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00:04 You have just heard read the beginning part of a tale of two kings.
00:11 Now, when I first heard the title for this story, for this sermon, when I was
00:16 asked to preach this sermon, I thought to myself, that sounds like that title may have been freely stolen. I mean
00:23 borrowed from Charles Dickens with his famous book, The Tale of Two Cities.
00:31 Now, our tale of two kings has not so much to do with two cities, but two different kings, two different kingdoms.
00:40 Two men who both claimed or were called king of the Jews.
00:45 The first king was called king of the Jews because he called himself king of
00:51 the Jews and then he got approval by Rome to keep that title. The second king was named
00:59 king by God chosen by God to be king not only of the Jews but of all peoples of
01:05 the world. Well, in the book the tale of two cities, it begins with a very famous
01:12 phrase. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. It was the
01:20 age of wisdom. It was the age of foolishness, the epic of belief, the epic of
01:26 incredul. It was the season of light, the season of darkness.
01:32 It was a spring of hope, the winter of despair. And the author continues to say it was a
01:39 time much like the present. This was also a time similar to the time
01:45 of our story, the tale of two kings, back at the time when Jesus was born. So
01:51 since we stole the title from the book, I thought I might also borrow the first
01:56 line from the book where the first line says it was the best of times and it was
02:02 the worst of times. Because back at the time when Jesus was born and Herod was
02:08 reigning as king of the Jews, it was a good time. It was a time of peace for the people of Israel.
02:15 Historians call it the pox romana, the peace of Rome and the civil wars that had been raging in Palestine and the
02:23 other armies that had been coming in. They were gone. But it was the worst of times because the Roman army was still
02:30 there and peace was at the price of being subservient to Rome.
02:35 It was the best of times economically why Herod had increased trade, increased
02:41 commerce, business was booming. But it was the worst of times because very few
02:46 people profited from that. Just a few people at the top. It was the best of
02:52 times. Herod had built a new port. The city of Cesaria, Cesaria Maritima,
02:59 and Palestine had become a center of commerce, a center of trade for that
03:04 part of the world. Here's the same city today. Some of you that went to Israel might have seen this
03:11 when you were there. But it was also the worst of time because through this extra
03:16 exposure to the outside world, more and more foreign people with foreign gods
03:22 were coming into the land and more and more people were not adhering to the Jewish law and the Jewish religion.
03:30 It was the best of time in that there were many building projects such as this aqueduct near Cesaria.
03:37 But it was the worst of times in that tens of thousands of people worked as
03:43 slaves to make these buildings possible and the people paid heavy taxes to make
03:49 this possible. It was the best of time for religious freedom. Why? Usually the Romans forced
03:56 their conquered peoples to worship Roman gods. But they made an exception with
04:02 the Jews. But it was the worst of times that in order to keep this religious freedom,
04:08 their priests had to be approved by Rome and they also had to pay a heavy tax for
04:14 this privilege. It was the best of time in that King Herod had rebuilt the temple. You might remember the great
04:21 temple that Solomon had built several hundred years earlier had then been destroyed by the Babylonians when they
04:27 conquered Jerusalem. temple lay in ruins for years. And then during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah,
04:33 the prophets Haggi, Zachchariah, the temple was rebuilt, but it was very
04:38 small and not near as glorious as Solomon's. So, King Herod just a few years before the birth of Christ had
04:45 undertaken a major renovation of the temple. And the temple equaled that to
04:50 the greatness of Solomon years before. An ancient historian, Josephus, talked
04:56 about the temple. And he said, "Viewed from without, the sanctuary had everything that could amaze either mind
05:03 or eyes. Overlaid with stout plates of gold, the first rays of the sun, it
05:09 reflected so fierce a blaze of fire that those who endeavored to look at it were
05:14 forced to turn away as if they had looked straight at the sun. to strangers
05:20 as they approached. It seemed in the distance like a mountain covered with snow. For any part not covered with gold
05:28 was dazzling white marble. So a wonderful time that the temple had
05:35 been rebuilt. And this is by the way the same temple that 30 years later in the time of Jesus
05:41 people were still talking about how great it was. This great monument that Herod had built. Jesus heard his
05:48 disciples and others talking about how this temple was adorned with noble stones, with offerings, with gold.
05:57 But yet of that temple, Jesus also said, "The time is coming when not one stone
06:03 will be left upon another. They'll all be thrown down." And he went on when
06:08 people asked him what would the signs would be. Then he told them, "There'll be wars. There'll be earthquakes. There'll be famines. armies will circle
06:15 around Jerusalem. And he proceeded to foretell the destruction of Jerusalem and the destruction of that great temple
06:23 which happened in the year 70 AD. But I'm jumping ahead back to the time of
06:28 our story. The temple was relatively new, newly renovated, and it was the
06:34 best of times because now they could continue to practice their religion in
06:39 the temple. But it was the worst of times because Herod had taken the Roman eagle,
06:47 a symbol of imperial power, and placed it on the entrance to the temple,
06:54 which all the Jews considered to be idolatry. Here's an idol. But it was the
07:00 best of times, and that there were enough people with religious fervor, they decided they would get rid of that.
07:06 And they went and they removed that idol, that Roman emblem.
07:11 But it was the worst of times because Herod caught those people and he publicly executed by executed them by
07:17 burning them alive. So best of times, but also worst of
07:25 times. Best of times with religious fervor. There had been some rabbis that through
07:30 their calculations, they had somehow figured out that there had been 76 generations from creation up until then.
07:38 And then they said that in the 77th generation the Messiah is going to be
07:44 born. So there was great religious fervor, great expectancy that the Messiah was going to come. But yet it
07:51 was the worst of times because there was no visible evidence that there was a Messiah on the scene. Nobody had
07:59 yet delivered them from Rome and that was their expectation. For Herod himself, it was also the best
08:07 of times and the worst of times. Best of times because he had great power.
08:12 Worst of times because there were people constantly plotting to get his throne.
08:18 And he killed several of his own family members, including sons and wives, just
08:24 to keep his great power. It was the best of times because he had the favor of Rome.
08:31 But yet the worst of times because his own people hated him.
08:36 It was the best of times because there was a woman that he loved with great desire and he married her. And
08:43 historians even talk about the passionate love that he had for this wife.
08:48 But it was the worst of times because this wife did not return his love. She
08:54 hated him and made no effort to hide her public disdain.
08:59 It might have been related to the fact that King Herod had killed her brother
09:05 because he thought that he was a threat to the throne and somehow this beloved wife of Herod had not been able to get
09:11 over that vicious act. It was the best of time for Herod in the
09:17 fact that his kingdom was secure. He was backed by Roman military force. But yet
09:24 Herod was growing old and he was suffering from a terrible
09:30 illness with extreme pain causing him to cry out in agony,
09:35 a disease which eventually took his life. And while he was suffering from disease, knowing his demise was near,
09:43 there was a conspiracy among his sons to try to take power from him. And so even
09:49 though he was quite sick, he went ahead and had one more of his sons executed and then divided the kingdom up among
09:55 three of the remaining ones. And so at this time, this is when he heard that a
10:02 Messiah had been born, a newborn king, another threat to Herod.
10:10 Well, most of what I have said so far, a lot of the information I've given you is extra biblical material
10:18 information about Herod in the time of Israel at the birth of Jesus. We find that information from other historians,
10:25 especially the Jewish historian, Josephus. Now, let's go back to the biblical text.
10:32 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king,
10:37 behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. We don't know much about these wise men.
10:45 From the east, we assume that possibly they came from Persia, modern-day Iran,
10:52 possibly from Iraq, where Babylon had been situated. You remember that the
10:58 southern kingdom of Judah had been carried away into captivity into Babylonian and then Babylon was captured
11:04 by the Persians and the Jews in captivity would of course had their scriptures with them. The writings of
11:11 the prophets were spread. The knowledge of the prophecies of the coming Messiah were probably spread to other peoples.
11:20 So these magi, these wise men were probably influenced to some extent by
11:26 the Jewish prophecies of a coming king. We also see that they were magi, astronomers, astrologers looking for
11:34 signs in the heavens. We don't know how many there were. We usually say three,
11:39 but that's because there were three gifts. More than likely, they traveled in a larger group than that, but we
11:45 don't know. We don't know their names. Although in some religious traditions you can see their names and even in some
11:52 literature and some music you see names given to them. But those are just madeup
11:58 names. And the scripture does not say they were kings. Although we have
12:03 favorite Christmas carols like we three kings of Orient are.
12:08 They might have been kings, but if they were kings, they recognized that Jesus
12:13 was a greater king than they were. And they, even if they were kings, were
12:18 willing to bow down and worship him. But all we know about the wise men is what
12:24 we see here in Matthew chapter 2. The wise men came saying, "Where is he
12:30 who was born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star when it rose and have
12:37 come to worship him. The king of the Jews. That was a title
12:42 that Herod had given himself and a title that the Roman Senate had
12:47 then confirmed upon him. A title that Herod was intent on keeping for himself
12:54 and then passing on to a son. And notice it says he was born king of
13:01 the Jews. Herod had not been born king
13:06 of anything or anybody. He was not from a royal family. He was not even Jewish.
13:13 Maybe a quarter at the most half Jewish, but his mother was Arabian.
13:19 Jesus the one was born king of the Jews. And so the wise men had come to worship
13:26 him. However it was that they had come to know about this new king through the
13:31 Jewish prophecies, through signs in the heavens, they seemed to have known that
13:37 God was doing something very significant. That God-given prophecies
13:42 were being fulfilled before their very eyes. God's plan to send the Messiah was
13:48 taking place. So they wanted to find him. They wanted to bow down before him,
13:54 acknowledging him as the rightful king, giving him rich treasures, worshiping
14:00 him. Well, when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.
14:09 Now, you can understand Herod being troubled. He was always paranoid, full
14:15 of fear that somebody would take his throne. And here was confirmation. Yes, there's somebody ready to take my
14:22 throne. So Herod was filled with fear for losing his power.
14:27 And he personally knew from his own rise to power how ruthless some people can be
14:34 in trying to attain power. He had killed several of his rivals, including his
14:41 father-in-law, including his brother-in-law, including several of his 10 wives, including three of his sons.
14:50 And that's only the family members that he killed. So, he knew how ruthless people could be
14:56 in their rise for power. So, Herod was rightly troubled.
15:01 But not only was Herod troubled, it says all Jerusalem with him.
15:08 Now, why would Jerusalem be troubled? You would think they would rejoice. The Messiah is coming. We don't like
15:16 Herod anyway. Somebody's coming to get rid of Herod. Somebody's coming to get rid of the Romans. Let's rejoice. But
15:23 no, all Jerusalem was troubled. Possibly some of them were comfortable
15:29 with the status quo. No, it wasn't really good, but it could
15:34 be worse. And after all, some of the leaders of the people, some of the priests, they were corrupt. They had
15:41 their job not because of their spiritual insights and their spiritual maturity, but rather because of political
15:47 conniving and alliances with Rome. And they knew if another king came, they
15:52 might lose their position as priest. And also the people were upset because
15:58 they knew that Herod would do everything possible to keep his power. And so that possibly meant another civil war. More
16:06 bloodshed. Heads were going to roll.
16:11 So all Jerusalem was troubled.
16:17 Herod assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people. He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
16:26 Now sometimes we treat the word Christ as if it's just a title or sometimes we even think of it well
16:32 that's Jesus second name like I'm David Adams that's Peter this was Jesus Christ
16:38 it's not just a second name Christ is the Greek word translated from the
16:43 Hebrew for Messiah and if you ask the kids in Sunday school what does Messiah mean? They would
16:49 probably answer the anointed one. But who is the anointed one? Who was
16:56 anointed? What was anointing for? Well, if you remember back to the Old Testament, it
17:03 was kings who were anointed. And you might remember back in 1 Samuel where
17:08 God told the prophet Samuel to go and anoint David to be king over Israel. The
17:15 king was anointed. And then some years after David did become king, God spoke
17:21 to him through another prophet and said, "Someone is coming who is going to reign
17:27 on your throne forever." And years later, the prophet Isaiah in
17:32 one of his famous messianic prophecies said, "Unto us a child is born, a son is
17:38 given. He will be called wonderful, counselor, mighty God, prince of peace,
17:44 and he is the one that is going to reign on David's throne forever.
17:50 The Messiah is the chosen one by God to reign as king. So, the wise men weren't
17:58 just asking, "Who is this guy with the second name of Christ?" They were asking
18:04 where is the one born who has been chosen by God to reign as king forever.
18:12 So you can see why Herod was upset. The Messiah, the king who was going to
18:18 reign over the people of Israel and over the whole world had been born.
18:25 So when Herod called the scribes and the chief priests, they told him, "The Messiah will be born in Bethlehem of
18:31 Judea. For so it is written by the prophet," "And you, Bethlehem, in the
18:36 land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my
18:45 people Israel." God was going to send a ruler who would
18:51 shepherd his people. That's a novel idea.
18:56 Imagine a ruler who will shepherd.
19:02 What does it mean to shepherd? Well, think of the role of a shepherd. I know probably none of you have ever worked as
19:08 a shepherd. Neither have I. But try to use your imagination. What does a shepherd do in regard to his sheep?
19:14 Well, he cares for his sheep. He's concerned about the well-being of his sheep. He makes sure they have enough
19:20 food and wa water and shelter. If they're injured or sick, he'll help
19:25 them. He protects them from enemies. And even at personal risk and sacrifice,
19:33 he's willing to do what is best for the sheep. Now, Herod understood the word ruler
19:40 because he ruled and he ruled with an iron fist, a malevolent dictator.
19:47 But he ruled for his own good, not for the good of the people. He was not
19:52 concerned about the people and he would have never sacrificed anything for the people. Rather, the people were to
19:59 sacrifice for him. But yet God is talking about a ruler who
20:05 is going to shepherd the people. A ruler who will truly care for his people.
20:10 Really be concerned for the people. Do what's best for the people. Protect
20:16 them. provide for their needs. A ruler who would be willing to put his life on
20:22 the line, who would be willing to even sacrifice his life for the good of the
20:28 people. Just an interesting side note, notice
20:33 the chief priests and the scribes, the educated rulers of the law who knew the
20:39 Old Testament scriptures, they knew the answer to the question, where will the Messiah be born?
20:45 They knew about the Messiah. They could go straight to the prophet Micah and point out there in chapter 5 he was
20:51 going to be born in Bethlehem. But as a side note, it's interesting to notice that these religious leaders,
20:59 even though they knew all the answers, appear to have made no effort whatsoever
21:06 to go and find the Messiah. They seem to have just been totally
21:11 indifferent, showed no interest in finding this long
21:17 awaited chosen one. Maybe they were just cold and indifferent. Maybe they were afraid they
21:24 would lose their power. Maybe they looked down on these magi because after all, they were Gentiles. They were
21:30 unclean. They didn't belong to the people of God. And after all, how can a Gentile tell me anything? I'm a prophet.
21:38 I'm a priest. I am a scribe. We don't know. But it's interesting to see that the religious leaders totally
21:46 ignored the news of the wise men. But there was a response from Herod. Herod
21:51 summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And then he sent them to
21:58 Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligently for the child. and when you
22:04 have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him."
22:11 Now, on the surface, this seems great. Herod wants to go worship the new king.
22:17 But knowing Herod's determination to hold on to power at all cost, his use of
22:22 brute force and murder to eliminate all rivals, knowing his use of treachery, lying, and
22:30 deceit, being aware of his extreme paranoia,
22:35 we can pretty well figure out even without reading the rest of the story that Herod does not mean what he says.
22:41 but rather he's wanted to use the wise men as his secret police, as his spies
22:46 to find out where this perceived threat to his throne is so that then when they report back, he can go and murder God's
22:55 anointed king. Imagine that. He thinks that he can
23:01 fight against God. Herod thinks that he can fight against God and actually win.
23:08 It's unimaginable to think that you can fight God and actually win.
23:16 But that shows his distorted worldview. Drunk on his own power and his own importance, thinking that he is more
23:23 powerful than God. He thinks he can outwit or outsmart God. He thinks he can
23:28 stop God from fulfilling his promises and prophecies. He thinks he can block
23:33 God's plan from coming to pass. unimaginable
23:38 or is it? Sometimes today we also tend to think we
23:44 can fight against God, resist God's plan,
23:50 and somehow think we're actually going to win in doing it.
23:57 Well, Herod did not care about God's plan. He wanted to stop it. He did not
24:03 care about God's people, the people who had been waiting for centuries for the promised Messiah. He was willing to rob
24:11 them of this great expectation, rob them of the promised one that God was sending. And he didn't care if millions
24:19 of people would have benefited from the Messiah. He was ready to kill the desire of
24:26 nations. Ready to extinguish the one who would be the light of the world, wanting
24:32 to snuff out the dreams and the hopes of God's people. People that needed a
24:37 savior. Not just the people then, but all people, including us today, who need a
24:44 savior, a deliverer. But that was of no interest to Herod. He
24:49 was only thinking about himself, his will, his desires, his power, his throne, not willing to allow even God to
24:57 interfere in his plans. So here we have this self-proclaimed king of the Jews who was not really
25:04 Jewish and who was not born as a king trying to wage war on the true king on
25:12 the one who was born a king of royal descent from David's lineage the one who
25:18 had been anointed and chosen by God to reign as king not only of the Jews but
25:23 over all the world so the self-proclaimed king of the Jews tries
25:28 to deceive Steve the Magi tries to plot to murder the newborn king
25:35 and tries to fight against God.
25:40 Well, what happens? Is he successful at any of these things?
25:46 Does his scheming and plotting work? No, of course not. But many many people
25:54 do suffer from his ruthless, violent, murderous ways. So let's continue the
26:00 story from what we had read earlier. The wise men leave Bethlehem. They're guided by the star to Bethlehem. And going into
26:08 the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother. And they fell down and worshiped him. Then opening their
26:16 treasures, they offered him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrr. They find the
26:23 king, acknowledge him as king, bow before him,
26:29 give him rich treasures, and worship him.
26:34 And then being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. God is now
26:42 intervening in the situation. God was not going to allow puny little king
26:48 Herod to thwart his plans nor to deceive the wise men. He was not going to let
26:55 Herod's plot succeed. And to the credit of the wise men, they listened to God.
27:00 They obeyed God. They knew that God's authority was higher than the authority
27:06 of the kings. When there's conflict between what God says and what the king says,
27:13 what God says takes priority. Well, the story's not over yet. Herod's
27:20 not going to rest easily until he eliminates this perceived threat to his throne. So, we see God's going to
27:26 intervene once again directly. Now when the wise men had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in
27:33 a dream and said, "Rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and
27:39 remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to
27:44 destroy him." And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt, and remained there
27:52 until the death of Herod. Joseph listening to God, obeying God.
27:60 And interesting to know that God knew in advance what Herod was going to do. So just in time, Joseph, Mary, and the baby
28:08 left, but Herod is about to commit one of the most infamous crimes in all of
28:14 history. King Herod the Great is about to become known as the butcher of
28:20 Bethlehem. Herod, when he saw he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious,
28:27 and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were under two years old or
28:34 under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men,
28:41 a very tragic event. A despotic, power-hungry, paranoid king once again
28:50 misuses his power in his own self-interest. And because of that, many innocent
28:56 people suffer. And this horrible event goes down in history known as the massacre of the innocents.
29:04 And by the way, that is probably the thing the thing that Herod is most remembered for today. Oh, a few people
29:11 remember some of his building projects. You might hear about that on a tour to Israel. When you study about the temple,
29:17 you were reminded Herod rebuilt the temple. But usually when you hear the name of Herod, the thing that comes to
29:23 most people's mind, he's the one who murdered innocent babies in Bethlehem.
29:29 He's the one who tried to destroy Christmas, who tried to kill the son of
29:35 God, the one born to be king. Well, what happened to Herod after this?
29:43 The Bible doesn't give a whole lot of details. It just said he died. But secular historians, they do give
29:50 some more information about Herod's death. And according to the secular historians, Herod suffered greatly
29:58 before his death. He had more than one serious disease that caused him great
30:03 pain. and there were reports of him crying out loud in agony, especially
30:08 during the middle of the night. Symptoms from the historians have led medical experts today to try to make a
30:16 diagnosis of what disease it was that killed him. And according to an ABC News
30:22 report, there was a group of doctors meeting at the University of Maryland at the medical school there in a symposium
30:30 and they were trying to figure out what might have killed Herod based on the
30:36 disease symptoms that the historians have recorded. And so the medical people
30:41 at the university, they said that Herod died in miserable death being in
30:46 excruciating pain. And they mentioned the historian symptoms that they were
30:52 going on. And these symptoms included intense itching, painful intestinal problems,
30:59 breathlessness, convulsions in every limb, and gang
31:05 green, how can I say this nicely? Gang green of the private parts.
31:13 So the diagnosis according to this group of doctors was that Herod probably died
31:18 of chronic kidney disease complicated by a very uncomfortable case
31:24 of maggotinfested gang green of his private parts
31:30 a very rare form of gang green known as fnier's gang green
31:37 shortly before Herod died and he knew he was dying he directed his sister to
31:42 gather all of the leading officials in the land of Israel, have them gathered together in a large arena. And after
31:49 they got there, he locked them in. And his order was, "When I die, kill all of
31:56 these leading men." He did not want any celebrations to be
32:02 taking place at his death. And so the only way he could prevent people celebrating his death was to cause
32:07 enough grief and mourning so people would mourn the death of their loved ones.
32:13 But to his sister's credit, after Herod died, she did release the people.
32:18 But that's who King Herod was. A skilled politician, a ruthless ruler using
32:25 deceit, treachery, and violence. Oh, he did some good things. many building projects, helping the economy for some
32:32 people. His personal life, well, you wouldn't exactly call him a family man.
32:38 By the way, he murdered his relatives. And he died a horrible death.
32:43 Nevertheless, he's known as Herod the Great, best known for massacring babies
32:50 and trying to kill Jesus. So, that's the tale of one of the kings.
32:56 What about the other king? the one who was born king of the Jews, the one whom
33:01 the wise men worshiped. Well, we saw they went to Egypt, stayed there till
33:06 Herod died, then they came back to Israel, settled in Nazareth, Mary's hometown. Don't know much about his
33:14 childhood. But as a man around age 30, Jesus began publicly proclaiming news of
33:20 the kingdom. Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying, "The time is
33:26 fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Therefore, repent and believe the
33:33 gospel." So, the one born king of Jews is now proclaiming the kingdom. Not just a
33:41 Jewish kingdom, but something much bigger, something much more important. the kingdom of God, not an earthly
33:48 kingdom, but the reign, the rule of God in the lives of people. And so for over
33:54 three years, Jesus proclaimed and taught about the kingdom of God and the need for people to repent and place their
34:00 faith in in God. He showed the love of God through his care of people. He
34:07 demonstrated the power of God through his miracles, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons.
34:14 He was a totally different kind of king than Herod. He did not live in a palace,
34:20 did not wear fine clothes, did not have many wives, no bodyguards, no secret
34:26 police, no spies, no slaves, no forced labor, no major building projects. And
34:34 he never used violence or brute force. Jesus was a different kind of king.
34:41 His kingdom was different. not a kingdom where kings grain gain
34:48 great wealth at the expense of the people. His was not a kingdom where kings live
34:54 in luxury and people live in squalor. His was not the kind of kingdom that has absolutely no concern for the citizens
35:00 of the kingdom. But the kingdom of God, a kingdom where the king is greatly
35:07 concerned about the people and where the king is willing to sacrifice, even sacrifice his life for the good of the
35:14 people. Which then brings us to the death of this king. And this king too died a very
35:22 painful, agonizing death. Jesus suffered excruciating pain when he died.
35:30 crucified on a cross by sinful people. But yet Jesus painful death was greatly
35:37 different than Herod's painful death. You see, there's a critical difference.
35:43 Herod did everything he could to save himself from death, but he couldn't keep
35:49 from dying. Jesus could have saved himself from death. He could have called 10,000 angels, but he chose not to.
35:58 Herod's power ended at his death and his kingdom was split. Shortly after Jesus died, we see the
36:06 ultimate display of power, resurrection. Herod's reign ended at his death, but
36:12 yet Jesus still reigns over the kingdom of God and will continue to reign through eternity.
36:19 Herod's influence ended at his death. Jesus influence has continued to grow
36:25 over the centuries and the time is coming when the entire earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord.
36:32 Jesus continues to reign and he will reign eternally as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
36:39 So this morning we've seen two different types of kings, two different types of kingdoms,
36:46 and we see two different sets of values, two different sets of priorities.
36:52 King Herod, he valued power and he brutally used it. But yet Herod's
36:58 kingdom, it no longer exists like that today. And there is no one who is a
37:04 descendant of Herod who is now reigning. Herod also valued prestige. He wanted to
37:10 be thought of well by his superiors. He didn't care what the people below him thought, but he valued prestige in the
37:16 eyes of the important people. And he did things such as rebuild the ancient city of Samaria. And he renamed it in honor
37:24 of the emperor Augustus, hoping to gain prestige in the eyes of Augustus, the
37:29 Caesar. But the Caesar wasn't overly impressed. As a matter of fact, Augustus is
37:36 recorded by a historian to have said, "I would rather be Herod's pig than his
37:43 son." which is a play on the Greek word hoose being pig, huos being son.
37:49 He'd rather be Herod's pig than his son because he knew his son would be killed, but since Jews don't eat pork, the pig
37:56 probably wouldn't be killed. So, he didn't have a whole lot of prestige in the eyes of the person he
38:02 wanted prestige from. Herod also valued possessions and material things. And we
38:08 saw this port that he had built. But yet now that port is in ruins.
38:16 Herod valued security to the point of paranoia, thereby living much of his life in fear.
38:23 And he built multiple fortresses around the country, such as this one at Msada, which some of you might have just seen
38:28 in the last few weeks when you were there. So he would have a place to flee if necessary. He was afraid for his life
38:34 and he wanted security. But yet, despite all of his precautions,
38:40 he could not prevent his own demise to an agonizing disease.
38:45 And probably most seriously, Herod wanted to play God. He thought he was
38:51 greater than God. He thought he could thwart God's plan. He wanted his will to
38:57 be done, not God's will to be done. Yet, God is the one who thwarted his
39:03 plan. Herod's will was not done. Well, those are the characteristics of
39:09 one king, King Herod. What are the values and characteristics
39:14 of King Jesus? Jesus the Messiah. Jesus the anointed king chosen by God.
39:21 Well, Jesus said as the utmost value, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with
39:28 all your mind, and with all your strength. And we see that being fulfilled in his life, his ministry, his
39:35 teachings, his actions. Contrast that with Herod who defied God
39:40 and tried to reject God's plan. Jesus said, "Secondly, the second value would
39:46 be used to love your neighbor as yourself." And we see Jesus expressing his love in action over and over.
39:54 Contrast that with Herod. He didn't love people. He used people. He abused people. He mistreated people. He only
40:02 loved himself. Jesus also said, "I came not to serve,
40:07 not to be served, but to serve." And we see Jesus washing the feet of his
40:14 disciples. Herod just the opposite. No intention of
40:19 serving anybody, but expecting everybody to serve him. Thousands, tens of
40:25 thousands of slaves to do his bidding. Jesus also said,"I came to seek and to
40:31 save the lost." And we see Jesus' entire ministry is helping people to understand
40:37 who God is and how they can enter into a relationship with God and receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
40:46 Herod no concern for other people and he even wanted to deprive the people of their
40:51 Messiah who would save them. And Jesus value also was his motivation,
40:58 his purpose was that he came to give his life as a ransom for many, which he did
41:04 as he died on the cross, paying the penalty for our sins. But contrast that with Herod, who wasn't
41:11 about to give his life, but rather demanded the lives of others so he could stay in power.
41:18 Well, of these two kings, who can you identify with the most?
41:24 Who are you most like? Whose values are closest to your values?
41:31 The values that Herod had. Power, prestige, possessions, security to the
41:38 point of paranoia, the desire to control and rule your own life as God.
41:46 To be honest, we all have some of those characteristics in our life.
41:52 Nobody here can say, "Oh, that's not me at all." But think on a scale of 1 to 10, where would you fall on that?
41:60 I'm afraid many of us would fall way over closer to the 10 scale
42:05 because often we would rather rule than serve. We want the power. We would
42:11 rather be honored than look for ways to honor others. We want the prestige.
42:17 Human tendency is that we would rather receive than to give.
42:23 And sometimes we're fearful, filled with mistrust, and we see others as a threat, as a nuisance, as an object,
42:31 rather than as someone created in the image of God and loved by God.
42:36 And the sinful essence of human nature is that we all want to be like God. We
42:44 want to be greater than God. We want God to do our will and we want the world to
42:50 be centered around ourselves. So do you identify more with the values
42:59 the mode of operation of Herod or more with the values of Jesus?
43:05 Do you love the Lord your God with everything in your being?
43:10 Is he first in your life? Or do you turn your back on him, ignore
43:15 him? Do you reject him, rebel against him? Do you love your neighbor as yourself?
43:23 All your neighbors, not just the ones you like, all ethnic groups, all people groups,
43:29 even those that are different from us. Or do you just pick and choose the people that you love and then look down
43:36 on the others and mistreat others? Are you willing to serve,
43:44 help, be involved in ministry, or do you expect everybody else to do that?
43:51 Now, we can't save the lost in the sense that Jesus did. Only Jesus, the son of God, can do that. But we can be involved
43:58 in seeking the lost and sharing with them the saving message of Jesus. Are
44:04 you involved seeking the lost, sharing the gospel with them so that they can be saved?
44:11 And no, we cannot give our life as a ransom the way Jesus did. But we can
44:16 give our lives to God, presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice
44:22 which is acceptable unto God as we dedicate to God our life and all that we have to God's service.
44:29 Two kings, two kingdoms, two different sets of values.
44:36 King Herod is dead. His kingdom is gone. But unfortunately, many people today are
44:43 afflicted with the same warped values that he had.
44:49 King Jesus is alive after the crucifixion. After paying for our sin, he was raised from the dead. He has
44:55 ascended to be the right hand of God the father showing his authority, majesty, dominion
45:02 and king Jesus kingdom extends around the world today as Jesus reigns in the
45:08 heart of all who receive him as king. Reigning in the hearts of hundreds of
45:13 millions of people today. And his kingdom, his reign will continue to spread through the world. And when he
45:20 returns, his kingdom will be visible to all. His authority will be acknowledged
45:26 by all. Every knee will bow before him as king. Every tongue will confess him
45:32 as Lord. When Jesus rules in your heart and in your life, then his values will become
45:39 your values and your priorities. And Jesus the King today is inviting
45:45 each of us to enter into his kingdom, to acknowledge his reign in our lives, just
45:52 as he proclaimed 2,000 years ago, the kingdom of God is at hand. That's still true today. Repent. Believe the gospel.
46:02 The kingdom of God is the reign of God in our lives. And to enter into the
46:07 kingdom, that happens when we repent and place our faith in Christ. We enter the
46:13 kingdom of God when we acknowledge Christ as the king and we bow before
46:19 him, recognizing him as the Messiah, the anointed king, the one born to rule. Not
46:27 only the world out there, but to rule our lives. Well, we've heard the tale of two kings,
46:35 both called the king of the Jews. But yet we see huge differences in the king,
46:42 in the kingdoms, and in the values. And we even see a big difference in the
46:47 crowns that they wore. Really, there's only one king.
46:55 One king worthy of our praise, our worship, our adoration.
47:00 Only one king worthy of our loyalty and obedience. The King of Kings.
47:07 Really, there's only one king, Jesus, who was the anointed king, born over 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem. His birth
47:15 was heralded by the star. He was worshiped by the wise men, ignored by
47:20 the religious leaders, persecuted by evil people, dying on the cross, but
47:27 thereby paying the penalty for our sin. Yet he was raised from the dead.
47:34 Victory over sin, death, and evil. And this king has been exalted to the right
47:40 hand of God. He will return, and of his kingdom there will be no end.
47:48 Yes. 2,000 years ago, you could have truly said it was the best of times and it was the
47:54 worst of times. It was the best of times in that the Messiah had been born. The
48:00 Messiah who was going to save the people from their sins was born. It was the
48:05 best of times. Wise men came and worshiped him, bowing their knee before
48:11 him, acknowledging him as king. But it was also the worst of times as
48:17 some ignored the newborn king. Others totally rejected him and violently
48:22 opposed him and did everything in their power to try to put an end to him.
48:29 today. We could also say it's the best of times or the worst of times.
48:37 It's the best of times for those who repent and believe, acknowledging Jesus
48:42 as the rightful king, bowing before him and worshiping him because then they
48:48 enter into his kingdom. But it's also the worst of times when
48:53 people hear the gospel message and ignore it or reject it or even oppose
48:60 it. Which of these two kings would you rather serve? Someone like Herod,
49:08 someone like ourselves, since we have similar values,
49:14 or would you rather serve the true king, the King of Kings? I would encourage you to be like the
49:21 wise men. Be wise men, wise women. Bow before Jesus. Acknowledge him as king.
49:28 Give him your treasures. Give him your life. Worship him. And then this will be
49:35 the best of times as you become a citizen in the kingdom of God with Jesus
49:41 as your king. Let's pray together.
49:47 Father, we do thank you that you have sent the king to the world. The king who
49:52 is destined to be king over all and the king who we can voluntarily choose to
49:59 acknowledge and accept as king in our lives. And father, we're faced today with a
50:05 choice. Do we want to continue in the worst of times rejecting you and feutily
50:10 attempt to fight against you like King Herod? keeping those values or are we
50:16 willing to allow your best for us, repenting, placing our faith in you.
50:22 Father, I pray that each one here would want to come to that con commitment where they would repent, come to you in
50:29 faith, live under your lordship, let you be king in their lives. In Jesus name we
50:35 pray. Amen. We're going to sing a song.
50:42 Let's come worship the true king. After the service is over, if you would like
50:47 prayer, if you would like to make a commitment, there are leaders of the church who will be forward who will be
50:53 able to talk with you and pray with you.
