Herod tries to kill the Christ child

• Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Jeremiah 31:15

Jeremiah the prophet may not have understood his own prophecy; then again maybe God showed him what it was about. Something bad was happening. Rachel was weeping for her children.

Fulfillment:

• Matthew 2:16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.
• 17 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,
• 18 In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

Wise men who saw an unusual star from the east where they lived came to Jerusalem to search for a baby who they believed was to be the king of the Jews. This tells me that they had to be more than astrologers or someone who studied the stars such as an astronomer. They had to have been believers in God and men who sought God. They knew that a king was to be born. Perhaps they were familiar with Old Testament prophecy.

Unless God appeared to them in a dream or an angel came in person as He did to Joseph and Mary, there would have been no other way to have known about a king being born as a babe to become king of the Jews. There have been many kings since King Saul so this king was a special king and the wise men knew that. We can only speculate as to how much they knew and why they were willing to travel to see this child and even bring gifts. It could they were those whose ancestors were originally from Israel and had been scattered in the days of the Babylonian captivity.

Herod the present king was very troubled. He wasn't ready to be replaced. Jealousy raged within him. Fear overtook him. He was afraid of being supplanted by a child. He feared that what the wise men said was true. He resisted God's plan and was used as an agent of Satan to try to stop it. Hate and fear are the biggest cause of violence against the innocent.

First he sought the scribes and asked them where Christ should be born. Now we see that Herod knew this king of the Jews that the wise men sought could be the Messiah or Christ. Satan filled his heart with deception and fear so that he would try to stop any Messiah from carrying out the purpose for which He was to come. The spirit of fear has caused many to go off track and do evil.

The scribes answered and said that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem of Judea.

• And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Matthew 2:6

Herod called for the wise men and asked them when the star appeared to them and sent them to Bethlehem find the child. He pretended to want the information for the purpose of worshipping the child himself but in reality he wanted to destroy this Messiah.

The wise men rejoiced when the star appeared and led them to the Christ child. They brought gifts and worshipped. On their return trip to their homeland, God warned them in a dream not to return to Herod so they returned another way.

God's will cannot be stopped by man. His word will come to pass no matter how powerful the Hitlers, Stalins and Herods try to stop it.

Herod was so angry at being snubbed by the wise men that he sought to destroy the child by ordering the death of every male child under two years old. He didn't realize that Satan was using him to try to stop the coming of the very Son of God, Messiah, the Christ who was coming to save His people from their sins.

This event fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah about Rachel weeping for her children.

Fear and jealousy has been the cause of persecution, murder, and torment by evil rulers and by followers who are deceived by them for centuries. Fear in the heart of the Pharaoh of Egypt one time caused him to order the death of the Hebrew children. He feared they would join the enemies of Egypt and fight against Egypt. He tried slavery first but that didn't work because they multiplied even more. He didn't realize that Satan was using him to destroy the Hebrew male children so that the promised Messiah could not come through the lineage of Israel and Judah.

Satan used fear. Jealousy caused the princes of Persia to plot to get Daniel killed. They feared losing their place and be replaced by Daniel. They didn't realize that Satan was using them to stop Daniel the prophet from writing the prophecies concerning the Messiah and the end time.

This is why we need to keep fear, hate and jealousy out of our lives. They are tools of Satan to get into our hearts and hinder the work of God. We cannot do this on our own. We need to give our lives to Jesus Christ the Messiah, repenting of sins and receiving His Spirit. Old things pass away and all things become new.

If we are already believers in Jesus, we need to continue in prayer and fellowship with Him daily. In other words we need to abide in the vine. Abide in Christ. He took away our sins but we need to have continual fellowship with Jesus to keep those old sins from coming back into our lives. If we let bitterness, envy, hate, and fear within us, Satan can then use us by causing others to see the sin instead of Jesus Christ in us.

Satan desires that we become stumbling blocks instead of winning people to Jesus Christ. Fear is also dangerous because it is the opposite of faith. Fear destroys faith. Perfect love casts out all fear. Through abiding in Christ we can overcome fear. Fear brings torment. Fear leads to hate that kills and destroys. We don't have to put up with that stuff in our lives.

As we study further we will see that Herod failed in destroying the Christ child. God protected Him because He came for a purpose. He came the first time to save us from sin. He will come a second time to defeat all evil and set up a kingdom of righteousness. We can be part of that or we can refuse that. The choice is ours. I choose Jesus and everlasting life myself, how about you?