When Herod the
king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and
scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
They told him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the
prophet:
"'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.'"
Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and
ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And
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." Matt 2:3-8 ESV
Herod the Great lived from 73 BC to 4 BC. He was a man of many accomplishments. He built many structures in Israel such as
aqueducts and pleasure palaces that still exist today. He governed the areas of Judea and Galilee
for more than thirty years. He was also
paranoid, ruthless, and an intentionally cruel ruler.
Herod knew about the
coming the Messiah, but knew nothing of the prophecies. His family converted to Judaism as a matter
of political convenience, but he had not studied much of the Bible. When the Magi showed up wanting to know about
the newborn king, he had to consult with the religious scribes to know that the
Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem.
When he discovered this, he pretended to be interested in worshiping
with them, so he could discover the Messiah's identity and kill him.
Herod was a terrible
sinner in many ways, but his greatest sin was pride. He enjoyed being ruler, and wanted no one
else to rule the kingdom, not even God's Son.
Pride is dangerous.
If it does not lead us to destroy others, like it did Herod, it can destroy
us. When we think we are the only one
worthy of running our affairs and believe we are irreplaceable, we are guilty
of pride. Nobody stays in control
forever except God. We can't even rule our own lives without God's help. When
we try, we usually make a mess of things.
Herod didn't want to
surrender his kingdom, so he lied to the Magi, saying he wanted to worship the
Messiah, when he really intended to kill Him while he was still a child. If Herod was sincere in wanting to worship
the Christ child, how different the
world might have been!
But his pride got in
the way of that. He rejected even the
possibility of surrendering to God.
Sooner or later we
all face a choice between surrendering to Someone greater than ourselves, or
dying in our pride. If we learn to yield
to God, surrendering to the King of Kings, we can learn the joy of being free.
But if we hold on to pride, we must face
the consequences and we will know the results of pride, which is our own destruction.
By laying aside our
pride, we trust that God will be a better ruler than we ever could be. He will provide for us like no other. Other
people will always fail us, but they are not God. God is the one who is really
in control in our lives. Whatever
happens to us is in His hands, not in our or in the hands of others. God is
both our ultimate protector and provider.
We are in God's
hands no matter what we think or feel. He is our true ruler. We must yield the
sovereignty of our lives to Him
Father, help me to
surrender my pride, so that I will not be ashamed to yield my personal kingdom
to You. Crucify my pride, so I can live. In Jesus' name, Amen."
