Welcome to Unveiled Faces, a Redeemer Presbyterian Church podcast. Please enjoy our feature presentation. First one of our sermon texts introduces us to a man who is called Herod the King. And Herod was a famous, dangerous, Brilliant, paranoid, successful, cruel, and arrogant king. And he was the king of Judea in 37 BC until 4 BC, but you need to know that he was a client king. He's referred to in our text as a king, but in reality, he's a client king. A client king is a king who's dependent upon a more powerful state, for political, economic, or military support, and therefore the client king is expected to serve the interests of that state, that more powerful state. And so here in the case of Herod, he was a client king in the Roman Empire. Herod ruled over Judea, but was dependent on Rome for his political, economic, and military support. In return, Herod was, to serve the interests of Rome rather than anybody else. He was a client king to Rome. Well, we know a lot about Herod because a lot of historians have written about Herod. The Jewish historian Josephus is one of them. Josephus provides a lot of details about Herod's life. And if you want to know anything about Herod, Josephus is a really good place to start. And I'm gonna read to you an excerpt from the writings of Josephus. And this is a summation of Herod's life that Josephus wrote. He was a man who was cruel to all alike and one who easily gave in to anger and was contemptuous of justice. And yet he was as greatly favored by fortune as any man has ever been in that from being a commoner, he was made a king. And though encompassed by innumerable perils, he managed to escape them all and lived to a very old age. As for the affairs of his household and his relation to his sons, he had, in his own opinion at least, enjoyed very good fortune, since he had not failed to get the better of those whom he considered his enemies. But in my opinion, he was very unfortunate indeed." Now, that last sentence tells a lot about Herod's character. Concerning the affairs of Herod's household and his relationship with his sons, Josephus says that Herod thought he enjoyed good fortune. And why did Herod think this? Was it because he had such a strong relationship with his sons? Was it because there was deep mutual love between him and his sons? No, it's because Herod thought that he was fortunate because Herod killed three of his sons. He murdered three of his sons. He murdered one of his wives, one of his 10 wives, and then he murdered three of his sons because he thought that they were plotting to take his throne away from him. This is why Josephus, wrote that Herod did not fail to get the better of those whom he considered his enemies. He considered his wife his enemy, he considered his sons to be his enemies, and so he considered himself fortunate that he had gotten the better of his wife and his sons by killing them before they killed him. Herod was a wicked king. Josephus also wrote about a stunt Herod tried to pull when he knew he was about to die. On his deathbed, Herod summoned all the notable Jews in Judea, all the heads of home in Judea, and he summoned them to a stadium where the horse races were held. And then he instructed his sister and her husband to order soldiers to lock the gates when all the Jewish men get inside the stadium, and then to go and slaughter and kill every man that's inside the stadium. Now, why did Herod demand this? Because he knew that he had been a harsh ruler over the Jews. And he knew that the Jews would rejoice at his death. And so he ordered this genocide to ensure that all the Jews in Judea would be in a state of grief when his funeral was held, that all the Jews would be mourning when Herod's funeral was held. Now, fortunately for the Jews, they did respond to the summons, but Herod's sister and brother-in-law did not carry out the genocide as Herod had hoped. Herod died and they refused to follow his orders. Herod was a wicked man. Over the years of his reign, he killed a lot of people and he escaped a lot of assassination attempts on his own life. This is what Josephus was referring to in the quote that I read when he wrote of Herod, though encompassed by innumerable perils, he managed to escape them all and lived on to a very old age. He escaped these innumerable perils by deceiving people, distrusting people, betraying people, and killing people. And whenever he felt threatened by somebody, he had them killed. It didn't matter if they were his family members. If he perceived that they were a threat to him, he ordered them to be killed. Herod was a very paranoid man. He constantly feared that somebody was trying to kill him or that somebody was trying to take away his throne. He became suspicious of everybody. He did not trust anybody. Now there's a spiritual principle that we can see operating in Herod's life. It's very obvious in Herod's life because of the extreme of which he has gone with his sin. And Jesus described this principle in Matthew 7 verse two. Jesus said, for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Now, the measure Herod used when he felt threatened was to eliminate the threat by killing people. Well, in this universe that's governed by our triune God, the measure that's used was measured back to Herod. Herod constantly lived under the threat of being assassinated because he was constantly threatening to assassinate others. Again, the words of Jesus, for with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it'll be measured back to you. In the counseling training program that I've been going through this past year, one of the case studies was of a 30-something year old female who struggled with bulimia. And she had a lot of insecurities about her body, a lot of insecurities about her weight. And so as she sat in church, she felt like everybody was criticizing her, looking, you know, she specifically said, everybody's looking at my arms, that they know my arms are too fat. or she was thinking that everybody was criticizing some other part of her body that was out of proportion. And so for many years, she exercised rigorously for several hours a day in order to keep her body in shape. But after her three children were born, she struggled to maintain her figure through exercise. And so she began inducing herself to vomit the food that she eats at her meals. Well, she hid this from everybody. including her husband. But eventually, her husband discovered what she was doing, and when she refused to stop this behavior, he brought it to the attention of their church elders. And by God's grace, there was a competent female counselor in their church who began to talk with her. And the counselor discovered that the woman's insecurities about her body came from the perception that everybody was judging her. As she sat in church, she thought everybody was judging her. And so the counselor began asking questions that probed into why this woman thought everybody was judging her. And it turned out, it took a couple sessions, but the counselor was able to help the woman see that she had been criticizing all the other women in the church for years. The woman confessed to the counselor that for years, she would sit in church and she would look around at the other ladies in church and she would critique their bodies, she would critique their clothing, she would say to herself, Mrs. So-and-so should never be wearing a dress like that because her arms are too fat. Well, in this universe that's governed by the spiritual principle that whatever measure you use will be measured back to you, this woman began to feel the criticism of other people. And after years of criticizing the bodies of other people when they were sitting in church, this woman eventually reached a point where she was sitting in church and she could not sit in church without feeling like everybody else was criticizing her body, her clothing, what she looked like. In her case, the criticisms were only perceived. Nobody in her church was actually criticizing her body, but she thought they were. She was convinced they were. So her perception became her reality, and this proved the truth of Jesus' words. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. Now this spiritual principle takes many, many different forms. The man who lies all the time will think that everybody else is always lying to him. Why? Well, because that's what he does. That's the measure he uses. He looks at a situation that somebody else is in, and he figures that if he were in that situation, he would lie. And so he figures the other person who is in that situation must be lying. And consequently, the man who lies all the time ends up being a very suspicious and untrusting man because the measure he uses is being measured back to him, whether in reality or only in perception. It really doesn't matter because the perception becomes the reality for that individual. In the same way, the woman who gossips about everybody else will eventually believe that everybody else is gossiping about her. whether real or perceived, the measure she uses will be measured back to her. The man who steals will soon experience a fear that everybody else is trying to steal from him. The woman who's unfaithful to her husband will live in suspicion that her husband is being unfaithful to her. The man who will not forgive others will find it difficult to believe that others have actually forgiven him. The woman who will not trust others will discover that other people don't trust her. The man who disrespects authority will find that his own authority is disrespected. And the woman who lacks sympathy for others will discover that other people lack sympathy for her. Sometimes the measure that's returned back is only in our minds. It's only perceived. Like the case study of the woman struggling with bulimia. The people in her church were not really criticizing her. But she genuinely believed that they were, so her perceptions became her reality, even though the perceptions were not based in reality. In Proverbs 28.1, Proverbs 28.1 describes this phenomenon. It says, the wicked flee when no one pursues. The wicked flee when no one pursues. In other words, a guilty conscience makes an unrepentant sinner believe things that are not real. A guilty conscience makes an unrepentant sinner believe things that are not real. It incites fear within that sinner's heart. And so sometimes the measure that's returned is only perceived. Other times it's very real. And when God says that you'll be judged with a measure that you use to judge, he often allows unrepentant sinners to experience the same troubles that their sins have brought upon others. Galatians 6, 7 says that a man will reap what he sows. In Jeremiah 17.10, God says, I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his own doing. Proverbs 1.31 repeats the same warning to the wicked. They will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. God is so consistent in his application of this spiritual principle that even the non-Christian people of this world recognize it. Some call it karma. Others say what goes around comes around. Or they say the chickens have come home to roost. Or he made his bed, now he needs to lie on it. The warnings of Scripture is that if you persist in doing evil, you can expect the Lord to visit the consequences of your evil upon you. Herod persisted in doing evil. He deceived people, he manipulated people, he betrayed people, and he killed people. Consequently, he lived in constant fear that people were trying to deceive, manipulate, betray, and kill him. And this explains why he was so threatened by the news the wise men brought him. When the wise men arrived in Jerusalem, verse two of our sermon text tells us that they asked Herod, 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. Now verse three says that Herod was troubled by this. And as I've explained the type of person that Herod is, I think you can understand what that word troubled means. Herod was troubled by this. He was troubled because he considered himself to be the king of the Jews. Since the Jews lived in Judea and Herod was king of Judea, he considered himself to be the king of the Jews. And so when the wise men show up and ask about he who is born king of the Jews, Herod foresee this as a direct threat to himself, to his throne, to his position as a client king within the Roman empire. Moreover, Herod was troubled because the wise men were from the east. In other words, the wise men were from the Parthian empire. The Parthians not only ruled the territory of ancient Persia and Babylon, but they had just recently been in control of Judea as well. In 40 BC, the Parthians ruled Judea and they appointed a Jewish man named Antigonus to be the king of Judea. Antigonus was of Hasmonean heritage, which is the royal lineage of the Jews dating back to the Maccabean revolt in 167 BC. Ever since 167 BC, a Hasmonean Jew had been king in Judea. And in 40 BC, that Hasmonean Jew who was king in Judea was Antigonus. But also in 40 BC, the Roman Empire was at war with the Parthian Empire. And one of the contested regions where the conflicts were happening was Judea. And so at the same time that the Parthians appointed Antigonus to be king of Judea, Rome appointed Herod to be king of Judea. Herod was actually appointed king of Judea in 40 BC. But for the next three years, Herod fought with Antigonus, And eventually Herod won. And the Parthians were driven out of Judea and Antigonus was taken captive. Now Josephus explains how Herod went out of his way to make sure that Antigonus and all his offspring were killed. This is because Herod felt threatened by Antigonus. Being the fact that Antigonus was of the royal Hasmonean lineage, he actually had a better claim to the throne than Herod did. After all, Herod was not even a Jew. He was an Edomite, meaning he was of the lineage of Esau. The Jews were of the lineage of Jacob. So Herod was concerned that Rome would eventually favor Antigonus or one of his descendants to be the king of Judea because they were of the royal lineage. And so Herod eliminated this threat by killing Antigonus and all his descendants. And thus began the bloody reign of Herod and Judea in 37 BC. So three decades later, when the wise men from the Parthian Empire arrive in Jerusalem and begin speaking about their desire to worship the one who's born King of the Jews, this was highly concerning to Herod. There's a context for this, that Herod was interpreting all of this in. And so Herod resorted to his usual means of dealing with threat. He put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all of its districts from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. Herod's MO, if it's a threat, kill it. Now to state the obvious, the two kings that are written about in our sermon text are very different kings, and they represent very different kingdoms. The prophet Daniel wrote about this. About 600 years before Jesus was born, King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream that he could not understand. He dreamt of a large statue, The statue's head was made of gold. Its chest and arms were made of silver. Its belly and thighs were made of bronze, its legs were made of iron, and its feet were made partly of iron and partly of clay. And in the dream, Nebuchadnezzar watched while a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands. And the stone struck the statue's feet, breaking it into pieces. And then the stone began to grow. It grew so large that it became a great mountain that filled the entire earth. Now Nebuchadnezzar didn't know what to make of this dream, but Daniel could interpret dreams. And so Daniel interpreted this dream for Nebuchadnezzar. And he said that it's a prophecy that the Lord had given to Nebuchadnezzar through a dream. And the prophecy was about five different kingdoms that would rule on this earth, five kingdoms. And each part of the statue represented one of four of those kingdoms. The stone represented the fifth kingdom. The statue with a head of gold, that was the Babylonian empire, which Nebuchadnezzar was reigning over at the time he had that dream. That was the empire or the kingdom that was in power when a dream came. Then Daniel said a second kingdom will arise. It's not as great as the first. And this kingdom is represented by the chest and arms of silver. And then a third kingdom will arise. This is the belly and the thighs of bronze. And then there will be a fourth kingdom. This fourth kingdom will initially be very strong, as strong as iron, iron that crushes. And this is represented, of course, by the legs of iron on a statue. But then Daniel says that this fourth kingdom will be divided. And this is the feet of mixture of iron and clay. And history shows us that the four kingdoms that Daniel was prophesying about were Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Rome was the kingdom that began as strong as iron, but then became divided and was destroyed when the rock broke into pieces. In Nebuchadnezzar's dream, the rock represents the kingdom of Christ. That's the fifth kingdom of this dream. The rock represents the kingdom of Christ. And Daniel describes the kingdom of Christ in chapter two, verses 44 and 45. And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, referring to the other four. And it shall stand forever, referring to Christ's kingdom. Inasmuch as you saw the stone that was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces, the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold, the great God who has made known to the king what will come to pass, the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure, Daniel says. So when we read in Luke's Gospel that Jesus was born in the days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, understand that Caesar Augustus was the first emperor of the Roman Empire. And when we read in our sermon text that Jesus was an infant in the days of Herod, King Herod, understand that Herod was a client king in the Roman Empire. And we can conclude that the gospel narratives that describe the birth and infancy of Jesus are the beginning of, it's the beginning of the very last part of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. Jesus is the rock which was cut out of the mountain without hands. And the details about the rock being cut out without hands foretells the miraculous nature of Jesus's conception and birth, right? He was born of a virgin. He had no human father. In this regard, he had an adoptive human father, but not one who contributed genetic information to him. And so Jesus is that rock, and the fourth kingdom was in power when Jesus was born. This is the kingdom that David describes as being as strong as iron. But that kingdom will soon be divided, and history tells us that the Roman Empire was divided in 285 A.D. under the Emperor Diocletian. And so in our sermon text, we have the beginnings of the clash of two kingdoms. The rock which had been cut out without hands was about to smash the feet of the statue. The statue not only represents the Roman empire, but it represents all the other kingdoms that had preceded it that are mentioned by Daniel. In other words, the statue represents the kingdoms of man and the rock represents the kingdom of Christ. Herod was a citizen of the kingdoms of man. In our sermon text, Herod is showing contempt for the kingdom of Christ. His contempt is manifesting itself as aggression toward the king of that kingdom, which is Christ Jesus himself. Now, I don't think that Herod had any idea that the baby boy he was trying to kill was the stone cut out of the mountain without hands. But Satan did. Satan knew what was going on. Satan knew the prophecy of Daniel. Satan understood the significance of the baby boy that was recently born in Bethlehem. And so in the realm of flesh and blood, Herod was just behaving as his usual paranoid self. He was trying to locate the infant boy that the wise men told him about so that he could eliminate that perceived threat from his life. But in the spiritual realm, Satan was trying to defeat the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. And here we see Satan as that great fiery red dragon described in Revelation 12. The dragon that's standing before the woman ready to give birth, waiting to devour her child as soon as he's born. Herod was Satan's instrument to devour the infant Jesus. Herod didn't know that he was Satan's instrument, but he was. And that little fact really shouldn't surprise us, because most people don't know that they're instruments of Satan when they are instruments of Satan. They usually find out later, when it's too late, after their evil deeds have been accomplished. And if God is merciful, he brings that to their attention before they pass from this earth so that they have opportunity to repent and receive forgiveness through Christ Jesus. Yes, Satan's instruments can receive repentance, can receive forgiveness through Christ Jesus. But once they pass from this earth, Hebrews 9, 27 says it's appointed for a man to die once and then the judgment is too late. Many people don't find out that they are Satan's instruments until it's too late. Now the birth of Jesus marks the beginning of the kingdom of Christ that will, according to the dream, increasingly grow until it fills the entire earth. And notice from Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream that the kingdom of Christ grows at the expense of the kingdoms of man. The kingdom of Christ grows at the expense of the kingdoms of man. In other words, the kingdom of Christ and the kingdoms of man do not grow parallel to each other. They don't both increase at the same time. Rather, the kingdom of Christ, as the kingdom of Christ increases, is doing so at the expense of the kingdoms of man. It's destroying the kingdoms of man. It's replacing the kingdoms of man. As Christ's kingdom increases, the kingdoms of man decrease. Now, brothers and sisters, we are living 2,000 years after the arrival of the stone which was cut out of the mountain without hands. Christ's kingdom has been increasing over the past 2,000 years, while the kingdoms of man have been crumbling over these 2,000 years. But the stone, and we know this just by looking around, the stone has not yet filled the earth. which is to say Christ's kingdom is not yet destroyed and displaced all the kingdoms of man. This conflict between the kingdoms is still going on, even in our own day, especially in our own day, which is to say we are presently living within this conflict. Now what I'd like to do for the remainder of the sermon is to highlight four fundamental differences between the kingdoms, plural, of man and the kingdom, singular, of Christ. And since we're living amongst the conflict between these kingdoms, we should be aware of what the characteristics of these kingdoms are so that we would not be deceived or confused into misaligning ourselves with the wrong kingdom. So first of all, there's a difference in what the citizens of these kingdoms place their trust in. There's a difference in what they place their trust in. The citizens of the kingdoms of man trust in the power of the sword and in human might, whereas the citizens of the kingdom of Christ put trust in the cross of Christ. We see an example of this with Herod. Herod was a citizen of the kingdom of man. He used whatever force was necessary to accomplish his goals. So he deceived people, he manipulated people, he betrayed people, he killed people. No options were left off the table for Herod. Jesus, on the other hand, he achieved his goals by taking the form of a servant. Philippians 2, verses seven and eight read, Jesus, he made himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bond servant and coming in the likeness of men, and being found in the appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. But it wasn't just the death of the cross in which we see Jesus being a servant. The cross was the height of Jesus's servanthood. It was the end goal. It was the culmination of his servanthood. But his entire earthly life was lived as a servant. For example, Jesus said to his disciples in Luke 22, 27, for who is greater, he who sits at the table or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table Yet I am among you as one who serves, Jesus says. And he said in John 6, verse 38, for he who comes down from heaven For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. He is a servant to the Father. And again, looking ahead to his death on the cross, he said in Mark 10 verse 45, for even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. As citizens of Jesus' kingdom, We are called to follow the example that Jesus gave us. Not the example of man's kingdom, the kingdoms of man, but the kingdom of Christ. In Matthew 20, verses 25 through 28, Jesus explains this. He says, you know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them, yet it shall not be so among you. But whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. So there's a noticeable difference in what the citizens of the kingdoms of man and the kingdom of Christ place their trust in. The kingdom of man trusts in power, the power of the sword, the power of human might, the power of manipulation and deception, the power of sin. Whereas the kingdom of Christ trusts in the power of the cross, the cross of Jesus Christ. The second contrast is in the goals of each of these kingdoms, their goals. The kingdom of man seeks to promote self, whereas the kingdom of God seeks to promote Christ. Herod only wanted to promote himself even to the point where he was willing to kill his own family members or commit mass genocide of the very people that he was supposed to be protecting just so people would be mournful at his funeral. Things are quite different in the kingdom of Christ. A good example of the attitude that should persist throughout the kingdom of Christ is that which was displayed by John the Baptist. Speaking of Jesus, John the Baptist said in John 3, verse 30, he must increase, but I must decrease. Is this your attitude, brothers and sisters? Are you always striving for the attention, the glory, and the honor that might be given to you? Or are you always trying to deflect that attention, that glory, that honor onto Jesus Christ? This is a pride issue. Pride is of the kingdom of man. And pride wants the attention, pride wants the glory, pride wants the honor to go to self. But as citizens of the kingdom of Christ, we crucify our pride. We put it to death. We put it to death because we want our status, like John the Baptist, to decrease while the status of Christ increases. And so the question is, is this genuinely your desire, brothers and sisters? Are you genuinely wanting to decrease so that Christ might increase? The third contrast is in the treatment of those who are outside the kingdom. The kingdoms of man are intrinsically tribal. And not only tribal, but the kingdoms of man engage in tribalism. What I mean by this is that they only seek the welfare and the good of those who are in their own tribe. And their particular tribe might be defined by geography or ethnicity or ideology, but however the tribe is defined, the kingdoms of man only advance and defend those who are in their own tribe. So in the first century BC, Herod's tribe was a Roman empire. Rome advanced and defended Herod, but it did not advance and defend Antigonus, because he was of the Parthians, which was a different tribe. Today, we see this same form of tribalism in political parties. The Democrats seek only the welfare of other Democrats. The Republicans seek only the welfare of other Republicans. We see tribalism in the LGBTQ plus community. If you affirm a perversion of marriage, then you'll be accepted within the LGBTQ plus community. They'll receive you, they'll embrace you, they'll advance you, they'll defend you. It doesn't really matter what form of perversion you affirm, just so long as it's a perversion of biblical marriage. Because the kingdoms of man are at war with the kingdoms of Christ, and biblical marriage belongs to the kingdom of Christ. And we see other forms of tribalism along the categories of skin color, social groups, age groups, gender groups, religious groups, and so on. Such is the kingdom of man. It's tribalism, only seeking the welfare of its own. The kingdom of Christ is different. We have a tribe. But we don't practice tribalism. It's our lack of tribalism that sets us apart. The tribe is defined by those who believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, right? The household of faith, as the scriptures put it. But we don't make membership in our tribe a requirement for showing love to other people. As followers of Christ, we love all of our neighbors. regardless of whether they are members of the household of faith or not. We even love our enemies and bless those who persecute us. So there's no tribalism within the kingdom of Christ. The kingdoms of man cannot conceive of loving their enemies and blessing those who persecute them. They don't love people outside their tribe. They cancel people outside their tribe. They don't bless people outside of their tribe. They curse people outside of their tribe because the tribe requires it. The tribe cannot stand. Its principles are so utterly evil that if it were to employ the principle of love, it would erode the whole tribe. The fourth contrast is in the nature of our battles. The kingdoms of man have earthly battles that use carnal weapons that fight against flesh and blood. But the citizens of the kingdom of Christ know that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, and against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. And this is why we're able to show love to those who are outside of our tribe, right? They're not our enemy in the sense that we need to destroy them because we're not fighting against flesh and blood. We are fighting, but not to destroy the people who are outside of our tribe. Rather, we are fighting to destroy arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We are fighting to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ. And because we're fighting against principalities, powers, the rulers of darkness of this age, and the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places, we can afford to love our neighbors, our enemies, and those who persecute us. And so you'll see there's a sharp difference between the kingdoms of this world and the kingdom of Christ. There's a sharp difference in the nature of the battles that each fight. In our reading of the law this morning, as we were reading through Joshua 9, we saw that the various Canaanite nations banded together to fight against the Israelite army. And this is because those Canaanite nations understood the power and the intention of the Israelite army. They had heard what had happened to the Amorite kings, Og and Sihon. They had heard what happened to Jericho. They heard what happened in Ai. And knowing that the God of the Israelites had declared the destruction of all the pagan nations in Canaan, those pagan nations came together in a solitary alliance to fight against Israel. Now, that's what's going on in our world right now. The kingdom of Christ is advancing in this world and all the kingdoms of man are united in opposition to Jesus Christ. It's not because all the various kingdoms of man necessarily are aligned in their goals and in their values, but they understand the power and the threat Jesus Christ poses to them. And so they have allied themselves with each other in order that they can mount the most formidable opposition to the kingdom of Christ. And this is why it feels like today, you as a Christian, every way you turn, you run into opposition. Somebody's opposing you. Somebody's trying to oppress you. Somebody's trying to force some form of kingdom of man upon you. Some ideology that is contrary to the kingdom of Christ. This is the heat of the battle that you are experiencing. That, brothers and sisters, is the heat of the battle. And that's okay. This is to be expected when you're a soldier. You're expected to be in the battle. You're expected to feel the heat. Now, citizens of the kingdom of Christ, the confidence that we have is that we are on the winning team. Christ has already conquered sin and death. We are merely the mop-up team that he's using to bring all things into subjection to King Jesus. And so as we transition from Advent to Christmas this week, let's remember that our Savior was born into this world to seek and to save those who are lost, to make atonement for our sins, but don't overlook the fact that he was born in order to destroy the kingdoms of man while spreading peace on earth and goodwill toward men. and let's rejoice that His grace has been given to us so that we are no longer residing within the kingdoms of man. We are no longer residing within the kingdom of darkness, but that He has brought us into His glorious kingdom of light by His grace, through His love, through Jesus Christ, who is our King of kings, our Lord of lords. This has been a presentation of Redeemer Presbyterian Church. For more resources and information, please stop by our website at visitredeemer.org. All material herewithin, unless otherwise noted. Copyright Redeemer Presbyterian Church. Elk Grove, California. Music furnished by Nathan Clark George. Available at nathanclarkgeorge.com.