The passage before us today is full of contrast and provision. The contrast between the wickedness of King Herod and the worshipful obedience of the wise men and Joseph is a stark and sobering reality that we see being played out in the world around us on a daily basis.
But woven into this tale of contrasts between the wicked and the worshipfully obedient is a fine thread of divine intervention and provision; in the background of this tale of evil intent and worshipful hearts is the work of God the Father who causes his Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior to be born into the darkness of Satan, Sin and Death; to be the fulfillment of the prophets who spoke of a coming Savior for centuries before his birth. Look at the passage with me…
MATTHEW 2:1 – 23
1Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 3When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: 6“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 8And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” 9After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
13Now 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.” 14And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt 15and 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.”
16Then 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. 17Then 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.”
19But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” 21And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22But 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. 23And 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.
Four times in this text, Matthew draws our attention to the fact that what is happening in these events immediately following the birth of Christ, has been prophesied for centuries (vv. 5 – 6, 15, 18, 23).
And in the midst of the insanity of the wickedness of King Herod as he schemes and plots to murder innocent babies in his hate-filled slaughter campaign, we see the provision of God the Father as he warns the wise men and gives instructions to Joseph to keep baby Jesus safe from harm (vv. 12, 13, 19).
So, this passage really is a tale of contrast and provision, a tale of contrast between wickedness and worshipful obedience, a tale of provision as God shows up according to his very own centuries old plan of redemption. Notice the general movement of the story as it unfolds.
#1: THE WISE MEN AND KING HEROD (VV. 1 – 12)
The contrast between the wise men and King Herod is overwhelmingly obvious but the provision of God the Father cannot be missed. The wise men show up in Jerusalem looking for the baby “King of the Jews” so that they may worship him (vv. 1 – 2). King Herod cannot help but to feel threatened – he is the king, and some baby somewhere is being hailed as the new king by some weird wise men – so he gathers some of the religious scholars of his day to explain who this baby King is (vv. 3 – 6).
Once King Herod learns who the baby King will be and when and where he will be born, he hatches an evil plan to use the wise men to help him get close to baby Jesus so that he can take him out of the picture and secure his earthly throne of power (vv. 7 – 8). Once again, the contrast between wickedness and worshipful obedience is on display.
But as the tale unfolds, the wise men continue following the star and they find baby Jesus and fall on their faces in worship of this baby King and then they head back home by a different route because in the provision of God the Father they are warned of Herod’s wicked plan (vv. 9 – 12).
The provision of God the Father is always present where wickedness seems to prevail. It may seem at times, that wickedness is prevailing in the world we live in despite the hearts of some who would worship God in Spirit and in truth. But God is no pansy ruler who relies on deception and destruction to maintain his earthly power and influence.
God is a faithful Father who foresaw every moment of wickedness that would happen and he carefully hatched his own plan of provision so that our Savior, Jesus, could be born into this world of wickedness so that he could live the life that we could not live and then give his perfect life away at the cross of Calvary to pay the price that we could never pay to be ransomed and redeemed from the presence, the power and the penalty of our own wicked sin.
You and I may not be King Herod, but the truth is there is a little bit of King Herod inside every one of us. Thankfully, God the Father saw our wickedness and our rejection of him and our desire for earthly comfort, power and prestige long before we had the chance to act upon our sin-filled impulses and he provided a way of escape so that we may worship King Jesus in wholehearted grateful obedience. But this tale of contrast and provision is not over yet!
#2: JOSEPH FLEES TO EGYPT AND HEROD MURDERS CHILDREN (VV. 13 – 18)
Once again, the provision of God is front and center as an angel gives Joseph instructions to flee to Egypt to protect Jesus from King Herod’s murderous rampage in fulfillment of God’s centuries old plan according to the prophet Hosea (vv. 13 – 15; Hos. 11:1). Joseph of course, obeys the instructions that God provided to him, which in and of itself is an act of worship.
But King Herod on the other hand, follows through with his murderous plan to take out the baby King and he slaughters children throughout the region under the age of two which unbeknownst to him is actually a fulfillment of part of God’s plan too (vv. 16 – 18; Jer. 31:15).
It seems crazy that God would stand by as king Herod murders innocent children, but I can also imagine that there is a special kind of justice in God’s plan for people like King Herod who would misuse or abuse or destroy the lives of innocent children.
We know that if someone does not kneel in surrender and submission to our Savior as the Lord of their lives, then that person will never take part in the grace and the mercy of Jesus receiving the justice that was due to them at the cross of Calvary.
A man like Herod will eventually die and face the penalty of his sin in full measure as the wrath of God is poured out upon him since he never bowed his knee to the baby King who offered far more than earthly power because he offered eternal salvation. Once again, contrast and provision are on display in this portion of the story. But the story is not done!
#3: HEROD DIES AND JOSEPH RETURNS TO ISRAEL (VV. 19 – 23)
An angel of the Lord appears provisionally to Joseph in a series of two dreams, and he lets Joseph know that those who sought to kill baby Jesus are now dead and that he should return to Israel (vv. 19 – 20; 22). And of course, Joseph being the man of obedient worship that he is, follows through on God’s instructions and he returns to Israel and settles in a city called Nazareth which fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy that the Savior would be a Nazarene (vv. 21 – 23; Isa. 7:14).
So the wicked king dies and loses all of his earthly power and prestige and presumably finds himself in a place of eternal judgement under the wrathful hand of God the Father while Jesus the true King of kings and Lord of lords is safe and sound in the city of Nazareth as he begins to grow into the man who will ultimately climb up on a cross to pay the price for the sins of his people and then rise out of the grave victorious as the eternal king who vanquishes Satan, Sin and Death to the abyss.
CONCLUSION…
Ultimately the contrast in this entire story is the contrast between a wicked earthly king who is defeated by death and a gracious and loving king who defeats death! The provision in this story is the centuries old carefully laid out plan to bring our redeeming king Jesus into this world as a baby who will live to die so that others who die may truly live forever.
I do not know about you but when I think about the contrast and the provision throughout this story, I am deeply humbled, and my hope is renewed. I do not know what kind of evil or wickedness you have been involved in or wounded by or afraid of.
I do not know your life story and I cannot see all of the places where God the Father has met you at some intersection of life and called you to surrender to him in obedient worship.
But I do know that each and every one of us has a choice to make when God the Father meets us in the midst of this dark and perverse world. We can either be like king Herod and fight for every ounce of earthly pleasure and comfort and power and control.
Or we can be like the wise men and Joseph, and we can respond to God’s faithful intervention in our lives, and we can obediently submit, surrender and worship him in the midst of the darkness as we kneel in the shadow of the bloody cross and find our strength in the doorway of the empty tomb and hold onto hope in light of the promise of heaven.
We live in a world of contrasts between wickedness and worship, but God has provided a way froward in the person and the work of his Son Jesus who was born as a baby King. – Amen!
1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).