Skip to main content

Matthew 2:7 - Herod and God's will - Day 173

Secrecy as a cover for wicked intent.  Herod's murderous plot required secrecy on a human level.

The wise men were only warned not to return to Herod after they had completed their task.  They were not warned about what Herod would do with the information they willingly provided.  They had no way of knowing Herod's intent when they gave the information.
Likewise, the scribes who provided the location not knowing Herod's intent.  They just provided truthful answer to a question.  Herod then excluded them from further conversation with the wise men.
Herod's original intent was only to kill the infant Jesus.  Once this plan was thwarted, he had no moral qualms about expanding to all boys under the age of 2.
Herod's plot to maintain power was God's plan to fulfill prophecy regarding the Messiah.  While Herod was keeping the plot secret from other people, he could not keep it secret from God.  In deed, Herod was unknowingly carrying out God's sovereign plan of salvation.
Instruction - What does God expect of me? - Attempting to hide thoughts or deeds from God never works.  He is the righteous judge.  In the same way, attempting to deceive our fellow man by "making evil good and good evil" will not ultimately work either.  One such thing is gambling industry.  The state says gambling is good because the state can raise revenue through such things as lotteries.  There is no moral justification, only economic. All state sponsored gambling is a tax on the poor.
thanksgiving - You are the God who knows the secrets of the heart.  Nothing man does is hidden from You.  Herod may have escaped human justice for slaughtering the little boys of Bethlehem, but he did not escape Your justice.
Confession - Lack of discernment in social issues of the day.  Willing to accept new definitions of good and evil based on public opinion.

Supplication - Open, honest, transparent words and actions within Christian community as a clear statement of truth to a world that is twisted and crooked. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revelation 22:3-5 Final and eternal restoration - Day 365

Dear saints in the Lord, Congratulations!  You made it.  We have been through much turmoil in the last year ('20-'21).  But God is faithful to His promises.  I trust that you have been blessed in your reading and have drawn closer to God.   Since we didn't get the blog up and running at the beginning of the challenge, I am going to go back and post entries to cover that first month or so.   Blessings, Jeff Nothing accursed in the city of God, the new Jerusalem.  The presence of sin will be gone.  I am working on memorizing Westminster Shorter Catechism and currently on question 82.  Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God but does daily break them in thought, word and deed. I think our passage today points to the truth of this question.  Do you notice how this answer is not exactly the same as the question. "Any man" bec...
Post a Comment
Read more

Malachi 2:10-12 Here we go again!! Day 363

Good afternoon friends, As we draw to the end of the Old Testament, we see that Judah has rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, but they are following in the footsteps of faithless fathers and not in the footsteps of Abraham and ultimately God.  The exile was a low point, but now a new low is about to happen.  The prophetic voice has once again become warning and not encouraging. Faithful reading and preaching of the word is all that keeps us from losing our way.  May we be faithful in our generation. Blessings, Jeff I am sure I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  The section summary, chapter and verse are not in the original language.  They are all rather modern inventions to help us.  For example, the section title here is "Judah profaned the Covenant".  That is OK as far as it goes, but which Covenant?  So let's take a look. Observations Starts with 3 questions but who is asking the questions and to whom are they addre...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 33:7-9 Thoughts on Davidic covenant - Day 362

Good morning faithful readers, The finish line is in sight!!!  One of the themes of scripture is that God is a covenant keeping God.  There are many between God and man. Adam, Noah, David are examples.  Covenants are more than promises.  They are made between a superior and inferior with conditions for each side and blessing and penalties based on keeping the conditions.  These are covenants of works which fallen man was unable to keep.  Thanks be to God that the Father made a covenant of grace with Christ, the second Adam, which he fully kept. Blessings, Jeff The promise in v8 was made to David when he had planned to build the temple and God promised to build him a house forever. (2 Sam 7:10).  Seems like there are only two possibilities about Manasseh's disobedience.  Either he knew of this covenant that God had made with his 13th great grandfather and chose to disregard it, or he didn't know of it and was unaware of the penalty.  Let's con...
Post a Comment
Read more