I could have welcomed him. I could have believed in him. I could have worshipped him. I could have been with him now. It’s like all your life he’s reaching out to you, but then when you pass beyond death he becomes beyond your reach. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. And Colin, today a rather unlikely person to hear about the Christmas story from King Herod. Yeah, that’s right. And not everyone welcomed the Lord Jesus Christ, and Herod certainly did not. He was someone who did not receive the Lord Jesus Christ. I’ve been moved by thinking about what that’s like for him now, as someone who was so clearly apart from Jesus and opposed to Jesus. My prayer for today is that we’re going to get a fresh perspective on the Christmas story that is going to give us every reason to open our lives to receive Jesus Christ today. So if you can, open your Bible to Matthew chapter 2, as we hear Herod’s story. Here’s Colin. I have to tell you, I think that I am the most underappreciated leader in history. I always felt that, and I guess I always will. So I’m glad to have the opportunity to tell my story. Actually, I often wish there were more people I could share this with. But the truth is, it’s actually very lonely where I am these days. People are all bound up with themselves. Nobody has time or interest for anybody else. So thank you for the opportunity. Most people don’t even know the great achievements of my life. And I have to tell you, I find that extraordinary. How can it be that so much of what I did accounts for so little today? Let me tell you about myself. Herod was a common enough name in my time, rather like the name Smith is today, I suppose. Actually, there are three Herods in your New Testament. There’s Herod Agrippa. Now that was the one that Paul almost persuaded to become a Christian. He was my grandson. Then there was Herod Antipas. Luke called him Herod the Tetrarch. That’s my son, by a different wife, of course. He was the one who beheaded John the Baptist. And he also once had a meeting with Jesus. But I’m the one who was known as Herod the Great. And quite frankly, I see it as a title fully deserved. And to cut a long story short, the Roman Senate gave me the title King of the Jews. I was the first to be given that title by Rome. I was put in charge then of the whole area of Judea and beyond. In fact, you would have to go back a thousand years before my time, all the way back to the time of King Solomon, to find the last Jewish king who ruled over such large territory. And I ruled for 33 years. And throughout that time, there was peace and there was stability. Of course, it took a while to establish order. The first thing that I had to sort out was the religious leaders. I noticed, by the way, just in my visit from your papers, you still have problems with religious extremists. Well, I found that a lot of trouble originated in the temple, so I dealt with it firmly. Here’s what I did. There were 72 priests in a ruling group called the Sanhedrin. I eliminated 45 of them. That focused the minds of the rest. Then I established a new inner circle called the chief priests. Now you’ll have read about them in your New Testament. Did you know that that’s one of my contributions to history? Well, there were no chief priests in the Old Testament. This was my idea. I established the chief priests, a tight inner group of past and potentially future high priests who would be an inner circle firmly under my control. In fact, I actually kept their robes under lock and key. And I did that for a reason. You see, I wanted religion to be the servant of the state. I have to tell you that the city of Jerusalem was transformed under my leadership. I love architecture and I love building on a grand scale. So in my time in Jerusalem, I put up theaters. I built a vast hippodrome where we were able to race horses and chariots. We held athletics meetings in the stadium. In fact, I instituted games in Jerusalem being held every five years. I was an athlete myself. Did you know that I was a wrestler? And all this building, of course, meant that there was full employment and full employment along with peace and stability meant it was great for the economy. And you would think that after all these achievements, I would be the most admired king in history. Some hope. I have never received the credit I deserve. I was feared. I was respected, but never loved. But late in my reign, I came up with an idea that I thought had the potential to change all of that. You see, all of my new building projects made the temple look really rather shabby. And you have to understand that for the Jewish people, the temple was the single most important building in their city. The original one was magnificent, built by Solomon. That was the pride of the city. But of course, after the city was destroyed and they came back from 70 years in exile, funds were tight and so they were only able to put up something about half the size. Now, with all of my building redevelopment going on around, the temple was beginning to look rather down in the hill. And that’s when I had my idea. I decided that my legacy would be a new temple on a grand scale, even bigger than the one built by Solomon. It would be known as Herod’s Temple. It would of course win the hearts and the minds of the people and it would stand out as one of the lasting wonders of the world. But my greatest achievement, of course, was to keep the peace. As long as I was in Jerusalem, there was very little trouble. The Romans were happy and so there were no soldiers, no taxes, no foreign administrators, not in my day. I was the face of the Pax Romana, the Roman peace. I maintained order. But you know, as soon as I died, it all fell apart. My sons were hopeless, didn’t have the first clue about running a kingdom. So it wasn’t long after I died before the Romans had to send in the army. And with the army came the taxes and then the whole wretched system of tax collectors extorting from the Jewish people. You’ve read about all of that in your New Testament, of course. All of that happened after my time. And then they sent in another man, Pontius Pilate. What a weakling he was. Why they chose him, I haven’t the faintest idea. He couldn’t make a decision to save himself. And I know that the story you want to hear from me is what happened when Jesus was born. And isn’t that the strangest thing? That the one thing I am remembering for after all my achievements in life is my response to Jesus. You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and our series Christmas Story. And today we’re hearing King Herod’s story. And if you ever miss one of our messages or if you like to go back and listen again, you can do that by coming to our website. That’s openthebible.org.uk. You can hear any of the messages that have already gone out on air. Let’s go back to the message now. We’re in Matthew chapter 2. Here’s Colin. The one thing I am remembered for after all my achievements in life is my response to Jesus. As if that were more important than anything else I accomplished in all of my life. Anyway, it all started for me when I heard rumours that some foreigners had arrived in Jerusalem. It’s a big city, but I had my means of keeping my fingers on the pulse. Information is power and I always had plenty of it. The foreigners were peddling some story about someone who was born King of the Jews. Well, of course, that was the title that the Romans had given to me, so I was not too well pleased to hear that. The truth is that nobody in Jerusalem was pleased to hear that. These people had endured years of one leader after another claiming to have leadership and claiming to have authority, seizing power and the right to rule. Nobody wanted to go back to the instability of that. So I knew that we had a problem brewing and I was determined that I would deal with it decisively. There are always elements in society dissident, looking for some cause to champion and upset the status quo. And besides, I was suspicious about all of these foreigners. I mean, why would foreigners with royal blood be so interested in coming to meet with a child supposedly claiming to be a future king? It was all very suspicious to me. So my first move was to call together my inner circle of the chief priests together with the teachers of the law. The central point in our religion, you will know this well, is that God had promised a deliverer. The Old Testament is full of these promises about one who was known as the Messiah. This was the central hope of all people. So I called in the scholars and I asked them, where is Messiah to be born? They say, that’s what I think. Why study the Bible for yourself if you have professionals to do it for you? That’s what I say. They didn’t hesitate for a moment. Bethlehem in Judea, they said, and then they gave me chapter and verse. Apparently a prophet by the name of Micah had talked about this 800 years before. But you Bethlehem in the land of Judea, you will by no means be the least, but out of you will come one who will shepherd my people Israel. So that was clear. We had a location. The next question was to get a fix on the time. So for that, I invited the foreigners over to the palace. I told them that I had heard these stories about a royal child and that I wanted to take them into my confidence in this matter. Obviously I said, if the Messiah has been born, he will have enemies. He will need to be protected. And I am in a position to give this protection. So I said, I also need to find him. And of course, if Messiah has come, I will want to worship him too. I gave them strict instructions to continue their search. After all, why should I bother to do it when they were already so enthusiastic? And I told them to report to me as soon as they found him. I emphasized the need for confidentiality and I sent them on their way. And then just as they were leaving, I said, oh, by the way, the star that you mentioned, when did you first see it? Oh, they said it was about two years ago. And that gave me the bit of information that I really wanted from them. Two years. See, now I had a time as well as a place. We were looking for a male child in Bethlehem under the age of two. I had our people watch for the foreigners when they came back on their journey home through Jerusalem. But time passed and they were never seen. Eventually, I realized that I had been double-crossed and that made me mad. I asked for an estimate as to how many children there would be under the age of two in Bethlehem. It was just a small town. And I was told probably a dozen, maybe 20, 30 at the most. So I called in the security people. I told them there was a threat to national security through a child under the age of two in Bethlehem. I told them to deal with the problem, which they did with their usual efficiency. And shortly after that, I died. That was 2,000 years ago. So I’ve had a lot of time to think. And I see now that I missed some things that should have been obvious. I mean, this business about the star, if it was true, then God’s hand was in it. So in trying to rid the world of Jesus, I was actually fighting God. The truth is, I still am. Not because I want to, but because I cannot stop. And then if Jesus was really the Messiah promised in the Scriptures, why was I trying to destroy him anyway? Messiah is the light of all people, the hope of the world. Why was I fighting the one who could bring hope? Of course, my information on what happened since then is rather sketchy. So you probably know more about this than I do. But I have been told that he survived, that he was taken by his parents out of Bethlehem and hidden safely in Egypt. How they knew to take him out of Bethlehem at that time is quite beyond me. I have heard that 30 years later he began a public ministry, that he spoke as nobody else has ever spoken, that he performed miracles demonstrating the power of God touching this sorry world directly. Of course, our people, the Herodians, they worked together with the Pharisees to do what I had tried before. And in the end, he was crucified. But then here’s the astonishing thing. He rose from the dead. Rumor down there has it that his name is being proclaimed all over the earth and that those who believe in him are finding forgiveness and hope and peace and joy. You know the strangest thing? In 2,000 years down there, I have not yet met a single person who believes in him. There’s a rumor that one day we will all see him and be brought to an account, though no one down there believes it yet. I also heard that before he was born, an angel appeared to his mother and said, he will be great. Harold was six with me, of course, because that was my name. Herod the Great. The frustrating thing, you know, is that what I accomplished doesn’t seem that great now. You know, I died before the temple was even finished. Actually, way before it was finished because the work seemed to slow down after I died. You know, it took them another 60 years to complete the temple after I died. I mean, you think you have problems with slow working? When it was finished, it stood in all its splendor for just eight years. And then the Romans raised it to the ground. They did not leave one stone on top of another. So much for my legacy to the world. So sometimes I really wonder what came of my life. There is no greatness in Herod, but there is in Jesus. I find myself thinking sometimes about something that Isaiah the prophet said about him. He will see of the fruit of the travail of his soul, Isaiah said about Jesus, and he will be satisfied. I wish with all my heart I could say that. Then I think about his name, Jesus. It means saviour, you know that. Apparently an angel told Joseph, you shall give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. I got to tell you, I never thought very much throughout my entire life about sins. Never gave it a thought. But now I live with my sins. I live in a world of anger and frustration and regret, and I cannot get out of it, and I cannot get it out of me. I can find no release. These things consume me. See, that’s what happens when you die. Whatever is at the heart of you becomes the whole of you. Thing is, it could all have been so different. It’s clear to me now that Jesus’ mission was not to take over my throne. His kingdom is not of this world. What he could have done is made me a better king. He could have given me a different eternity. It seems from what I’m hearing that he has done that for millions of others already, and he’s still doing it. You know, there is one verse in your Bible that really haunts me. You probably know it well. It’s the one that says, he came to his own, but his own received him not. See, that’s my story. I was one of his own, and I did not receive him. Now I find myself like someone standing in the rain outside a large house filled with light and music where people are enjoying the party. I hear the music of sins forgiven, but I am outside, and I cannot get in. He came to his own, and his own received him not. But to as many as receive him, he gives the right to become children of God. Some of you, of course, already know far more about this than I ever will. But even I can see now that God was reaching out to every person in Jesus, and that those who welcome him enter into a new relationship with him that begins now and will continue into all eternity. It will change the nature of death. It will change the destiny that lies beyond for you. I could have welcomed him. I could have believed in him. I could have worshipped him. I could have been with him now. It’s like all your life, he’s reaching out to you. But then when you pass beyond death, he becomes beyond your reach. So I wish with all my heart that I could be where you are right now. And if I could be where you are right now, this is what I would do. I would say to him in simple faith, whatever this life is, take it. Make it what you want it to be. Make me one of your children and lead me into your everlasting life. By the way, I’ve been told that every one of those children whose lives were taken in Bethlehem are with him. And even now the full potential of every life is being fulfilled. I’ve been told that there are already there more people than anyone could number and that many, many more are coming. I hope you will be among them. It’s too late for me. It is not too late for you. Well, this is Pastor Colin and it’s not too late for you. Whoever you are and whatever you may have done in your life, it is not too late for you to come to Jesus Christ today. The Saviour has his arms open to receive all who will come to him. Here’s his promise, and you must take this personally. He says, whoever comes to me, I will never drive them away. You come to Jesus today and he will receive you. Come to him in repentance. Come to him in faith. You know, the Bible says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. And that was Herod’s tragic story. He hardened his heart. Don’t make that mistake today. As your eyes are open towards the Lord Jesus Christ, don’t harden your heart. You come to him. It’s not too late. The Lord Jesus Christ is ready to receive you today. Thanks Colin. And if you have questions about what it means to come to Jesus, I hope you’ll take the opportunity to make contact with a local Christian fellowship this Christmas. Go along and speak to the pastor or any of the members of that fellowship. Many churches run excellent courses like the Alpha Course for people who have questions about the Christian life. Don’t forget if you ever miss one of our messages, you can always catch up or go back and listen again online. Come to our website, openthebible.org.uk. There you can hear any of our messages which have already gone out on air. For Open the Bible and for Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick and I hope you’ll be able to join us again soon for the next part of Christmas Stories. Sometimes people say, if only an angel would appear to me, then I’d believe. Find out if that would really make a difference next time on Open the Bible.