Thy Deep and Dreamless Sleep

My children and I have started reading the Bible together before they go to bed. Because of the season, we decided to start in the book of Matthew. Yesterday was the first part of Matthew 2. I was struck, as we read, by how much the Chief Priests and Teachers of the Law really knew about their coming Messiah. After the wise men from the East visited Herod, the king called all these teachers together and asked from where this Messiah was to come.

⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: ⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’

Given the wholeheartedness with which these same priests and teachers later rejected that same Messiah, I often forget they, too, had read the prophecies. In fact, these men were extremely well-versed. They knew the prophecies of the Messiah backwards and forwards. They knew them so well that, when Herod asked a specific question about them, these men were prepared with a specific answer. 

And yet, in spite of this -- in spite of the man Jesus humbly meeting every requirement set forth in these prophecies -- these great teachers of the Law didn't recognize Him. You see, there was prophecy, and then there was expectation. The nation of Israel expected -- and indeed still expects -- an earthly King, to pull them away from their troubles, to make them great among all nations.

And He will. But first, He came to bridge the gap between man and God. He came, as Isaiah said, to bear our iniquity, and be wounded and killed as a sacrifice. He will come as a King, but came first as a man of sorrow. 

It seems to me these teachers and priests were perfectly willing to allow their Messiah to be that man of sorrow, so long as he wore the Crown of Israel. But what God says He will do, He will do, our own preferences aside.

The Messiah did indeed come to Bethlehem, a ruler and Shepherd, not only for Israel, but for, as Paul reminds us in Romans 3, "all who believe." 

The promised Messiah came out of that little town of Bethlehem, in the land of Judah. The question is, will you recognize Him?