Jews

at the time. But now the tables have

turned and this descendant of Esau is

reigning over the Jews and the Jews hate

him for it because he's not a Jew. He's

not of the tribe of Judah. He is not a

descendant of King David. He is a

descendant of Esau. So before I really

get into the Matthew passage, I've got

some passage in Genesis I want to look

at because he's a descendant of Esau.

There's some we went through this when

we went through Genesis, but there's

some incredible typology and prophecy

attached to Esau and his descendants and

Jacob and his descendants. Because from

Jacob would come the Messiah, not from

Esau. So going back to Genesis 25, I

want to read some verses from Genesis

25. We we read about how Isaac and

Rebecca conceived twins. In Genesis

Genesis 25:21

25:21, it says, "And Isaac prayed to the

Lord for his wife because she was

barren.

And the Lord granted his prayer and

Rebecca's wife conceived. The children

struggled together within her and she

said, "If it is thus, why is this

happening to me?" So she went to inquire

of the Lord. And the Lord said to her,

"Two nations are in your womb, and two

peoples from within you shall be

divided. The one shall be stronger than

the other. The older shall serve the

younger." So while she's pregnant and

and the the babies are rustling in the

womb, she feels lots of lots of kicking

going on in there. She goes to the Lord

and the Lord says this is basically this

is typifying the future. Two nations

two nations are going to come out of you

and and the younger is going to rule

over the older one. So, so the prophecy

that Rachel embraces but the father

doesn't embrace is that the elder will

serve the younger of the nation.

Verse 24, when her days to give birth

were completed, behold, there were twins

in her womb. The first came out red, all

his body was hairy, was like a hairy

cloak. So they called his name Esau. The

name Esau sounds like Harry.

after his brother came out with his hand

holding Esau's heel. So his name was

called Jacob. Isaac was six years old

when she bore him. When the boys grew

up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of

the field, while Jacob was a quiet man

in tent. Isaac loved Esau because he ate

of his dream. But Rebecca loved Jacob.

So the one is never being what we call a

man's man. He's a hunter. And we Even

later in life when when Jacob meets up

with his brother, his brother in human

terms has has a bunch of men with him

who are soldiers under him. He has

acquired power in his life. He's a man

of the field. He's a man of violence.

He's a mighty hunter and men follow him.

And Jacob is fearful of him in his life.

On the other hand, Jacob is a quiet man,

a peaceful man dwelling in tent, which

to the Hebrew leaders, what they hear is

Jacob was civilized and Esau is a man of

war.

This is a picture of who Herod would be,

a man of war, a leader of men, a

builder, a go-getter,

a mighty hunter among men. Notice his

name is Edom. Edom means uh red and oh I

didn't read I gota read this part here

didn't do that he has two names all

right he's already got a second name

once when Jacob was cooking stew Esau

came in from the field and he was

exhausted and Esau said to Jacob let me

eat some of that red stew for I am

exhausted therefore his name was called

Edom means

Jacob said, "Sell me your birthight

now." Esau said, "I'm about to die of

what you

me." Jacob said, "Swear to me now." So

he swore to him and sold his birthight

to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and

lentil stew. And he ate and drank and

rose and went his way. Thus Esau

despised his birth. So Esau comes in

from hunting. He's hungry. He sees Jacob

has made some red stew.

He will live in the land of Edom which

is a red land. If you ever seen a

picture of Nabatia or I think Jordan

there's a lot of red rock there. Red

becomes associated with Edom. Uh the

other thing interesting about Eden as I

mentioned when we studied in Genesis is

in Hebrews he has the exact same name of

Adam and just like Adam sold his

birthight for food

sells his birthight for food. So he's a

man of lust. He's a man of appetite who

doesn't care about his birthight. What's

the birthight? Well, God has said that

that God has made a promise to Adam and

Eve.

They're looking for the seed of the

woman that will crush the serpent's

head. He made promises to Abraham that

that him all the nations of the earth

would be blessed. And he made a promise

through Isaac and Isaac shall your seed

be called when Esau despise despises

birth. I don't care about all that

savior.

I don't care about God's kingdom. I

don't care about the deliverer. I don't

care about salvation from sin. I just

want to serve my belly. That's what's

going on here. Esau is a man who serves

his appetite. He doesn't care about

heavenly things or the promises of God

or the destiny. He He sells his

birthight because he doesn't value it.

He doesn't value that which is eternal.

He values that which is temporal, which

is of this world.

That's a picture of Esau. That's a

picture of Herod. That's a picture of

you and I if we serve this world over

the kingdom of God.

What kingdom are we going to serve? Who

are our heroes? What do we value?

Jesus tells us to seek first the kingdom

of God and his righteousness and all

these things. All these necessities will

be added to you. He'll take care of the

necessities. But but Esau was a man who

served his belly. His God was his belly.

He only cared about the flesh.

Jacob earnestly coveted even though he

seeks to do it by deceitful means at

times. Jacob Jacob values the promises

of God.

Jacob Jacob values the fact that as the

prophecy to his mother was said that the

the elder will serve the younger. He

values he wants he longs for the

blessing of God on his life. It's a big

theme in in the book of Genesis is Jacob

is always asking for the blessing. He

wants God's blessing. He wants his

father's blessing. Esau despises the

blessing. He despises the birthight.

Jacob longs for it. It's a picture of

Herod. Herod Herod is an accomplished

man, a hero among men. Herod the Great.

Vicious. He killed one of his favorite

wives. He killed a couple of his sons

for uh for they accused of treason.

later with regret for killing his wife

Mary. But he was a vicious man who

coveted power and the things of this

world more than anything else. He's a

picture of those that serve the flesh.

He's a descendant of Esau both

physically and spiritually.

Let's look at all this again. 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

saying where is he who has been born

king of the Jews? For we saw his star

when it rose and had come to worship him

when Herod the king heard this trouble

and all Jerusalem with him. Now we've

already gone through this passage

here. We've already talked about this

passage a few times and before we

focused on the word worship. The word

worship is used three times in the text

and and uh it demonstrates that Christ

being the god man is worthy of worship.

And now here we see these wise men

coming to Jerusalem the capital saying

where is he who is born king of the

Jews? That's like uh going to going to

the politician and saying, "Hey, we're

seeking your competitor. We're seeking

your political enemy." And and Herod, he

hears this and he's troubled. He's

troubled because he knows about the

prophecy. He's heard it. He's been he's

been acquainted with Jewish religion,

the teaching of the Torah, the teaching

of the prophets for some time. He knows

that the Jews are looking for the

Messiah. He knows that and he is

troubled

in all of Jerusalem with him.

They're trouble. The kingdoms of this

world are troubled

when the the authority and the power of

Christ is proclaimed because he is a

threat to despism and tyranny and the

powers of men everywhere the gospel

goes. He is troubled. He's also troubled

because he knows

that he is not of the tribe of Judah,

that he is an Edomite. And so therefore,

he does not have God's authentification

to rule. And so he's threatened by this.

He threatens. Now, one thing that's also

interesting here is that we see the

reason they say they come is they come

to worship him. These kings are coming

from Babylon as we saw the

that we read about in the book of

Daniel. Daniel's prophecy of the coming

of the kingdom save the wise men from

from death. And so here they come

probably riding on Persian, probably not

camels and and probably a great company,

not merely three. And and they come and

they say, "We're here to worship the

king that's been prophesied, right?" And

so um this there's a prophecy about the

nations bowing down to worship. And I

want to fast forward a little bit going

back to Genesis.

If you remember,

Isaac is old and dying and he calls his

son Esau. His favorite son is Esau.

Rachel's favorite son is Jacob. And

Isaac calls him Esau and he says, "Hey,

listen. I want you to go get me my

favorite food. I want you to go kill

some venison. Bring it to me. I'll eat

the venison and then I'm going to pray a

blessing over you." And Esau's like,

"Great. I want my father's blessing." So

he runs out hunting and

his wife Rebecca overhears this

discussion and she convinces Jacob to

put on his brother's clothing to put on

uh to put put some hair on his his arms

to make his arms feel hairy and to go in

and to deceive his father because Isaac

is blind and deceive him and say I'm

your son Esau so that Jacob Isaac will

pray the blessing over Jacob instead of

the blessing over Esau. So it's

deception. And so Jacob does it. He

dresses up in his brother's clothing.

And then he walks into his father. He

brings him some stew made from goat, not

from venison. And his father eats and he

likes it. And we read what happens in

verse 26. Then his father Isaac said to

him, "Come near and kiss me my son." So

he came near and kissed him. And smelled

the smell of his garments and blessed

him and said, "See the smell of my son

is as the smell of the field that the

Lord has blessed. May God give you the

Jew of heaven and of the fatness of the

earth and plenty of rain and wine. Let

peoples serve you and nations bow down

to you. Be lord over your brothers and

may your mother sons bow down to you.

Curse me everyone who curses you and

bless me everyone who blesses you. This

is very much pictured in this passage in

Matthew. He's saying let the nations bow

down to you. Let the nations serve you.

Let let your brothers implying Esau bow

down to you and serve you. And as we

looked at in a previous worship means to

bow down.

So all this comes to mind I think to the

Hebrew of the first centuries reading

this. He knows about The first century

reader knows that Herod was a great

builder. They they know that he was

conniving and violent, but they also

know that that uh he was a hero among

men and and they they know how ruthless

he was. And here they read about these

the nations coming to do what? To bow

down and worship Jesus. And what he

says, I want to worship him too, which

is a lie. That's part of the prophecy.

And and it's not a prophecy that's

fulfilled in Jacob's lifetime. It's a

prophecy that looks forward to Christ

when all the nations of the earth will

bow down to him. And so the the book of

Matthew ends with the great commission

to go and teach all nations. Why? So

that they can they can repent, believe,

be baptized, and observe all he's

commanded us that we might worship him.

We're watching it today. We're living

out this verse. We, most of us born of

Gentiles,

we come to worship the King of Kings. We

come to serve the King of Kings. But

Herod would rather murder the King of

Kings if he could. And then we read what

happens next in this passage. We read a

little more of this blessing because

there's so many parallels to this

Matthew passage in Genesis 27. As soon

as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob,

when Jacob had scarcely gone out from

the presence of Isaac, his father, Esau,

his brother, came in from hunting. He

also prepared delicious food and brought

it to his father. And he said to his

father, "Let my father arise and eat of

his son's gain that you may bless me."

His father Isaac said to him, "Who are

you?" He answered, "Honey, your son,

your firstborn, Esau." Then Isaac

trembled very violently and said, "Who

was it then that hunted game and brought

it to me? And I ate of it before you

came and I have blessed him." Yes. And

he shall be blessed. might say, "Well,

that was that was a sham. He he didn't

really bless Jacob because he thought he

was Esau." But when when Isaac says this

blessing, Isaac know knows it's prophet.

He knows it's a prophetic blessing. So

when he when he blesses this, he says

that your brothers will come and serve

you and the nations will serve you. That

that wasn't Isaac saying what he wanted

to say. That was God speaking through

him. He says, "You will be blessed

because God God just prophesied over

your brother that you're going to serve

him and that the nations are going to

serve him and it's going to happen

because God prophesied it." As soon as

Esau heard the words of his father and

cried out with exceedingly great and

bitter cry and said to his father,

"Bless even me also, oh my father." But

he said, "Your brother came deceitfully

and he has taken away your blessings.

said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob?

For he has cheated me these two times.

He took away my birthight, and behold,

now he has taken away my blessing." Then

he said, "Have you not reserved a

blessing for me?" Isaac answered and

said to Esau, "Behold, I made him lord

over you and all his brothers. I have

given to him for servant, and with grain

and wine, I have sustained him. What

then can I do for you, my son?"

said to his father, "Have you but one

blessing, my father? Bless me even me

also, oh my father." And Esau lifted up

his voice and wept. Then Isaac his

father answered and said to him,

"Behold, away from the fattens of the

earth,

and away from the D of heaven on high,

by your sword you shall live, and you

shall serve your brother, but when you

grow restless, you shall break his yoke

from your neck. Now, Esau hated Jacob

because of the blessing with his father

blessed him. And Esau said to him, "The

days of mourning for my father

approached him. Then I will kill my

brother Jacob." This becomes a theme in

the Old Testament often times when the

the who Israel over

and over again. There's a whole book,

the book of Oadiah

is all about the destruction of of Edom

and the descendants of Esau. They would

the enemies

of Israel. David would subjugate them.

They would serve Israel and Solomon too,

but then later on they would break off

the yolk and they would go off and do

their own thing. But the the prophecy

provokes Esau.

He wants to kill Jacob. What does Herod

want to do? He wants to kill Christ.

There's a parallel going on here. Esau

wants to kill Jacob. Herod wants to kill

Christ. Jacob has the promise of the

deliverer that the nations will worship.

And Herod wants to kill the fulfillment

of that. And so what happens is Jacob

runs away as we see later in this

passage. Um he will run away. So it it

it's it's typified. We see we see that

Esau wanting to kill Jacob

is just foreshadowing

the

kill. And the early the early church

knew this. The Jews knew this. They they

knew the background. They knew the

prophecy. They knew what was prophesied

of Christ and they hated Herod because

Herod was a man. He was a non-Jew. He

did not have the right to rule but he

wanted to uh but he was a tyrant.

of the people of Israel. All right,

let's get back to our text back in

Matthewap.

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 so it is written by the prophet, and

you, oh Bethlehem and the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers

of Judah, and from you shall come a

ruler who will shepherd my people

Israel." In in the uh Old Testament,

kings are referred to as she steppers.

David was Jacob was a shepherd whereas

Esau was a warrior. David would be a

shepherd and would become a warrior. But

the idea of shephering, a shepherd is

someone who has to have great

responsibility and care for the sheep. A

good shepherd cares for the wellbeing of

the sheep. You know when the says, "He

makes me lie down in green pasture." A

sheep only lays down when it has no

fear. As long as a sheep is scared of

predators like wolves and lions and that

sort of thing, sheep will stay on their

feet ready to run, which will make it

hard for them to gain weight, hard for

them to be healthy because they're under

stress. A good shepherd provides for his

sheep so well that they're able to rest

and grow fat and produce lots of of hair

for for making wool and that sort of

thing. But but a shepherd is someone who

is very responsible very very has to be

a very responsible person to take care

of sheep. They need constant management

because sheep are no match for wolves on

their own.

Sheep need a shepherd to care for them.

And it's a picture of how Christ cares

for his Jesus says, "I am the good

shepherd in John 10." It's a picture of

someone who protects the sheep and leads

the sheep and feeds the sheep. In fact,

Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd who

gives lays down his life for the sheep."

Herod on the other hand

ruled as a

he ruled in fear. his own children would

conspire against him and when he found

out he had him killed. He He was a

ruthless man. Ruth was some someone I

read one time somebody said, "I I would

rather be Herod's dog than than one of

Herod's sons because his sons were

constantly under threat of being killed

by their father because he he lived in

paranoia. I think of of men like Stalin.

Stalin was known at different times

killing his whole cabinet, all of his

all of his upper cabinet because the

rumor would go out there trying to kill

you and he says, "Well, just kill them

all to be safe." That that's not the

picture of a good shepherd. That that's

the picture of a tyrant. But Jesus is

the ruler who will shepherd my people

Israel. He gives his life for his sheep.

He protects the sheep. He feeds the

sheep. He cares for the sheep. He leads

the sheep. And Jesus said that that when

the among the Gentiles, those that are

great rule over them in athotic way, he

lord over the over the people, but it

shall not be so among you. But he that

is great among you shall be your

servant. So uh God God's plan for rulers

is that they be servant leaders, not

rulers like Herod who was a death. But

here's the prophecy that he would be

born in Bethlehem. The one who was to

shepherd his people Israel. Christ as

king for the Herod was no pressure.

Herod did many public works and

buildings and roads and offered up. He

did things that benefited the public on

one level. But the people lived under

such a heavy tax. They had very little

left over for themselves. And such was

the time of Christ in his ministry. You

always read about him criticizing the

rich, but you have to understand the

rich people were the politicians and the

people that worked in the temple. And

the way they got rich was through

excessive taxation,

through stealing wealth and

redistributing it. And so the wealthy at

the time of Christ were not hardwork

invested wisely. The wealthy at the time

of Christ were people who got rich by

oppression. Herod was an oppression.

Very high tax rate. I had a pastor

coming one time. I was I was speaking in

a church down in Texas and uh I think he

was giving me a hint because some of the

people had come through there were

charlatans. And he said, "Hey, listen.

You can you can shear a sheep many

times, but you can flee them only once."

And he he was telling me he knew he knew

of of ministers, evangelists, pastors

who would manipulate people for money

and and would play on their emotions.

And he said, "You can do you can only

once. They'll trust you once and then

they won't trust you anymore. You can

shear you can take a little bit of fur.

You can take you can take the not the

fur the um you can take a wool off the

street many times, but you get to take

it only once. And he was just telling me

you got to care for people. You can't go

and and treat them like

well

the type of ruler that oppressed the

people. And Christ is the type of ruler

that cares for is

Then Herod summoned the wise men

secretly and as came 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. Remember the

prophecy of Isaac was your brothers

without bow and worship you like oh yeah

I'll come and I'll worship him too but

it's all a lie it's fake he doesn't want

to worship Christ

just like Esau wanted to kill Jacob

I'll come and worship him but really

he's lying lying

in verse n says after listening to the

king they went on their way the that

they had seen when it rose 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 worshiped him.

Then opening their treasures, they

offered him gifts, gold and frankincense

and being warned in a dream not to

return to Herod, they departed to their

own country by another way. Now, we

talked about last week the

the key word is worship. They worship

him and he made the point that Jesus is

worthy of worship. This morning we've

already made that point. I want to draw

attention to the prophecy of Isaac over

Jacob and nations will come and worship

you. They will bow down to you. This is

a theme in the book of Matthew as we saw

last time two weeks ago. last time that

uh throughout the book of Matthew

repeatedly people are worshiping falling

down and worshiping Jesus. The leper of

Matthew 8 worship them. These these wise

men worship him repeatedly in the book

people are falling down and worshiping

Christ which was forbidden for anyone

but God alone to be worshiped. But Jesus

receives worship and God endorses Jesus

by working miracles through him. This

morning I want to point out to you that

that's one of the things that Isaac

prophesied over Jacob was that the

nations would come and worship him. That

is being fulfilled. Verse 13.

Now when they departed, the old 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 who

destroy them." Man has his plans and his

planes and his ships and his navies and

his armies and his missiles and his

nuclear warheads. And at times even

Christians get caught up in the news and

they become fearful fearful of warcome

fearful of famine fearful of economic

collapse. But but notice how God is able

to preserve the son in this passage. God

is able to preserve his people. He makes

a way for his people.

God heaven has it secret intelligence.

An angel warns Joseph in a dream.

take the child and his mother and flee

to Egypt. And and so God preserves his

people. We need to understand that uh

that God is watching over his people to

protect them. He's watching over the

great commission. He's managing the

great commission. He is bringing it to

pass. And and we should not be overly

impressed with nations and their capabil

God knows how to h

God knows how to deal with the

world. He can bring them low and he can

his people just as he warns Joseph into

Egypt.

He can he

more to say about this in another sermon

this passage about Joseph being warned

in a dream I'm not going to go into this

morning but for this morning I just want

to point out that that the kings of the

earth they conspire

but God is in control. God knows how to

preserve his people as he preserves his

son. Verse 14. 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.

This pattern is in the Genesis 27

passage as well. As soon as Jacob says,

I'm gonna kill my brother who's my

father's dead. His mother Rebecca

overhears it. Goes to

goes to Jacob and says you need to run

to another country. The pattern happens

here. Jacob leaves. He goes to stay with

his brother until the time of faith. And

so here too, Jesus goes to Egypt until

the time of faith. So there's a pattern

laid out in Genesis and it and it is

fulfilled here as well. Verse 16. Then

when he saw that he had been tricked by

the wise men, he 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 came from the wise men.

So Herod, why was he asking the wise men

when did the star appear? Because he

wanted to know what the age range was to

kill. He wanted to kill the child just

like Esau wanted to kill Jacob. Just

like Pharaoh wanted to kill

the baby boy of of Egypt. Just like Hmon

would want to kill all the Jews.

Satan wants to kill the seed of the

woman who's going to crush the serpent's

head. Satan wants to destroy the child

when it comes out of the womb. This is

this is I almost went into Revelation 12

where it's prophetically pictured the

child the man child that was prophesied

to be born. The dragon wants to eat the

manchild when it comes out of the woman.

This is pictured here. Herod wants to

kill the competitor king. Satan wants to

kill the seed of the woman. He wants to

kill the promise.

But God in his sovereignty preserves his

son just He preserves his people to this

day. Herod is furious and he has all the

babies two and under killed.

Did some interesting research by the way

this week. If you look up when did Herod

die,

most everybody says BC, I mentioned this

a couple weeks ago in the sermon. Um,

the problem that's always bothered me

about the 4C days is that we're told in

the 15th year in Luke 3 was about 30

years old and math doesn't

and I I wondered for years where where

does this come from? It comes from

Josephus

died about the same time as

did some research on that this week and

I I actually asked I I I asked uh Google

is there an alternative theory to the

the base and uh said yes it was gave me

some links and things to look up and the

alternative theory is one AD and I think

that makes sense and they made the case

that one AD is a good date for the death

of Herod because

there was a flip in February and Joseph

says that

Passover there was like four lunar

eclipses in this time period but only

one of them meet all the criteria if if

Herod died in AD and Jesus was born in

3D

it really makes sense that Jesus was

perfectly makes sense with him being

about 30 at his baptism in 27 AD. So it

it lines up and um

the time frame works. He knows when the

star appeared. I think he added a year

to it and and he's got the time frame.

It it makes sense that he's born about 3

BC and he uh the wise men come in 2 BC

and Herod dies in one BC and he asked an

extra year to make sure that he got the

child thinking the child was no greater

than two years old but he was actually

probably about one year old anyway. may

not interest you, but it makes a lot of

things line up, including the stars. I

believe the weeks ago with the

constellations on September 11th, 3C,

the stars lined up in such a way that

the the Virgo, the Virgin, Leo, a ram,

and and the stars, they all line up in a

in a perfect way that the wise men would

have known Christ was being born in

Judea, but the common would have known.

I I've always been troubled by if there

was a low hanging star in altitude

shortly above Bethlehem. Seems like

everybody would notice and everybody

would go there and it wouldn't be like

when did the star appear? Well, it's

been in low altitude for a long time.

Didn't really make sense. But the wise

men were star watchers. They were

watching the constellation and they they

saw the convergence of signs and they

had the prophecy of Daniel like we went

into four or five weeks ago. They had

the prophecy of Daniel that gave the

time period that Christ had come in. So,

it's really amazing that uh there's some

amazing things you can go look up and do

research. There's some really

interesting uh theories out there that

Jesus was born on September 11th 3 BC on

the the day of of trumpet blasting the

head of the year. And and it's amazing

because that's when things were

beginning

and it all lines up pretty well. Whereas

if Jesus was born, if Herod died in

Jesus was born two years earlier, he

would have been like 36 years old at his

death. It doesn't line up.

Well, Herod asked when did the star

appear?

And according to astronomers. There was

a very interesting constellation that

appeared September 11

BC

and and Herod died in one BC. He was

thrown in an extra year to make sure he

could kill the Christ based upon when

the star appeared. We're told that he

asked when the star appeared and they

told him and he killed all the children

and to make sure he would get the phone.

What he didn't know was that the son had

God as his father and God converted his

son by taking him in.

So it was a great tragedy but the city

of Bethlehem was a very small town. We

don't know how many babies that were

there but may have only been a couple

dozen or less. Maybe only a dozen. It

might have been a very few because Beth

was a very small town. It may not have

been a whole lot of babies, but Herod

was willing to kill children in order to

sustain his kingdom.

Verse 17, this is fulfilled.

This was fulfilled. This was fulfilled

what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah.

A voice was heard in Rama weeping in

loud lamentation. Rachel weeping for her

children. She refused to be comforted

because they are Here Matthew quotes

Jeremiah and and Rachel the the wife of

Jacob died near the town of Bethlehem.

That's what Genesis tells us that she

died near the town of Bethlehem. And and

so the very place where Rachel Jacob's

wife died is where the babies would be

slaughtered. And Jeremiah gives this

prophecy and I thought leads

the Lord a voice heard

and weeping. Rachel is

refuses to be comforted to her children

because they are no more. Thus says the

Lord keep your voice and your eyes will

tear for there is a reward for your

work, declares the Lord. They shall come

back from the land of the enemy. There

is hope for your future, declares the

Lord. And your children shall come back

to their own country. This is

interesting because um the prophecy of

Jeremiah has a different purpose than

Matthew's using it for. It was used as a

as a purpose because Israel because of

her disobedience is being carried away

into captivity by a pagan king by the

Babylonians

and and it speaks of Rachel weeping for

her children. But God promises they're

going to come back here. God is going to

bring you back. And what do we see

happening in the passage? Jesus goes to

Jesus comes back again. But it calls to

remeance a hopeful message. Jesus came

to restore his people. He came to

restore to our inheritance just like he

came to restore he would restore Israel

uh the children of Israel back to the

land. He he says that

and the Lord restored Jesus back in the

passage. God came to restore restore the

law to to remit our sins to restore us

to fellowship to bring us back to God

who's about restoring us. Verse 19, but

when Herod died, behold, an angel of the

Lord appeared in the dream to Joseph and

saying, "Rise, take the child and his

mother and go to the land of Israel, for

those who sought the child's life are

dead." and he took a child and his

mother and went to the land of Israel.

So Herod died as all kings die, as all

nations die, as empires die. But the

Christ child is

he goes back to a little town,

insignificant town of Nazareth where he

would be raised. I want to read one

other passage from the Old Testament

and uh and it's

about Christ

it is the most quoted chapter from the

Old Testament not the most versed

chapter is in Psalm 2 and it speaks of

kings and it speaks of Christ the king

of kings says why do the he rage the

nations rage and the people fought in

vain the of the earth set themselves and

the rulers take counsel together against

Yahweh and against his anointed his

messiah saying let us burst their bonds

apart and cast away their swords from

us. He who sits in the heavens laugh the

Lord holds them in delion. Then he will

speak to them in his wrath and terrify

them in his fury saying as for me I have

set my king on Zion my holy hill. I will

tell of the decree. The Lord said to me,

you are my son today I have begotten

you. Ask of me and I will make the

nations your heritage and the ends of

the earth your possession. This is one

of God's favorite Bible passages. And

what does it talk about? It talks about

how the king against the Lord. The kings

want to thwart the kingdom of Christ. So

God said I saw my king on his holy hill

and he says ask of me and I will give

you the nations for your inheritance the

uttermost parts of the earth for his

possession.

Did Christ forget to ask the father for

the uttermost parts of the earth.

This verse is quoted many times in the

New Testament verses from this chapter

emphasizing the kings of the earth can

take counsel together. They they can

they can fire. They have their weaponry,

but it's

because God has installed his king upon

his holy hill of Zion. He says, "You are

my son." And he says, "Ask me and I will

give you the uttermost part of the earth

for your possession."

Jesus will rule over all the nations.

This is it.

12. You shall break them with a rod of

iron and dash them in pieces like a

potter's vessel. Now therefore, oh

kings, be wise. Be warned, oh rulers of

the earth. Serve Yahweh with fear and

rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son

lest you be angry and you perish in the

way. For his wrath is quickly kindled.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

I I wanted to conclude with this because

it ends with kiss the son.

Embrace the son. Love the son. Serve the

son

lest you two perish quickly. This is a

call to repent and believe on the Lord

Jesus Christ. All the kings of the

earth, all the nations that resist him,

he ru over them with a rod of iron. He

disposes them. He uses When he's done

with it, he disposes. He uses Persia.

When he's done with it, he disposes of

Persia. He uses Greece. When he's done

with it, he

uses Rome. When he's done with it, he

disposes of Rome. He used Herod to

accomplish his purposes. And when he was

done, Herod died, went to hell. But God

preserves his people.

Choose your heroes wisely.

What kingdom do you serve? What king?

What king do you trust in? What do you

believe ultimately will prevail? If you

trust in Christ, you won't live in fear.

You'll live with courage. You'll live

with boldness

because our king

rules over the nations. You say, "Well,

I don't see it. It's an invisible

kingdom, but he rules." He said, "All

authority is given to me in heaven and

in earth. You therefore, this is the

thing that I will bring back again and

again as we go through the book of

Matthew is that Christ is king

currently.

He he does shepherd his people. He

watches over his church. He said all

authority is given to me in heaven and

in earth. Don't let your eyes deceive

you. Don't be overly impressed with the

Herods of this world

or the cheese or the Trump or the Putin.

Don't don't let don't let your your

being impressed over the kings of this

world keep you from believing and

serving God's eternal purpose because

Christ reigns and you can either kiss

his son

as one of his children or you can perish

in the way

and that's why we're called to repent

bow and trust in

of mercy and healing and restoration. He

is the separate king. But all who put

their trust in trust.

Father, we thank you God that you have

installed your king on the holy hill

that Christ reigns

that that you set up and you put down.

You watch over your church. You watch

over your word and you will perform it.

Reveal the Lord of hosts will perform

it.

Jesus, I pray for your people that you

make us courageous people, willing to

ask, willing to to move in faith,

willing to obey every commandment that

you give us. But we thank you, Lord,

that it's by grace that we are saved.

that Christ loved us and he gave himself

for us that that we who trust in him

do not have to fear you have paid for us

to

remember the Lord and the Lord's supper.

This is a time where we come before him

and we give him thanks for his death on

our behalf

as as you proclaim We want to make sure

that we proclaim him in all three of his

office.

Christ is prophet, priest, and king.

This morning, I focus very heavily upon

his kingship and authority, but he's

also a prophet. And we'll see in Matthew

5:67.

He calls his people to repentance. He

shows them how to repent. He teaches us

how to live. He calls out in our lives.

And if the Holy Spirit is convicting you

of sin this morning, allow Jesus the

prophet to retrieve you. Confess your

sin. Bring it to the Lord's table. Lay

it at his feet. Ask him for the grace to

overcome. But he does more than convict

us of sin. He's also our priest. What's

the role of a priest? A priest is like

an advocate, like a defense attorney.

He's our advocate with the father. in

first John 2, if any man sate with the

father, Jesus Christ the righteous. When

we come to him as our high priest, we

confess our sins to him. He hears us and

he pleads on our behalf before the

father. And and and Jesus can say,

"Father, I have paid for this man's

sins. I have paid his or her debt." And

therefore,

God doesn't require double payment. It's

paid for. He is our

And he is our king. As our king, we

should obey him. We should live for him.

We should serve him. And we should do it

with joy. Everything that we have

belongs to him. He is our king. Our

relationship, our finances, the days of

our lives, they all belong to King

Jesus. Let's not be like

who killed the Christ if he could. Let

us be like the wise men and come and bow

before him and worship him and serve

him.

If you're a visitor here this morning

and you've already put your faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ and we ask that you be

a baptized believer

it saved by getting baptized in water

but it's Jesus the words repent and be

baptized every one of you it's a command

to be obeyed until we've had that

initiation of water baptism which is a

type of vow to the Lord whereby we

identify with his death and resurrection

on behalf

and we confess that we are he's our Lord

and we're the servant and we trust in

his death on our behalf. If you've not

done that yet, we ask you not to

visit here this morning,

you're welcome.