Life
of Christ 13
The
life of Christ, when you look at it in depth, is by turns convicting,
comforting, motivating, heartbreaking, frustrating, and enlightening, and
sometimes all of that happens in just one story. So it is, to me, with the
visit of the Magi recorded in Matthew 2. There are so many precious truths
conveyed here, and I want to give you just one more before we move on to the
next story.
What
Herod the Great launched at the baby Jesus in Bethlehem was nothing less than a
satanic attack, a salvo in the spiritual war that began in Eden and will
culminate at the Great White Throne. As I said the other day, the fact that
there is a spiritual war should drive our caution. The fact that there are
innocent casualties should drive our compassion. But the fact that, as God's
people, we have protection from that spiritual attack should drive our boldness
and our gratitude.
Jesus,
at the tender age of two, was completely defenseless against a tyrant like
Herod, and Joseph and Mary weren't in much better shape. Yet they were not left
alone to face the music for their Heavenly Father had prepared for them an
escape (I Corinthians 10.13). Illustrations of the providential watch care of
El Shaddai, the Almighty God, are found from one end of the Scripture to
another, and this is one of the sweetest.
A
couple of years ago I was walking between our church building here in the inner
city of Chicago and our parking lot. They are separated by a block and a half,
and I make the trek often. As I passed one of the houses in between a man came
out who can only be described charitably as exceedingly strange. He was shorter
than me, thinner, covered in tattoos, and completely shaved bald except for two
spikes of hair stylized as horns on either side of his head. I am not a
charismatic prone to seeing demons behind every corner, but as he looked in my
eyes and I looked in his, I must admit a feeling of evil came over me such as I
have never experienced in my life. All day long his image stayed with me, and
not only did I see him in my mind, but I continued to see him in the
neighborhood over the succeeding months. My family and I live right next door
to our church, and although I had already often prayed for the Lord to protect
them I must admit I became a bit more fervent in that prayer during this
period.
One
day, months later, in my car this time, I saw him yet again. He seemed to stare
straight at me through the window of my car, and our eyes held briefly. At that
moment the Lord spoke a word of comfort to my heart that I have never forgotten,
namely this: 'Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world' (I
John 4.4). What a comfort it was to me to know from that moment on that I and
my family were under the providential watch care of a gracious, omnipotent God!
Two
thousand years ago the devil saw a defenseless baby and ordered up a haymaker
punch of a massacre. That punch missed because that child was under the
protection of God. Someday that devil will kneel before that baby and listen as
that baby sentences that devil to hell for eternity. We are on the winning side
no matter how it looks at the moment. Believe that, child of God, and be
comforted by it.
If you would like to listen to the
audio sermon that accompanies this blog post you may find it here on our church website. Press 'launch media player'
and choose We Preach Christ 5, 'Rachel Weeping for Her Children.'
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