Jesus once said, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34) The pictures we see of Christmas seem to portray the exact opposite. With Mary and Joseph gently hovering over a little baby in a manger, it’s a very calming and serene picture. With shepherds calmly watching their sheep, and angels even proclaiming “peace on earth,” it’s one of the most surreal pictures in the Bible.
It didn’t take long for that to change. Forty days after Jesus was born, having returned to Bethlehem, the Wise Men came to pay him a visit. Not too long afterwards, we see soldiers enter this sleepy little town and start slaughtering children and infant boys. The sword doesn’t take long to arrive - not at all. Today is a day in the church year that isn’t often “celebrated”, maybe because it is such a grizzly scene. It’s a minor festival called “Holy Innocents, Martyrs.” Yet it’s one that teaches us an important lesson during this Christmas season. What is it?
Expect Death at the Birth of the King
I. There can only be one King
Verse 13 of today’s text introduces to a King Herod, who the angel said, is going to search for the child to kill him. There are several Herods mentioned in the Scriptures - and none of them have good reputations. This is the father of them all - known as Herod the Great. Permit me to give you a little history lesson on this “great” man. He was called the “king of the Jews”, but he himself wasn’t even a Jew. He was an Edomite who was promoted to his throne by Antony and Octavius - otherwise known as Caesar Augustus. The reason the Romans liked him was because from early on, as a governor of Galilee at the early age of 25, he was able to squash a rebellion by a man named Hezekiah and had them all executed without trial. The Jews absolutely hated him because of his cruel and vicious tyranny, but the Romans loved him.
When he was promoted to king, his murderous jealousy for power only got worse. As king he had forty-five of his “competition” executed, along with all of the Sanhedrin except one man. This basically removed any threats to his throne, but Herod wasn’t done murdering. Over time Herod had his own son in law - Aristobulus the high priest - drowned. He also had his brother in law Joseph, his wife, her two sons, and his mother in law executed as well. Five days before his own death Herod was able to execute his nephew Antipater as well for plotting to kill him. In other words, he had a filthy history of murder to keep his throne. It even led Augustus to say, “I would rather be Herod’s pig than his child.” His life was lived with one purpose - to be and remain the ONLY “king of the Jews.” He would not share his throne with anyone.
Herod appears to us as a butcher, and he was. Sometimes we wonder how people like Herod, Hitler, Stalin, and others can be so evil. But it shouldn’t be that surprising - because they are men. As a man, Herod exposed the wickedness that is in every sinful man’s heart. It’s the desire for power - to be number one - to be the king. In some men, it is just more obvious. For Herod, it was all or nothing. There was no in between - no compromise. He had to be the king.
Ironically, that’s the way God wants it as well. Jesus said, No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. I drove into the parking lot of Wal-Mart, and I noticed the car that I parked in front of had parked about two feet over the center line. With my Honda, I still found room to parking in front of it. The parking of this man or woman (most likely the latter, ha) - reflected his or her theology. On the front license plate it read, “God is my co-pilot.” Being the constant doctrinal watchdog that I am, I thought to myself, “that’s not right.” God doesn’t say He’s the co-pilot. He says in the First Commandment, “you shall have no other gods.” He didn’t design us to drive side by side with him. He designed it so He would be the pilot, and we would be the passengers. But that’s the way the world looks at their relationship with God. God helps those who HELP THEMSELVES. Maybe that’s why so many so called Christians come to worship on Christmas - because there their God is in a manger. They like the idea of God seemingly being under them. They don’t want to see that Baby grow up and raise from the dead - only to come again in power. They want to be king.
Isn’t that the whole reason we are in this sinful world in the first place? Why do you think Satan fell? Isaiah 14 reveals his very thoughts. “I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain. 14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” He didn’t want to live UNDER God. He wanted to live like God. He got Adam to fall with that same temptation - so that he could be “like God.” When Adam even tried to be equal with God - he fell. Now we are all born with that same temptation - that same hatred of having God OVER us. It’s only natural for an Adam filled heart to say to God, “you can’t rule here!” That’s what Herod was filled with. It’s what everyone is born with. Herod was just honest about it. He didn’t hide his ambitions.
In some ways, even as Christians, in some ways we’re worse than Herod, because we’re hypocritical about it. We cloak our Herodian ambitions with prayers and seemingly pious motives. We like people to think that we’re comfortable with God being in charge, but in reality if we were, we’d pray a lot more. We wouldn’t worry so much if we liked God being in charge. We wouldn’t second guess God and try so hard to make things happen OUR way if we really wanted God in charge. If you want to be honest, doesn’t it makes you wonder WHY God allowed these children to die in this story? What we’re really doing with these thoughts is saying, “God is my co-pilot.” We’d rather think of our relationship with God as a 50 / 50 split. It doesn’t work that way. It can’t. God has to be the only Pilate - the only King.
II. The pretenders are furious
So how did Herod respond when the true King of the Jews - the descendant of David - not Edom - came and was called the real “king of the Jews”? When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. . . . He sent the Wise Men to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” Herod was afraid for his own position of Kingship - and the Israelites knew it. So he put on an act - like he really wanted to worship this child. However, Herod’s version of worship - what would you say - was the “priestly” way - to offer his god - himself - the sacrifice of a child - to treat him like Abraham’s Isaac. So he sent out his “apostles” - the Wise Men - so that they would tell him where this child was. Herod wanted to “adopt” this child as his own - (another way of translating “kill” in vs. 16) - so that he could treat him just like he did his other stepsons. There was only one option for Herod. The child must die.
Herod’s plan was to use sheer force to stay in office - by killing the future King while he was a baby. His plan, however, went astray when God tipped off Joseph and the Wise Men to his plan. After being warned in a dream, Joseph got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. . . . and the Wise Men returned to their country by another route. 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. It is estimated that Bethlehem was a town of some 1,500 inhabitants at the time. Therefore, about a dozen to fifteen male babies would have fallen under the two year old category, for some doubtless escaped detection. Imagine the scene of mothers madly trying to hush their crying infants so as not to be discovered, only to see them snatched out of their arms by Herod’s soldiers, thrown to the floor, and run through with swords! Just imagine the pain and sorrow and anger these parents must have felt! Herod ordered a slaughter of innocent children who had no intentions of taking his throne. This senseless and brutal death sends a bristle of shock into the Christmas story.
This butchery of helpless infants is typical of how Satan works, my friends. Revelation 12 says, the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. . . . Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short. Since the devil can’t get God or his children in heaven, he goes after the weak and the vulnerable - the children of God here on earth. He doesn’t attack at the strengths - he attacks the weaknesses - and he never will back down until Judgment Day.
That’s the way it has to be. Expect death at the birth of the King. Jesus said, Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. (John 3:20) There has to be hatred between light and darkness. There has to be a sword. There is no other way, because darkness naturally hates light. There is no compromise. Darkness does not back down. It doesn’t retreat. It fights. It uses lies, deceit, trickery, and finally when all else fails - sheer force to try and win the war.
The sooner we understand this in the world, the better off we’ll be. Sure, we’d love to sit here and stare at Jesus in the manger and listen to the angels sing about peace all night. But just as the shepherds had to be back to fight the wild lions on the plains of Bethlehem, so we are thrown among the wolves of this world. We are not meant to be at peace with the darkness. You can’t expect people to like you when you openly show your light in this world. You can’t expect the world to welcome Christ with open arms. You can’t expect your children to love you at first when you have to reprimand them for their evil behavior. It’s impossible for light ultimately to get along with darkness.
Yet we act surprised when we hear that Christ is no longer allowed in Christmas programs in public schools, or the Ten Commandments are being outlawed in court houses. We get angry when unbelievers ridicule us for our faith or don’t go along with what the Bible says. I’ll never forget one of the first doors I ever knocked on - in downtown Milwaukee. Actually, I wasn’t even knocking on doors - I was just putting something in the guy’s door. Before I was even able to do that, the guy sitting on his couch yelled at me and asked me what I was doing. When I tried to explain it to him, he yelled at me and told me to get out of there. I was shaken, surprised, and angry that I was yelled at. But I shouldn’t have been. I should have expected it. And so should you. When you confront darkness, and try to expose it to light, if it’s being honest, it has to respond in anger. The heart can’t have two kings. It’s either man or God.
III. God predicted this very thing
Herod wanted to kill the Christ. So what did God have done? He had the child’s step-father - Joseph - run Jesus and His mother to safety. They had to make a much farther trek than their previous one from Nazareth - over twice as far - over 160 miles - down to Egypt. It doesn’t seem right, does it? Why should our King have to flee from anyone, especially this butcher Herod? If God is all powerful, why not just put him to death? In the second place, why allow this butcher to then murder these children who had done nothing against him? If you are honest, you can’t help but wonder why God did it this way. It would seem much easier just to wipe Herod out than make Jesus’ parents run away from him. It seems so weak and powerless to run. It doesn’t seem to match the description of an all powerful God.
It’s in stories like these that we need to remember what God continually tells us throughout His Word -
Isaiah 55 says - my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. 9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Paul also said in 1 Corinthians 1 that - the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. Jesus didn’t hold up the intellectual and powerful people of the world as being strong in His kingdom, but the child who doesn’t have much of a brain or reason to speak of.
This becomes evidently true in the story of the slaughter of the innocents. What good could come from the Christ having to flee down to Egypt? What power of God is shown? What good could result in these children getting butchered? Matthew states it very clearly twice. After the flight of Jesus, he concluded - so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son." And after the slaughter of the innocents, he again said, Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 "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." All of these happenings - as seemingly weak and gruesome as they may be, prove that God’s Word always comes true. In a seemingly strange way, this gives us peace. Why? If God predicted these things to happen - as gruesome and sad as they may be, it shows us that God really is in charge - even if it may not appear that way!
But what about the power - you may say? I don’t see it in this story. Where is it? Before I answer that question - I ask you to look at all of the Scriptures - and see where God chooses to show His power. When Paul was struggling with a thorn in the flesh, whatever it may have been, God ultimately taught him that His power is made perfect in weakness. His weakness made him rely on God all the more - strengthening his faith! God’s power is not always in the forces of nature - the strength of the muscle - where you’d expect it to be - but more often it’s in the weaknesses of man and nature. It wasn’t until Samson was blind and helpless that God had him kill more men than while he was alive. (Judges 16:30) Jesus raised a few people from the dead and healed many sicknesses while he was alive - but these strengths were not half as powerful as His death on the cross. This was the most difficult thing for Jesus to do - the one that He struggled over the most. Yet the most powerful and effective thing Jesus did was to take God’s wrath and our sins on HIS shoulders. That’s where God’s power is found - where our strength is found. In knowing that Jesus died for us. The cross looks weak and powerless in the eyes of the world. But in our eyes, it’s the most powerful message we have - because His death makes us innocent in God’s sight. Even though it is a gruesome sight, it gives us peace.
So when we look at our King get carried in the arms of his father and mother into Egypt - it may not appear that he is the Powerful One. When we see innocent children get slaughtered, it may not seem that God is in charge. I would have to believe however that these children were circumcised children of God - since they were born of David’s line, and their parents were also amazed at the message of the Savior. (Luke 2:18) I would have no problem with believing that these children too had faith, just like John the Baptist, in their Savior, and ended up in heaven. Yet ultimately, I have to admit that I don’t always have an answer for why God allowed things to happen - and even predicted that they would happen. But I do know that God works his power through weakness. So why should I doubt that the same didn’t happen here?
When the United States went to war with Iraq, we sought Saddam and his family - dead or alive. When Uday and Qusay were killed, we celebrated. Why? Because they were heirs to the throne. Even if Saddam were captured, his sons would have been thought of as the next heirs. If we wanted to rule their country, the family of Saddam had to be captured or killed. That’s what happens in war. You can only have one king. So sometimes people die.
Herod went after the Son of God, proclaimed war on Jesus, for he believed that baby had come to take His throne. He wanted to kill this baby. If Herod had succeeded, our salvation would be lost. Jesus came to live a perfect life and die on a cross for our sins. If he had died at one to two years old, who could say that he fulfilled the law in our place? Who could say that he really died for us, if he wasn’t crucified? But the good news is that Herod’s plans were foiled. Even though the other children were slaughtered, Jesus lived - and our salvation remained in tact - just as God predicted it would. In the end, God proved His power - and kept his promise of salvation. Herod, in the meantime, died and ended up in hell.
Satan is still chasing God’s children, and putting some to death. His Herods are on the march yet today - on the warpath - seeking whom they may devour. Expect it to happen. Like the mothers of the innocents - it brings us sorrow when we suffer in this sinful world. But in spite of the death, we still have peace - because we know that Jesus lived on - to die for us - just as God predicted. Amen.
