wise but foolish…

another thing we know about the wise men is they were wiser than the men of the world.

matthew records that the wise men ended up in jerusalem. i guess it was the most logical place - the center of judaism - the temple of GOD - the high priests of GOD, and of course, the palace of herod the king. “if anybody would know of the birth of a new-born king it would be the present king - right?” wrong!

they went to king herod & asked their questions. matthew 2.2 (msg), where can we find and pay homage to the newborn KING of the jews? we observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled HIS birth. we're on pilgrimage to worship HIM.

but king herod knew nothing about it. he should have known. he was familiar with the o.t. prophets. herod should have had answers to all their questions - but he did not.

but the most amazing thing of all was that when herod finally had the answers, his decision was to try to kill the MESSIAH of GOD. matthew 2.16 (nlt) says, he sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance.

incredible! he was like a child standing before a locomotive and saying, “stop!” or like a man standing before a hurricane and saying, “stop blowing!”

you cannot stop GOD! you cannot stop HIS MESSIAH! king herod, of all people, should have been first in line to worship JESUS. yet, he tried to kill JESUS, to stop GOD’s program.

herod was a wise man in the eyes of the world. herod had the glory, the power, the accolades of the world as king - but he was a fool.

herod summoned the chief priests. they were wise men. they knew the scriptures. they had read what the prophets had to say. they knew the prophecies backwards & forwards, & when they were asked about the new born KING they answered without hesitation, matthew 2.5 (cev), HE will be born in bethlehem!

they knew it! they had it memorized. yet, even though they knew it, they didn’t bother to go and find out if it were true. they were wise men in the eyes of the world - but they were fools!

just a thought from the front porch…