Kingdoms in Conflict

KINGDOMS IN CONFLICT

An Exposition of Genesis 3:15, Matthew 2:1-18, and Other Passages

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date:   January 6, 2019

Series: Living in Christ’s Kingdom

Note:   Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

PART 1: INTRODUCTION TO “KINGDOMS IN CONFLICT”

Our lives take place within the context of a cosmic spiritual battle. If we would be faithful participants in this cosmic battle, then we need to know that there is, in fact, a battle. Further, we need to understand the nature of this battle – this battle between two kingdoms.

A kingdom is a king’s domain – the realm over which he exercises rule and authority. To speak of kingdoms in conflict means that there are kings in conflict, rival rulers who lay claim to the same realm.

As it happens, earth is the battleground for the epic conflict that exists between the King of heaven and the king of hell. The King of heaven is the Creator of both heaven and earth, and He is the rightful ruler over the earthly realm. The king of hell is a traitor to the heavenly court: he was once an angelic prince in the heavenly places, but pride arose in his heart: he envied the glory of the High King and sought to usurp His rule. Creatures rebelling against their Creator is always a losing proposition, but there is nothing rational about sin. Sin is fundamentally irrational, a deep-seated lust for that which is not rightfully ours. When the angelic prince fell from his creaturely glory, he became the founder and king of hell – and he willed to bring about hellish devastations upon the earth, and to drag earthlings down to hell with him. Earth is the battleground behind heaven and hell – and we see this in the early chapters of Genesis.

In Genesis 2, the Lord God tells Adam to enjoy the bountiful fruit “of every tree of the garden,” but to “not eat” from a single tree – “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:16-17). God is King, and He rules earth by His Word – and His Word is to be obeyed as it really is, the good and wise decree of His royal court. If you disobey the King’s order, then life will become disordered and ultimately undone: “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:17)

But in Genesis 3 the king of hell shows up, seeking to undermine the goodness and rightness of the King’s Word: “Did God actually say…?” he whispers in Eve’s ear (Genesis 3:1). “You will not surely die,” the tempter assures (Genesis 3:4). ‘In fact, eating from that tree will unlock your true potential, you will become brilliant and wise like God, and your life will go into high gear. God is keeping you from the good life, but if you would just listen to me,’ the dragon king declares, ‘then your dream of greatness will become reality.’ But Satan lied: he did not seek Eve’s greatness, but rather her and Adam’s downfall. And when the downfall happened, the snake would not be around to pick up the broken pieces.

Thus earth must reckon with two kings in conflict. Will we listen to the Lord God and align our lives with His heaven? Or will we prefer the counsel of the evil one and align our lives with His hell?

Adam and Eve played the fool and were plunged into ruin (Genesis 3:6-24). Thereafter the Lord God made it clear that henceforth the history of human life on earth would be characterized by conflict. There is no escaping this conflict: this is the world that we live in; the Creator and the traitor are at odds and earth is the contested realm; and this cosmic conflict gets embodied in a very tangible way between God’s faithful people and the devil’s deceived people. God said to the serpent:

“I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring;

he shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15)

If you want to understand the world you live in, you must understand Genesis 3:15. You must understand that Satan has spiritual offspring, that is, human beings who belong to Satan and follow him on the path of sin. On the other side you have “the woman” and “her offspring,” which in this context means human beings who have been reclaimed by grace and as a result belong to God’s covenant people. Deeper than the politics and economics and cultural developments and social arrangements that you can see with your eyes, there is going to be a long history of spiritual “enmity” and conflict between earthly representatives of the king of hell, on the one hand, and earthly representatives of the King of heaven, on the other hand. I would say to my four young children and to the fourth who is expected soon: welcome to earth, welcome to war!, the battle is fierce, the stakes are high – and may the sovereign King show you mercy, lest you become one more spiritual fatality in this long war. Life is serious!

When you get to Genesis 4, you read about Cain and Abel. The apostle John tells us that Cain “was of the evil one” (1 John 4:12), meaning that he was a child or offspring “of the devil” (1 John 4:10). Thus it comes as no surprise, based on Genesis 3:15, that this agent of the devil would ‘get into it’ with God’s righteous agent named Abel: “Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him” (Genesis 4:8). Enmity. Conflict. War.

This cosmic war gets fought on the battleground of a hundred thousand places on earth and spans thousands of years. Four thousand years after Abel’s blood was shed, another one of God’s righteous agents stood up and said to a bunch of snaky religious guys, “You brood of vipers!” (Matthew 3:7) The name of this heavenly agent was John the Baptist, and he didn’t pull any punches. When he called “the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matthew 3:7) a “brood of vipers,” he was saying that they were the children of snakes, spiritually speaking, which relates back to the offspring of the serpent – the chief snake – of Genesis 3:15. In the same vein, Jesus referred to the corrupt religious leaders as children of hell (Matthew 23:15), as serpents (Matthew 23:33), and as children of the devil who obeyed the devil’s instruction (John 8:38-47). In due course, the apostles Paul and John taught that every human being, except for those who have been redeemed by the grace of Christ, is in bondage to the devil: sinners “[follow] the prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2), they are citizens of “the domain of darkness” (Colossians 1:13), they are blinded by the devil (2 Corinthians 4:4), and they are “children of the devil” (1 John 3:10).

We who have been redeemed by Christ were once in the same boat, but by sovereign grace we have been reclaimed for God and “transferred … to the kingdom of [God’s] beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14). We know in light of Genesis 3:15 that our transfer into Christ’s kingdom means that we have changed sides in the conflict, and that now we will face enemy fire from the devil and his minions. “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8)

This cosmic war gets expressed very tangibly on earth among people who find themselves on different sides of the conflict – and in this conflict, the unrighteous oppose and persecute the righteous. In other words, Cain’s slaying and silencing of Abel gets re-done in new situations by Cain-like people who cannot stand Abel-like people. When you hear that China is clamping down on Christianity and throwing church leaders in jail, you should understand this enmity as just one more outworking of Genesis 3:15 in real time by real people in real places.

But before there was the Chinese Community Party seeking to destroy Christianity, there was Herod seeking to destroy Christ.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Unlike most of my sermons, this sermon is an exposition of a Scriptural theme, rather than an exposition of a particular passage. That said, Matthew 2:1-18 factored large in my thinking and it serves as a very helpful window into the heaven versus hell conflict that gets played out in earthy places like Jerusalem and Bethlehem – or South Paris. As I read this passage, pay attention to the fact that this Scripture shows us two kings – and how one king had no room in his domain for the other. Holy Scripture says:

¹ Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, ² saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” ³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴ and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵ They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

⁶ “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

⁷ Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. ⁸ And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” ⁹ After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹ And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

¹³ Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” ¹⁴ And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt ¹⁵ and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. ¹⁷ Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

¹⁸ “A voice was heard in Ramah,
    weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
    she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Matthew 2:1-18)

PART 2: KINGS IN CONFLICT

This is a rich passage, full of edifying instruction. A year ago I preached Matthew 2:1-12 and drew out five important lessons about the nature of true worship. But in the present sermon I want to focus on the larger passage (through verse 18) and how “Herod the king” (v. 1, 3) viewed the baby in Bethlehem “who has been born king of the Jews” (v. 2). Here we see two kings in conflict. In brief, “Herod the king” viewed the Messiah King as a threat to his own rule and therefore as a threat that needed to be eliminated.

The prophet foretold that the Christ – which means ‘Messiah’ or ‘Anointed One’ – would be the ruler, the shepherd, the king of Israel. The “wise men from the east” knew that the Messiah King was worthy of their worship and devotion, but Herod saw things from a self-centered political perspective. Although Herod held a lower rank than Caesar Augustus who ruled as emperor over the whole Roman Empire, Herod still held a higher rank than most other people. Herod was the king of Judea and he intended to keep it that way. His vision for his own greatness was incompatible with another king who would rise up, win the affection of the people, and deliver Israel from the power of Rome. So Herod did what the serpent’s offspring have become skilled at doing: he sought to ‘take care of it’.

Herod’s initial plan involved co-opting the true worshipers – the wise men – into unwitting participants in his secret spy service. But God made straight the path of the wise men, and so after they worshiped King Jesus “they departed to their own country by another way.”

Herod was “furious” that the wise men defied his command, but one way or another he was intent on destroying the holy child of Bethlehem. Herod didn’t know, of course, that Joseph and Mary had access to classified information, but it really is difficult to hide your plans from the omniscient God. So “an angel of the Lord” delivered instructions to Joseph: “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” Enmity. Conflict. War.

Remarkably, thirty-three years later the spirit of Herod, which of course is the spirit of the serpent, lived on in the religious rulers who also saw things from a self-centered political perspective and attempted to safeguard their own little religious turfdom. Luke writes, “The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him” (Luke 19:47). Sound familiar? It is the offspring of the serpent seeking to bruise and destroy the offspring of the woman. Kingdoms are in conflict – and when kingdoms are in conflict, tragedies and casualties happen.

Herod dispatched his agents of death in an effort to snuff out the light of the world. He thought that if every male child, in the greater Bethlehem area, who was “two years old or under” was killed, then Jesus the Messiah King would be among them. Thus several households that had recently known the great joy of having a baby boy turned to “weeping and loud lamentation.” Matthew tells us that this tragedy in Bethlehem fulfilled the prophet’s word about “Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” Rachel was one of Israel’s founding mothers, and so her weeping is a symbol of the nation’s distress over the calamities that had befallen the people. O the deep ache that comes from considering what might have been! What might have been, if Israel hadn’t disobeyed and consequently been defeated by the Assyrians? What might have been, if Judah hadn’t disobeyed and consequently been defeated by the Babylonians, with some of their finest citizens deported to Babylon (Matthew 1:11, 17)? What might have been if we hadn’t gotten into this awful mess and didn’t have to live in political subjection to Rome? When will our Lord come and fulfill His promise to make all things new – a new covenant, a new life, a new blessing? And now this?! What might have been for these little ones, these one- and two-year-olds, who have been slaughtered by a cruel tyrant? So many hopes dashed to the ground, such great loss, and profound incapacity and unwillingness to receive comfort.[1]  

The tragedy of Bethlehem is a miniature picture of the tragedy of Israel and indeed of the whole world. It is the serpent attempting to sink his murderous venom into the ‘Anointed One’ and to bring ruin on as many others as possible.

PART 3: THE HEART OF THE CONFLICT

The heart of the conflict has to do with sin and our consequent need to repent. In the course of His ministry, Jesus healed people who were “afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics” (Matthew 4:24). This healing, as important as it is, is secondary to salvation from sin. Jesus said that the junk that is in our heart is what makes us unclean in God’s sight: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person.” (Matthew 15:19-20) Sin is fundamentally a declaration of war against the King of heaven and His royal decree. Sin is an act of treason in which we join the serpent’s rebellion and seek to appoint the distinguished self as king. Every sinner has the Herod complex; every sinner wants to protect his or her own turf; every sinner suppresses the truth in an unrighteous act of defiance against the glory of God (Romans 1:18-32).

This is why the call of the gospel goes forth as it does: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2, 4:17) This is the message that John the Baptist declared in Matthew 3:2 and this is the same message that King Jesus declared in Matthew 4:17. This instruction to repent because “the kingdom of heaven” is near is just what you would expect in a situation where kingdoms are in conflict. We are talking about kingdoms here – we are talking about allegiance and loyalty, faithfulness and devotion. “[The] kingdom of heaven is at hand” because the King has arrived! Jesus the Messiah King is on the scene! Whether this proves to be good news or bad news for you depends on whether you get aligned with the King’s agenda.

“Repent” means to turn away from the false kingdoms, the Herod-like kingdoms, the satanic and sinful and self-built kingdoms that have captured your attention and loyalty, and in its place to turn toward the King of heaven and submit to His gracious rule. Repentance begins with the sober awareness that life in my own little self-made kingdom is not working and is actually damning on account of my sin. At the same time, repentance also begins with the glad realization that Jesus is the true King who rescues sinners and restores them to fellowship with the triune God. There is no middle ground: we are either in the serpent’s family and men like Cain and Herod are our brothers, or we are in the Savior’s family and the prophets and apostles are our brothers. It is one or the other, and the only way out of the serpent’s family and into the Savior’s family is through repentance – through re-alignment with the character and priorities of the King:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2)

Repentance involves total re-alignment of life, which is not the same thing as an empty profession or a cheap claim to be more resolute in the new year:

“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Matthew 3:8)

Which side of the conflict you are on has eternal consequences. As I said earlier, the stakes are high:

“Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” (Matthew 3:10)

What does “good fruit” look like? It looks like obedience to God’s Word. Just as the serpent undermined the goodness and truthfulness of God’s Word in the Garden of Eden and captured Adam and Eve, so he undermined the goodness and truthfulness of God’s Word in the wilderness in an effort to tempt Jesus. But Jesus stood His ground: He trusted His heavenly Father and stood firm on the rock solid truth of God’s written Word. (Matthew 4:1-11) When Jesus tells us to repent and follow Him, He means that we should follow Him on the path of obedience.

What does this good fruit of obedience look like? It looks like humility: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) It looks like passion for righteousness and purity: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:6-7) It looks like being a practitioner of true peace: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matthew 5:9)

PART 4: THE COSMIC CONFLICT IS EXPRESSED IN PERSECUTION

The good fruit of obedience also looks like taking some for the team – which I mean in a non-trite, utterly serious way – because if you have repented of your sins and believed in Christ and become part of God’s forever family, then you can be sure that the devil’s offspring will be on your tail, or in your face, or giving you bad press. When through repentance we are reconciled to God, our enmity with God is over and done (now we have peace with God!), but our enmity with Satan is just begun. Conversion means you’ve changed teams, and now you can expect to take some for Christ and His church:

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:10)

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11-12)

For a practical example, consider the case of Herod’s son. “Herod the king” (Matthew 2:1) had a son Herod Antipas, called “Herod the tetrarch” (Matthew 14:1). True to form, the son lived down to his father’s serpent-like ways. Herod Antipas was an adulterer, and John the Baptist confronted him about it. The adulterer and his adulteress didn’t like that sort of plain speaking about their sin, so they – with help from the adulteress’ daughter – took care of it. After our brother John was thrown into prison, he was eventually beheaded. (Matthew 14:1-11) Enmity. Conflict. War.

And what happens when people want to live in a self-made kingdom where Eros is king and sexual immorality is the law of the land? What happens is the blood bath called abortion – sixty million and counting – just like the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem and the beheading of John. What happens is the making of same-sex marriage laws that codify humanity’s rebellion and the making of other unrighteous laws ready to be used against John-the-Baptist-types who dare to speak up. But really, what do you expect? We understand that all this, and much more, is inevitable because kingdoms are in conflict, and we are not surprised when people who are bent on hell act like it.

Much more could be said, but hopefully you get the point: the church of the Lord Jesus Christ exists in a conflicted realm. We represent the King of heaven upon the realm of earth, knowing full well that the king of hell has his own agents working overtime on the same earth. It is heaven versus hell across the board, and our prayer must be: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)

PART 5: APPLICATION

We need to understand that this cosmic conflict takes place in every human heart, in every home, in every congregation, in every workplace, in every city and township, in every state and nation. You live on this battlefield, and the conflict is on every side.

The Individual

As an individual, you are either a citizen of Christ’s kingdom or a citizen of the devil’s kingdom. There is no middle ground. You have either been born again into God’s forever family, or you haven’t. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) Have you been spiritually birthed by the Holy Spirit into God’s kingdom?

If you have been soundly converted, you need to understand that a very real conflict continues to take place in your heart. You cannot coast; you must fight. Jesus tells His disciples to make war against sin: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away” (Matthew 5:29), which doesn’t mean to literally gouge out your eye, but to fight tenaciously and strategically against the sin that rises in your heart. The apostle Paul told professing Christians to kill sin: “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5) Right now, perhaps, you are in grave danger of caving in or turning back or drifting from Christ’s kingdom or making a shipwreck of your faith. Don’t do it, but stand firm in Christ. And remember: “whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). Make sure that you remain on the right side of the conflict.

The Home

This cosmic conflict that defines history and includes every individual in its scope, necessarily gets expressed in every place where individuals are gathered together. Thus the conflict gets expressed in your home, your family and extended family. Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.” (Matthew 10:34-36)

In a former ministry setting I knew a Christian man whose wife is an unbeliever. His experience was that as he walked more closely to the Lord, his relationship with his wife worsened; but when he grew distant from the Lord, his relationship with his wife improved. What a burden! He loved the Lord, but who wants a marriage full of strife? I am not suggesting that every marriage between a believing spouse and an unbelieving spouse will be exactly the same as my friend’s, but we must understand that the kingdoms-in-conflict reality is inescapable. Spiritual conflict is likewise inescapable between believing parents and unbelieving children (or vice versa), and between believing siblings and unbelieving siblings. As for you, remain faithful to Jesus! And even if everyone in your household is a believer and you all enjoy the Lord’s peace, you must be always vigilant to stay the course. If individual Christians can drift, then so can Christian households. Don’t let the tempter become your counselor-in-residence who lures you from the narrow path, but keep the heart of your family submitted to the word of Christ.

The Church

The cosmic kingdoms-in-conflict that gets expressed in the home also gets expressed in the church. The New Testament teaches us that there are false converts and false teachers who rise up within the church community (e.g., Matthew 13:1-23, Acts 20:29-30, 2 Peter 2:1-2), and their influence is obviously not good. Further, even if every participant in the congregation was a true convert – something that is possible but not likely – we would still need to be diligent in watching over our spiritual health, safeguarding sound doctrine, and walking faithfully in the Lord’s ways. If individual Christians can drift, then so can an entire congregation that is made up of individual Christians. We want every congregant, every ministry team, every relationship, every decision to be characterized by obedience to the word of our King, not by obedience to the whispers of the snake.

Moreover, as a church we understand that our King has sent us into the battle with a clear commission to rescue sinners from the grip of the enemy. The sovereign King, with all authority in heaven and on earth invested in Him, tells us: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) And since the sovereign King is with us, we can be confident that His kingdom will advance and His church will grow: “… I will build my church,” He has promised, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)

Different Kingdoms, Different Weapons

Although we are involved in this epic conflict between the serpent and the Savior, and between the serpent’s kingdom and the Savior’s kingdom, the reality is that the two sides are fighting with very different weapons. Jesus said that Satan is fundamentally a liar and a murderer (John 8:44). Herod lied to the wise men and slaughtered the babies, and his son dealt treacherously with another man’s wife and beheaded the prophet, and the religious leaders and Roman soldiers and Pilate rejected the truth and crucified Jesus, and the whole world brokers in falsehood. But we do not fight according to the flesh. Our weapon is truth – we speak truth and live it – and we deploy our weapon in love. Our spiritual enemies hate us, but we actually love them. We don’t delight in their sinful ways, of course, and we don’t sentimentalize or celebrate or downplay their perilous spiritual condition, but we truly love them. “Blessed are the merciful” (Matthew 5:7), says the merciful King. “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:44-45) Our enemies really are our enemies, and we understand them as such, but we really want them to become our friends; we want our persecutors to become our partners in the gospel; we want the children of the devil to be freed from their chains and to become the sons and daughters of the High King. We want corrupt tax collectors like Zacchaeus and religious zealots like the pre-converted Paul and wayward sons and profligate daughters to be gloriously and wonderfully saved by the grace of God. In fact, we would lay down our lives to bring about the salvation of our enemies – and where did we learn that?

Part 6: The Gospel

Scripture says: “For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die–but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:6-10)

We were weak. We were sinners. We were enemies of God. Jesus the Messiah King came into this weak, sinful, and conflicted mess – not like King Herod to manipulate and slaughter and self-promote, not like a Herod Antipas to adulterate and behead and self-protect, but – as the merciful King who embodied truth and graciously offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice for His enemies, and by His death He paid the price of redemption for every sinner who would turn from sin and take refuge in Him.

This morning we celebrate the Lord’s Table, and at this Table we behold the King of truth and grace, the King of holiness and love, the King righteousness and reconciliation, the King of sovereign authority and saving mercy.

As King Jesus celebrated the Passover with His sinful disciples on the eve of His crucifixion, “[he] took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat, this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”” (Matthew 26:26-28)

The prince of hell operates on a simple principle: let me take what is yours to lift me up. But the King of heaven operates on a higher principle: let me give what is mine to lift you up. He gives His body, that is, Himself, and He becomes to us the Bread that nourishes us forever. He gives His blood, that is, His very own life, and He becomes to us the Cup of salvation that satisfies us for all eternity. Through Christ and Christ alone, God establishes a new covenant with His people: sins are forgiven, sinners are rescued from hell and reclaimed for the kingdom of heaven, and the Holy Spirit leads God’s redeemed people into holiness, love, and mission. It is remarkable that Matthew’s “Rachel weeping for her children” quotation is found in a chapter – Jeremiah 31 – that is full of hope! The “weeping and loud lamentation” is real pain, but behold your King, the One not slaughtered in Matthew 2 but crucified in Matthew 27, behold your King who has come to turn “mourning into joy” (Jeremiah 31:13), sorrow into gladness (Jeremiah 31:13), and weariness into satisfaction (Jeremiah 31:25). When the redeemed of the Lord enter into the eternal city, we will understand with blazing clarity that the heartache is momentary, but the joy is eternal. Every person who belongs to Christ enjoys this bountiful grace, but every person who refuses to treasure Christ remains in captivity to Satan and under condemnation for sin.

The Last Word

“Herod the king” (Matthew 2:1) had a grandson Herod Agrippa who is also called “Herod the king” (Acts 12:!). Herod Agrippa was the nephew of Herod Antipas. Herod Agrippa continued the legacy of his grandfather and uncle: he killed the apostle James and had the apostle Peter put in prison (Acts 12:1-4). Sooner or later, however, sin catches up with every man. On a particular occasion Herod Agrippa appeared in great pomp and circumstance before “the people of Tyre and Sidon” – “Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”” (Acts 12:20-22) And do you know what? Herod, like his forbears and like his father the devil, loved to receive worship as if he were a divine figure. But in the epic battle between competing kingdoms, the King of heaven always gets the last word and the final victory. So, as the people were worshiping Herod and as Herod welcomed it, God said ‘Enough!’ “Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him [Herod] down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last. But the word of God increased and multiplied.” (Acts 12:23-24)

The Herods of this world – those who won’t worship the true King, those who won’t heed the call to repentance, those who won’t give glory to God – will meet with a bitter end and go away into eternal punishment. Don’t go that way, friend; lay down your resistance and surrender to Christ. In contrast to the Herods, the beheaded John and the killed-by-a-sword James, and indeed all those who follow the crucified and risen King, will rise again to a glorious resurrection, and they will shine like bright stars in the heavenly kingdom that will never come to an end.

Let us pray. 

ENDNOTES

[1] Regarding Matthew 2:18, Leon Morris indicates that Rachel’s refusal to be comforted is a willful refusal – hence, unwillingness. Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew (The Pillar New Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992: p. 46, especially footnote number 56.. I would argue that embedded in that unwillingness is profound incapacity or inability on account of great sorrow. Thus the act of the will is not an exercise of mere will.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to Matthew (The Pillar New Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992.

Peterson, David G. The Acts of the Apostles (The Pillar New Testament Commentary). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009.

Sproul, R. C. Matthew (St. Andrew’s Expositional Commentary). Wheaton: Crossway, 2013.

Two Wikipedia entries: “Herod the Great” available online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_the_Great; and “Aristobulus IV” available online at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristobulus_IV. Herod the Great is the Herod of Matthew 2. One of Herod the Great’s sons was Aristobulus IV, who was the father of Herod Agrippa of Acts 12.