Reading Matthew 2, I was struck by the people who listened..
King Herod for his own gain....
The Magi for their safety...
Joseph, for his family's safety...
Mothers weeping for the children they had lost...
King Herod wanted to know where the Christ was to be born, he had heard from these foreigners that the king of the Jews was born and he didn't want to be usurped of his power! To that end he killed all the boys in the Bethlehem and surrounding areas...oh, listening to the cries of those mothers...for the injustices of this man...
The Magi listened to the chief priests and teachers of the law as well...but to a different end...to worship this Christ...give Him gifts..not to destroy...
And then they listened to the warning to go another way to their country...I wonder what would have happened if they had told Herod...and not heeded the warning...
Joseph listened as well as he had before. First, he listened to take Mary as his wife when he considered her pregnancy...then, now again to take them to safety in another country...Egypt ...a country their ancestors had escaped and journeyed from so many years ago..now was a safe haven..
Finally, Joseph listened again to return to Israel after the death of Herod, but to another town, Nazareth...not to Bethlehem ...
Moses listened..and led a nation..
Noah listened...and saved his family and mankind....
Abraham listened....journeyed to a new land..
Samuel listened...in the night as a boy..
David listened...and led a nation...
The prophets listened and ....wrote so much scripture...as well as prophesied...
Paul listened ....learned, travelled...
And many more to write down Gods word...and follow God...
We can still listen to God's word, the Holy Spirit speaking truth..
Thank YOU for listening ears..let me hear words of truth and obey ...the ramifications can be life changing .....
Matthew 2:1-23 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. When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “‘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 rulerwho will shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.” After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” 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. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: “A voice is heard in Ramah,weeping and great mourning,Rachel weeping for her childrenand refusing to be comforted,because they are no more.” After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.
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