When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said. “Take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” – Matthew 2:13
At the very time the wise men were looking for Jesus, a lot of other kings and dignitaries were gathered in Jerusalem for something that was probably like a summit. I like to think of them walking up in the gathering and saying, “Where is this child who has been born king of the Jews?”
Upon seeing them, I wonder if everyone was just like, “Oh look, there’s Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar. Glad they could make it.” Or maybe they were a little more like, “What the heck are those weirdos doing here?”
The wise men were believed to not only have been scholars and scientists, some say they were also astrologers from the Zoroastrian religion, which is one of the world’s oldest faiths and heavily built on what we now call astrology. Either way, when they said, “Where’s the baby King?” apparently it really messed up the party. Matthew tells us, “Herod was disturbed, and all of Jerusalem with him.”
Do you realize the things you can set into motion just by declaring your search for Christ? Herod was so upset he had all the babies in Judea killed. That is a tragedy, no doubt, but do you recognize Satan’s knee-jerk reaction to the advent of God’s Salvation here on earth?
All around the world we are watching good and evil in a constant battle every day. We see the reactions, whether it’s the slaughter of Christians and Jews in the middle east, whether it’s the open mockery of God by American celebrities, or the way lawmakers are pushing faith out of every institution.
Maybe it’s just the way people react to you personally when they know that you’re someone who seeks the truth and is generally honest.
Integrity terrifies people. Jesus terrifies people. In a world that’s afraid of something real — be it the fear of a baby King or of God’s honest truth — be a light on a hill. The world may react badly, but wise men will know what you are. Your stand could set off events that change the world. ❤️
