In the midst of the holiday season we must remember the Biblical lessons we can learn about the history about the first coming of Jesus and the imminent second coming of Christ. Are you making room in the inn of your heart so that Jesus can be the Lord of your life. Watch and listen as Pastor Chris Holland presents “The Troubling News of Christmas”.

<p>In the midst of the holiday season we must remember the Biblical lessons we can learn about the history about the first coming of Jesus and the imminent second coming of Christ. Are you making room in the inn of your heart so that Jesus can be the Lord of your life. Watch and listen as Pastor Chris Holland presents “The Troubling News of Christmas”.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

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Chris Holland

The Troubling News of Christmas

I want you to go back with me in time, to 70 years before the birth of Jesus Christ.

This young boy's rise to power was almost a guarantee.

He was from Edomia, a region south of Judea.

He was an advisor to the high priest and a governor at the time.

Shrewdly, Antipar and his son stayed very close to the high priest, but even more shrewdly, they stayed very close to the leadership in Rome.

In fact, when you read through history, you find that their complete loyalty was to Rome and to Rome alone.

And because of that loyalty, Antipas' son, we know him today as Herod the Great, became the governor of Galilee at the age of only 25 years old.

It was later when the historian Josephus wrote about Herod that he would be identified as Herod the Great.

There are a multiple number of Herods that we find in the Bible, but this is Herod the Great, the 1 who was alive when Jesus was born.

The Jewish resistance to Rome led to a group of religious leaders, a group of Jewish religious leaders actually assassinating Herod's father Antipas.

Actually assassinating Herod's father Antipar.

The Jews attempted to have Herod removed, but he was able to fend off this attempt, and Rome backed Herod.

And so from the very beginning, Herod, in his loyalty to Rome, also was loyal to his own well-being and his own authority.

Sometime in the 40s BC, the Hasmonean and Parthian invaders united together and they actually chased off Herod and he left his throne, but then Herod returned with a group of Roman soldiers and made sure that they were never to remove him again.

And his supposed greatness came from several things that happened in his rulership.

First, he brought consolidation to the power in the region of Judea.

Third, he built the Herodium, a magnificent palace south of Jerusalem.

Fourthly, he built the palace fortress at Masada.

And then lastly, and close to the Jews, which even though the Jews despised him, they loved him at the same time because he renovated the temple and expanded the temple.

However, his rulership was dominated by paranoia and distrust.

The list is far too long to read to you of the number of people that Herod removed through killing them.

But let me give you just an idea of who Herod was.

He appointed the high priest, Erastobalus.

And when he saw the popularity of the high priest was superior to his own popularity, he had the high priest removed and drowned in 1 of the pools of the palace.

He married 10 women and had 15 children by those 10 women.

1 of them said to have been his favorite, Mariam I.

And she was so beautiful that Herod wanted her for himself.

And his soldiers had a command that if Herod were to be killed, they were immediately to kill his wife Mariam so no 1 else could have her.

He was so jealous of Miriam, Herod had her parents executed.

And then when she protested the fact that he had her parents executed, then he executed her.

And then under suspicion and threat of his own power, he executed his 2 sons that he had had with Miriam.

It is believed and history tells us that Herod the Great's demise actually came shortly after he had Mariam executed.

And when he died, his will had 2 commands.

First, all of the Jewish elders that He had imprisoned in threat of their rebellion.

He instructed to have all of them killed so there would be great mourning throughout Jerusalem at the time of Herod's death.

And I will tell you that just scratches the surface.

He was a tyrant, but it provides for us the backdrop of the story of Jesus Christ.

But as we look at this passage, I must wonder aloud, and I will be very frank with you, it troubles me.

It troubles me personally to wonder if many of us may be suffering from the same root problem that drove Herod in his tyrannical ways.

Heavenly Father, as we now open Your Word, our sincere desire is that You would simply speak to us.

Speak to us in a way that we might experience your transformational presence.

We are disinterested this morning in modifications to our behavior.

We are disinterested in modifications to our character.

We are completely interested in total transformation.

And so Lord as we reflect upon this story of the birth of your son Jesus.

We open our heart to you that we might experience that total transformation.

If you have your Bibles with you, I'd invite you to open to Matthew the second chapter.

There in Matthew chapter 2 And verse 1, you know this story well.

The Bible tells us of the visit of wise men from the east.

These wise men from the east were most likely descendants of the wise men from Babylon.

They knew the prophecies concerning the Messiah.

Undoubtedly, they became knowledgeable of these prophecies through another ancient Babylonian wise men by the name of Daniel.

Generation to generation it had been passed down to them, and these gentlemen saw a star in the east.

Scholars alike argue about what is the source of the star?

Whatever it was, it came at the right time that these men from the east who were watchers of the stars came in fulfillment of the prophecy of numbers to visit the Messiah, the Son of God, who had come to this earth.

We don't know exactly when their arrival came, But with their arrival, they came in search of the Messiah bringing good tidings to Jerusalem.

And what we find is that as they arrive in Jerusalem, There seems to be little or no knowledge that the Messiah has come.

These wise men come bringing great tidings of great joy, but nothing is doing in Jerusalem.

They may have arrived a few months, maybe even up to a year after the birth of Christ.

We could spend a lot of time on these wise men and their answering the fulfillment of prophecy but I want us to turn our attention to the key and central figure or what he would like to be considered as the key and central figure.

The wise men come to Herod's palace because why else would you go anywhere else?

It seems there was no stirrings in the temple.

The religious leaders didn't seem to be available, so they went to the palace because they were seeking the King of the Jews.

Why not go visit the King of the territory?

And they come and they ask, What do you know about the birth of this King of the Jews?

You see, as we study this passage, my dear friends, I want us to keep in mind and have it at the forefront of our thinking.

You see, too often at this time of the year, we are distracted by the lights, the tinsel, the smells, and the eats.

But we lose sight of the reality of what Herod was struggling with, and that is pride, power, selfishness, self-preservation, complacency, and spiritual entitlement.

You see, it is the troubling news of Christmas in the midst of all of the decorations and everything else, and don't get me wrong, I love the decorations, but we miss out on the reality of the introspective assessment that this passage is inviting each of us to take into account at this time.

The wise men came, bringing the tidings of the 1 Born King of the Jews.

I had not noticed it until I really studied this passage for this week.

It doesn't say that He was born to be the King of the Jews.

Jesus didn't have to ascend to the throne through the personal maneuverings that Herod had made.

In fact, he wasn't just born king, he's always been king.

They wanted to do that which comes as the result of encountering the king.

Literally in the Greek it means to bow down, to honor, to tremble, to pay homage, to serve.

And then later in Greek, the word came to know as an unconditional surrender.

This last week, I spent time in Great Britain, in the UK.

It brought back memories of my time in Canada where all of the land is referred to as the Queen's Land.

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The Troubling News of Christmas

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