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Battle Creek Tabernacle SDA Church

Chris Holland

The Battle for Christmas: A Tale of Three Kings

In this season where we remember the birth of Christ, Today we will ask the question, is He sitting on the throne of your heart?

I want to begin by thanking all of you for helping my wife and I feel very welcome here.

The little basket, which was not a little basket, where is Mo?

I appreciate that it was a little basket.

It was actually quite a large basket with all kinds of goodies.

A number of you gave us cards and we appreciate that.

The Pathfinders gave us a heart attack and for those of you unaware of that, you can go ask the Pathfinder director about Pathfinders giving you a heart attack.

Heavenly Father, we have gathered here to worship, and you have been here with us through song, through scripture, and through story.

And now as we open your word, we pray that we would have a deep encounter with you.

May the challenges, may the difficulties of this past week fade into the background.

May I, as I speak, fade to the background, and may your Son, Jesus, be uplifted.

The title of the message today is A Tale of 3 Kings, The battle for Christmas, a tale of 3 kings.

King number 1 was born sometime we don't know exactly when but about 70 BC.

His rise to power was almost a guarantee.

He was from a region south of Judea, and his father was an advisor to the high priest, as well as to the governor of that area.

The family stayed close to Jewish leadership to assure that their son would gain favor in their eyes.

Yet this family was completely loyal to Rome and this young man was completely loyal to Rome and because of that he was made governor of Galilee at the age of only 25.

Because of his loyalty, Rome was loyal to him, and he stopped at nothing to make sure that he maintained his power.

In about 40 BC the Hasmonean and Parthenian Invaders came and he had to escape for his life, but Rome was so loyal that they sent troops and he went back and he was able to retake his power in that territory.

He renovated and expanded the temple in Jerusalem.

He was so devoted to himself that when he appointed the high priest and the high priest became more popular than he was, he had that high priest drown.

He married 10 women and had 15 children with those 10 women.

1 of them, a woman by the name of Mariam, was said to have been so beautiful that he gave instructions to his soldiers that were he to ever die that she was to be executed immediately so no 1 else could have her.

He wanted his wife Mariam to be so devoted to him that he had her parents executed.

And when she protested her parents execution, he had her executed.

Then after he had her executed, he was so suspicious of his sons from his marriage to Mariam that he had those sons executed.

Later, when the historian Josephus would record his history, he referred to him as Herod the Great.

He was a brutal man and what I have shared with you only scratches the surface of his tyranny.

But as we read just a moment ago in Matthew chapter 2 beginning in verse 1, we see really the pinnacle of the tyranny of King Herod.

Matthew chapter 2, beginning in verse 1, The Bible says, Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who is born king of the Jews?

For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him.

When Herod the king heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem all Jerusalem with him.

And we're going to leave King Herod there for just a moment and we're going to go back about 600 years prior to Herod's time and we will find another king, also an individual that was born with a virtual guarantee of kingship.

His name meant to preserve the offspring.

He was the longest ruling king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

He defeated the 2 strongest nations at the time.

He defeated the Medes by marrying the daughter of the king and then overthrowing them.

And then in the Battle of Carcamesh, this king defeated the Egyptians and knocked them so far back in time that Egypt would never be a powerful empire ever again.

He made improvements to the city of Babylon.

And in Babylon, there was not much in the way of gardens but he built a magnificent garden called the Hanging Gardens to please his wife.

He made improvements to the temple of Marduk But by all historical accounts he was also a brutal man.

And while he too was born to be a king, why am I talking about Nebuchadnezzar in comparison with Herod?

Because these 2 men, while separated by 600 years of history, also encountered troubling news.

In Daniel chapter 2 and verse 1 it says, now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and his spirit was so, what does it say?

And it is not only in the English that those words are the same, but in the original Greek language in the New Testament, and then in the Old Testament, which was translated into Greek, it is the identical word.

It is the word terrasso, which literally translated means to be shaken, to be disturbed, to be unsettled and stirred up.

It is especially used to describe a person who is having uneasiness covered by fear.

They were troubled because they received news that each of their kingdoms was about to come to an end.

They were troubled because they believed everything that they had built was about to be taken away.

Troubled by the news of a king of kings and Lord of lords.

1 of them troubled by news of the pre-incarnate Christ.

1 of them the news of the Christ who had been born.

But deeper than the external and material things that each of these kings had was something far deeper.

You see, neither 1 of these kings, neither 1 of these kings wanted someone else to be a king of their heart.

They wanted to dictate who they were and what they would do.

They wanted to be lord of their own lives, and that is the battle of Christmas.

It is a battle for your heart, and it is a battle for mine.

Because their reactions demonstrate to us the importance of what an encounter with Christ can do in your life.

You see, we live in the 21st century where we have built our own lives.

We have created our own little kingdom, so to speak.

And many of us don't want anyone to disturb that.

We don't want anyone telling us what we can and cannot do.

And while we may never explain it that plainly, that is what is going on deep inside of our own hearts.

King Herod encountering the news of 1 born a king.

Nebuchadnezzar encountering the news of a coming king.

Going back to King Herod, and as was just read.

In verse 7 of Matthew 2, the Bible says, Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared, and he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search carefully for the young child and when you have found him, bring back word to me that I may come and worship him also.

But God helped these wise men to be quite wise.

And they knew that the king was scheming to make sure that there would be no competitor for the throne, both the physical throne, but also to make sure there would be no competitor for the metaphorical throne of his heart.

Matthew chapter 2 verse 16 says, Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its districts from 2 years old and under according to the time which he had determined from the wise men.

This wicked brutal man in an effort and a desire to maintain his kingdom with the threat of losing it was led to do the unthinkable and execute innocent young children All for the security of making sure that he maintained rulership over his own kingdom.

For the security of being his own man, for the security of no 1 telling him what to do, he rejected the 1 born a king, thinking that somehow, some way, he could maintain his kingdom.

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The Battle for Christmas: A Tale of Three Kings

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