Scripture: Matthew 2:13-16
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."
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.
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Was Herod called by God to play a part in the Christmas story?
Certainly, if God led them from a far off land all the way to Bethlehem, He could have led them without a visit to Herod. Could it be, that Herod was given an opportunity to open great doors for the new Messiah? Might this have been a chance to bring Gentiles to an earlier understanding of this Jewish Savior? There were, after all, those in his courts who were aware of Hebrew prophecy.
But it was not to be.
Herod's goals were no loftier than his palace walls. The thought of this King, though only a Baby, was a threat -- a threat so great in his perception that it took him to murder.
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Questions:
1. Do you think Herod had a choice in His actions?
2. How might things have turned out, if Herod had accepted Jesus and followed through on his promise to worship Him?
3. What effect might that have had on Jesus' later ministry?
May we understand the exponential implications of not accepting Jesus. Pastor Jim
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