The Seed Blog: Herod: The Night the Star Went Out

In our Advent this year, we have considered how the Nativity may have looked from a number of different perspectives... Black- To represent the world that completely missed His coming because they were living in the darkness of their sins... Gold- To represent the Angels of Heaven, who knew Him best...In their amazement and intrigue over how much He sacrificed for us... Red- To represent Satan himself, as he saw the coming of a Warrior King...Who would grow to be the One th [...]

In our Advent this year, we have considered how the Nativity may have looked from a number of different perspectives...
 
Black- To represent the world that completely missed His coming because they were living in the darkness of their sins...
 
Gold- To represent the Angels of Heaven, who knew Him best...
In their amazement and intrigue over how much He sacrificed for us...
 
Red- To represent Satan himself, as he saw the coming of a Warrior King...
Who would grow to be the One that would topple his reign and take this world back from his authority...
 
Now we light the Purple Candle... To represent Majesty... Kingship!
Because our Advent today... And our entire lesson that follows... Will start with the view of one earthly king…And end with the Story of… The King!
 
Matthew 2:1-8 (NKJV)
 
Purple to represent King Herod...
 
Who would seem like a wonderful King...With a great view and great plans to welcome Jesus into the world! But you and I Who... If this passage had been all that we read...know this is NOT at all who the real King Herod was in reality! Herod the king...  Known as Herod the Great...Was the appointed "Client King" from Rome! He was actually half-Jewish himself…And was given power to rule under Roman authority as King over Judea, in the interest of Rome, making decisions for religious and local matters unimportant to Roman Law. - http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/frontiers.html
 
He was power-crazed, ruthless, and paranoid!! And in suspicion of treason he ended up killing...

- Three of his own sons...
- One of his own wives...
- One of his mother-in-laws...
- And a brother-in-law!!! (Some sources quoting even more)
 
The Jewish Historian Josephus stated…
 
He was so paranoid that no one would even mourn his death, that he ordered a large group of distinguished men to Jericho under penalty of death, and left instruction to kill them all at his own death!  (A command not followed!)
- Antiquities 17:174-181; LCL 8:451-455; Netzer 2001:64-67
 
Even the Roman Emperor Augustus himself once joked, "It is better to be Herod's pig than his son."
 
So Jesus wasn't born under the friendliest of kings with whom to share a crown!!
 
The Wise Men
 
To give a few quick details of these "Wise men" from the east...They were NOT kings! But "Magi" or wise men, who traveled from Arabia, Persia or Mesopotamia... (Most probably Persia/Iran)...They were very possibly descendants from the wise men of Daniel's day, in the land of Babylon... (Of whom Daniel was made "Chief) They had great knowledge in science, astronomy and theology...
(And were the intellectual and religious advisors to kings!) They probably had knowledge of this "Coming King" because of the prophecies given during Jewish captivity in Babylon! Prophecies which Daniel and even Balaam had written over 500 years previously! Telling of the exact time in history in which the Messiah would step into this world! (Daniel 9) And of a Star that would come out of Israel... (Numbers 24:17)
 
With no more than these few prophecies from 500 years previously...These wise men set out on an 800 or so mile long journey, following a Star...To find the King and Messiah! Simply to honor and worship Him! (It’s not just knowledge… But what you do with it!)
 
We don't know how many there were...But there were almost assuredly more than three...And these men of importance, traveling for as long as 2 months...Had a caravan of hundreds with them!! (Prince Ali!) Military protection...Servants, cooks... Possibly livestock...Probably riding upon great steeds…This was not a quiet, sweet picture of three lone men riding into Jerusalem in the middle of the night as often portrayed in stories! This was a grand caravan of power and show...Come to find the New King of the Jews...And asking one of the most jealous Kings that ever lived, about His location!
 
This huge caravan is why the attention and worry of all Jerusalem was drawn... (Three lone men on camels would not have done this!) So let's stop right here... Now that we have a good description of all of the characters...And ask a MASSIVELY IMPORTANT QUESTION that is often completely overlooked...Is God in complete control? Was this one of the biggest events in all of history? Did God provide the supernatural Star and the prophecies that had brought the Wise men so far from the east? Then do you think it was by accident that the Star which guided them.. Had disappeared at the opportune moment?! Forcing these wise men to come into Jerusalem and ask where the New King was to be born? Only to reappear as soon as they left... And supernaturally...Perfectly... Lead them directly to the home where Jesus was residing?
 
Matthew 2:9-10 (NKJV)
 
I think it is not only completely safe to say...But absolutely necessary to say...God had a purpose and plan for this stop in Jerusalem!!! So, let's stop and consider this unusual move of God, in the birth of His Only Son... And see what He might be trying to reveal to us!
 
What Group Are You In?
 
For whatever other reasons God may have had which we may discover in eternity future...  There are a few reasons that are seemingly very clear! These strangers from far away... With limited knowledge of the Messiah...Were forced to ask the very people Chosen of God...Chosen to bring the Messiah into the world...For more information about His arrival! Of which Herod was able to quickly call together the "Chief Priests and Scribes" of the people... Who could readily tell them EVERYTHING they needed to know about His Arrival!
 
That included His Hometown of birth (Bethlehem)...
- Which in and of itself is amazing...
- Being the smallest and most insignificant place...
- And being named 500 years before the event! 
But they also had complete knowledge of...
- The exact timing of His Coming...
- AND the prophetic genealogy of His parents...
- AND the local records to verify those parents... 
They had talked about and anticipated His arrival anxiously for Centuries! And yet they were about to miss the most proclaimed, calculated and important event... Entrusted to them... In history! ONE- So one of the reasons things happened this way...WAS SURELY SO GOD COULD SEND THEM A REMINDER! A reminder from the very people they looked down upon...
A reminder from those with the least knowledge... And the most excitement!
 
It would be comparable to someone who helped you pick out your engagement ring years
ago…(When you made big plans and set the date!) Showing up to see how the wedding went a couple of months after you missed it!
 
This is where I feel our generation of Christians can learn so much from this often missed, but very revealing part of the Story! It may have happened this way. To reveal the true hearts and attitudes of those who lived during the time of His Arrival...The likes of which, we mimic almost exactly in our society today! During the time of His probable SECOND ARRIVAL!
 
Let's take a look at the attitudes of those surrounding Christ's Birth and see if we find ourselves in the crowd! The most religious people... The righteous acting, well informed people of the day...Who knew of intimate details ABOUT Him...Who could quote anything you needed to know in His Laws...
Who had the most grand place of worship in honor of Him...Who were literally 5 or 6 miles from where He was to make the most important entrance into human history...Those who knew of Him most intimately…Did not see fit to walk those few miles to reach the destination...Just like so many of us today...Who leave Him alone and rejected in a remote place! While these wise men traveled 800 miles to reach Him!
 
Because these religious people were too busy molding the Messiah into what they wanted Him to be...So they could attain prestige, recognition and power...The REAL MESSIAH would mess up their whole world!! Destroy the fake, self-serving picture they had created!
 
Why would they take the effort to find the REAL MESSIAH when they had worked so hard to create the one that was working perfectly for them? When they had become so comfortable in the religion they had created for themselves? They were too wrapped up in what they wanted God to be...
To ever discover who He truly is!! Does this in any way sound familiar to the ever growing, huge portion of today's "Christian" society?! Are you honestly seeking to KNOW HIM for who He is? Seeking to really know YOUR PLACE IN HIS PLAN NOW?! Or are you taking a ride on the comfortable "religious train" our culture has painted for you as well? Are you so content to live in the "FAKE" knowledge of who He is... That you have no desire to search for the real Him intimately… And serve the WAY HE DESIRES IN OUR TIME?
 
We are living in times that are just as Scripturally historical and prophetic today!!!! With more written about the events surrounding His Second Coming than the First...Prophesies that Israel would reunite from every nation of the world miraculously in the last days...That they would return to a land that was desolate and rejected, only to see it sprout and flourish again...  Until they could export their surplus blessings to the world! That they would see every nation surrounding them become, "intoxicated" with their destruction... Until that hatred of Israel becomes a thorn to the whole world...That a leader would rise to recognition in the last days by bringing peace in the Middle East between Israel and the surrounding nations!!!

(Wow... How unbelievably exact? Written 2500 yrs ago!)
 
That there would be a complete and utter moral decline and rebellion against God in the last days...That we would be able to buy, sell, and trade with a system of numbers only, in the last days...That Russia and Iran and others would be united in the Middle East against Israel in the last days...That a country East of the Euphrates would field an army of over 200 million in the last days... (China)

Riding vehicles which roared like lions...Billowing fire, smoke & brimstone from their mouths...
That the world would see warfare which caused soldiers in the field to literally having their skin melt from their bones before their bodies fell on the ground...And burned up a third of the earth...
 And poisoned a third of the sea...And destroyed a third of the ships in the seas...
 
BUT... With all of this glaring, powerful, supernatural declaration from God about the times WE are living in TODAY…We can still look the other way...Still focus on our comfortable lives instead...Still disregard the evidence He has placed into our hands! We surely cannot look down on them for being casual and blind in their time... When we are so lost in our own...
 
When He comes very soon, for the second time...We will be just as guilty before Him as they were...And LASTLY- I think the wise men were sent to King Herod to give him a strong message... A message that echoes to us today as well! They came to give that crooked king a very important warning...That crooked king who actually was not a king at all...But a puppet king, doing the bidding of the Roman Empire...Just as WE are not truly kings and queens of our own lives...But puppets who think we are in charge… As we often serve Satan in our ignorance...
 
The wise men came to tell this puppet king that the REAL KING HAS ARRIVED!!! And neither HE... Nor the one HE SERVED UNDER...Could stop God's Plan for the New King! NOR CAN YOU OR I STOP HIM! And look at the differences in the Tale of The Two Kings: While Herod oppressed and killed his own people in fear of losing a kingship that wasn't even really his...The Real King gave up His Kingship to protect and save those that would be His people!
 
While one cared only about his own position and power...The Other gave up His Position and Power in care...While one killed in hopes of destroying our Redeemer...One died in hopes of being our Redeemer! While Satan will work to hurt, oppress and kill you or anyone else in your life to take away your life eternal life...Jesus Christ will give Himself to BE hurt, oppressed and killed to take back control of your life from him!
 
John 10:10-11 (NKJV)
 
Which King would you rather serve? Which King has earned the right and privilege of the Throne?! What must the Wise men have thought when they saw that the very people whom God had chosen to bring the King into the world...Had absolutely no plans to greet Him at His Coming?
Had absolutely no plans to serve and worship Him when He arrived?! LET ME ASKYOU… What would they think of our preparation for His Second Coming today? Herod could deny him... Try to destroy him... Hate Him...All he wanted...
 
But the King was Coming!!! And soon THAT KING would die to win the Crown! And you and I can work hard to keep our position on the throne of our lives all WE want to as well... With our OWN Purple Candles Burning pitifully today!! But very soon the King is coming!
 
And this time He's not coming to die...
The Crown if THORNS has been traded for A NEW ONE!
ARE YOU READY?
Are you anticipating what is to come?
Are you seeking Him?
Are you preparing to meet Him this time?!
Are you doing His work, or your own?!
What does this reality mean in your life?
What changes need to occur?