Matthew 2: 13 – 18

In these short five verses Matthew exposes the corruption of one man’s mind as he continues to have a power struggle with the news of a “Jewish king” on the scene. King Herod is still plotting and scheming to not be pushed aside by ANYONE whom he deems as a threat to his rule. By now Jesus is about two years old, the magi have departed from their visit and ignored Herod’s instructions to return to his palace and tell him the whereabouts of the child so that he, too, could go an worship Him. But God!

God, who knows the heart of a man, knew Herod’s true intentions which were to eliminate Jesus once and for all. I cannot help but stop when reading about Herod thus far in the account of Christ’s birth and reflect on how deep evil ran through his mind. To kill a child that you felt threatened by? Yet, I am not surprised, but those are thoughts for another day.

So, with a real threat on the horizon of hate towards His Son, God uses His angel to instruct Joseph to take his family to Egypt and stay until Herod’s death. Interesting. My flesh thinks “Why, God, You could have easily removed Herod from his reign or allowed circumstances of death to take him out….but you didn’t. You chose mercy. You chose to protect your Son and his parents another way. You removed them and put them into Your witness protection program! And you allowed Herod to show and amp up the evil desires of his heart by making a declaration that all boys under the age of two in Bethlehem were to be killed. This act of violence and bloodshed is not a heartwarming aspect to the Christmas story at all; I certainly wouldn’t want to dwell too long on Herod’s decree when telling or reading this to a child. Yet, it happened. It was real, it is part of God’s story. And, as I reflect upon it, I see a collision of two governments –Herod’s earthly kingdom has been hit by the supernatural power of God’s sovereignty, and all hell broke loose. Literally. This is a spiritual battle. Herod is but a pawn being used by satan, the once beautiful angel of worship in Heaven who was kicked out, thrown to earth, and is now the father of all lies, and governs forces and principalities working to destroy everything good that is of God.

In Herod, I see many of the same negative attributes in people today. We are not without men and women who want power, want to be kingpins in business and government. We have tension between Judeo Christian values going up against some leaders more often now than I can recall in my adult life. But, we also have a God Who is above all we read and see, Who has a plan of escape for us, perhaps….but most assuredly a path to salvation and protection no earthly plan can match. We have Jesus.