December 30: The Enemy
We can’t believe it’s almost time for the new year! As we zoom toward 2025, we also quickly approach the end of this Christmas devo series. (Cue the sad music.) We’ve learned so much about the Christmas story as we’ve meditated on famous pieces of Scripture with fresh eyes. But, today we are turning over another stone we haven’t gotten to explore yet.
Did you know there’s an antagonist in Jesus’s birth story?
Read Matthew 2:1-20.
Herod served as ruler of the Jewish people under Roman reign during the early years of Jesus’s life. And, by all accounts, He wasn't the greatest guy. He had ten wives and fifteen children, many of which he had executed because of fear of being usurped. That was Herod’s thing: he was extremely paranoid. To him, everyone was a potential enemy, so it makes sense why he reacted so strongly when the Wise Men alerted him to a new rival king.
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, ‘Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.”
Matthew 2:1–3
King Herod felt threatened by a baby. It feels ridiculous to us as we read with our modern eyes, but as we continue on in the narrative, we see that his fear of Jesus had very real implications for the Jews living under his reign.
After the Magi had visited, an angel warned Joseph in a dream that they needed to escape because Herod wanted to kill Jesus (vs 13). They fled to Egypt, but Herod still followed through on his murderous intent.
“When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.”
Matthew 2:16
Jesus’s birth was marked by beauty, yes, but also by terrible tragedy. In the first few years of His life, He was threatened with death, displaced to a foreign country, and surrounded by mourning and loss. Yet, God’s plan was still in place. God was still in control.
We have to face it: we have an enemy. The devil prowls around like a lion, hoping to devour us (1 Peter 5:8). Many of us have lives marked by tragedy, loss, and pain. We’d go as far as to say that none of us have a smooth, worry-free path marked out for us! Even in our best moments, we still have an enemy actively working toward our downfall.
But, we have a blessing in the mess, just as Jesus did. No matter how bad circumstances get, no matter how hard our enemies are working against us, God is still on the throne.
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”
2 Corinthians 4:8–9
Thanks to God’s victory in us and for us, we can look to the joy set before us as we suffer the worst life has to offer. The Herods in our lives are nothing compared to the true King who has our back.
Pray: Lord, give me strength to look to you even in my hardest moments.
Further Study: King Herod’s son, Herod Antipas, played a role in Jesus’s crucifixion. Find Luke 2:6-12 in your Bible to check it out.
Interact: Have you ever been through a season of suffering that made it hard to hold onto hope in God? How did you see Him show up in the midst of it?
