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Matthew 2
English
Standard Version (ESV)
The Visit of the Wise Men
2 Now after Jesus was born
in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men[a] from the
east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been
born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose[b] and have
come to worship him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he
was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling
all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where
the Christ was to be born. 5 They 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.’”
7 Then
Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the
star had appeared. 8 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.” 9 After
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. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced
exceedingly with great joy. 11 And 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. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to
Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
The Flight to Egypt
13 Now
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.” 14 And he rose and took the child and his
mother by night and departed to Egypt 15 and 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.”
Herod Kills the Children
16 Then
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. 17 Then 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.”
The Return to Nazareth
19 But
when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph
in Egypt, 20 saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and
go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead.” 21 And
he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But
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. 23 And 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.
The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News
Publishers.
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Study
You may wonder why I
used such a long passage today but I didn’t know where to cut it off so decided
to just put in the entire passage.
As I sat and looked
at the news on my phone today I read a remark from the President of the United
States that really bothered me. Quoting
from a CNN opinion page by Paul Begala, ‘“We
are not a fragile or frightful people,” the
President declared, “Our power doesn’t come from some self-declared savior
promising that he alone can restore order.
We don’t look to be ruled.”’ Now the President was speaking, regarding
Trump, however, the report I read never said if the President indicated where
our power does come from.
Herod the King did
not want to be threatened by a King, a little baby boy, so he had all the baby
boys killed. It didn’t stop there. The Jewish leaders convinced the rulers of
nation to kill Jesus later on, as a grown man, crucify Him on the cross because
they feared being ruled by a Savior.
He, Jesus Christ is
our Savior. We do need to live and fear
of Him. We do need to be a frightful
people because someday He will return and He will show His power and majesty. I will be on His side because of my fear and
frightful, humble, and loving attitude towards Him. I do recognize I do not have the power within
me to rule myself, let alone a nation. I
can do nothing without out Him and everything with Him. I recognize I am not strong enough to do all
good on my own. I do realize I need my
Savior to restore order. There is no one
on the face of the earth that can restore the chaos that is in this world of
ours. Only the LORD and SAVIOR, the LORD
of lords, the KING of kings can and will restore order in His time.
Yes, American, we are
weak, we have no human power to restore order but we do have a Savior who has
blessed our nation for many years. I
pray the power of our Lord and Savior and His favor will rest upon us and bring
us His strength to endure until His return.
Without God we are nothing.
Pray for our nation,
pray for our leaders, pray for our election, pray for the candidates, pray that
we will all know and recognize our weakness and the great strength of our Lord
and Savior.
Seek Him America, and
call upon His name!
Seeking Him with all
my heart,
Sheila
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