The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
The true Servant of the LORD was not respected, but the servants of the Devil were being respected. Doesn't it ring a bell in your head? Ordinary children of the Devil who were created for destruction were being respected, whereas the eternal Creator who came humbly in the lowly human flesh was being humiliated, despised and rejected. This was the real situation on the day the Word was made flesh. Just because three men from the East came and confirmed that one star in the sky above in the East showed that someone greater than the king was born on Earth, Herod the evil king became jealous of Him. Herod was evil because he unleashed the evil power of the sinful nature of the Devil in him through jealousy that had overtaken him. He ordered all infants especially boys under the age of two to be killed. Today, when we witness children of the ages of six and seven being mercilessly killed, we cry cruelty. What about what Herod did? Weren't the babies innocent then? Can you imagine the destructive power of the sinful nature of the Devil, when you have become a slave to it's urges and wants. When you have become a slave without any hope of deliverance to it? When you are held in slavery to obey it's evil desires? When you cannot be freed from it's evil grip on you?
Matthew 2:1-17
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: " 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.' " Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him." After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son." When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
For what reason did the Lord Jesus Christ come to be born in the flesh? Only one reason we know is, to deliver God's people who will be called by His name, who will believe, love and obey Him till the end, where He will be revealed as the King of kings at the end of all things. Deliver from whom, you may ask? From the evil rule of the Devil, who is the author of death. He was thrown to this Earth like lightning, He witnessed it. He did not come to make war with Herod or Ceasar. He came to deliver God's people who will believe in Him to be their Saviour, Lord and Master and not the Devil anymore. The Devil was destroying the Earth by making it a massive graveyard instead. The Lord Jesus Christ is the King who will lead us back to the Garden of God from that graveyard and give us eternal life when we obey Him. He will lead us to the the New Heaven and Earth. He will be the King of the New Jerusalem, not the old Jerusalem. Herod and all his men who lived being a slave of the sinful nature of the Devil in them could not see this truth. They were blinded by the Devil.
You are blinded by the Devil when you keep obeying the sinful nature of the Devil in you. Do you know that the Bible refers to the Devil as the "god of this age"? This is because, people revere the Devil instead of God by obeying the sinful nature of the Devil in them. They have become it's slave. They have become the Devil's slave on this Earth. In this way, the Devil has become their "god". So, they are not afraid to commit sins. But, the Lord Jesus Christ came to deliver them from this bondage and they did not recognize Him. How can they recognize Him, when they are blind? He came as the light to make them see but they preferred to continue living in darkness instead. But, as many as believed in Him, He gave them the right to become God's children. God's children will have the divine nature of Christ formed in them after they have believed, loved and obeyed Him. The sinful nature of the Devil will be put to death in us permanently. Nothing is impossible with our God. This shall be done by the power of God the Holy Spirit who dwells in us fully through our obedience to His leading and guidance. He leads us to full Christformation in us, when we fully obey eveything Christ has commanded us.
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
