Jesus and His World: Herodians

[00:00:08] Amen. [00:00:10] Let's pray. [00:00:14] Lord, we thank you for coming into this world and for being Emmanuel God with us that thank you, Lord, for bringing us salvation into a world that is so mixed up and disturbed, so frustrated by all kinds of difficulties and sins, where everywhere we look, every moment we experienced is in some way or another tinged by the curse and the misery that we have plunged ourselves into because of our sin. [00:00:54] Lord, even. [00:00:56] But we are thankful. I should say that even in the midst of all this sin and misery, you are at work bringing even the trials of life, the miseries of life into holy purposes, into refining and sanctification, into a glorifying of your people and your name. [00:01:20] We pray this evening for those who are sick among us, for those who are struggling with various illnesses and upcoming treatments. We pray for healing, Lord, and for their sanctification that these trials might be made useful by you for good purposes. We also pray, Lord, for our world that is so distraught. [00:01:44] Wars and rumors of wars, conflicts all over the place. Lord, we pray for peace. And we ask that you would give it to us in your mercy and your tenderness, not only here, but especially, Lord, for that life to come. We ask that the word of Christ would be spread not only in our own hearts, but throughout our neighborhoods and throughout the world, that people would come everywhere to trust in you above all things and receive eternal life. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. [00:02:21] Well, this evening let's turn our attention to the passage that we read this morning, considered this morning, but continuing on from there. This is Matthew, chapter four. Matthew four. [00:02:35] That is not right. Matthew Two. There we go. Matthew two. I'll read in verse 13 where I began this morning. But this time I'm going to read all the way through 18. [00:02:57] Matthew Two, verse 13 through 18. [00:03:04] 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. And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 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. [00:03:34] Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise man, became wise men became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all the region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men, then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. 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. [00:04:08] May God be blessed and may he bless us in the reading of his word. You may receive the promise that God makes to Eve about a son that would be born that would crush the head of the serpent. Certainly does not feel like it's being fulfilled at this particular moment in history. [00:04:51] Rachel weeping for her children, she refused to be comforted because they are no more. [00:05:01] Herod, in his great evil and wickedness, seeks to secure himself, his power, his prestige, his place in history, whatever it was exactly he wanted or wanted in that moment, he put to death all of these children to much weeping and loud lamentation. [00:05:26] This is the world and part of the world that Jesus came into, a world where people like Herod would be willing to do these kinds of things to get what they want. [00:05:40] Contrast that with the hymn that we just sang. Thou who was rich beyond all splendor. I'll read you the first line or the first verse. Thou who wast rich beyond all splendor, all for love's sake, became poor thrones for a manger did surrender Sapphire paved courts for a stable floor. Thou who was rich beyond all splendor, all for love's sake, becameest poor Jesus to secure his kingdom and his love and salvation. His love for us and the salvation of us did not kill a bunch of babies to secure his throne. Instead, he became poor and allowed himself to be put to death. [00:06:30] He took on the misery and the curse of this world. [00:06:35] And I want to think about that more this evening with you in light of Herod and the history there that is behind him. And I want to think also with you, how it is that Jesus does this. [00:06:48] So, as we consider these things this evening, let's remember this contrast and put our faith in our Savior to tell the story of Herod and to remember who the Herodians are, a term that's used sometimes in scripture. [00:07:05] You have to go back a little bit and think about what came before him. [00:07:11] Before the Romans were in charge, there was a period in which the Jews were in charge of themselves. [00:07:20] They ruled through this family, beginning with the Maccabees and then continuing on from there. In this family that's sometimes known as the Hasmonians. [00:07:32] Well, as the Hasmonians established their rule in this land, they were very successful, and they spread the borders of that land pretty far, even outside of what we typically think of Israel, including parts of Edom and south of Judah in a land called Eudoma. [00:07:53] This place south of Judea, but west of the Jordan river, had a people in it that were related to Esau. So these are people who, in some ways, were related to Israel, but in many ways, had become a rejected part of the family through Esau's rejection of the family and his birthright. [00:08:22] They were not seen as people who were a true part of God's people. [00:08:29] Well, as these Hasmonians ruled, a man from this area, what we might call you could think of him as half Jewish in a way. A man named Antipas came to rule and be influential in that land. And the Hasmonians gave him governorship of this land, the land of Eudoma. [00:08:51] Well, this man's name was Antipas, and he ruled and became powerful. And eventually, he gave rule over to his son, Auntie Potter, who is the father of Herod. In our passage here, Auntie Potter led the way with this very political savvy, this important sense to him, anyway, of finding the way to power. [00:09:17] And this, of course, is still very common throughout the world and in our own day. [00:09:23] Antipas would lick his fingers, so to speak, feel which way the wind blew. And speaking of power, would align himself with wherever that was going and full steam ahead. He would offer support to those who he thought would gain him wealth and influence, and he would do that by supporting people who supported him and hurting those who didn't. And so eventually, those gathered people and forces and wealth around him. He then, in turn, supported those who were in power of this Hasmonian family. [00:09:58] Eventually, though, the Hasmonians are fighting lots and lots of fighting within the country and the Romans to introduce another character in the story, sort of look at the region and go, this looks like potential, right? Weakness, trouble. We're strong. We can powerful. This is a moment when we can possibly just take this thing over. And they do. They are successful in this. [00:10:29] Well, once this happened, Antipoter, this father of Herod, allied himself with. Guess who? Rome. Right? He allies himself with Rome. So much so that he eventually gets citizenship, Roman citizenship, from Caesar, and is given governorship over all, not just Eudoma, but also Judea as well. [00:10:54] Now, this man, and as part of this new family, not the Hasmonians, but this new family that become known as the Herodians, this dynasty, they didn't have care, concern for the people of God, so much so that for various reasons, he was eventually assassinated. [00:11:16] His rule was attempted to. They were attempting to replace him, but not before he could establish his sons in power, one of whom is the man that we read of here in our passage, Herod. [00:11:30] So Herod comes from this long line of people who use power, political and religious power, or both, if you can get it, which he was able to, to establish a kingdom, a rule that was powerful and strong and independent of God, a city of man, we might say, even though this is God's country, so to speak, even though these are God's people, a place that they had been brought back to after the eXile. He didn't really care about any of that. He cared about Rome, because Rome was where the power was at. Rome was where the achievement was at. Rome is where things could be, where he could be made strong. [00:12:20] And so he was set up as governor eventually, or first, he was set up as governor in this place, Herod the Great, that is. But there was a brief period where the Jews were able to kick out Rome, actually, through the help of another people. He runs away. Guess where he goes? Rome. He goes to Rome. And there he's so successful, even as he's sort of outside of. [00:12:47] Outside of Israel, that at 33 years old, he gets put before the Senate and Caesar declares him to be Herod the Great, king of the Jews. [00:13:01] Eventually, Rome is able to take back this kingdom of the Jews, which they didn't have at that particular moment. They are able to take it back. And guess who they install as their puppet king? Herod, of course. Herod, who is now a powerful and a part of these generations now of family. And he has given control over Jerusalem. [00:13:25] To tell a little bit more of the history, really, just so you can understand more of his character very quickly. There comes this time where things are conflicting in Rome, and Mark Anthony and Octavian, eventually known as Caesar Augustus, are vying for power. [00:13:41] Herod is backing Mark Anthony. He is going to find success under him until all of a sudden, he's not. And Caesar Augustus is winning. So you know what he does? [00:13:55] Switches sides. And then to prove his loyalty, he goes to all the Jews in Jerusalem. And anyone who was against Caesar and against an anti Rome, he slaughters them. Men, women, children, infants. William Simmons, from whom I'm taking much of this account, he says that they were piled up in heaps throughout Israel. [00:14:24] Why? [00:14:26] Because it was necessary for him to prove his loyalty. This was how he could secure power. This was how he could show that he was the one to be trusted by Rome. [00:14:38] And so is it any wonder, when he gets wind from these men from the east that, hey, we think a king of the Jews has been born. [00:14:48] That he does what he does to wipe out the children in this area, in Bethlehem and throughout that region is in some ways a small thing compared to some of the other things that he does. Caesar himself will later say of Herod that it'd be better to be his pig than his son, because he eventually kills several of his sons. [00:15:18] Herod comes from this long line, I say, of people who use power, religious and political, both, if you can get it, and that he did to establish his power, to establish his strength. A city of man that aims for wealth and power at all costs. And in many ways, we can say that Herod achieved that. [00:15:42] Multiple fortresses were built throughout Judea during this time. Eight palaces, a harbor dedicated to Caesar that is maybe one of the most beautiful, impressive harbors in all of the Mediterranean. [00:15:59] And the temple was restored, some estimates of 20,000 people put to work. Economy was growing, things were being beautified, there were tributes and taxes. Yes, some instability from time to time. Yes, he couldn't trust everyone around him. But on the other hand, so much strength, so much power. Romans everywhere, armies guarding him, personal guards and wealth of all kinds. [00:16:29] Impressive. [00:16:31] Impressive in many ways. [00:16:34] But what the Scriptures teach us over and over and over again is that it doesn't matter how impressive things are to man, to us, if they don't impress God, and as beautiful as palaces and fortresses and harbors might be, do you think that they're going to impress God? [00:17:02] The one who makes whales and mountain ranges, the one who fills the seas with all kinds of amazing creatures, who, in rainforests and deserts, creates economies and ecosystems that are beautiful and complex on unimaginable scales? [00:17:26] No, our works are not going to impress God. As we build our tower of Babel, he doesn't look down from heaven and go, wow, this is truly impressive. [00:17:44] Right? [00:17:45] He holds men who plot against him in particular, who set themselves up as would be gods, and he holds them in derision and he laughs. Now, we can add to this that not only is God impressed or awed by our ability, especially in comparison with his own, is there's no way in which he's threatened or wondering what's going to happen. [00:18:11] On top of all of that, we aren't just creating impressive things, we're creating a lot of sinful things. [00:18:22] God's not impressed by that either. [00:18:26] Imagine if you were a king and somebody wrote you a really long manifesto about how much they hated you and wanted to kill you, and it was really beautiful and amazing and full of all kinds of interesting turns of phrases. Would you look at that manifesto and go, wow, let's give this guy a medal? [00:18:46] No. [00:18:50] When we do the works that we do, and we do them in our own strength and for our own glory and for our own honor, and when we do them, on top of all of that, against not only for ourselves and not to the glory of God, but in all kinds of wickedness and sin and murder and the spilling of blood and all of these kinds of things, this does not impress God. [00:19:16] In fact, it angers him, and it makes us deserving of his wrath. [00:19:23] The temple that Herod rebuilt, the temple of the Lord, we can say, was amazing, and in some ways, it was the fulfillment of prophecy. [00:19:34] But in another sense, after it was finished, many, many years, thousands of workers, all kinds of money, it was gone, raised to the ground by the Romans, and just six years later, gone, done. [00:19:50] And as it was raised to the ground, that ground was the same ground in which the blood right of God's people had been shed in the name of these enterprises, in the name of personal and family pride, political power and influence. [00:20:08] This sin, the sin of striving and achieving at all costs for our own sake, is ultimately, the Scriptures tell us, Satanic work. It's the work of the evil one, who, in John 1231, is called the ruler of this world. [00:20:30] We do the works of our father. We do works that are attempting to build our own kingdoms independent of the God who made us, independent of the one who made us to be like him, and to live in righteousness and holiness, in our sin and in our rebellion in our independence. We may accomplish certain things in this world, things that might even be called good in some sense or another, but not ultimately good. And at what cost? [00:21:06] We may not be Herod. [00:21:10] Praise the Lord. We are not committing these kinds of atrocities on these grand scales, hopefully here in this room. [00:21:21] But I think we have to ask ourselves, do we share his priorities? [00:21:27] Do our hearts at times function in the same way? Do we operate in ways that seek to attain and prioritize and value more than anything else, the building of ourselves? [00:21:44] The answer is, of course, yes. [00:21:47] Anytime we, of course, sin against God's law through murder, anger, things like this, or we sin against God, maybe not directly in that way, but simply refusing to acknowledge his sovereignty over us, his kingly power over us, his rule and the rightful glory that is due his name, and instead seek after it for ourselves. [00:22:13] Anytime we think about these things or reflect on these, these are calls to repentance. [00:22:20] And in these passages where Herod, of course, has the upper hand and is, of course, so successful in what he's doing, except for one thing. [00:22:30] The Lord Jesus escapes. [00:22:33] The Lord Jesus through this dream that is given to Joseph, is brought into Egypt and remains there until Herod is gone and he comes back and he accomplishes the mission that he came to accomplish. And even when he is ultimately put to death by the religious and political authorities that are alive at that time, this does not keep him down. This is not the end of the story because as I've been saying, God is supreme. [00:23:07] Man may do what he wants. Man may try to accomplish what he wants. But ultimately God reigns supreme. And Jesus, even in his death, is able to be victorious over Satan and all the kingdoms of this world. [00:23:26] How so? [00:23:28] He does it by taking away the power of Satan to accuse. [00:23:34] He does it by taking away the power of Satan to accuse. [00:23:40] When we are over here on program, man, and it's all about accomplishing accomplishments when it's all about accomplishing Right, whether that's righteousness and good works or whether it's impressiveness and music and culture and things like that, when that's all that we're trying to do is build ourselves and build our towers and build our civilization. And that's the goal. When we're on that program, we're always going to be failing for all kinds of reasons, many of which ones that I've given, they're done in sin. They're not done to the glory of God. They're not done with trust in him and through faith. And so they're ultimately rebellion. And you know what Satan tells us about that? [00:24:32] He says, you're in rebellion. [00:24:34] He accuses us and he says, you deserve the wrath that's coming. You deserve the evils that are in this world. You deserve the miseries that are of life. And in a way, he's right. [00:24:47] He accuses us and he brings to our mind all if he wouldn't first distract us and keep us from thinking about it altogether. But he accuses us and he brings to us our inability to achieve true, everlasting glory and fellowship and peace and beauty and all of these things that we want. [00:25:12] And so what he does is he makes us afraid. He tells us we're going to die. And he jabs us again with his spiritual taser and he says, get along with it. Work harder. Atone for your sins. Build better, move faster, go stronger. [00:25:31] And we do and we fall and we're enslaved and we're enslaved, and we're enslaved and it's vanity. Life under the sun. [00:25:40] What does Jesus do to break that enslavement? What does Jesus do? Does he come into this world and say, now build everything for my name? And if you are able to do so, then I will bless you? [00:25:55] No, he says, I'm going to bless you. I'm going to take care of you. I will establish my kingdom. Here's what I want you to do. Repent and believe the Gospel. The kingdom of God is at hand. [00:26:13] If we turn to Hebrews chapter two, there's an important verse here I'd like to read to you. A few verses and we'll close with this. [00:26:35] HEBREWS ChapteR two speaks, of course. [00:26:38] Well, maybe not of course. Anyway, it speaks of the incarnation. [00:26:42] And then we get to verse 14, and here's what the SpIrIT Says. [00:26:49] Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy. [00:27:02] The One who has the Power of Death, that is the Devil. [00:27:08] You see what he's saying? He's saying through his Death he is going to Destroy. That's a really remarkable thing to say. Usually we don'T Destroy things with dying. We Destroy things through the POwer of our life, right? But he's a different One, the God man. [00:27:29] He DesTroys the One who has the Power of Death, that is, the Devil, and Deliver all those who, through Fear of Death, Were SubJect to Lifelong Slavery. [00:27:43] And what is the life that he gives to us? What is the freedom that he sets us free unto? [00:27:51] It's, of course, the freedom that we have described in the kingdom of heaven. A freedom that is everlasting, a freedom that is grounded in God and his work for us, a freedom that is characterized by union, fellowship, peace, beauty, splendor. When we read the descriptions of the coming kingdom in revelation, it's giant jewels and streets paved with gold and angels and singing and music and holiness. [00:28:32] All of this achieved, but not through evil and wickedness and power and the strength of sinful man, but through a righteous one. [00:28:43] Through HIs RighTEoUsness and his Works, he establishes for himself and then for us, a kingdom that, as Hebrew SayS later, that cannot be Shaken. As I told you this history earlier, you might have noticed it's a little bit difficult to keep track of. And I was summarizing a lot. There's this person, and there's that person, and they're moving, and then this one stabs this one in the back, and then this one rises. And all these kind of things compare that to the kind of stability of Jesus Christ. IS KING NoW ANd FOrEveR, SiMPly RULInG And Reigning and Governing IN SUch a PErFect, Perfect WAY. [00:29:29] Christ defeats Satan by taking on humanity to himself and then dying, enduring all of the misery and the curse that is due for sin. And HE DOEs ThIs for us. He DOeS IT, as HEBRew says, to deliver us from the fear of death those who were subject to lifelong slavery. [00:29:56] So we are those who now look at the things of this world, and we say of God, all of the good things in this world. It's good, and let's work at it and let's put our minds to it, and let's give it our best and do things with excellence unto the glory of God. [00:30:16] It frees us in a way to love and to serve and to build and to create and do all kinds of wonderful things because we don't fear the death of it. We don't fear the crumbling of it. We don't fear the ways in which moth eats and thieves steal. We know they happen. But that's okay, because God is at work in us and in the world. And he is bringing something great, something stable, something everlasting. And so our hope is in Him. Our hope is in the life that he gives. And so we don't need to claw and grab and steal and murder and break and destroy to achieve these things, but we can receive them through a kingdom that he gives to us. [00:31:07] All of this is anticipated for us here in the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew. And it comes to completion when at the end, Jesus says, all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. [00:31:21] Let's pray. [00:31:23] Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the strength and the power and the authority of Jesus Christ. [00:31:30] We thank you for this kingdom that he has established that is not of this world, that is not fleeting and fading and dependent on the passions and pleasures of man. [00:31:44] We repent, Lord, of our own sins and of our own rebellious independence. [00:31:54] We repent of the ways in which we go about our work, totally forgetting you, not depending on you or paying attention to you, not seeking your wisdom, your discernment, not seeking to glorify you as we do things in your name. [00:32:13] Lord, forgive us for the ways in which we claw and grasp and hold so tightly to the things of this world, in which we store up the treasures and the treasures and accomplishments as though they might somehow save us. [00:32:30] Lord, you teach us that there is only one salvation, and that is our saviOr, Jesus Christ. [00:32:37] Oh, Lord, we love him so much. We're so thankful for him and the way that he steadies our hearts even among the great evils that are in this world that he came into. [00:32:50] We pray particularly, Lord, for those who are under the authority of those of evil, men like Herod, men who would seek to murder and steal and harm for their own self aggrandizement, for their own priorities in their own ways. Lord, those who would put to death the people, even the people of God. [00:33:14] Lord, we ask that you would help those, all those who are under this kind of persecution and trouble. [00:33:23] Help them to be steadfast, to not waver and lose hope in the Gospel, whether they are in hiding or in prison, and whether they find themselves under a great torture or separation from family or the theft of their possessions, whatever the pressures that are placed upon them, help them to keep in mind King Jesus, the most powerful one of all. [00:33:56] Help us to trust him even in our own deaths, knowing that we have already died in Christ and been risen with him. And that, O Lord, according to your perfect will, we will have eternal life. [00:34:11] And even now are enjoying the work of the Spirit in us, the guarantee of the salvation that is to come. [00:34:20] The one who raised Jesus from the dead. [00:34:25] Lord, we thank you for the incarnation. We thank you for this life. We ask that you would steal our hearts and make us strong and courageous and bold, not only to hold fast to the truth of the Gospel, but also to proclaim it and to disciple others that they might believe as well. [00:34:47] Your grace is powerful and amazing and lovely. Keep us in it, Lord. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.