Who is the Greatest?
A baby like any other human baby – but He made such a difference. Why? – because He was the Saviour, because He was God’s Son, because He was Immanuel or God with us.
I would like to look this morning at the difference between Christ and the other leaders of His day. Not only did He make a difference but in many respects He was different.
Let us put His birth into the historical context of His day. In Rome power was in the hands of Augustus Octavian, while in Israel it was in the hands of Herod the Great.
Let us look at Rome to start with. Power was in the hands of Augustus Gaius Caesar Octavian.
Some time after Julius Caesar had died Augustus ruled with two others, one of whom was Anthony. Anthony married Augustus’s sister but later grew tired of her and became romantically involved with Cleopatra. This in itself was enough to upset Augustus but it was also becoming apparent that Cleopatra’s influence was becoming too great and so Octavian or Augustus declared war not on Anthony but on Cleopatra. In that war Anthony’s land and sea forces were destroyed and subsequently we all know that Anthony and Cleopatra committed suicide. This suicide took place about a year after their defeat in battle.
Augustus then became sole sovereign and he restored peace and was welcomed not as a successful combatant in a civil war but as the man who had upheld the honour of Rome against its enemies. He was seen as the saviour of the Republic and of its fellow-citizens. But above all else he was seen as the restorer of peace.
He now regarded himself to quote his own words as “master of everything” and the Roman world looked to him to unite and maintain peace across the whole empire. They envisaged the republic being restored under the presidency of its first citizen and on the birthday of the restored republic Augustus was awarded the civic crown to be placed over the door of his house as a token that he had saved his fellow-citizens and restored the Republic.
By an act of the Senate he was added to the number of the gods recognised by the Roman State because he had helped to bring about a new and better age.
You see, Augustus was not just any sovereign but certainly the most important of antiquity and the Roman world saw him as the personification of its hopes for peace. They saw him as their saviour. The Pax Augustus was not confined to the realm of politics but was intended to bring peace all over the world and to effect the regeneration of the whole cosmos and being seen as the saviour Augustus himself expressed his desire to be the creator of “the optimum state”.
Because of all his great deeds on 17 January 27 BC the Roman Senate bestowed on Octavian the title Augustus, a name derived from the Latin augeo (for increase) and which means venerable or majestic.
His achievements were certainly great but we would do well to study his character and thus not forget the faults and crimes of his early manhood, his cruelties and deceptions, his readiness to sacrifice everything that came between him and the end he had in view.
We need to also remember that the peace he brought to Rome was soon eroded by his successors and even at the end of his terms in office there was civil unrest particularly in the Germanic section of the Empire. The so-called peace he achieved was not long-lasting. While a measure of peace was maintained for another 2 centuries it was complete for only a short period of time.
Into this environment comes a tiny baby in Bethlehem. Here comes one who grew up to be a man without fault. There was no sin in Him, He was gentle and kind, without deceit. He was willing not to sacrifice the interests of others to achieve His ends but to sacrifice Himself for the benefit of the whole world.
He was the true Saviour Who was bringing peace to the world He had entered. In fact He is described in Isaiah. 9.6. as the Prince of Peace. At His birth the angels announced according to Luke. 2:14. “and on earth peace”.
One of his catch phrases during His ministry was “Go in peace.”
When He was leaving this world he could say to His disciples in John. 14.27., “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you” and in John. 16.33.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 16.
33. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Even after His resurrection the concept of peace, particularly personal inner peace, continued to be one of His themes.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 20.
19. Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
20. And when he had so said, he shewed them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord.
21. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
22. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:
23. Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
24. But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
25. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.
26. And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
In Romans 5 we read that He is the author of peace.
ROMANS.
CHAPTER 5.
1. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
He achieved this peace by sacrificing Himself for us.
COLOSSIANS.
CHAPTER 1.
19. For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
20. And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.
21. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
Not only has He brought peace with God, not only has he reconciled us to God but peace has been restored in many other areas as well, between the Circumcision and Uncircumcision, between Jew and Gentile. Whether people are rich or poor, male or female, all are seen as one in Christ. Wherever there is disunity or division, Christ can bring peace and unity.
EPHESIANS.
CHAPTER 2.
11. Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
12. That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
13. But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
14. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
15. Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;
16. And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
17. And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
18. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
19. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Wherever there is enmity Christ can bring peace. I wonder if you have that perfect peace today. Are there any areas in your life where the Prince of Peace needs to bring restoration and reconciliation? Bring those areas to Him today and let Him bring peace. He wants to do that for me and for you. Won’t you let Him?
He is also the true Saviour, not just keeping us safe in our life here on earth but bringing us spiritual salvation as well. A chorus we sing tells us that “He’s the Saviour of my soul.”
In Matthew. 1.21. we read these words
MATTHEW.
CHAPTER 1.
21. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Again throughout His ministry He said on many occasions, “Your faith has saved you.” and it was quite clear that it was faith in Him that counted and that salvation was not just of the physical ailments they were suffering from.
So Jesus was the Saviour in a different way that Augustus could never match. Augustus could never bring about the salvation of the soul.
No Senate ever bestowed the title Augustus (or majestic) on Jesus. You see there was no need. Neither was there need for Him to be declared a god because He always was God.
Listen to the words of Scripture –
JOHN.
CHAPTER 1.
1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
MATTHEW.
CHAPTER 1.
23. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
PHILIPPIANS.
CHAPTER 2.
5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
He is certainly worthy of majesty, but this was not bestowed by some Senate.
JUDE.
25. To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
EPHESIANS.
CHAPTER 1.
19. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us‑ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
20. Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
21. Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
22. And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
23. Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
And as for Augustus’s claim to be “master of all things” how much greater claim has Christ to this. Listen to the following relevant Scriptures.
JOHN.
CHAPTER 1.
3. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
HEBREWS.
CHAPTER 1.
1. God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2. Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
3. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
COLOSSIANS.
CHAPTER 1.
16. For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
17. And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
No one deserves the title Augustus more than Jesus does. Augustus was given a crown by the Senate but Jesus has been crowned by God Himself.
HEBREWS.
CHAPTER 2.
7. Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:
8. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.
9. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Augustus wanted to bring in a new age but how much better will be the new age that Christ will bring into being at a future time. The Bible talks about a new heaven and a new earth in Revelation. 21.1. We have entered a new millennium and it might be timely to remind ourselves that there is to be a millennium reign of Christ on earth when things will be run His way. It will truly be a new and better age when Christ occupies the place which is truly His, the Master of the earth, the Master of the universe. This will be a time when Satan, the usurper, will be finally banished from power on the earth, power which he has no right to. Jesus will ultimately be the Creator of the optimum state and will effect the regeneration of the whole cosmos, because as Romans. 8.22 tells us even all creation is groaning at the present moment.
Neither Augustus nor any other spiritual or earthly entity has or will achieve this. Christ alone is and always will be supreme.
Let us now turn our eyes to Israel. At the birth of Christ we find Herod the Great as king of Judaea. His place of abode was not far from Bethlehem on a huge plateau half of which was man-made, built by slave labour. It was called the Herodium and Herod lived in a magnificent palace built on it.
Herod was a very strange man. He had enjoyed an Hellenistic-Roman upbringing but had been converted to Judaism by Hyrcanus. Thus Herod was alien by birth but Jewish by faith. He thought of himself as a man of the world but with the Jews he also made a pretence of being religiously-minded. He made religion an engine of state policy. He professed to maintain the law but effectively set aside the spirit of it by making it a lever to elevate himself and his secular kingdom. He built beautiful temples and gorgeously adorned Solomon’s temple which brought him great favour with the Jews. He continued to make fresh additions so that at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus the Jews said, “Forty and six years was this temple in building”.
However at the same time he made offerings to Jupiter at his elevation to the throne and rebuilt the temple of Apollo at Rhodes in order to gain favour with Rome. He also rebuilt the temple in Samaria and renamed it in honour of the Emperor, Augustus, and built and named Caesarea and made provision there for heathen worship. No wonder we read these words in Scripture which could be applied both to this Herod and to his successors.-
MARK.
CHAPTER 8.
15. And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod.
He thus set about establishing an earthly kingdom on a professed Jewish base to rival the Messiah’s spiritual kingdom which was about to appear. Through Herod Jewish religion became degraded into a tool of ambition and lost its spiritual power. Religion had become a lifeless carcase.
Herod was an unhappy man who suffered much inner conflict and was never at peace with himself and these facts may be an explanation as to why he was so suspicious toward even his own family. It is said that he used to disguise himself at night in order to spy on them and when he felt threatened by anyone, even his own family, he had them executed.
Anthony had placed the reluctant Roman troops entirely at his disposal and he was able to lay siege to Jerusalem. Thus with Roman help he took Jerusalem and was made King of Judaea by the Roman Senate.
He married Mariamne the grand-daughter of Hyrcanus who converted him to Judaism. He made her his second wife in order to popularise and legitimise his position. He also killed many of the Sanhedrin in order to establish his kingly authority. Others of his appointments, such as the high priest, were killed by the suspicious Herod if they were found to be too popular with the people. Even the sons of Mariamne were strangled for being too popular. Mariamne’s grandfather Hyrcanus and even Mariamne herself were also put to death.
Mariamne’s mother tried to overthrow her son-in-law and found an ally in Cleopatra whose romantic advances Herod had apparently spurned.
Cleopatra had obtained from Anthony a grant of territory adjacent to Herod’s domain and she required Herod to collect arrears of tribute from its inhabitants. He was occupied in doing this when the war between Augustus and Cleopatra and Anthony broke out and these circumstances prevented him from fighting against the future emperor of Rome (ie Augustus or Octavian).
On his deathbed Herod discovered that his eldest son Antipater had been plotting against him. He obtained leave from Augustus to put him to death. He also ordered that all nobles who had been summoned to his bedside should also be put to death immediately after he died so that there might not be a lack of mourners at his death.
Such was the cruelty of this suspicious man. No wonder an important historian such as Josephus does not mention the slaughter of a comparatively few infants in a small village as to him it would seem comparatively unimportant in the light of these other atrocities.
It is also recorded that one of Herod’s sons was among the children he ordered to be killed and Augustus is reported to have said that it would be better to be one of Herod’s hus or swine than to be one of Herod’s huios or sons. Because he was a professed Jew, at least the pigs were safe from slaughter.
So we can see that Herod was keen to establish his dynasty through jealousy of any rival, through craft, hypocrisy, cruelty and reckless sacrifice. He would do almost anything to obtain his aim. During a famine he spent all his resources and sold even valuable works of art to import corn from Egypt for the relief of hunger among the people, not because of concern for their welfare but to make himself popular.
When the wise men asked, ”Where is he that is born king of the Jews?” they hit a particularly raw nerve in this cruel, insecure man. He would have been particularly enraged. You see, as we have learnt, Herod was not born a Jew much less being born King of the Jews. He was an Idumean, who became king through conquest and by appointment of the anti-Jewish world power, Rome. The word of these wise men would also have been relevant to Herod as he had consulted an astrologer named Menahem when he was a boy. This man told him that one day he would be king. He had also consulted the same man at the height of his kingdom to enquire as to how long his rule would last. He is now confronted by the wise men’s assertion that here was another boy who is to be a king. Because of his own experience, Herod would take this claim seriously.
Herod reminds us of Pharaoh who destroyed the Hebrew male children but God spared Moses, and in just the same way God spared Jesus, the saviour of His people, from the hand of Herod.
Herod’s title, Herod the great, was given him in admiration for the splendid and often successful things he achieved. However the results often came with awfully cruel tyranny. How vastly different to be great in the sight of the Lord.
In Luke 1 Mary is told this about her soon-to-be-born son –
LUKE.
CHAPTER 1.
31. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
32. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
And in Mark 1 John the Baptist speaks of Him
MARK.
CHAPTER 1.
6. And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;
7. And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose.
In Matthew 12 we read of this one who is greater than Jonah and Solomon. Our Saviour is greater than Herod could ever aspire to be.
He was not ambitious, cruel and deceitful as Herod was.
Listen to what the Scriptures say.
MATTHEW.
CHAPTER 11.
29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto you souls.
MATTHEW.
CHAPTER 21.
5. Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.
2 CORINTHIANS.
CHAPTER 10.
1. Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
PHILIPPIANS.
CHAPTER 2.
7. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
ISAIAH.
CHAPTER 53.
9. And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Herod lived in his lavish palace built in a conspicuous place for all to see. Jesus came to a lowly stable, a place which was dirty, dark, hard and cold. He came to a place whose exact location is still not known.
What a difference there is between Herod the Great and the mighty one from heaven who became the babe of Bethlehem. Truly we, following the example set by the wise men, ought to sincerely worship the one born to be king, not just of the Jews but of our lives as well. Is He my King? Is He your King? Does He have His rightful place in our lives today? Is there space available in our hearts for Him?
We sometimes sing –
Who is He in yonder stall,
At whose feet the shepherds fall?
‘Tis the Lord, O wondrous story,
‘Tis the Lord, the King of Glory!
At His feet we humbly fall –
Crown Him, crown Him Lord of all!
Let us do that today.