The Baby That Caused Kings to Tremble

The Baby That Caused Kings to Tremble

The Baby-King

Each Christmas season we love to blast For King and Country's rendition of the "The Little Drummer Boy".

 

This Christmas season, we were driving around looking at Christmas lights with this song on high volume, and my wife was brought to tears. After wiping the streaks away, she pithily choked out one of the simplest but knee-buckling truths of the Gospel: "He came as a baby".

The incarnation of the Sovereign God is glorious. He humbled Himself by becoming flesh (Philippians 2:7) and entered the world as a vulnerable infant. 

But the baby-King's arrival was not without controversy. 

Rome's puppet king of Judea, Herod, received a surprising and troubling visit to his palace shortly after Jesus was born. The Magi, who journeyed for hundreds of miles, showed up in Jerusalem, Herod's jurisdiction, and started poking around with a question (Matthew 2:2):

"Where's the baby-King?"

 

The Insecurity of the kings of the earth

 

Herod was troubled by this announcement (Matthew 2:3).

The news of an unknown baby, born in a remote town miles away from Jerusalem, unsettled the king of Judea. He immediately started scheming.

Herod tried using his power to control the situation. He gathered an assembly of experts to research where this baby was born (Matthew 2:5-6). Once he learned the birthplace was Bethlehem, he tried manipulating the Magi to learn where the baby-King's exact location was (Matthew 2:8).

But God intervened and warned the Magi to not return to Herod (Matthew 2:12). When Herod didn't get the information he wanted, he maliciously tightened the screws on his attempt to control. He ordered the death of all baby boys in the region (Matthew 2:16). 

Herod's lust for power dominated him, to the point where he would murder infants to try to keep his kingdom. 

 

The Security of our King's Rule

 

The prophecy Herod read about the Messiah came from Micah 5:2 - 

" 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"

 

Herod tried using his own authority to intervene with God's promise to bring this ruler to Israel. 

But God is not shaken when kings of the earth plot against Him. In fact, He sits, He laughs, and then places His own King over them all. 

"He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in His fury, saying,
'As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill" (Psalm 2:4-6)

 

God is not an insecure ruler. He has complete authority over all things, and a plan to unite everything in His Son (Ephesians 1:10), who entered the world as both a baby and a king. 

We can rest in His benevolent rule. He is the King of Kings!

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