Two reactions...

"'Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.' When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him."--Matthew 2:3-4.  This verse gives us the account of the magi who came from the east to worship Jesus upon His birth.  Additionally though, we also read of Herod's reaction to Jesus' birth. Herod was troubled by this. Why? Because he knew the prophecy that a king was to be born.  The prophecy is quoted in Matthew 2:6.  Like many at this time, Herod presumed that the Messiah would be one who would set up a physical kingdom.  As a result, Herod would seek to kill the baby Jesus by slaughtering all the children of the land two years old and under.  However, Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus would be warned and flee to Egypt until Herod's death.  You might be asking why I chose Matthew 2:3-4 for tonight's blog.  Well in these two verses and in Matthew 2 as a whole we find a stark contrast in the magi's response to Jesus' birth and Herod's response to His birth.  We have two reactions.

Two reactions. First of all, the magi were excited about Jesus' birth and intended to worship Him. Herod, however, the text tells us was troubled and sought to do anything he could to stop the prophecies concerning Christ to be fulfilled. Of course he would fail at his attempt.

Two reactions.  But again, we have two reactions.  One positive and the other negative.  We have a reaction of joy and a reaction of anger and violence.

Two reactions. So what am I getting at here? The point I am getting at here is that these two reactions to Christ are readily seen today.

Two reactions.  It is no surprise that persecution of Christians still goes on today around the world. In some places, it is to the extent that we read about in the Bible.  But why? Persecution is an example of the negative reaction some people have towards the message of Christ.  We don't see this here in the United States but in some countries persecution can escalate all the way to murder such as in Herod's day and in the pages of the rest of the New Testament.

Two reactions. Though on the flipside, there are also so many people that have a joyous reaction toward the gospel message and these people want to do nothing but worship Christ such as the magi did here in Matthew 2:3-4.  My most recent example of this was only two nights ago.  On Monday night, I witnessed a girl named Lily get baptized into Christ.  I have seen a lot of baptisms take place in my day but I can honestly say it has been a long time since I have seen someone as excited and overjoyed as Lily was both before and after her baptism.  We read in Matthew 2:10 that the magi "rejoiced exceedingly with great joy" when they came to where Jesus was.  When Lily was baptized she set an example of an attitude many Christians seem to have lost in today's world, an attitude of joy.  We who are Christians should be excited and overjoyed because as Christians we are where Christ is.  When we obey the gospel, we put ourselves where Christ is and if that's not a reason to have great joy and to rejoice exceedingly, I don't know what is.  Keep that attitude Lily, and keep up the GOD work!

Two reactions.  We are talking here about two opposing reactions to Christ. In today's world, there are many that are still troubled by the fact that Christ has come and is coming again.  We see this reaction manifest itself in people's effort to remove the Bible and prayer from schools and not to mention trying to remove God from the pledge of allegiance.

Two reactions.  But again, the other reaction is that at the same time we have so many people that are flocking to worship Christ and they are rejoicing exceedingly with great joy.

Two reactions.  So my encouragement to you is this.  We as Christians living in a world that has a negative reaction toward Christ's coming must make every effort to seek out those who are flocking to worship Christ and those who are rejoicing exceedingly with great joy because He has come and is coming again. When we stand together, victory is ours.  Also, no matter how hard people try, like Herod they too will fail at their attempt to fully destroy Christ in our society because God's plan and justice will prevail.  God is working with you and me as well to make sure that happens.  May we always stand together young and old alike.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!