The Agent Behind The Throne

As I said earlier, these verses that we've read this morning

are part of what we look at at Christmas.

Yet they're so often left out because many carol services end with

the Magi departing, having been told not to go back to Herod,

but but to go home another way.

And verses 1 to 12 of chapter 2, we're about not three kings, but

two kings, King Herod and King Jesus confronting us by asking us,

which king are we going to serve?

Are we going to serve King Herod who represents everything in

the world, who represents selfish ambition, who represents

corrupt power, who represents self righteousness and self satisfaction?

Are we going to trust in King Jesus, the one who came to die for

us so that we can know salvation in him and in him alone?

So that was the question that we were confronted by last week.

And as we look at the rest of this chapter, we see another actor

on the stage, one that isn't walking around, but is using the

situation for his purposes.

And those purposes are not for good and they will fail.

But right at the start of Jesus life, he faces the opposition

of the evil one, setting the path Christ must walk to the cross.

30 years later.

Through history there have been despot leaders who have thought

that by committing genocide they will somehow remain or retain

their power and authority.

And there have been acts of genocide through the Holocaust in

Rwanda, currently in Sudan and in the 70s, Cambodia.

And that's just to name but a few.

See, the idea behind someone who begins to commit genocide is

that they want to get rid of their opponents so they don't have

the power, hard to vote them out.

So thereby this leader who commits genocide can protect their

position and your people or the people who support them at the

expense of another people group.

And this is exactly what Herod wanted, only on a more focused scale.

So as we read this, we must remember that Herod is executing

his own people because of a perceived threat of a new baby king.

Now, just as the Magi had been told in a dream not to return to

Herod, so Joseph was now told to flee from Bethlehem and go to

Egypt.

Joseph, Mary and Jesus were becoming political refugees because

they were being hunted by the authorities.

And the reason that they are to flee, the text says in verse 13,

is because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.

Now this was quite the shock to this young family, having to leave

quite literally in the middle of the night and go to a foreign

land for refuge.

But they obeyed, as both Joseph and Mary have done throughout

this story, and they went to Egypt.

Now Matthew does give us a bit of information about how this plays

out, because he tells us of Herod's response, but he also tells

us about when the family finally return home.

And in verse 15, Matthew quotes to us an Old Testament prophet

called Hosea.

And In Hosea, chapter 11, verse 1, he says where he stayed

Hosea 11:1

until the death of Herod.

So was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet out

of Egypt I call my son.

That's the quote from Hosea 11 and verse 1 from verse 15 of Matthew

2.

So we know that their time in Egypt will be limited until Herod

dies.

And history has his son archelaus reigning for 10 years between

4 BC and AD 6.

So their stay in Egypt is not for a long period of time.

But regardless, Herod goes on the attack to try and kill his perceived

threat.

Threat.

And in verse 16 we're told of his actions.

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the magi, he

was furious.

And he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity

who were two years old and under in accordance with the time

he had learned from the magi.

Now last week we saw that when Herod heard about the birth of a

king, he tried to make the magi unwitting informants for him,

asking them to fight, find the child, to report the location, all

under the guise so that Herod would be able to go and worship him

too.

But when the angel revealed Herod's true intent, the magi then

took another route home, leaving Herod frustrated.

But he was still bent on killing Jesus.

And now we see this in the actions that he undertakes, because

it seems that Herod orders the death of so many children, Bethlehem

and the surrounding areas to provide a ghastly margin of error

as he seeks to kill his imagined rival as he kills his own

subjects.

Now Bethlehem at this time had a very modest population, so the

death toll may have been quite low.

But every loss is a tragedy.

But Herod didn't care.

He was retaining his power and his authority and that's what was

important to him.

But behind the throne was another agent at work.

Yes, there was the protecting hand of God on his son.

But the agent that I'm talking about is the evil one, the Satan,

who was using Herod to try and kill Jesus before the good news of

the kingdom of God can be proclaimed to all people.

And verse 18 provides us with another Old Testament prophecy to

help us see how all this fits with God's plan of salvation.

Remember, Matthew is A Jew, yes, he worked in the Roman civil

service, but he's now writing as a Christian with a strong Jewish

background.

So he's writing for the world that he knows.

And so to convince his fellow Jews that Jesus is the Messiah, he

quotes these prophecies to convince them.

So he's quoted Hosea, chapter 11.

Hosea 11 · chapter mention

And now he quotes Jeremiah chapter 31.

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

And verse 15.

A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning.

Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted

because they are no more.

Now, the context of Jeremiah chapter 31 is that Rachel weeps for

Jeremiah 31 · chapter mention

the children of Israel who will die in exile.

But as Matthew knows, Jeremiah 31 is also a passage that is filled

with hope.

And that begins in verse 16 of Jeremiah 31.

Because there we're told that God loves his people with an everlasting

love, so he will bring them back from the land of the enemy and

make a new covenant with them.

And that's what the whole of Jeremiah 31 tells us.

And so if Matthew again intends his readers to draw on the

whole story of Scripture, he is pointing to the fact that God

will restore after this sorrow, even as he restored Israel

after the exile.

Now, we don't know the extent of Herod's genocide in Bethlehem,

as Matthew quickly moves on to Herod's own death.

And the focus is now back on Joseph, as an angel comes to him

in a dream again.

And he's told there in verse 20, to get up, take the child and

his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying

to take the child's life are dead.

Now, once again, Joseph does precisely as the angel says.

And notice how Joseph's action repeats the angel's Command in verse

21.

Now, there is no detail.

It's simply faithful obedience to God and God's direction.

But when he returns to Judea, Joseph learns that Archelaus rules

in his father's place.

Now, Archelaus lacked his father's skills, so the Romans gave

him just a third of his father's kingdom, and they actually

deposed him by AD6.

But he too was a violent ruler in his day.

And Joseph, after another warning dream, decides to live in

Nazareth in Galilee.

And this information is key because Matthew is then pointing

to the fulfillment of a third prophecy in verse 23, as Matthew

records for us.

And he went and lived in the town called Nazareth.

So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets.

He will be called a Nazarene.

Now, this phrase, he will be called a Nazarene, appears nowhere

in the law or in the prophets.

But it is a fulfillment formula that has no quotation.

So it does signify then that this thought would appear in several

scriptures.

Nazarene probably means from Nazareth.

And so Jesus may be a Nazarene in that he heals from a town of no

great consequence.

Because if Jesus was known as Jesus of Bethlehem, his name would

have the the great aura of coming from David's royal city filled

with all of that messianic promise.

But Jesus the Nazarene carries meaning of contempt, reminding us

that Jesus will be despised and Rejected, as Isaiah 53, verse

Isaiah 53:3

3 confirms, before he knows glory.

I've discovered over the past number of weeks, people have come

to hear of what people from Annalong are called gadgies, as you

well know.

And I have done my best to try and explain that anyone who calls

any of you a gadgee from outside of Anna Long will face your

contempt because you know that it is a slur on your name.

However, you also wear it as a badge of honor.

You're proud in it because you stand firm.

To call Jesus a Nazarene was a slur.

To put it in other ways, it's like calling a kilkeel person, calling

an analong person a gadget.

You're all Nazarenes.

But Jesus used it as something that would fulfill what was the greatest

promise that he would come from.

The lowly Scripture may not say exactly in prophecy Nazareth,

but it comes from the lowly.

He comes from the humble so that indeed through his great power

we would know salvation.

Nazarene carries contempt with it, but it reminds us that Jesus

would be despised and rejected before he knows glory.

Now please don't run to your kill keel friends and complain to

them or tell them that one day the glory will be yours.

That's misunderstanding what I've said.

But do you see how names that are slurs stick?

And so it was for Jesus.

Can anything good come out of Galilee?

So the family of Joseph, Mary and Jesus settled into Nazareth.

And from Matthew's perspective, he is being made ready

for his ministry that will begin some 25 years later.

Because Matthew then takes us straight to chapter three and to

John the Baptist.

He doesn't mention anything of his childhood.

But before we leave this passage today, we must remind ourselves

what else Scripture says about Matthew 2.

Because it does, Matthew repeatedly links his gospel to prior

scriptures.

He delves deep into the Old Testament.

So it's only right that we look forward into Scripture and to

what later scriptures has to subtly say that links to this chapter

Revelation chapter 12 and verses 4 to 6 reimagines Herod's

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

satanic attempt to slay Jesus, the newborn king.

And this is what we read there in Revelation 12.

His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them

to the earth.

The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth

so that he might devour her child.

The moment it was born, she gave birth to a son, a male child

who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.

And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne.

The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God

where she might be taken care of for 1260 days.

And so we have here in this passage, now looking Back to Matthew

2, the agent of evil displayed to us in this account, this vision

given to John, linking it back to the early years of Jesus.

And So, like Matthew 2, Revelation shows evil's desire to

destroy Christ, the newborn king.

Because the vision presents Satan's attempt to kill and the Lord's

protection of the child.

Jesus brought his kingdom with him, and its arrival meant Satan's

fall.

So when Satan failed to kill Jesus, he turned and he fought against

heaven, but he failed again.

And that's what we see in Revelation 12:9 after the child is

Revelation 12:9

caught up to God's throne.

We hear in Revelation 12:10, now have come the salvation and the

Revelation 12:10

power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ.

For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before

our God day and night has been hurled down.

That's why the cry of heaven is amen.

It is finished.

And what a wonderful finish it is.

The accuser of our brothers, the accuser of God's people, is cast

down throughout Jesus life.

Satan is rampant in trying to tear him down, to quite literally

devour him at the time of his birth, to have the religious establishment

against him and not accept him as Messiah, thereby leading thousands

to Christ.

The devil is at work throughout every page of the Gospel

so that people will be pulled away from the truth of Jesus.

But of course, the devil will never win.

He will be devoured and Christ will reign victorious.

And, you know, if we haven't seen this before, well, then we must

see it now, because Herod is not the real actor in this story

against Jesus.

It is the Satan, the enemy of God, who is at work to destroy the

one who declares himself to be the light of the world.

For Satan, he was content to have the Jews ignore the true law

of God to create their own laws and.

And so they lulled themselves away from the truth, but with God's

seismic action of sending his Son into the world.

The Satan needed to take action to draw humanity away from

God's covenant love and his plan of salvation.

And this is what he continues to do.

So please do not think that any talk of the devil, the evil one

or the Satan remains on the pages of Scripture.

Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 12.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against

the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of

this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the

heavenly realms.

Because the devil is at work today and he continues to be subtle

in all that he does.

He wants to distract us.

He wants to make us doubt the power and authority of God and question

the salvation that we can have in Jesus.

He is an agent who is always at work, even today.

And C.S.

Lewis, in his book entitled the Screw tape letters from 1942,

gives us a very clear picture of what the active current work of

the devil is in the Screwtape letters.

Lewis presents the book as intercepted post from hell.

Screwtape is a senior demon and is an experienced administrator

in what Lewis calls Hell's lower.

Archie Wormwood is his nephew, a junior, often clumsy tempter who

is assigned to one ordinary Englishman who they call the patient.

And so Screwtape writes the letters advising his nephew Wormwood

of on how to keep the patient away from God and how to deliver

him to Satan.

So we read the Screwtape letters as if someone has intercepted

the post going from hell to this demon.

Now, Screwtape is rarely interested in spectacular wickedness.

He prefers small, respectable, almost invisible.

Drift away from the truth into darkness.

And the Screwtape letters are divided into letters.

So in letter 12, Lewis writes, Indeed, the safest road to hell is

the gradual one, the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden

turnings, without milestones, without signpost.

I personally think this is a wonderful description of how the

Satan works in our world today and in our context.

He isn't concerned about you becoming an atheist or agnostic.

He simply wants you to drift.

He wants you to pull away from Christ.

He wants you to get out of the habit of meeting with his people

and worshiping him.

He wants you to make excuses of why something else is more important.

He wants you to love the things that are not eternal more

than eternity itself.

And before you know it, you're further away from Christ than you

ever imagined.

Like the prowling lion that Peter speaks of In 1 Peter 5:8, the

1 Peter 5:8

devil moves slowly, quietly and decisively before he strikes.

So I ask you again, I wonder, do you realize this is what is at

work in the world today?

If you think spiritual attacks and the work of the devil are confined

to history or simply to the pages of Scripture, then you are

mistaken.

There is a battle for your soul.

You have a gracious God who invites you to trust in Jesus and

to live for him alone.

But there is also a conniving, dishonest and hate filled Satan that

wants to pull you away from any interest in salvation and in

assurance of eternity.

Only one can win your soul and in the end, only Christ will win.

For we will each bow the knee before Him.

We will either bow the knee in worship and blessed hope, or we will

bow the knee in fear of the judgment that he will pass on our

sins.

Which will it be?

Will you come to the Savior and trust in Him?

Or will you ignore the truth and thereby condemn yourself to Satan

and eternal punishment?

Do you feel that there is a drift in your life away from Christ?

Because if there is, then you need to wake up and pay attention.

Because there is true hope today and that hope is in Christ,

that you can trust him, that he will save you from the evil one.

That's why Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through Me.

There is only one way given to all humanity by which we must be

saved.

And it is Jesus, and He will win.

So why are you trying to fight Him?

Why are you drifting away from Him?

You see, for those who do know Christ, I wonder, will you be on

your guard?

Will you be on your guard against this drift?

Will you pay attention to the subtleties of Satan, who will try

and convince you that you don't need to read your Bible, that

you don't need to pray, that you don't need to attend church?

Will you pay attention to him when he says that to you?

Because all of that is lies.

You need to read your Bible, you need to pray.

And yes, you need to attend worship because this is what God

has given us as a haven each week to come together where the world

is out there.

But we as God's people unite under Christ and worship Him.

That's why it's important to be here.

Because it is faithful worship and witness together of God.

And trust me, there's no excuse that can be made that justifies

this time that we have together.

It's only the devil tickling our ears to say you really don't

need to go.

It will be okay.

And before we know it, days, weeks, months pass without reading

our Bibles, praying or attending.

And so we drift and Satan thinks he has won.

Please know that he is waging war against your soul and he wants

you to make shipwreck of your faith.

But we have the wonderful invitation of Jesus who says that

we can come and find rest for our weary souls in him and him alone

because he, he is gentle and humble in heart.

The agent in the story of Matthew 2 is the devil.

And Revelation chapter 12 confirms that for us he is active

Revelation 12 · chapter mention

and he is at work today and he is waging war against you so that

you will stay away from Christ, that you will drift off rather

than love Christ more dearly and deeply each day.

So if you feel the drift, come back to Jesus.

Join us here morning and evening on a Sunday.

Come to Christianity explored if you need that re centering of

what faith is on a Wednesday night.

Yes, we're starting week three, but it's still time to come

and look at the truths of Mark's Gospel.

If you sense that you need more of Christ now, then go to him

by picking up your Bible, by talking to him in prayer, and by

being encouraged by his people all around you so that indeed we

will know true peace and rest in him and in him alone.

Turns out that as we read this section of the Christmas story, it's

not as plain and simple and nice as we think it to be.

As we come back to it in a few weeks time, we actually will not

be coming back to it until November.

But whenever we come back to it in November, we begin the life

ministry of Jesus.

And yet, how much more will we see the devil tempting the devil,

threatening the devil at work.

And so our warning call this morning is to pay attention to this

agent who is still at work today to come back from the drift

and anchor firm in Christ and in him alone.

Let's pray.

Our Father God, we thank you that your word challenges us because

it knows what is best for us.

So Lord, if we are drifting, help us to come back to Christ.

Help us to know how to come back to Christ.

Help us to call out to friends around us to help us back.

For Lord, there's nothing more important than knowing Christ fully.

So help us.

We pray, but also confront us with the reality of Satan, that he

is at work.

That he is at work in our homes, he's work in our community.

He's at work right across this world to make us more focused on

things that don't matter.

So help us Lord, to know Christ and Him alone, to stay focused

and true and to walk this path until the end where we will have

complete confidence that indeed our knees will bow not in

fear, but in worship of the One who has saved our souls.

And we ask it in Jesus name.

Amen.

Sam.