2010 Christmas special - He has to die...but at the right time
Vern Peterman · Dec 19, 2010
Holidays
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492622293874

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Well, good morning and a blessed Christmas to you. Before we proceed into the passage, just want to bring up in these electives, what we have is an abundance of people who have signed up for the last one there. We need to have more sign up in the first couple there. So if you're planning on signing up, now is the time. So anyway, appreciate your responding to that. What we have, and this is the first slide in your handout, I bring this up from three years ago. Now I know you remember all the details from when we taught three years ago, right? What we presented was this, and this is kind of a one-slide summary.

From prophecies given at the end of Genesis, from a prophecy in Numbers 24, and from Psalm 45, We find that the Messiah, who will have the scepter, that is, he will reign as king, will also have the sign of a star. And so very interesting, the King of the Jews message and that sign of the star is well written and woven into the earlier books, even, of the Old Testament. What's very interesting is Daniel who was, according to Daniel chapter 5, who was put over the Magi in Babylon. Daniel, who was put over as head of the Magi in Babylon, was likely the one that had passed along this tradition that the Magi that we just were reading about and will be looking at this morning carried and actually brought them to the place of looking for where is this one who was born King of the Jews and we saw his star in the east and that brings us to the passage where we are now.

If you want to look up more about that scepter, a star, a savior lesson that we had three years ago at Christmastime. The information is there on the bottom of the first slide. Feel free to look that up either online or you can ask for it on paper from the church office there.

In Matthew 2.1 that Courtney read for us, it says, now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem.

Now, what's very interesting is the account here, which typically quite often we talk about how did Mary and Joseph get to this point. And what we find as we read the account is that Joseph was put through an awful time trying to get Mary who was pregnant and Jesus to be born there that night.

He had a difficult time finding a place and one of the reasons why we explained it was difficult was this was a town where all the descendants of David lived with some exceptions including those where Joseph lived in Nazareth. But the descendants of David were in this town And many of them had seen Joseph at least annually because there had been since the time of Nehemiah an annual woodcutting that he would be responsible for. It was rotated among the various tribes and peoples. And so he would have come down to Bethlehem every year at least once for that and stayed with those people there so the people knew him.

And now he comes up with this wife who is pregnant at an untimely moment and trying to find at this crowded time when everybody is signing up for the census a place where they will also accept him with a wife who is pregnant not at the right time. And so when Joseph finally found Jesus, and Jesus was born, he was probably, boy, but guess what? The hustling and bustling about was just about to begin all over again.

And that's what this account tells us about. So now, what happens? These Magi from the East arrive not immediately at Bethlehem, but in Jerusalem. And what do they say? Well, let's talk about these Magi first. These Magi were from an empire to the east called the Parthian Empire. It is in the area where Daniel, several centuries before, had been in charge of the Magi. It is in an area where a number of Jews, in fact, still lived and carried on many of these traditions out of the Old Testament.

The Parthian Empire, however, was an enemy of the Roman Empire. As a matter of fact, it had only been decades since the Parthians came in and actually captured Jerusalem from the Romans. And then the Romans came back and shoved the Parthians back out, fought them back. And it had only been a few decades since that had happened.

So now to have visitors from this empire was scary, was disturbing, and especially since Herod the Great was in charge. We'll see in a minute why that's a problem. So here come these Magi with a tradition based on Daniel's involvement with their Magi from centuries back, asking about the King of the Jews. As far as the Jews were concerned, this was the worst possible time to ask that question. Because Herod the Great, who was not so great, was the guy in charge.

So they're asking, imagine these guys coming in, and they're from Parthia, and imagine everything from their dialect to their dress indicated they were from this place. They also didn't seem to make any small point of it. They were from the east. They were from this area. Where is he who was born king of the Jews? They were not Jews themselves.

For we saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." Now, some have guessed that the star might be, for example, Halley's Comet, who approximately in the years BC was over the Earth. Some have guessed that it's a particular conjunction of planets. I think, however, and we'll see a reason why shortly, I think, however, it was actually a miraculous star, a supernatural star. We'll see why in a minute.

So when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Now, why would all Jerusalem be troubled? And let me suggest you a reason why all Jerusalem would be troubled. Because if Herod's troubled, everybody else ought to be troubled.

That's the way it is. Herod was a scary guy. We will give examples later, but just as a for instance, Herod was a guy who could get angered easily and go into a rage and do completely unreasonable things. Five days before his death, which was in the middle of March, 4 BC, Five days before his death, he ordered his eldest son killed because he was jealous that his eldest son might jump in quickly and take his place too soon. So he ordered him killed. That's the sort of guy that Herod was, a nasty fellow. It's even rumored that Caesar Augustus, making a play on words in the Greek, said that it is better to be Herod's pig than his son.

Herod had indeed been a great builder, if you want to call him great anything. He had begun in 20 BC a reconstruction of the temple which was so grand, so immense, so enormous that it would not be completed until a lifetime after his death, about the early 60s AD. It was in fact under reconstruction entirely from beginning to end during the life of Christ and on into the lives of most of the apostles. Herod had also built Caesarea on the coast, Caesarea Maritima, as it's called, or Maritima. And so that was a great city and harbor that he had put in place, essentially kind of a Roman military establishment.

He had, as a part of a string of places to watch out for the Parthians on the east, this place called Herodium, named after guess who, right? It was a mountaintop fortress. He had ordered that the top of the mountain actually be taken off in order to put this fortress inside on the top. And you see it from an aerial view. We'll take a look at it again. It was very near Bethlehem, which is also of possible importance.

In Matthew 2.4 we read this, gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people here inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

Now in reality there was only one chief priest, but the tradition was if you had ever been a chief priest that you were still called one of them. Somewhat like we still call former presidents president and that sort of thing. And so the chief priests, the scribes, were those who initially would be copying scripture and other important documents, although they eventually came to be known for being experts in the law. So he, not knowing all the details, Herod, inquired of these chief priests and the scribes where the Messiah was to be born.

He wanted to know. The chief priests at the time, we have a couple of candidates. This fellow Bothus and his son Simon, Simon Ben Bothus, were candidates for being high priests at the time. Simon is a candidate from the standpoint that Herod died in March of 4 BC, and so if Christ was born not too long before that, he would have been a candidate. now in verses five and six it goes like this and they said to him and by the way this is also on your handout on page one in Bethlehem of Judea for this is what has been written by the prophet and you Bethlehem land of Judah are by no means least among the leaders of Judah for out of you shall come forth a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel this is from the Old Testament prophetic book of Micah chapter 5 verse 2 said it would come out of Bethlehem.

Now, there's some points to make here. Bethlehem, land of Judah. Why that distinction? Because there was another Bethlehem right next to Nazareth. So you needed to make sure it was this one and not the other one. So that's one reason for that clarification. And God knew that the distinction needed to be made. So we had Micah right this centuries before Christ was born.

Not the least among the leaders of Judah, Bethlehem was a village. I've seen estimates. And of course, since they didn't go around and take census figures like we tend to do now at regular intervals. Estimates of maybe 1,000 to as much as 3,000 people. But however you call it, that's not a big city. So here saying no. Bethlehem, you may not be the biggest place, but a very important person is going to be born there. And by the way, we happen to know who that is, don't we? OK. Then in verses 7 and 8, it goes like this.

Then Herod secretly called the Magi. Now, this is interesting. He had kind of publicly brought together the chief priests and the scribes, but now secretly called the Magi. This is all covert. Determine from them the exact time the star appeared. As we are going to see, his reason for asking that is so that he has plan B in place. How old are the children that I need to kill if I don't get the information I need out of these magi? So he doesn't talk to them about anything first until he gets the information. When did the star appear?

That's going to tell me. That's going to tell me how old I need to have the order for for the babies to be killed. Then he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the child. Carefully. Why? Want to make sure the exact place if possible. And when you have found him, report to me so that I too may come and worship him. Liar! Right? liar to the core. Everything that he had asked, everything that he had done was all with ill intent, which is all the more reason to call the Magi in secretly.

So verses 9 and 10 tell us this. After hearing the king, Herod the king, they went their way and the star which they had seen in the east went on before them. Now this is one of the reasons, I believe, that it was a supernatural or miraculous star and not simply a natural formation. And that is because as they had come from the east, they were brought to Jerusalem. And by the way, these Magi were astrologers. Notice that astrology did not lead them to Bethlehem. Astrology led them to Herod.

Okay? It's the star itself that brought them to the place even where the child was. They didn't have to go searching. The star brought them right where the child was. That's why I believe it's supernatural and not simply a natural event. The place where the child, Christ, was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

And it seems to me to be a bit redundant too also as well. Okay, you didn't get that. Alright. So they went from Jerusalem about a half dozen miles approximately to the south to this little town of Bethlehem. And as they went there to this half dozen miles approximately to Bethlehem, This is what they found. Verse 11.

Matthew 2.11 says, After coming into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother. It may be that Joseph was there, or maybe he was working, I don't know. Maybe doing the wood cutting we talked about.

And they fell to the ground and worshipped him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. These three things are sometimes taken to be an indication as to how many of these magi or wise men, as they're called, there were. We, in fact, don't know. It doesn't say that there were three. It does say that there were at least three kinds of gifts. And so we had gold. The gold, of course, would be very valuable. It was good as money and used for trading. The other items would be valuable as well, but have a different purpose.

The frankincense was used often for burial. It has a modern name, boswellia, but often for burial at the time and would be put along with the cloth that they would wrap someone in to suppress the odors. Additionally, the myrrh was used for burial. and oftentimes was used to relieve pain. That is why when Jesus was offered myrrh when he was on the cross, he refused it. He didn't want to have a reduction in pain. He wanted to take it full force. So these three gifts, all of them in fact valuable, were given.

And it appears likely were used to sustain and support Joseph and Mary and Jesus as we'll see shortly in the place that they're about to travel. So in verse 12 it says this, and having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the Magi left for their own country by another way. The direct route would have been to go straight back north into Jerusalem and then head from the roads there. back to where they were from. They could have, this is another way, they could have gone out more to the coast and then gone up and taken the main caravan routes that way, or they could have gone to the south around the bottom southern end of the Dead Sea and gone back that way. Either way, they went by another route, not just straight back north up to where Herod was. I'm sure Herod had people looking out for them. And so they would travel back to their homeland, having seen the king of the Jews, the one that they had looked for. Back to the Parthian Empire.

Matthew 2, 13 and 14 puts it this way, Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. And that seems to be the way the Lord communicated with Joseph. Once and then again and then again. He appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, get up.

And imagine Joseph, he's saying, oh man, I've been going. We had quite a time getting here and quite a time finding some place to stay. Do I have to? No, you got to. Get up. Take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt. Not just get out of here, but flee to Egypt. And remain there until I tell you. Stay there until further notice.

For Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him. That's his plan. Remember the plan B? He asked, when did the star first appear? That was going to be his timing for the age of the children that must be killed. So Joseph got up and took the child and his mother where it was still night and left for Egypt. In the middle of the night.

You have a map somewhat like this that is on the bottom of page one of your handout. And that kind of gives the sequence. So in this part here, this is number three, where they take off and head down towards Egypt. In round figures, it's about 80 miles to the southern border from Bethlehem to the southern border of Herod's kingdom. It's another 50 miles from there to get to the edge of Egypt, so to get away. And then from there, it's another couple hundred miles into where they likely stayed. And we'll talk about that briefly here.

So he headed to Egypt, headed out there. It was quite a trip, but one that he was told he must take. And he must stay there, which is probably one of the good reasons that they had gold and frankincense and myrrh. because then they could sustain themselves in this foreign land for a period of time. While we don't know, the Bible doesn't say, there is a strong likelihood that they may have ended up in Alexandria, Egypt.

As you see, it's on the very west side of the Nile Delta. And there are a couple of reasons why that would be a good place to be. Here's a map of ancient Alexandria. And right in here on the east part of it is the Jewish Quarter. Hundreds of thousands of Jews, fellow Jews, lived there.

And it also, being a populous place, would be a place where you could have a ready market for the gold and frankincense and myrrh for the other things that they would need to live while they were there. Then in verse 15 we read this. He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet. Out of Egypt I called my son.

And we have three references there, Hosea 11.1. There are also a couple of others that give a similar kind of message or a part of that. And so I'll leave it to you to take a look at those. Now, in verses 16 and 17 we have this part of it.

Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the Magi, in fact what had happened is he had tricked the Magi. The Magi hadn't fulfilled their part of the trick, right? That's really what happened. He had tricked the Magi. But he became very enraged. So what else is new? It's Herod, right?

And sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity from two years old and under according to the time which he had determined from the Magi. The two years time frame would give him the age of the children that he need to have slaughtered. Again, the estimates for the population of Bethlehem vary about 1,000 to 3,000, somewhere in that range. And the number of male children also varies quite a bit. The estimates range anywhere from about 20 to 30 on the low end to as many as 300 who might have been killed at this event. It also depends on all its vicinity. How wide an area is that? How much does that include of nearby villages and houses?

You can imagine these soldiers, what a brave and honorable thing to do, to go out and kill babies, to kill infants. I don't imagine realistically that that was something that they really delighted in and relished, but they just realized Herod ordered it, they had to do it. And so they went out, and you can imagine what the impact was. All the fathers and mothers of these children, grandparents, aunts and uncles who were around, the whole town went into wailing. Hundreds, at least, wailing at once.

Herod might have sent the order directly to some soldiers who were in Jerusalem with him. That's a possibility. Or another very likely possibility is that he sent orders to Herodium, which was right near Bethlehem. As a matter of fact, from Bethlehem, you can see it right nearby. And then from there, the soldiers would come from that mountaintop fortress down to slaughter the babies. Here's a picture of it from not too far from Bethlehem. It's quite nearby. Here's another picture of it looking from the top. Either way, the soldiers came and did their dirty deed. I'm sure they were not delighted about it, but do what they must. Now, this is in fulfillment.

Matthew 2, 17 and 18 says this, Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled. A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping in great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted because they were no more. Now, what's this Ramah thing about, Rachel weeping? This actually is from Jeremiah 31, 15, which your handout also includes.

And this is actually a kind of a recollection of an earlier event, when Nebuchadnezzar, in earlier centuries, several centuries before, had brought out people from this area to go to Babylon. What he did first was he said, all the ones that are vulnerable and might not make it, kill them all. And then the ones that are likely to make it to Babylon will take them. And so then there was this mourning and weeping. All the ones who were weak and vulnerable and might take too much attention were slaughtered. So this is kind of a recollection of that event applied to that particular tragedy that Herod had ordered.

So when Herod died, again, we brought up it's probably about middle of March, 4 BC, Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream. Here's the dream again. Here's this angel, perhaps the same one. Appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, get up. Ah, get up again. I've heard that before, right?

Take the child and his mother and go into the land of Israel for those who sought the child's life are dead. We don't know exactly how that might have appeared to Joseph, but here's a couple of artistic representations. So verse 21, and this makes reference to the bottom of your handout, that same map. So Joseph got up and took the child and his mother and came into the land of Israel.

Now they came back to the land of Israel, again it's about 200 miles to get up to the place where they're out of Egypt, and then another 50 miles to get into the land of Israel, which would have been the bottom part, the southern part of Herod's kingdom. But some changes took place, right? Once Herod died, the kingdom was broken up into different parts, which is important for what we're about to read next.

But when he heard that Archelos was reigning over Judea in the place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Now, it isn't explained here why is he afraid to go there. Let me explain why he was afraid to stay in the area where Archelos was the ruler. Archilas was no better and perhaps worse than his father Herod.

There were Jews gathered at the temple who were holding a memorial service for some people that Herod had ordered killed. Archilas felt insulted by the memorial service for the people who had been killed and ordered all the people at the memorial service to be killed too. 3,000 of them. at one day. 3,000 of those who were holding a memorial service for those whose father killed were also killed by order of Archelaus. That's why Joseph was afraid to stick around. He said, this guy is really crazy. So I'm not sticking around there. So he was warned by the Lord about this, too, in a dream. He left for Galilee. Basically, it's go back home.

That's where they started from. Nazareth. He came and lived in a city called Nazareth, which, as the gospel accounts repeatedly say, that's where Jesus was to be from. Jesus of Nazareth is what he would be called. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets. He shall be called a Nazarene.

Now, I have some explaining to do here. Do you know that there is no Old Testament prophecy that says that he should be called a Nazarene? So, oh no, God goofed, right? No, he didn't. Something that we have to note here, it says was to fulfill what was spoken, not written. So what it's communicating is a message. It's a message they delivered, but not exactly what they wrote.

That's part one. The other is, is it a single prophet or multiple? It's multiple prophets. So what is a message that is consistent with this that was written about by several prophets? See that? Now, I make this point not just to be picky or strange, But nowhere else did Matthew write like this, spoken and prophets plural. So there's a reason for doing this.

Nazareth, we read in John 146 and then twice in chapter 7, was a despised town. Now, I have a little bit of personal confessing to do. I went to high school in a despised town. I went to high school in the booming metropolis of Boonville, California. As a matter of fact, when I would go over the hill to the county seat and I would meet people, you know what they used to say? Can anything good come from Boonville?

Right? So I know what this is like, a despised town. Also we know, and Matthew is the one who makes point of it, Matthew 8, Matthew 11, Matthew 15, Christ was despised by men. And here is the point, and this is why I think Matthew wrote it specifically the way he did. What was spoken, not written, what was spoken, the message that they carried was that the Messiah would be despised.

And what do we know? It's not one prophet, but several. Psalm, Psalm 22, Psalm 13, excuse me, Psalm 22, Psalm 69, Isaiah 11, 42, 49, and 53, and Daniel 9, 26. At least three prophets, and two of them on more than one occasion communicated that the Messiah would be despised. So Matthew is right after all. It's not a mistake. God didn't goof. It was inspired by God, and it meant exactly what it says. But we have a question after reading through this account. You can imagine Joseph is thinking, boy, how much more complicated can this get?

I was just going to be a small town carpenter and marry this young gal, you know? And life was supposed to be simple. And here I am running all over the eastern part of the Roman Empire and escaping at night and going to places I've never been. He says, this is incredible. With all that complexity, we could ask the question, why didn't God just have Christ die as an infant for our sins? Wouldn't that be easy?

I mean, that would be simple. Here he is. He's in Bethlehem. Herod wants to kill him. He's going to die anyway. Just get her done. Just do it, right? I mean, it would have been real simple. So why not do that? Herod's rage would have been the end of the matter. Herod's mad. It's after all, you know, as the Roman Empire is supposed to carry this thing out, right? So just let him kill Jesus and get it done. Why not? Wouldn't that have been far simpler and more direct for God to have done things that way? Wouldn't it? I mean, we could ask, why not? Easily, right? Why not?

Okay. In Luke 2.40, Dr. Luke records this about Christ. The child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. Then, only verses later, he writes this. And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.

If Christ had been killed in it as an infant, that would never have happened, would it? Not at all. Christ would not have been baptized by John the Baptist and had the testimony of the Father and of the Spirit. In Matthew chapter 3, this very same book, next chapter, It says, After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened. And he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and lighting on him. And behold, a voice out of the heavens said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

That would never have taken place had Jesus been killed as an infant. Christ, of course, would not have said and done what he did. Let me give you some for instances. Christ would not have had a chance to claim deity, as he did repeatedly in the Gospel of John. I'll give you a couple of references. When Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me, that particular word pair that he chose to say, I am, means this, I being in fact God am the way, the truth, and the life.

It was a claim to deity. That would never have happened. He'd have been killed as an infant. He would not have a chance to say why he came. It simply would have taken place, but you would have wondered, why did that happen? Why'd God do that? Well, he said why he came.

And we give you a couple of passages. We could give more, but certainly those make it clear. Christ would not have performed miracles to validate his identity as the Messiah. Performing miracles goes all the way back to the Old Testament prophets who said that the Messiah would come and perform these miraculous events, these miraculous actions. Why? To validate that he was in fact the Messiah. He would not have presented himself to Israel as king. Oh yes, who was born king of the Jews would have been it. But instead, he presented himself as king, he would not have offered the kingdom.

Christ's younger brothers may not have come to believe. John 7, 5, we find that Jesus' brothers did not believe in him. It says right there in John 7, 5, for not even his brothers were believing in him. What brought them around? What brought them around, Paul makes clear in 1 Corinthians 15. It was only after Christ's resurrection and appearance to James that they came to believe.

You know, that's got to be pretty convincing. Hey, I thought they killed you! Well, they did. Here he is back from the dead. That convinced his brother James. From any evidence we have, that event convinced his brother James. James and Jude became the authors of the two New Testament books that have their names, James and Jude. In Christ we have one who can sympathize. Christ having lived decades, not a few days or months or even a couple of years, but decades on the earth, he can sympathize with our weakness.

Hebrews 4.15 states this truth. He is also one, though He is completely God, we can relate to Him because He is fully man. Though we who believe were made in the image of God, from the very earliest chapters of Genesis all the way into the book of James, that message is conveyed. What is interesting, the New Testament says that we are being and will be conformed to the image of Christ. That's a very interesting distinction.

Christ would not have established the church. Christ would not have selected nor assigned his apostles to be the foundation for the church if he died as an infant. Ephesians 2.20 says the apostles are that foundation for the church.

Would not have taken place. The apostles and their associates were assigned with writing the New Testament, all founded on Christ's ministry, which would not have happened if he had died as an infant. The Holy Spirit would have no ministry among the apostles of bringing what Jesus said to remembrance. In the Gospel of John, Jesus said the Holy Spirit is being sent, and one of His ministries among you is to bring to remembrance the things that I've said and done." That ministry would never have taken place had Christ died as an infant.

There's something else, and it's not in your handout. He would have fulfilled all the prophecies about His birth, but what about all the other prophecies? Psalm 22 says that they have pierced His hands and His feet. That's done with a cross, right? It's not what you do with the sword.

Many other things, even I thirst was a fulfillment of prophecy. Psalm 22, Isaiah 53 are some of the primary passages that point to those prophecies, not all of them by any means. That's available as a supplement or it'll be online as well. I'll admit that the Writing is small, so if you have difficulty seeing, the online version may be a little easier for you to work with.

But importantly and finally, Jesus loved us and gave his life. It's tough for infants to do that. As an infant, Jesus would hardly have prayed for his disciples. John 17, As the first five verses, Jesus prays for Himself. Verse 16 through 19, He prays for His disciples. And verses 20 through 26, He prays for you. He prays for you. None of that would happen. None of that would have happened if Jesus had died as an infant. Do you know the Lord prayed for you? Hours before the nails went through His hands and His feet. That wouldn't have happened if he had died as an infant.

As fully God and an adult man, Jesus loved us and gave voluntarily, gave his life for us all. Galatians 2.20, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me, Paul writing personally.

Ephesians 5.2, Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us. Later on, in verse 25, the same chapter of Ephesians 5, Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her. He loved and he gave, he loved and he gave, he loved and he gave.

Oh, and by the way, John 3.16, for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes would not perish but have everlasting life.

His death was not at all untimely. You see, the timing of it was important too. God didn't just have Jesus die as an infant because that would have been just as good, but the exact time that he died was just right. As a matter of fact, Romans 5, 6 says he died at the right time. It was perfect timing. The right time for you and me. The right time for God to accomplish what he did. The timing was perfect. God did it at exactly the right time.

And it would not do for Herod's anger to have been the end of Christ. There's too much that would have been lost. Why did God do something that seems from an earthly standpoint to be so precarious? I mean, if it really counts, if it really has to happen a certain way, why did God do it in a way that looks so risky? Because God doesn't take risks. God saw every detail, didn't he?

Every detail. Christ died for you and me. He gave himself for us. And he loved and gave himself up for us at the right time. And now is the right time for us to pray. Okay? Lord, we thank you. As we look at this, we thank you that you have sent your Son and that what from a human standpoint could have been, that Christ could have died as an infant, but for your action, for your intentional and deliberate intervention, we see that what looks precarious and risky from a human standpoint is not at all that, but that we see in fact you guided events, risky even from a human standpoint, so that Christ would die for us at the right time, the exact right moment. Thank you, Lord, for all that you have done that is right for us. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.