TEEN TREE OF LIFE
Herod the king vs. Christ Our King
Part 2
December 23, 2018

Before you begin, ask yourself a very important question: Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins? If you answered yes, you will need to be sure that you are filled with The Holy Spirit. How do you do this? You name your sins to God The Father in His Son’s Name. This is called rebound. As a Christian, you must rebound any time you sin. This is taught in 1JOHN 1:9: If we confess our sins [directly to God], He [God] is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now, if you have never believed that Jesus Christ died on The Cross for all of your sins, all you have to do is say to yourself that you believe in Him and you are saved! The Bible verse which teaches us this is ACTS 16:31: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

We pick up where we left off – with Herod’s death: But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, “Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.” So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, and came and lived in a city called Nazareth. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He shall be called a Nazarene.” (MAT 2:19-23)

What do you first think about when you see or hear the word Christmas? Hopefully it’s the first six letters and not a tree with a star plopped on its top, the lights, the shopping or the gifts under that tree. Christmas has to do with the First Advent or the coming of The Lord Jesus Christ. The First Advent begins with His virgin birth and ends with His Resurrection, Ascension and Session. The Ascension has to do with the transfer of Our Lord’s true humanity from planet earth to the third heaven in a resurrection body. The Session is the glorification of Our Lord’s humanity at the Right Hand of The Father. Christmas is summed up in one verse that is the Bible in miniature: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (JOH 3:16)

Notice that God The Father GAVE us His Son. This is the principle of giving with no strings attached. And this Gift is for everyone because The Lord Jesus Christ died for all: I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good—not only ours, but the whole world’s. (1JO 2:1-2 The Message Bible) For those who accept God’s free gift, there are many more gifts to follow.

One such gift is taught in JOH 3:34: for those who receive the gift of God’s Son, He gives the Spirit without measure. In addition to giving us His Son, God gives us the Gift of The Holy Spirit. The verse says “without measure” which means it’s limitless! Think of how important The Holy Spirit is to our Christian Walk. We can’t pray without Him because, as you know, you have to be filled with The Spirit in order to pray correctly. In fact, another gift God gives us is answers to our prayers: … if you shall ask the Father for anything, He will give it to you in My name. (JOH 16:23)

God also gives us Eternal Life and Eternal Security: And I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. (JOH 10:28) Think about that! How more secure could you be than in God’s Hand? JOH 17:8 describes God’s Greatest Gift of all – His Word: “…for the words which You gave Me I have given to them…” What would we do without His Word which He has magnified above His Name? God’s Gifts to us are endless but sadly, we are also reminded at Christmas, that most people on earth have ignored God’s Greatest Gift. They have not accepted His Son. They have rejected Christmas.

In last week’s Tree, we learned about the magi: After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. (MAT 2:9-10) When the verse says they “saw the star” it actually means that they had found it as a result of their amazing knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, and astrology. So that star, plopped on top of a decorated tree, really has a place in the true story of Christmas. The magi followed that star to find Our King who is called a STAR in NUM 24:17: “I see Him, but not now, I behold Him, but not near. Behold, a star shall come forth from Jacob…” Our Lord said: “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root [Jesus Christ as Eternal God] and the descendant of David [Jesus Christ in hypostatic union], the bright morning star [His Title for the First Advent].” (REV 22:16)

God The Father gave The Morning Star to the world at Christmas – the First Advent. Another gift you can add to the list of so many! He will also give the morning star to believers at the Second Advent during which Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be revealed as both battlefield royalty and Jewish royalty. At the Second Advent, He will return to earth and land on the Mount of Olives: In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. (ZEC 14:4)

At that time, Our King will be in His resurrection body. And you will have a resurrection body just like Christ’s: But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him. (PHIL 3:20-21 The Message Bible) What an incredible gift we have to look forward to!

His resurrection body could also be touched: “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. (LUK 24:39-40) This is also taught in MAT 28:9: But Mary [Magdalene] was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means, Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, ‘I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” (JOH 20:11-17) If it didn’t have substance, Our King wouldn’t have said to Mary Magdalene, “Stop clinging to Me.” This verse also teaches us that like His, our resurrection bodies will have vocal cords because He was able to carry on a conversation.

Our King’s resurrection body was recognizable as a human body but retained the scar of the wound in His side: But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, “We saw the Master.” But he said, “Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won’t believe it.”Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, “Peace to you.” Then he focused his attention on Thomas. “Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.” Thomas said, “My Master! My God!” Jesus said, “So, you believe because you’ve seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing.” (JOH 20:25-29 The Message Bible)

Think about Mary’s precious Baby: And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. (LUK 2:7) Imagine her love for Him – not only as her “her firstborn son” but as Christ The Savior – Our King! Then imagine Him on The Cross with a spear in His Side: But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. (JOH 19:34) The apostle John also wrote: And then another Sign alongside the first: a huge and fiery Dragon! It had seven heads and ten horns, a crown on each of the seven heads. With one flick of its tail it knocked a third of the Stars from the sky and dumped them on earth. The Dragon crouched before the Woman in childbirth, poised to eat up the Child when it came. (REV 12:3-5 The Message Bible) The dragon “poised to eat up the Child” is Herod the king: Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. (MAT 2:16) As you know, the story doesn’t end there. Herod, the king failed but Our King goes on forever…