Defending the King of Christmas

Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
Christmas is a holiday that always comes under attack by the unbelieving world. We talked about how the world will attack us as Christians because we belong to our Father in Heaven. The reject God so therefore they reject us.
We see also how easily the world will mock Christianity while being tolerant of other world religions. For example, you may have seen the previews for a new movie that stars Jack Black this Christmas called “Dear Santa,” where a young boy named Liam Turner wants to prove to his friends that Santa is real. He does this by writing a letter to Santa, but he commits a major spelling error and summons Satan instead.
The movie ties to lighten the mood with humor but it is still a movie that is making a mockery of a major Christian holiday. People will come out and defend the movie that want to go and see it, but think about this for a moment. Producers would never seek to make a profit off of making fun of Ramadan or Kwanza.
Christian traditions are often the target of these attacks because Satan wants to attack the King of Christmas. While we certainly seek to defend Christianity to those who are truly seeking to know the truth, God is the one who will ultimately defend the doctrines He reveals to us in His word. God has always accomplished His purposes despite Satan’s best efforts to thwart them.
Let’s take a look at the rest of the story from this morning as we see how God defends the King of Christmas.
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.”
19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”
21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.
23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Pray.
This attack on Jesus is not a new phenomenon.
Examples in History:
-Cain and Abel
-Isaac and Ishmael
-Moses and Pharaoh
-Esther and Haman
Matthew draws a contrast to what happens with Pharaoh and Moses in how Jesus is divinely protected by God and sent to Egypt only to be called out of Egypt and back to Nazareth.
1. Enemies Will Attack the King of Christmas (vv. 13-15)
1. Enemies Will Attack the King of Christmas (vv. 13-15)
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.”
God defends in several ways:
He warns the magi not to return to Herod - this buys time
He sends and angel to warn Joseph in a dream
Joseph leaves immediately and protects Jesus and Mary by going to Egypt
Matthew tells us the end of the story and then picks back up with where he left off with Herod
2. God Will Defend the King of Christmas (vv. 16-18)
2. God Will Defend the King of Christmas (vv. 16-18)
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.”
Herod goes mad when he realizes the magi have tricked him. Remember that Herod was deranged.
Herod kills all the babies 2 years old and under just like Pharaoh sough to kill the babies of Israel. These are actions motivated by Satan to try to stop the Messiah from coming.
Herod would have killed these babies and no one could have said anything. In a town the size of Bethlehem, this would have been between 10-30 boys.
It is a tragedy that we should weep over and Matthew connects it to Jeremiah’s prophecy of the people weeping who had gone into exile.
There will always be people who seek to remove every trace of God from society and who will attack those who refuse to be silenced. We should stand boldly letting God defend us and knowing that He is really in control.
3. God will Remove the Threat to the King of Christmas (vv. 19-23)
3. God will Remove the Threat to the King of Christmas (vv. 19-23)
19 But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,
20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”
21 And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.
22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.
23 And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.
Now the angel returns and tells Joseph that it is safe to return to Israel. Remember that Jesus came first to the lost sheep of Israel, so it was necessary for Jesus to minister in Israel and not remain in Egypt.
God brings Jesus back, but still sovereignly directs Mary and Moses where to go. Archelaus was reigning in his father’s place and was just as evil, but he was given a much smaller region to rule.
Jesus would end up going to Nazareth and would fulfill the prophecies that Jesus would be dedicated to the Lord.
Conclusion
We need to realize that God can defend His own. We don’t have to worry.
We need to listen as God guides us
We need to trust in God to protect us and accomplish His purposes.
God chooses to do good out of evil, just like He did with the cross.