December 6: ALIGNMENT OF THE WILL

So it was, that while [Joseph and Mary] were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:6-7

BETHLEHEM! The house of bread is where God manifested His love toward humanity by sending His Son, the Bread of Life, into the world. The helpless Babe embodied spiritual nourishment for all people. Lying in the crude manger amid the animals is a picture that evokes gratitude and joy, along with sorrow for the sin He came to bear. The swaddling cloths which were so gently wrapped around His tiny body may have been an old, well-used garment torn into strips. They had surely been carefully and tenderly washed… lovingly prepared for the King of the universe. The Savior who entered our broken world to clothe us in His righteousness was clothed in unimaginable humility. Such clothing was as graveclothes, pointing toward His death on our behalf.

And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. Revelation 12:4b

The sweep of events depicted in Revelation 12 covers the time of Jesus’ birth to the last days of this fallen earth (plus a backward view of Satan’s fall from heaven). The woman, symbolizing God’s congregation, is identified as the people through whom the Savior of the world came. Some 600 years earlier, Daniel had prophesied in Babylon of His coming. Thus, these prophesies were available to Gentile wise men who had studied them through the centuries. They made a great and perilous journey to behold and to worship the baby King, bearing costly gifts for Him. How ironic that His own people, in full possession of the Holy Scriptures, were largely unaware of His arrival.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Matthew 2:1-3

As one of Rome’s client kings, “King of the Jews” was Herod’s title! His selfish “management style” was quite well known, therefore all Jerusalem [was troubled] with him. God’s people had allowed themselves to become distracted by earthly matters. Jeremiah’s prophecy (31:15) reached its fulfillment in this horrific reality: Herod dispatched Roman soldiers to murder all the male babies two years old and under in Bethlehem and the surrounding districts (Matthew 2:16).

Herod, in listening to his own voice of selfishness, aligned his will with the will of Satan, as revealed in Revelation 12:4 above. I must be wary of listening to my own voice! The moment I begin to debate with God over a point that He is making with me, I am in critical danger of aligning with Satan’s will. The deadly consequences could spread to others, indeed many others. Exactly what Satan wants.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25