Find Hope: Matthew 1-4预览

Light in Darkness

When we think of Jesus and particularly his birth at Christmas, we think of nice things: carols, lights, angels singing. And we should—the arrival of Jesus in human form should make us rejoice and praise God for drawing near.

But it's also a story that starts in shadow. Jesus is born in unimpressive circumstances, and from the very beginning of his life, he is pursued by the enemy. Revelation 12 gives us a picture of a dragon—representing Satan—waiting to devour the child as he is born. That dragon is embodied in today's passage by King Herod.

Herod is self-interested, insecure, and brutal. Threatened by the arrival of this newborn king, he has all the male children two years old and younger slaughtered so that he can remain king. The world is hostile to Jesus, and life here on earth is marked by pain, sorrow, and evil, even now that the king has come. But against this dark backdrop, the glory of the gospel shines all the brighter. Jesus has come to take the punishment that people like Herod, and people like us, deserve. Jesus is enough to rescue and forgive the darkest and most evil of people, and he has come. Even as he hangs on the cross, he prays for those who put him there that they might know forgiveness.

Today, ponder this: Who in your life feels beyond the grace of God? Pray that God would save them just like he saved you. Where in your life or our world does the darkness feel overwhelming? Pray for that circumstance, that God would show you the power of the gospel at work in that situation, and that he would shine even brighter in the darkness.