A
very blessed and happy Christmas to you
all!
2014 has been a restless year in the political spheres
of the world. But Christian people are
the most blessed and happy people,
because the birth of the Lord Jesus
Christ has brought about the fulfillment
of Isaiah
9:1-7 : “But there will be will be no gloom for her who was in
anguish … the people who walked in
darkness have seen a great
light; those who dwelt in a
land of deep darkness, on them has light shined… for unto us a child is
born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting father,
Prince of Peace…”
He
is God’s answer to this sad world
so much filled with pride, self-
centeredness , envy and jealousy,
lying, pharisaical and cruel religious bigotry (as seen in religious
groups like Boko Haram and ISIS) . Absence of Christ is the reason why we see all
the cold blooded killings whether
that of a mother killing her 8
children in Australia, or senseless
high school killings in America ,
or abductions of school girls and
cold blooded assassinations in
Africa, or ramming your vehicle
into an unsuspecting crowd in Europe , as happened this past week in
France – Jeremiah called this: “terror
on every side!”[1]
God’s
answer for this sin-sick and mad world is the provision of a good shepherd of whom Isaiah says : “Turn to me and be saved , all
the ends of the earth! For I am God and there is no other!” (Isa 45:22) .
Life in this fallen world desperately needs a shepherd. Isaiah
says : “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to
his own way ; and the Lord has laid on him the
iniquity of us all.” (Isa
53:6) . Our world cries out for
leadership. We all cry “deliver
us from evil!” , but unfortunately our hearts seek solutions that are not rooted in Christ’s leadership . Satan knows this and he fills this void with false shepherds in the forms of political dictators (such as Hitler, Stalin
and Lenin etc.) and also with false prophets
and with false , self- serving
priests. Sooner or later people
regret their endorsements of
these cruel leaders and they cry out for
deliverance as did the Israelites of
old in the day of the Judges. In the
meantime God has given us a Good Shepherd of whom He said … “This
is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased…” (Matt
3:17) Oh how the world needs to hear
the gospel of the kind and good shepherd
in these days of political turmoil!
Our
text (particularly Matt 2:6), which is
built on a prophetic word from Micah 5: 1-6 , tells
us that God has
provided the world with an answer to the tyrannical reign of
Satan, and his anti-christ and the false
prophet [2], that cause so much trouble and lack of
peace in this world. The message of the
angels was therefore significant: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom
he is pleased.” (Luke 2:14) In
the provision of a true
shepherd in whom the roles of prophet , priest and king would be
uniquely combined, God ushers in
an age in which the gospel of the
kingdom of God which Christ came to
announce drives out
fear , and lack of hope and darkness. Wherever and whenever Christ takes possession of the hearts of people there the kingdom of God comes on earth.
“Out
of you shall come a ruler who will
shepherd my people Israel “
- Matt 2:6
Let us take
note of the historical context in which this announcement was first made to king Herod by the chief priests. Jesus was born before King Herod died in 4 B.C. Incidentally it was in the
year AD 533 that a monk called Dionysius
Exiguus [3](c. 470 –
c. 544) invented the
Anno Domini (AD)
era, which was calculated from the
birth of Christ. With so many years having past since the Lord’s birth, it was
easy to make mistakes with respect to the
exact date of the Lord’s
birth and this in fact, was what happened.
The wise
men from the east refer to members of
a Persian priestly caste.
These were steeped in the study of astrology
and of the magic arts. We see such
people frequently as court officials
and advisors / prophets[4] to
the kings of the Middle east
. Since there were many Jews in Babylon (Persia) during the exile, these wise men from the east would have
had a thorough acquaintance about the Jewish faith and the expectation of a Messiah,
and even more significantly , they had begun to place their hope in the Jewish Messiah. So in v.2
when they had seen the star rising , this was the sign for these three wise men to get going . Several astronomical possibilities have been
suggested as an explanation of this star[5], but there is
no satisfactory explanation. It is best to leave this as a
supernatural occurrence. The point is
that these wise men from Persia saw this as a sign from God indicating that the Jewish
Messiah – King had been born. They thought
that the king was to be born in Jerusalem, and that is why they landed on Herod’s doorsteps .
Herod in turn (v.3) was a man who was troubled
by any report of a possible successor to
his throne. He was no Jew and he must have been aware that he
had no right of succession to David’s throne. He had in fact been appointed by the Roman government. Aware of his status and aware of the expectations of the Jewish
nation with respect to a Messiah he
consults the Jewish priests and the scribes (v.5). It was
actually common knowledge among the
people that the Messiah was going to be born
in Bethlehem , the city of
David’s birth (e.g. John 7:42,52). Jesus was providentially and circumstantially born in Bethlehem (2:1 à see v. 6 ), but relocated to Nazareth in Galilee immediately after this. The circumstances of the birth of the Lord
Jesus were prophesied in the Scriptures,
and particularly here in Micah 5:1-6 . Herod of course had no intention of worshipping the
child. He wanted to kill him and remove the perceived threat to his throne.
Jesus our Shepherd King
Against the background of
our introductory comments on the
present state of the world and also the
historical background as it is reflected
in the Scriptures , we consider the Lord
Jesus the promised shepherd of the people of Israel. The shepherd motif
runs through the scriptures.
Israel in her history has been governed by good and bad shepherds. In Ezekiel 34
against the background of abusive shepherding , God promises to be
a shepherd to His people. And, significantly , David from whom
Jesus’ earthly lineage is traced was
a shepherd (1 Samuel 16:11) . And according to Luke’s account (Lk
2:8-18) shepherds were among the
first to be privileged to see
the newborn King in Bethlehem. Coincidence ?
Hardly! All this is part of God’s
plan and purpose.
God provided the Lord Jesus Christ as our Shepherd. The amazing truth here is
that God made His eternal Son,
who is equal to Him in
substance , to become a shepherd for His people. In John’s gospel Jesus
makes it very clear that this is so (I AM the good Shepherd- see John 10 :1-16). In this passage we learn
of the work of the Lord Jesus, the good Shepherd for us
:
1.
The
sheep hear His voice and they follow Him (10:3-5). They know Him (10:14)
2.
He
is the door of the sheep. He protects
them (10:7)
3.
He
is the Good Shepherd who lays down His
life for the sheep (10:11, 15)
4.
He
is the Universal Shepherd. He will bring in His sheep from among Jew and
gentile (10: 16) There will be one flock – one church comprised of OT and NT
saints .
5.
Although
He will lay down His life for the sheep, He will take His life up again
(10:17,18). He is the Shepherd that triumphs
over all that is evil for the
flock (Satan, false shepherds),
and even over death itself.
All this is implied
in Micah’s prophecy , here repeated in
Matthew 2:6. So , the revelation given
to us by Micah and Matthew helps us to see who Christ is for us. It is absolutely important that we need to know who
this babe of Bethlehem is.
We have said
it so often, and we say it again, that
Christ is absolutely trivialized
and sentimentalized by our
culture. We focus on the baby – but we forget
that this baby is called at once “King
of the Jews” (2:2) and “the
shepherd of Israel“ (2:6). This is Satan’s plot of to keep us in darkness regarding the person and purpose of Christ.
The Bible tells us that Christ was
born to shepherd believers living in a world that is full of physical and spiritual danger. The Bible
teaches us that if we abide in Him and if we
remain close to Him and under
His protection we will be safe. Our good Shepherd will
guide us home through treacherous territory – even in the midst of our
own sinfulness , and even through our
worst experiences and even through the portals of sickness and
death itself (Psalm 23- the Lord is my Shepherd).
The Bible pleads with
us not to be as blind as Herod, and the
chief priests and the scribes of the
people were with regard to Christ .
The Bible pleads with us not to be pretense worshippers and Christ killers like Herod and the scribes and the Pharisees were .
The Bible pleads with
us today
to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to trust Him with all our hearts, even at great
expense and inconvenience , as was no
doubt the case of the wise men from the east.
Do you know the Good Shepherd?
The story is told
of a contest in which Psalm 23 - the Shepherd Psalm was to be
recited. Two men took part in this contest . The one man was
an orator trained in speech technique and drama.
He repeated the Psalm in a powerful and
dramatic way, and the audience was captivated by his polished performance. Then
the other man who was older but not nearly as
polished recited Psalm 23. This
man had seen the reality of Psalm 23 in his life , as he was carried by the good Shepherd through many ,many valleys and trials. As he
began “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want...” the congregation fell silent. People just
sat there in devotion and prayer. Then the first man, the orator got up and said: “I have
a confession to make. The difference
between what you have just heard from my older friend, and what you heard from
me is this: I know the Psalm, my friend knows the Shepherd...”
Well dear people, it is my prayer that
this Christmas babe whom you celebrate today is not simply
someone whom you admire and about whom you can speak well. I trust that He lives in you
and that He moves you as you KNOW that he IS YOUR Good Shepherd. Amen !
[1] Jer.
6:25; 20:10; 46:5; 49:29
[2] See our recent exposition in the
book of Revelation
[3] His name could be translated as Dennis the dwarf , or Dennis the small . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dionysius_Exiguus
[4] E.g. 2 Chronicles
18:5 ; Jer 29:2,34:19; 41:16
[5] E.g. the
convergence of Jupiter and Saturn in 7-6
B.C. ;
Halley’s Comet in 12-11 B.C.
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