Why Do The Nations Rage? Series

This is the final message on the “Why’s of Christmas” and perhaps the more difficult to understand. We explored “Why Christmas?” a month ago. Why Jesus had to come and His purpose in coming was to die for our sins. This is why we will be observing the Lord’s Supper today, the last Sunday of the Year, to remember the purpose for which Jesus had come. We looked at the timing of his coming 2000 years ago and how all of history was set for that moment. We considered Mary, and how she willfully submitted to the call on her life and how her life was forever changed. Last week we looked at why these gentile wisemen from Persia would risk all to seek out the child Jesus. And that is where we picked up today.

Last week we did not consider Herod the King. But today, as we will see, represents the attitude of the nations of the world and of people around the word. To put this into context, I will first read Matt 2:12 then verse 16

Matthew 2:12 (NKJV) Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

Matthew 2:16 (NKJV) 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.

Herod was no different from people today. He rebelled against God and thought he could beat God. That is where I pick up with our main passage today.

Psalm 2

Illustration: "The worst industrial accident in history occurred almost 33 years ago on April 26, 1986, at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the town of Chernobyl in north central Ukraine of the former Soviet Union. It was caused by two electrical engineers who were playing around with one of the nuclear reactors. They were conducting an unauthorized experiment trying to see how long a turbine would freewheel (or keep spinning) when the power was turned off. To do this, they had to manually override six separate computer-driven alarm systems.

Each time the computer would warn, ’Stop! Dangerous! Go no further!’ Each time the warning was foolishly disregarded. The end result was a major explosion, thirty-one immediate deaths, untold eventual deaths, and the release of 100 million curies of radionuclides into the atmosphere that circulated worldwide. Four hundred times more radioactive material was released from Chernobyl than by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Only time will determine the full extent and destruction of the accident. [1]

Dr. Jerry Sutton, Southern Baptist pastor, historian, and writer said the following in his book “The Way Back Home”: Often, we — like those foolish engineers — fail to heed the warning given to us by the Holy Spirit: ’Stop! Dangerous! Go no further!’ As a result, there comes a point when our restlessness and refusal to listen to the Spirit’s warning leads us to cross the line from restlessness to rebellion." [2]

The fact is, all sin is rebellion against God.

Ever since the Garden of Eden, mankind has been in rebellion of God. It is in our nature to rebel. It takes courage, discipline and the help of the Holy Spirit in our lives to be what God calls us to be. Let’s consider Herod. He was jealous for his throne. He wanted nothing to challenge him, even God. He has been know to outright murder anyone to threaten him, including some of his wives and children. When Herod hear about the One born king of the Jews, he was greatly troubled.

Matthew 2:16 (NKJV)

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.

In the preceding verses we learn that Joseph was warn in a dream to escape with Mary and the Child Jesus to Egypt.

Why do we not read from other sources (like Josephus) about the deaths of the two-year-olds and younger in Bethlehem? Many scholars believe due to the small population of Bethlehem, there may have only been many 20 or so children effected, and compared to other many, many atrocities committed by Herod, this was relatively insignificant.

But Herod is only the tip of the proverbial iceberg. He is no different than many nations in the world today, and in practical terms, he is no different than many people today, who do not want God to rule over any part of their lives. That brings us to Psalm 2.