Before We Point The Finger At Herod....

December 28th for many Christians around the world marks the remembrance of what is often called The Feast Of The Holy Innocents, the commemoration of when King Herod ordered the slaughter of the baby boys, of age 2 and younger, in and around Bethlehem. See Matthew 2:13-18 This particular King Herod became known as "Herod The Great" because of his great achievements in architecture and buildings throughout Judea including the finishing off and adding to the Second Temple in Jerusalem which includes what we today call "The Western Wall" . ( The First Temple of Jerusalem, also known as Solomon's Temple or the Bayit Rishon (First House), was destroyed by the Neo-Babylonian Empire, led by King Nebuchadnezzar II, in 587/586 BCE, following the siege and fall of Jerusalem, leading to the Babylonian exile. "Herod the Great" 's massive reconstruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem transformed a modest structure into a magnificent complex, expanding the Temple Mount and adding grand courts, making it the spiritual heart of the Jewish people until its destruction by Romans in 70 AD). But despite his achievements, "Herod The Great" was a profoundly wicked man. He murdered several of his own children, one of his wives, and had many other family members executed or killed to protect his wealth, power and influence. He was clearly paranoid about self preservation. This event is similar to that of Pharaoh at the time of Moses, when, out of fear of the growing population of the Hebrew people, had all the baby boys thrown into the River Nile. (See Exodus chapter 1) Satan through Pharaoh was trying to preserve himself from the One which GOD had declared was coming Who would destroy him. Through the covenant GOD made with Abraham, it became clear that this One would be of the Seed of Abraham, specifically through Isaac, Jacob and King David culminating in Messiah Jesus of Nazareth. See Genesis 3:14 - 15, 12:1-3, 17:1-19, 22:18 and Galatians 3:16. From the moment of Genesis 3:15 Satan was paranoid because he knew that there was One coming, born of a woman, Who would destroy him. Whilst Satan would bruise this One's heel, referring to the suffering of our LORD Jesus Christ on the cross as He bore the punishment for our sins. In His glorious resurrection however, Christ crushed the serpent 's head underfoot for all eternity. This same demonic spirit of fear, self preservation and self worship, that consumed Herod and Pharaoh , is prevalent in our society today. Whilst we remember each year the terrible murderous act of Herod, how many of us recoil in horror and weep before GOD over the many millions of children that are murdered every day in the abortion clinics? If we believe the Word of GOD then we belive that human life begins at conception in the womb. Abortion is the pursuit of mammon. Mammon is the pursuit of wealth, power and is all about self preservation. Eg if one chooses to believe that having a child is a hindrance to one 's career or economic stability, then that is seen by many as a justification to kill the innocent child in the womb. Is not that the same spirit that consumed Herod The Great? See the words of The LORD in Matthew 6:19-21,and verse 24 Mammon means far more than money. It means power, accumulation of wealth, and at its root, it means the worship of self, self reliance, self preservation. This is the Anti Christ spirit of this age in which we are living where the lives of many millions of children in the womb are destroyed, seen as worthless, in the abortion industry, which comes under the label of "Healthcare". So consumed with self preservation was Herod The Great, that he even organised that at his death, a whole crowd of people would be killed. The Roman-Jewish historian Josephus records that the paranoid" Herod the Great" ordered a large number of distinguished Jewish leaders to be executed upon his death to ensure that there would be mourning throughout Judea, even if it was not for him personally! Herod's reasoning was: "I know that the Jews will rejoice at my death. But I may be lamented by others and have a splendid funeral if you are willing to perform my commands... in order that all Judea and every house may weep for me even against their will". Thanks be to GOD that his cruel command was not carried out. His sister Salome and his brother-in-law Alexas chose not to execute the prisoners, and they released them after Herod's death. This man, titled by the world as "Herod The Great" thought nothing of killing innocent people throughout his life. How many in our society today, think nothing of the many millions of children, made in the image of GOD Himself ( Genesis 1:26-28) in the womb that are killed day in, day out. But every one is known to GOD and precious to Him. See Jeremiah 1:5 and Psalm 139:13-16 Recent data shows that millions of abortions occur annually, with figures like 73 million abortions annually worldwide from 2015-2019, translating to roughly 200,000+ abortions per day. Let us remember that Christ died for human beings, the passion of GOD's heart and pinnacle of all His creation. See Psalm 8 and Job 7:17 So before we quickly point the finger at Herod, let us each be sure to check our own hearts... Is there any part within me that is obsessed with self worship, self preservation or self reliance? If so we have the gracious gift of repentance granted to us as human beings. Repentance is given as a gift to Israel in Acts 5:31,to Gentiles in Acts 11:18 and to all people everywhere in Acts 17:30-31. Repentance is not granted to the fallen angels. See 1 Peter 2:4, Jude 6, Matthew 25:41 and Hebrews 2:16 All human life is precious in the sight of GOD from conception in the womb unto a natural death. Selah Shalom shalom