“Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more’” (Matthew 2:16-18).

Christmas is arguably the most celebrated holiday of the year, filled with good tidings and well-wishes, colorful lights and glamorous decorations. We celebrate Christmas because of the birth of Jesus Christ—born of the virgin Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit, who came to earth in order to save mankind from eternal damnation.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Yet while Christmas invokes warm, fuzzy feelings like a cup of hot chocolate on a cold, wintry night beside a roaring fireplace, the harsh reality is that Christmas came over 2,000 years ago with both rejoicing and mourning. 

Matthew's Gospel account brings a somber realization to the enormity of Christ’s purpose to sacrifice His life for all mankind. We would be hard-pressed to find this passage portrayed in a Christmas pageant nor would it ever be remembered as much as the angels, shepherds and wise men when the Christmas story is recanted. 

However, God inspired Matthew to pen these verses as a stern reminder and humble warning to all that from the beginning, the birth of Jesus Christ came in opposition to the selfish desires of man, both then and now, and we would be remiss to forget what happened in Bethlehem. 

PERSECUTION:

Sadly, many fathers and mothers were physically forced to watch their precious baby boys being slaughtered before their very eyes, not as gifts, but as sacrifices to the secular theology of sinful mankind (emulated through Herod’s decision) which elevated self-preservation.

That struggle is ever before us as Christians. Standing boldly for the absolute truth of Scripture in today’s culture is not simply old-fashioned or unpopular. Rather, it is regarded as borderline “hate speech” to those who oppose its divine inspiration, and we are foolish to nonchalantly disregard our opposition as harmless. 

No, the tide of post-modernistic thinking where truth is relevant and political correctness supersedes absolute truth is crashing upon the shoreline of our faith, and we must decide whether we'll stand boldly and weather the storm, or be washed away in the secular current. It is emblematic of Jesus’ explanation regarding the “Parable of the Sower” found in Matthew 13:1-9.

“Hear then the parable of the sower: When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty” (Matthew 13:18-23).

Fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, on account of the Word, we will be persecuted. And because Jesus IS the Word, we cannot draw lines in the sand regarding what we like and don’t like in the Bible to the detriment of its validity. 

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). 

As born-again Christians, we do not have to draw a line in the sand between right (righteousness) and wrong (sin), for Jesus created boundary lines of judgment within the pages of Scripture. Therefore, we must stand confidently knowing Jesus IS truth and came to “bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37) of His Word.

“So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33).

DECISIONS:

This Christmas season we must decide whether we stand for Christ. For as born-again believers who have made decisions to follow Jesus and make Him Lord and King over their lives, we must understand that in accepting Him, we are accepting His Word as ABSOLUTE TRUTH. 

Therefore, we cannot accept Jesus as Lord and not endorse, support and believe every word of the Bible as absolute truth, because “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

Keep in mind, Jesus declared to Pilate in the midst of His impending death, “Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37), and we must decide whose voice we will listen to: Culture or Jesus.

Make no mistake, Matthew 2:16-18 drives home the enormity of salvation because accepting Jesus requires we accept the sacrifice which comes with it, and accepting that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary requires we accept the sacrificial slaughter which came in opposition to His glorious birth. 

Therefore, if we stand for Christ, we must be willing to withstand the overwhelming tide of persecution and opposition which comes with obeying His Word. However, will we shy away and crumble under the weight of political correctness to remain silent, and/or endorse relative truths the Bible declares as sinful?

Or will we declare like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who were threatened with fiery death, to denounce God and bow before the golden image King Nebuchadnezzar created? Do not be naïve, for the idol of today’s culture is undoubtedly relative truth!

“Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought. So they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar answered and said to them, ‘Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now if you are ready when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?’ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up’” (Daniel 3:13-18).

SACRIFICE:

Therefore, are we willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for Christ? It is the only question which should be at the forefront of our hearts this Christmas season. 

For in choosing to celebrate Christ’s birth, we must realize He came into the world to be the ultimate sacrifice, just like those baby boys in Bethlehem who were slaughtered because of the threat He represented to sinful man bent on dismissing the truth of His Word and divinity.

“Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:14-15).

I fully empathize with the struggle of accepting God’s Word as absolute truth because it unashamedly judges every sin and leaves no room for justification or rationalizations which contradict what Scripture declares. 

However, we cannot fall into a trap of only accepting God as love and not wrath. For it was by God’s judgmental wrath of sin that we have Jesus to thank for being the ultimate sacrifice, and providing salvation for us in spite of our sin which deserved eternal separation from God. 

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18). “But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:5). “But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury” (Romans 2:8). “But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us?” (Romans 3:5).  “For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression” (Romans 4:15).  “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:6-9).

BOTTOM-LINE:

Our lives here on earth come down to the enormity of what or who we define as our personal truth, and as Christians, whether we accept God’s truth as absolute in its entirety. Therefore, we must be clear on the consequences of disregarding the Bible as absolute truth, or perhaps as is common today, accepting most of Scripture as some semblance of truth, but not all. 

Again, John 1:1 plainly states that Scripture (i.e. the Bible) and Jesus are interchangeable, one in the same, the lifeblood of one another. Therefore, to not accept even a single word of Scripture as absolute truth is to denounce Jesus Himself.  For God is with us and we are obligated in submission to Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives to fully accept Him and His Word, because again, they are one in the same according to John 1:1, 1:14, 18:37, etc. 

This Christmas I pray every man, woman and child would not forget or dismiss the sacrificial reality of Matthew 2:16-18, because in truth (and as we are reminded in this amazing song and video from North Point Community Church), a baby came and everything changed for eternity.