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King Herod: The King who tried to
kill God
Text: Matthew 2:1-18
Dr Alex Tang
Summary
Whom do you worship? <=
span
class=3DGramE>If you d=
o not
worship the Lord, you will end up worshipping personal power and spiritual
powers.
Matt 2:1-18
MT 2:1 After =
Jesus
was born in
Herod the Great, king of the Jews 40-4 bc,
born c. 73 bc. His father Antipater,
a Jew of Idumaean descent, attained a position of great influence in (40-37 bc)
the Roman senate, advised by <=
/span>
=
&nb=
sp; =
King Herod the Great
=
&nb=
sp; =
&nb=
sp;
King of
=
&nb=
sp; =
=
&nb=
sp; Birth
of Jesus (Mt 2:1-19; Lk 1:5)
Herod = Archelaus Aristobulus Herod = Herod = Antipater
Philip II =
&nb=
sp; =
Alexander &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Antipas Phi=
lip
I
M:Cleopatra =
&nb=
sp; M:Malthace &=
nbsp; M:
Mariamne  =
; M:Malthace &=
nbsp; M:
Mariamne  =
;
M:
Tetrach of
Iturea &=
nbsp; Governor
of  =
; Not
mentioned Te=
tratch
of  =
; He
did not rule
and Traconis =
in the Bible.
(4BC ̵=
1;
AD34) &n=
bsp; (4
BC – AD 6) &nb=
sp; Hasmonaeans Perea &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; Herodias
(Mt14:3;
(Lk 3:1) &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; =
(4BC-AD39) &=
nbsp; Mk6:17)
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Second
husband
=
&nb=
sp;
 =
; &n=
bsp; Herod of Chalcis =
King Herod Agrip=
pa I
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; King
of
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Killed
James, put Peter in
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; prison.
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Struck
down by an angel
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; (Ac
12:1-24)
 =
; &n=
bsp;  =
; Drusilla King
Herod Agrippa II &nb=
sp; Bernice
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Married Felix, &nb=
sp; King
of
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; governor of  =
; legal
defence before him. =
&nb=
sp; brother at the
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp;
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; (AD
52-59) &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; defense
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Felix
tried &n=
bsp;  =
; &n=
bsp;  =
; &n=
bsp;  =
; =
(Ac
25:13)
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; Paul
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; (AD
24:24)
2 and asked, "Where is the one w=
ho has
been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to
worship him."
Magi are probably astrologers, perhaps from
MT 2:3 When King Herod heard this he was
disturbed, and all
The chief priests are the Seducees who were in charge of=
the
worship in the temple and the teachers of the law were probably the Pharise=
es.
The text said Herod was disturbed and all
MT 2:6 " `=
But you,
ar=
e
by no means least among the rulers of
for out=
of you
will come a ruler
wh=
o
will be the shepherd of my people The prophecy from Micah was given seven centuries
earlier. There are 330 prophecies =
about
Jesus in the Old Testament. MT 2:7 Then Herod=
span> called the Magi secretly and found =
out
from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to MT 2:9 After th=
ey had
heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the e=
ast
went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. Contrary to popular beliefs, the Magi did not visit=
baby
Jesus at the night of his birth, as did the shepherds. As Luke would have
noted, it is unlikely that the shepherds would be out with their sheep in t=
he
hills during winter. Most scholars agree that Jesus was likely to be born in
the spring or summer in the year 4=
BC. The
Magi came some months later and saw the child, not a baby and in his house,=
not
in a manger. · =
· =
· =
Those were the Magi’s gift to Jesus. Gold for the King of=
kings,
frankincense for his Deity and myrrh for His Humanity. MT
MT MT 2:16 When H=
erod
realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave
orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years
old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. =
span>17 Then w=
hat
was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: MT
weeping and great mourning, Rachel
weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted, because=
they
are no more." Jeremiah
31:15. Ramah
is a small town about 5 miles north of John MacArthur in his commen=
tary
on this passage said these are “ the three typical response to Jesus =
Christ
throughout history. (1) Some, like Herod are immedia=
tely
hateful, wanting to know nothing of God’s way except to attack, and if
possible destroy it. (2)&=
nbsp;
Others,
like the chief priest and scribes, pay little if any attention to God and h=
is
ways… (3)&=
nbsp;
Others,
however, like the magi from the east, accept the Lord when he comes to them.
They may have little of His light initially, but because they know it is His
light, they believe, obey and worship.” Why would
Herod want to kill the ‘king of the Jews’? The messiah? The Christ? Power. Power of
being king. In those times, being king is like almost like being God=
. You
have absolute power over everything in your kingdom. You have absolute cont=
rol
over everyone. It is not a constitutional monarchy. It is raw power. Once y=
ou
have such power you will not want to give it up. You begin to worship the
power. Herod has fallen into the power trap. A. &n=
bsp;  =
; &n=
bsp;  =
;
Worship of personal power. The crown
‘king of the Jews’ sat uneasy on Herod’s head<=
span
style=3D'font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-=
language:
EN-US;layout-grid-mode:line'>. Herod is a king that is afraid that his pers=
onal
power will be taken away from him. He wants to hang on to power at all cost=
. He
worships power. (1)
(2)
(3)&=
nbsp;
The people were not happy with him be=
cause
he is an Edomite. A descendent of Esau, not Jacob. He tried to please the
people by embracing the Jewish religion and rebuilding the Herod’s paranoid nature is well illustra=
ted
by the story of the visit of the Magi and the slaughter of the infants of <=
/span> B. &n=
bsp;  =
; &n=
bsp;  =
;
Worship of Spiritual Powers There is another side to this story. Another side to the coin. Herod and his kingdom are in the
physical world. In the spiritual world, there are also others who are invol=
ved.
The physical world is only the tip of an iceberg. In
Ephesians 6:12,
Paul wrote: For our =
struggle
is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms. We must be aware that there is a supernatural
realm that exist and is closely intertwined with our physical realms. In the
spiritual realms are angels that worship and obey God. There are also fallen
angels and demons that oppose God and what God wants to do in this world. P=
aul
named them as rulers, authorities, powers and spiritual forces of evil. The=
se
powers exist and want us to worship them. Think of the players in a football game. The g=
ame
is going on and we can see the players kicking the ball. What we do not see =
was
the coach who designed the game strategy, the owners who financed the footb=
all
club. The invisible dimension which has its influence o=
n the
game. The answer to Daniel’s
prayers was delayed for 21 days because the messenger angel which God s=
ent
was opposed by the ‘prince o=
f The letters to the 7 churches in Revelation is addressed to the angels rather than the people in the churches. Walter Wink, professor of Biblical Interpretat=
ion
at Auburn Theological Seminary in He wrote: =
; The
Powers are good &n=
bsp;  =
; =
The
Powers are fallen &n=
bsp;  =
; =
The
Powers must be redeemed. In the meantime, the Powers are opposing God a=
nd
influencing man and woman to worship them. Herod is one such man. These Pow=
ers
offers wealth, health, control, and ‘all the good things in life̵=
7;.
I believe it is under influence of=
this
Powers that Herod tried to kill Jesus. By killing Jesus in childhood, the Powers will have prevented the
redemptive act of God. The antidote for the worship of personal power=
is
self-denial. MT 16:24 Then J=
esus
said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny hi=
mself
and take up his cross and follow me. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, wrote:
“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” It is only when we die to self can=
we
break the worship of personal power. Richard Foster, Money, Sex & Power, gave us 6 principles to break the worsh=
ip
of spiritual powers: i. =
We must
recognize that Christ has already defeated the powers. ii.  =
;
We defeat =
the
powers by cultivating the gift of discernment. iii. =
We defeat =
the powers
by forthrightly facing the ‘demons’ within. iv.  =
;
We defeat =
the
powers by inner renunciation of all things v. =
We defeat =
the
power by rejecting the weapons of power of this world vi.  =
;
We defeat =
the
powers by using weapons of Ephesians 6. 13 Theref=
ore put
on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be ab=
le
to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of t=
ruth
buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, =
15 and with your feet fitted with the
readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the
shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the
evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occas=
ions
with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and alw=
ays
keep on praying for all the saints. This can be summarized as
discernment, armor of God and intercessory prayer. It is very =
easy
to fall into the worship of personal power and spiritual powers. The spirit=
ual
powers will try to destroy the work of God. Herod tried to kill Jesus becau=
se
he thought Jesus would become king of the Jews, thus a threat to his person=
al
power. The spiritual powers know that Jesus, God who became flesh, has come=
to
bring us redemption and tried to kill Jesus by using Herod. Herod tried to =
kill
God. It is the understanding of P=
aul
and the author of Revelation that demonic activities and worship of spiritu=
al
powers will increase in the last days. In our study of the Four Kings, we have considered
various aspect of worship: King Asa: The King who start=
ed
well. King Jeroboam: The King who
corrupted the heart of worship King Ahad: The King who
committed apostasy King Herod: The King who tri=
ed
to kill God. From the four kings we can draw the following lessons
about worship: &n=
bsp;  =
; &n=
bsp;  =
; A
life of worship: a good beginning does not guarantee a good ending. Complacency and loss of trust lead to a bad end.=
The heart of wor=
ship
is corrupted when we worship by our own rituals and our =
own understanding.
Worship is furth=
er corrupted
when we add elements of other religions : God pl=
us
We end up
worshipping personal power and spiritual=
powers instead of God. Whom do we
Worship? =
&nb=
sp; =
&nb=
sp; =
&nb=
sp; =
S=
oli
Deo GloriaBethlehemEgyptLessons for us
A.
How to Avoid the Worship of Personal Power
B.
How Avoid the Worship of Spiritual Powers
Concluding remarks
Whom do you worship? God?
&=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
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nbsp; -
5<=
/span>
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