It seems that everyone loves babies. I'm using everyone in quotes, of course. Babies seem to represent everything that this world says it wants, but rarely finds. Love, gentleness, goodness, meekness. In their infancy, they're probably the symbol of purity and innocence, at least as far as the world is concerned. And that's why the story of the baby Jesus is so appealing, even to those who have little or no Christian faith. A babe born in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. It's a beautiful story. But let that same baby become an adult. Let him or her start questioning the system or its leaders, and it's a whole new game. We begin to see this when the young Jesus who at one time was the beloved babe in the manger, wandered from the oversight of his parents for the first time. I wonder how those doctors and lawyers who first gathered together in the presence of the 12-year-old Jesus felt when he sat among them in the temple, joined their conversation, and began to ask them hard questions. I wonder what those questions were. Wouldn't you love to know? I wonder if they were as piercing as those he would ask them later when they tried to entrap him and he ended up trapping them on many occasions. I wonder when those men who probably thought they would impress the young boy with their intelligence first felt threatened by him. I wonder when their amazement at his wisdom first turned to discomfort and annoyance. when they first began to think, isn't it time to put this young upstart in his place? Wonder how soon that came into that conversation. Of course, they were never able to put him in his place because he was above them. The advent of the word becoming flesh and dwelling among us was even more amazing than just that story. Long before he was 12 years old, this unique visitor to earth would be hated as well as adored. For as the scripture says, he came into the world and the world was made by him, but the world did not know him. Our text this morning is one of the most beloved passages of Christ's first coming. And so I'd like us all to read it in unison together. as we remind ourselves once again of the uniqueness of this holy one who was born a king. So please read aloud along with me as we read Matthew chapter 2, verses 1 through 11. 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. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. So they said to him in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judea, are not the least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people, Israel. Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search carefully for the young child, and when you have found him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship him also. Now when they heard the king, they departed. And behold, the star which they had seen in the east went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child would marry his mother and fell down and worship him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. I think we were all defaulting to the King James as we were reading through that. For this passage, I'd like to focus on two words in particular near the beginning of verse two. Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? Born a king. Imagine a child at birth being proclaimed a king. We've heard of young kings. We've heard of teenage kings and even boy kings. But infant kings, not so much. The world of kings is very small indeed, and for every vacancy there are many ambitious competitors. It was understandable that Herod would fear for his throne when he heard of the birth of this extraordinary king. But what was and is so special about this king? Well, to answer this question, I'd like us to consider a contrast between this king and every other king who has ever lived. Multiple times in the Bible, we find the expression, the kings of the earth, the kings of the earth. These earthly sovereigns are set in contrast to God in his total sovereign dominion. And the Lord has made it so. For example, In Psalm 89 and verse 27, you don't need to turn to these, I'm just going to read a few verses from various passages. In that psalm, it's clearly a messianic psalm, and the Lord in that psalm says that he will make his son my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. There's that expression set in contrast to Christ. In Revelation 1 and verse 5, Jesus is referred to as the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. And there is, of course, by these kings, at best, an uneasy submission to God's rule over them. For example, in Psalm 76 and verse 12, the Lord is majestically described as he who is feared by the kings of the earth. Psalm 102 and verse 15 says, the nations shall fear the name of the Lord and all the kings of the earth shall fear your glory. In other passages, the kings are said to have committed fornication with Mystery Babylon, the great harlot, the queen of luxury and forbidden pleasure. One, the one this this harlot who, according to Revelation 17 and verse 12, she is the one with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. Revelation 18 and verse 3 says that the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. Ultimately, the opposition of these kings would come together and they would rise up and join forces and rebel against the Lord, the King of kings. We're so familiar with Psalm 2 and verse 2, which says, the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, let us break their bands apart and so on. Revelation 16 and verse 14, describing Satan's final battle against the Almighty, speaks of three unclean spirits like frogs, which are like spirits of demons performing signs, going out to the, there it is again, kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to battle of the great day of God Almighty. But of course we know they could never prevail. They never will prevail, nor will they escape. When their judgment comes, according to Revelation 6 in verse 15, they will flee and run for cover, for as that verse tells us, the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves of the rocks and the rocks of the mountains, even the kings of the earth. But of course, there's no hiding from the wrath of the Almighty. a scene in our passage this morning in Matthew chapter two, which professing Christendom and even the world finds so tender and touching, was only a small part of the reality that manifested itself in the world that day so long ago. It's true that this passage in Matthew chapter two has brought tears of joy to the eyes of many. It's a beautiful passage, which has been read and re-read thousands of times as it speaks of the blessed arrival of the Promised One, the sincere search by the wise men from the East coming to worship the Christ Child, who will one day rule unopposed as the Prince of Peace. But until all of those things are completely fulfilled, there will be between two opposing forces that can't be reconciled a continual war that will not end and cannot end until one side is completely defeated and every vestige of his influence is completely rooted out and destroyed. That brings us to our summary of the message this morning. In your bulletin it says, in contrast to his visible appearance as a lowly babe born to lowly parents in a humble major, When Christ was born King of the Jews in Matthew 2 and verse 2, he represented God's proclamation to the kings and people of the earth that he would ultimately triumph over everything that exalts itself against him. And with that introduction, let's look to the Lord in prayer once again. Heavenly Father, we sincerely look to you expressing our humility that we are unable within ourselves to understand the implications, to even begin to understand the implications of these words that are given from heaven that were put in the mouths of holy men of old who wrote them down and those who preserved them from generation to generation by your direction and by your power and by your strength. And Lord, now they have come down to us and we are truly blessed. We acknowledge once again, truly blessed to have these words. I pray, Lord, that you would help us to understand them more fully, to think of their meaning beyond the simple story that is written on the page. because truly their meaning is deeply spiritual and eternal. And so I pray that you would enable us now to understand and to apply it to each of our lives today. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Now there were, as I've mentioned in our passage this morning, there were actually two kings. One of them named Herod, a king from this world, The other, Jesus, a king from beyond the world, from beyond this world. I'm not going to speak of Herod this morning, but I'd like to take another more fully developed character from scripture as our example of a king of the earth, an Old Testament king by the name of Zimri. And I'd like us to look at some general characteristics of an earthly king and then contrast that with our heavenly king. So our first point this morning is the making of a king of the earth. The making of a king of the earth. And for our passage regarding Zimri, let's turn to 1 Kings chapter 16. 1 Kings. Chapter 16. Now, like most earthly kings throughout history, Zimri was unworthy of kingly honor. He came to power in the northern kingdom of Israel, which had formed as a result of Jeroboam's rebellion against the house of David, as you recall. The events we're about to read in this chapter took place during an especially bloody period in this breakaway nation, northern Israel, that had nine different dynasties or ruling families during the course of its history, as opposed to one ruling family in the southern kingdom of Judah. Now, I put a handout in your bulletin just in case you want to follow the two kingdoms. The Kingdom of the North is on the left side of that chart, and the Kingdom of Judah is on the right side. And you might notice there are little arrows in there. The arrows, the solid arrows represent change in rulers, and the broken arrows represent a change in the ruling house or dynasty. of which there are three different ruling houses just in this short passage. So let's begin reading in verse eight and read down through verse 19. In the 26th year of Asa king of Judah, Elah the son of Baasha became king over Israel and reigned two years in Tirzah. Now his servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him as he was in Tirza, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, steward of his house in Tirza. And Zimri went in and struck him and killed him in the 27th year of Asa, king of Judah, and reigned in his place. Then it came to pass when he, Zimri, began to reign, as soon as he was seated on his throne, that he killed all the household of Baasha, He did not leave him one male, neither of his relatives, nor of his friends. Thus Zimri destroyed all the household of Baasha according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke against Baasha by Jehu the prophet." So it was God's will that Baasha, the entire house or dynasty of Baasha would be destroyed. And then it says in verse 13, for all the sins of Baasha and the sins of Elah, his son, by which they have sinned and by which they had made Israel sin in provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with their idols. Now the rest of the acts of Elah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And verse 15, in the 27th year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri had reigned in Tirzah seven days. And the people were encamped against Gibethon, which belonged to the Philistines. Now the people who were encamped heard it and said, Zimri has conspired and also has killed the king. So all Israel made Omri the commander of the army king over Israel that day in the camp. Then Omri and all Israel with him went up from Gibethon And they besieged Tirza. And it happened when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house down upon himself with fire and died. After seven days on the throne, by the way, because of the sins which he had committed in doing evil in the sight of the Lord, in walking in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin, which he had committed to make Israel sin. So in this passage, we have the end of the house of Baasha. We have the short-lived house of Zimri, of which he was the only member. And then we have coming to the throne, the house of Omri. And if we were to read on immediately after the events that we just read about, the extremely wicked Ahab of the house of Omri will come to power in response to which the Lord will send the prophet Elijah at the beginning of the very next chapter. But for now, let's turn our attention just to this passage before us, when the kingdom of Israel was in a greatly fallen state. Just a few chapters earlier in 1 Kings chapter 12, don't turn there, but in that chapter, Jeroboam, Israel's first king, had set up a counterfeit religion within the territories of the northern tribes, And this had taken its toll on the spiritual life of the Northern Kingdom. Already, the Jewish nation was almost completely given over to idolatry. Here in verse 8 of chapter 16, we have the enthronement of yet another wicked king, Elah, the son of Baasha, who was also wicked. In verse 9, we see Elah's debauchery as he was drinking himself drunk. That in itself was another direct violation of God's commandment that the king of Israel should not be given over to strong drink, lest it debase his character and cloud his judgment. There was little regard for God's commandments in Israel in those days. In the next verse, verse 10, Elah, the perpetrator of evil, after a reign of only two years, himself becomes the victim of evil as Zimri, the commander of his chariots, rises up against him. And then in the next few verses, in verses 10 through 15, this commander, Zimri, comes to the throne, and I see Zimri especially as typical of the kings of the earth. in ways that I think have some very broad implications. You may say, well, Zimri is a minor king, only sat on the throne for seven days, and indeed he was in the overall scheme of things, but I think the implications of Zimri His character, his actions have very broad application even to us. So I'd like us to notice several things about this man, Zimri, that are typical of the kings of the earth, and I'm going to apply it even beyond that. And we begin with his dishonorable origin. His dishonorable origin. Where did Zimri come from? Now I'm not a blue blood. A blue blood is someone who thinks that nobility is carried in bloodlines. I don't believe that genuine nobility is carried in bloodlines. But Zimri, as this passage implies, has an especially lackluster pedigree. He serves at the behest of Elah, whose only claim to fame was that he was a wicked king. And in fact, he was the son of Bayashah, who was another wicked king. Not a lot of nobility going on in northern Israel at that time. In verse nine, Zimri appears, not from honorable stock. He's described merely as Zimri, the commander of half of Elah's chariots. Never would have been the Lord's way for a king to rise to the throne in this manner, but this was a kingdom in disobedience in many ways. Zimri's spiritual inspiration, of course, was Satan. Could we get any lower and more disreputable than that? By the way, Satan also, despite his exalted view of himself, was also of lowly origin. He saw himself as the co-creator and equal with God. He apparently thought he was so, but he was merely a finite created being. So what does that make Zimri? He was nothing more than the servant of a wicked king who was the son of another wicked king, and all of them were nothing more than minions of Satan, the first rebel. What could be a more disreputable and dishonorable pedigree than that? But let's notice also Zimri's dishonorable ambition. Perhaps as a youth, I'm maybe reading between the lines here, but perhaps as a youth, Zimri dreamed of becoming king someday. Maybe his father, whoever that was, we don't even know, maybe his father had put these thoughts of grandeur into his head when he was just a toddler. You'll be a king someday, perhaps, Zimri was told. Maybe Zimri wrote an essay in kindergarten on how he would like to be a king someday, the king. Maybe he disciplined himself in things military and rose in the ranks until he became a commander, seeing this as the surest road to the top. But we're told that he commanded only half of Ila's chariots. Maybe that made him feel inadequate. Maybe it drove him crazy until he could seize control of everything for himself. And so in verse nine, Zimri strikes. Catching the dissipated, drunken King Elah off guard, Zimri seized the opportunity, went in and killed him. Now this may have been fairly common and typical of the way kings of other nations ascended the throne. but it was far beneath the dignity and propriety of a king of Israel who was supposed to be a servant of the Most High God. But as we've said, Zimri's spiritual inspiration wasn't the Lord by any means, it was Satan, who also had dishonorable ambition, striving and reaching for what did not belong to him, as we're told in those well-known passages of Ezekiel 28, for example, where the Lord says to Satan, your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. And in Isaiah 14, where the Lord says, All of those things, going through the mind of Satan, apparently see these as well in Zimri. Dishonorable origin, dishonorable ambition, and that led him thirdly to his dishonorable actions. Zimri's sin was noteworthy. Notice in verse 12, he kills King Elah and his entire household. spilling more blood than was customary, even in the brutal times in which he lived. For verse 11 tells us that he killed not only the immediate family of his predecessor, but also his entire household. That would include his relatives, his kinsfolk, even the friends of the late king would have been included. Sort of like Herod, he was determined to wipe out anyone who might potentially be a threat to his throne in the future. Zimri's sorry legacy in his death was that he walked in the way of Jeroboam. Look down in verse 19. Walked in the way of Jeroboam, doing evil in the sight of the Lord, in walking in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin, which he had committed to make Israel sin. And by the way, as for Jeroboam, that verse suggests that he was not only individually guilty for his own idolatry, but that he played a role in the sin of the entire nation. Jeroboam, who made Israel to sin. And in that dishonorable legacy, Zimri played a proud part and continued the tradition. And by the way, Satan himself was also distinguished in his legacy for nothing else but for his sin. Remember again in Ezekiel 28 where God says to Satan, you were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created until iniquity was found in you. You have defiled your sanctuaries by the multitude of your iniquities. So God is telling Satan, you had nothing else worthy of mention, but the multitude of your sins. What a sorry legacy that is. Zimri, king of the earth, dishonorable in his origin, dishonorable in his ambition and in his actions. And finally, we have to notice his shortened reign. Every earthly king desires to remain on his throne forever. that only Christ the King will reign forever. The earthly dominions of all others who thought themselves to be sovereigns will be cut short, cut off. For a lifetime, Zimri's lust for power burned within him. But he held it for how long? Verse 15, seven days. Reigned in Tirzah for seven days. after which he died in shame and ignominy." The story is told in verses 16 through 19 when Zimri killed Elah the king. We were told the story of how the people saw what Zimri had done and they rallied not around him, but they rallied around Omri, the commander of the army. And then verse 17, Omri and all Israel went up besieged Tirza, and Zimri seeing this end result of his crimes, he burned the house down upon himself, thinking to end his misery, but of course the misery that he would suffer for all eternity was just beginning. What goes around comes around, for in the same manner that he killed his king, Elah, Omri, the commander of the army, now kills him and becomes king in his stead. Now this series of events very likely wasn't in Zimri's plans, right? How proud, how accomplished he must have felt when he first seized the throne from the debauched King Hela. How expectant he must have been for a long and prosperous reign with himself in the top seat of honor. But in this way, Zimri was more foolish than even his father, the devil. For Revelation 12 and verse 12 says that even the devil knows that he has but a short time. Not so short as this. We've said a lot about Zimri, but let's not put all the blame on Zimri. We may say that Zimri was an extreme example of an earthly king. But in other ways, he was a representative of the entire fallen human race, was he not? Who among us, even before we, or who among us rather, before we came to Christ, as we sat on the throne of our own lives, wouldn't fit any of the descriptions I just gave you? Dishonorable in our origin? Aren't we all that? Shapen in iniquity, conceived in the sin of our father, Adam? That's true of all of us, right? Dishonorable origin? Weren't we all dishonorable in our ambitions and in our behavior, serving ourselves, our sins, and our own ambitions? And won't all of unrepentant sinful humanity be cut off in its prime to pollute the earth no more with its sins? And that's why we all, I think, as earthly kings of our own domains, needed the advent of the King from heaven. In Revelation 1 and verse 5, John saw a vision of Jesus Christ, whom he calls the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. Here is the king that we need, the ruler over the kings of the earth. We need this king to guide us and rule over us in truth and righteousness, to restore his image in us, and that brings us to our second point. We've looked at the making of a king of the earth, but I'd like us now to look at the advent of the king from heaven. Matthew 2 and verse 2 represents the earthly appearance of the heavenly king, this one who was born king of the Jews. But his existence, of course, didn't begin there. For in John chapter one, you don't need to turn there, but we know that we're told that he was in the beginning with God because he was God. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, the word was God. When we see Christ in the scriptures, his coming wasn't merely a birth. As I mentioned last week, it was an advent. It was an arrival of a great dignitary. And in this, I think we can more fully appreciate what Matthew 2 and verse 2 means when it says that the wise men came searching for one who was born a king. Who was this great king who arose not from the earth, but came down from heaven? Let's look at a number of characteristics about him, beginning with the fact that we see him in scripture honored as the king of creation. He is the king of creation. Psalm 93 and verse 1 tells us that the Lord reigns. He is clothed with majesty. The Lord is clothed. He has girded himself with strength. Surely the world is established so that it cannot be moved. It's as if creation itself is God's royal clothing, demonstrating his sovereignty to his created world. And in that creative capacity, the three persons of the Godhead, as we know, acted together. Even in the beginning of Genesis, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the water. And then God and the other persons of the Godhead said, let us make man in our image. Turn with me if you would to Proverbs chapter eight. Proverbs chapter eight. Proverbs chapter eight, we have a personification of wisdom. Wisdom speaks as if wisdom is a person, but many, if not most, commentators agree that it's not just wisdom speaking here, but Christ. And Christ, in this passage beginning in verse 25, describes his place of honor in the creation of the world. Notice in verse 25, Wisdom speaking, I believe personifying Christ, before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth. While as yet he had not made the earth or the fields or the primeval dust of the world, when he prepared the heavens, I was there. when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he assigned to the sea its limit so that the waters would not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him as a master craftsman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. Truly the words of Colossians 117 are, I think, described here. Colossians 117 says that he, Christ, was before all things and by him all things consist. They all hold together, even the elements themselves that wouldn't exist without his mighty power. And now turn with me to Hebrews chapter 1. And in Hebrews chapter one, Christ is again put forth as the king of creation, not by usurping that title from God the father, but by his father's exaltation of the son to his rightful place. Notice in Hebrews chapter one, in that wonderful opening introduction, the first four verses, Notice in verse one, God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his son, whom he, Jehovah, the father, has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he, meaning Christ, made the worlds, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So we see Christ, the heavenly king, rightfully honored as the king of creation. But there's another thing we see about Christ in scripture, and that is we see him honored rightfully as the king of glory, the king of glory. Turn back with me to Psalm 24. In Psalm 24, we have this description beginning in verse seven. As this King of Glory enters, lift up your heads, O you gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. The King of Glory shall come in. Now, the first question, obviously, is who is this King of Glory? And that is the question that is rhetorically asked as the King of Glory enters. And interestingly, the answer is given in military terms, in terms that would describe a great conquering general, the Lord strong and mighty, verse eight says, the Lord mighty in battle. Now, where has he been in battle? That's a good question. The answer is that he's been conquering his foes, the forces of Satan and of evil. Remember that great passage from Isaiah 63, who is this who comes from Edom with dyed garments from Basra, the one who is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? Well, the answer is given in Isaiah 63, I who speak in righteousness mighty to save. Obviously, there's a reference there to Christ. Christ's name, by the way, is Jehovah saves. I, who am mighty to save. But let's go back to Psalm 24. Because in Psalm 24 in verse nine, the refrain is repeated. Lift up your heads, it says, O you gates. Lift up, you everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. And then in verse 10, there's a second rhetorical question. Who is this King of Glory? And once again, it's answered in terms of conquering the Lord of Hosts, the Lord of Armies. He is the King of Glory. And it's described in a way that the gates themselves, the heading of the gates would actually have to be lifted up because he is so exalted as he enters. Christ honored here rightfully as the conquering King of glory, King of creation, King of glory. And finally, I think we also see him in scripture rightfully honored as the King of righteousness and of peace. Turn with me to Psalm 72. Psalm 72, and notice just verse one. sort of an elusive foreshadowing of Christ, I think, in this verse, in his role as the prince of peace, judging the world. Notice it says, give the king your judgments, oh God, and your righteousness to the king's son, verse one. And then it goes on to say, he, the king's son, will judge your people in righteousness and your poor with justice. Now think about this, the God who says he is a jealous God, who shares his glory with no one, is said to give his righteousness to his son. Now turn with me, if you would, to Hebrews chapter seven. And I think Hebrews chapter 7, we might say, is the fulfillment of those two verses in Psalms that we just read. Hebrews chapter 7, and notice in verse 1, beginning in verse 1, for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, and we know who Melchizedek was, he was the foreshadowing of Christ's eternal priesthood for this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated king of righteousness, and then also king of Salem, meaning king of peace. There we see peace and righteousness, or justice, or rather peace and justice. peace and righteousness. And then also King of Salem, meaning King of Peace, without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of his life, but made like the Son of God. In the Old Testament, God demands righteousness, which man is unable to live up to. In the New Testament, Christ fulfills the righteousness, He tears down the wall between God and man, and he gives the believer peace with God. And so for us, he is indeed the king of righteousness, and he is indeed our king of peace. Prince of peace, as that great passage in Isaiah chapter nine says. So as we come to a conclusion of our message this morning, what's the significance of this birth so long ago that we continue to celebrate? We live in a world that is in many aspects dominated by the god of this world. So much of the moving and shaking in this present world is done by the inspiration of that devious spiritual being that has exalted himself against God. I'm speaking there of Satan, of course. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6 and verse 12. When the Bible speaks of the kings of the earth, It's speaking not merely of kings, but I would say it's speaking of every one of us in our sinful and unsaved condition. We come into this world of lowly origin. We, like King Zimri, were by nature characterized by unbridled ambition. We, like Zimri, were defined by our wickedness, that is, by our sins. And we, like Zimri, are plagued by the shortness of our time on this earth. The shortness of our time being the result of the curse in the garden, certainly every man at his best state is but a vapor, according to Psalm 39 and verse 5. So let me leave you with a challenge this morning. In the beginning of this passage, I quoted, we quoted Psalm 2, which is also quoted in Acts 4 and verse 26. Let me give that to you. It says, the kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. They took their stand against the Lord and against his Christ. The question this morning is, where do you take your stand? You may say, I believe in Jesus. I love him. You may say, I love the songs we sing. I love the celebrations of his birth. I love the things we say about his sinless life, his resurrection, and so on. I'm ready and willing to die for him, you might say. But the question really is, have you taken your stand and determined to live for him? So let's restate that question. Where do you, not merely by your words, but by your thoughts and in your actions, where do you truly take your stand? Who is this king who was born king of the Jews that day so long ago? And proclaimed by God the Father who said of him in Psalm 2, yet have I set my king on my holy hill of Zion. The question I leave you with, who is he to you? Who is he to you? May it be that for those of us in this room, he is joyfully our savior, our life, our sovereign Lord. What wonderful news is the birth of Christ for those of us who love him, who love his commandments and who wait for the consolation of Israel, Church of the Living God. We love to tell that story and sing about it and read about it in scripture over and over and over. May that be who Christ is to you. Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let every heart prepare Him room. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, once again, we thank you for the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who came from heaven and was born on earth as a man, as a lowly babe, but he very quickly showed that he was truly God in the flesh, who came not just to live among us, but to die. Thank you, Father, even for that great act of obedience, his death on the cross. The man who came to die, the God who came to die so that we might live. Thank you, Father, for this wonderful story that we especially think about at this time of the year. I pray that you would bless not just the remainder of this day gathered with your saints, but the remainder of this season as we remember this great redemption story. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.