Faith

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Herod's Curse

In Matthew 2 Jesus had been born and the Magi had followed His star to Bethlehem. They had come to enquire about the King and the king of the day Herod started feeling uncomfortable. He said to the Magi, “Go and make a careful search for the Child. As soon as you Him report to me so that I too may go and worship Him” Matthew 2:8. His intentions were chocolate coated and devious.

Many a time people have devious intentions. They pretend to have your best interests at heart but on the inside they are rotten. At times they use those that have good intentions meant for you to work against you. In this case Herod saw it fit to use the innocence of the Magi to get to Jesus and finish Him before He saw the light of the next day.

As the Magi went out to have an encounter with Jesus, God had them change direction on the return leg. God immediately revealed to Joseph that Herod was after Jesus' head and He and His mother should be taken to Egypt. Familiar story right! Sure. But note well, When Herod realised 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 Matthew 2:16.

This guy was bent on wiping out the King of kings, as he and the kingdom of darkness he represented were not content of being usurped by the rightful King of Light- Jesus. But the old fox was outwitted by God WHO orders situations and events such that His Son comes out unscathed along the way fulfilling the prophetic words of Hosea 11:1 “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

After Herod's death, Joseph received a command to return to Israel. On his way back Joseph realised that Archelaus was sitting on his father’s throne and was advised in a dream to turn to Galilee. So as events would turn out Jesus and His family settled in Nazareth thus making Jesus a Nazarene. God's Hand was ordering events counter attacking the evil machinations on Jesus' life. This Son had a great purpose. He was the Redeemer and carried a Saving Name. His mission was simple- TO DESTROY the devil's work and to bring to ascendancy the Kingdom Herod so much tried to shut down, A KINGDOM OF LIGHT.

No Curse Can Rest On The Blessed

In Exodus we read about Pharaoh’s Curse and its failure to come to pass. Well Israel managed to head out of Egypt to the Promised Land in defiance of this curse. That of God outdid the reasoning of Pharaoh. Could that signal something about the nation of Israel? Were they immune to curses or what? In Numbers we meet up with a story about the movement of the nation across the plains of Moab resulting in their camping along the Jordan across from Jordan. We are told in Chapter 22 that Moab became afraid of Israel because Balak son of Zippor saw what Israel had done to the Amorites...Indeed Moab was filled with dread because of the Israelite Numbers 22:2-3. The situation was a haunting site and there was cause for panic.

Sensing the looming threat of Israel, Balak decided to summon Balaam son of Beor to, “come and put a curse on these people because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the country. For I know that those you bless are blessed, and those you curse are cursed” Numbers 22:6. A divination fee was taken to the man and all seemed set for the cursing of Israel. There was something about this nation that seemed to attract curses to them. It may be the same with you, that you seem to be liable to be cursed.

When we take a look at what God had said about Israel you will notice that as chosen sons there was that desire by everyone else to put a stop to their development. In Genesis God had told Abraham that the world was to be blessed through his seed. As Israel was going out to Canaan there seemed to be no force that could stand in their way. All they seemed to be was set. Maybe in life you too seem set to achieve the impossible- great job, great family, great kids or great dreams. Then there appears a Balak of a man bent on destroying your destiny. His intention of cursing the Israelites was not to defeat them but it was to stop the dream from being attained.

Many a time we think we are cursed or hit by a bad spate of bad luck when in fact it is the enemy's desire to wipe us out before we wipe him out. Listen to this. Balak saw the threat that was posed by Israel. The devil is seeing the threat you are posing to him and he is going to hire his servant Balaam to curse you. In Numbers 22:12 God told Balaam, “You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed.” Child of God you are blessed and no curse can rest upon you.

The wise man, King Solomon, must have read the script while writing the 26th chapter of Proverbs. In verse 2 he writes, “Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow, an undeserved curse does not come to rest.” There is no undeserved curse that will come to rest on your life. God puts it clearly-YOU MUST NOT CURSE THOSE PEOPLE. There are some people in life who must never be cursed and you happen to be one of them. Remember the Abrahamic blessing? “I will make you into a great a nation and I will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing...and the people on earth will be blessed through you” Genesis 12:2-3. This blessing was being manifested through Isaac and his descendants.

Israel was the descendant of Isaac. Pharaoh had placed a curse on them. But alas it couldn’t rest on them. Numbers 23:23 sums it up, “There is no sorcery (unlucky spell/enchantment) against Jacob, no divination against Israel.” Period! There is and was no compromise. You are one of those people about whom Balaam says, “How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced? I see a people who live apart...” Dear friend you are not a candidate for curses. So tell your man made problem to move out of the way because you are not cursed but you are blessed.

After all, is said and done we see that Israel is a curse-proof nation. It translates that we too as descendants of Abraham are curse free as well. Israel was placed unto so many threats that would prove unfruitful. You probably have been under threat as well but the outcome must always be that you are un-cursable period!

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