"Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men."
John 14:30-31 (ESV)
"30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has "NO CLAIM ON ME",
31 but I do as the FATHER has commanded ME, so that the world may know that I love the FATHER. Rise, let us go from here."
In my opinion, one of the most brutal stories recorded in the Bible is in the second chapter of Matthew. King Herod was tricked by the wise men, or Magi. He thought he would exact punishment on ALL baby boys born up to two years prior of that date in the area. Estimates of the number of babies killed range from 20 to 140,000+! But one of the children had belonged to me, the tragedy would have been devastating! GOD knew that evil was coming and warned Joseph to flee to Egypt (Matthew 2:13) to avoid the danger. GOD guided Joseph on the return from Egypt through Nazareth to avoid further evil from Herod's son Archelous, who was evil also. In avoiding all of this evil, JESUS fulfilled untold prophecies. Nothing in HIS life was by chance! Everything had a purpose!
The babies that were slaughtered by Herod's army had done nothing wrong. Why would a loving GOD allow innocent individuals to suffer death? Why would evil have what appeared to be a victory over GOD and goodness? Isaiah 55:8 tells me that GOD's ways are NOT our ways! We must trust that HE IS GOD, and that HE is in control of all!
There are many prognosticators who will offer their view of why bad things have happened. All I know is THIS WORLD is ruled by evil. In John 14:30, JESUS Himself says "ruler of this world is coming"! My hope though is in the next sentence spoke by JESUS, in which HE says he has "NO CLAIM ON ME"!
When King Herod thought he had the power to eradicate JESUS, and the devil thought he had been victorious at Calvary over JESUS, the gloom and despair of worldly evil was trumped by GOD, who is sovereign. While we may see a deadly earthquake take tens of thousands of physical lives, GOD may have prevented HUNDREDS of thousands of physical lives from being lost. The MEANINGFUL LIVES that we seem to minimize is our Spiritual lives! In CHRIST JESUS the enemy has "NO CLAIM ON ME"! Don't give up to the enemy what JESUS has already won! Nothing is in our live's by chance! Everything has a purpose!
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