In this episode, we tackle profound questions about free will, divine omnipresence, and how human choices shape our reality. Bob George brings his insights into why God allows suffering and the lesson of free will as it relates to Herod’s brutal acts. We shift from worldly control to a spiritual leadership that begins with understanding the early life and rabbinical training of Jesus, all the while seeking to inform our faith with truth greater than miracles.
00:00:04 Introduction to Classic Christianity Radio
00:01:00 Herod’s Secret Plan and the Star that Guided the Magi
welcome to classic christianity radio with bob george as we celebrate the christmas season together we are reminded of god’s greatest gift to you and me his son jesus christ we are told in the scriptures for god so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life It is our prayer at Bob George Ministries that you would accept God’s gift of eternal life and know how much you were deeply loved by God. Go to BobGeorge.net online to find out how you can grow in your relationship with Jesus Christ. We have many books, CDs, and other teaching materials available for your personal growth as you discover more about God’s unconditional love and forgiveness for you. Let’s now join Bob as he presents practical, biblical insights as he helps people experience a life of faith, hope, and love in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER 02 :
And if anyone thinks they’re going to take their kingship away from me, even God. And that’s in essence what he’s saying. If this God of these Jews think that that God is going to remove me from office, he’s got another thing coming. And so he developed a plan. And here was his plan. He said, Herod called the Magi secretly. That’s the way people like that always deal, secretly. and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem. He said, Go and make a careful search for this child, and as soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him. What a hypocrite. Go find him so I too can worship him. You just see him saying that. Well, after they had heard the king, they went on their way. And then the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. Now folks, we could sit here all day long and talk about that being just a normal star in the sky and you got people to talk about the planets were all lined up and that’s what happened and you got all kinds of studies on that type of thing. I don’t care how you line up the stars, a star doesn’t lead you to a place. And so this star that we’re talking about was something spatial that God put there. It wasn’t something that could be explained by the study of stars. It was a unique thing in the sky. And that star, the only thing you could call it was a star, but it was something up there of a light that led them to the place of Christ Jesus. And then stopped. Stars don’t start and stop. Have you noticed that? So, it stopped over the place where the child was. Now, when they saw the star, they were overjoyed. And coming to the house, saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Now, that’s why I say, folks, Jesus was not born in a house. He was born in a manger, wasn’t he? And then it said that Joseph and Mary returned back to Nazareth after they had completed all the purification things. So now, for some reason, and the Scripture doesn’t tell why they’re back in Bethlehem, we don’t know. It could be that they moved back there after being in Nazareth. They moved back because being close to the temple, recognizing the fact that their son was someone somewhat special. and recognizing that Jerusalem is the holy city, it could have very well been to say, we need to go live there close to Jerusalem and educate this boy in Jerusalem. We don’t know those things, and we don’t need to know them. What we do know is they were back in Bethlehem for some reason or another, living in a house. This is after the birth. This was within a two-year period And so we don’t know when within that two-year period, but as we read on as to what Herod did, I would assume it was closer to the one or two-year period that we’re going to talk about in a moment. Now, they saw the child, they bowed down and worshipped him, and then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, incense, and myrrh. Maybe that’s why they get the three wise men. One wise man had gold, another had incense, and the other had myrrh. I’d just like us to come up with that, isn’t it? But at any rate, they all had those things, and they laid them at the feet of Christ. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. So what you assume took place there is they were in Bethlehem, and instead of going back from Bethlehem through Jerusalem, they took an alternate route and escaped Jerusalem for fear of their lives. Now when they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Now here’s another dream. And he said, Get up and take this child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search the child to kill him. So he got up and 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 Hosea, 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 in its vicinity who were two years old and under in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. So here was Herod and he had learned the time from the Magi as to the approximate, the time of the birth of the Messiah, the time then that they had seen this star leading them to the Messiah, and he knew that if he set a rule to kill every boy under two years of age, he’d be sure to get this one. And so in an attempt to kill one child, he ended up killing every boy under two years of age. How many of you have a child under two? How’d you like to take that little baby and have someone rip her out of your arms and go cut their heads off? Can you imagine the lament and the heartache of mothers and fathers seeing their children dragged from their homes and killed for no reason? Just killed. Why? Because of this madman. that was so egocentric that he said, no one’s going to be king but me. And so he goes out and kills every one of the boys. Every one of you and I who have had boys or children can imagine taking a one-year-old, almost a two-year-old, and having them snatched out of your home to be murdered by a maniac. But that’s what took place. Now folks, you ask yourself the question sometimes, where was God in all this? Where was God when John the Baptist was beheaded? Where was Jesus as his relative? And we ask ourselves that question sometimes, where was God in all this? Folks, the answer to that is God was exactly where he’s always been, on his throne. When God created man, He created man with a free will, did He not? He could have created us as a robot, and we would just be little robots running around down here. If you were a robot, could you love God by free will? No. No. And if God was going to create a creation in whom He could love and interact, then He had to create a creation in such a way who could respond to that love and interact with that love. And in order to do that, in the foreknowledge of God and His creative work, He created man with a will. He also created the angelic beings with a will. And some of those, one-third, chose to follow Satan to this earth in rebellion to God right out of heaven. Angels were not propagated. They were created individually by the hand of God. And yet, with a will, chose to turn their back on God. So you and I were created with a will. And I have to say, thank God for that, because if I didn’t have a will, how could I be choosy To love God. How could you make choices? The answer is you couldn’t. You’d be a robot. Just like these little things that you turn the remote control on. Now was there a gamble with that? Is there a gamble in giving man a free will? And what is the gamble? The gamble is that even though we are created by the hand of God, we can choose to rebel against God. Is that right or wrong? We have a will today, don’t we? I can choose to live a life that is commensurate with who I am as a child of God, and I can also choose on occasion to live contrary to that. That’s some of the things James was talking about. How can this be? Out of the same mouth, I can praise God with the same tongue, curse man. And he said, that should not be. That’s true, it should not be. But is it possible? Sure. Why? Because one day I choose to praise God, and another moment I choose to blast you. Is that true or not? And so, free will was given to man. God had to do that. Now, if free will is given to man, then can people like Herod choose who needs God? Can a man say, I want to be God? Well, I want to tell you folks, if Lucifer said, I want to be God, for sure we can too. Can we not? And is not the temptation that was given in the Garden of Eden that you can be what? Like God? You can choose. You don’t need God to teach you right from wrong and good from evil. Choose it yourself. You don’t need God for those things. You determine right from wrong and good from evil. You control what’s going on. And I am absolutely convinced that what indwelling sin is, is nothing more or less than that propensity inside of each and every one of us to want to control everything. We want to control, do we not? I want to be in control. After all, if I’m the center of the universe, then I want the universe to flow around me. Isn’t that the way we are? I’m right at the center. I want everyone to please me. I want everyone to do what I want them to do. I want everyone to treat me the way I deserve to be treated, wonderfully. Is that not right or wrong, folks? We are self-centered, egocentric, and we want to control everything. That’s indwelling sin. Now, is that not what God does? Does He not control the universe? We say, I can do it better. I love that song that Tony Bennett did years ago, If I Ruled the World. What a wonderful place it would be if I just ruled the world. And I look at that and say, that’s a good song. Just kind of describes me. But that’s the way we are. And so we have to understand that, folks, that that is a desire that is in your flesh and in my flesh. That is there. And it raises its ugly hand anytime you let it.
SPEAKER 01 :
Classic Christianity Radio is a listener-funded program, and because of your generous donations, we are able to be on the air. During this Christmas season, remember to go to bobgeorge.net to find many gift ideas to give to your family and friends. The best-selling book Classic Christianity by Bob George and his newest book, Jesus Changes Everything, are perfect gifts to give to people. The greatest gift we can give to others is to share the good news of God’s forgiveness and love for them. Bob George Ministries has many other books and teaching materials available for you to share the gift of Jesus with the people you love and care about today. You can also visit BobGeorge.net for additional information on how you can join us financially to help support the radio ministry. With your prayers and support, we can continue to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Let’s continue now with our classic Christianity radio program.
SPEAKER 02 :
Anytime we’re not allowing Christ to control our lives, that propensity to want to control is right there. Am I right or wrong, guys? So what you’re dealing here is, are we going to allow Christ to control our lives, or are we going to allow our flesh to control our lives? He gave us a will. Now, if God gave a will, how is He going to stop a Herod from killing those babies? What’s He going to have to do? Take away the will of Herod, for sure, wouldn’t He? Or just blast him? Well, if you start just annihilating everyone who chooses to do something contrary to God, what are you going to have left? Apes, fish, you know, not people. Where do you stop that, you see? Where do you stop it? You say, where was God when Hitler was annihilating the Jew? Same place he’s always been. And he gave Hitler a free will. And Hitler had a choice. All of his life he had a choice. I can walk with God or I can feed my own evil nature. Guess what he chose? To feed his own nature. What’s he do with the result of that? Well, you start out killing one, then you kill two, and after a while, it’s easy. And you kill millions. Where was God? Same place he’s always been. How could he stop that? Kill Hitler. Lord, why can’t you figure that out? Kill Hitler. If he killed Hitler, there’d be another one right behind him. And you’d end up having to kill all of us. And so what you have to understand, folks, is as long as God chose to give man a will, you’re going to find evil in the world and you’re also going to find righteousness. And all of it’s a choice. And we’re in the driver’s seat, so to speak, in regard to making a choice. Am I going to be controlled by God or am I going to be controlled by Satan? Stop it? How are you going to stop it if I gave you a will? The only way that you would see total non-will on this earth is if God just jerked the free will away from every man on the earth, every man that was ever born, and make robots out of us. Then you wouldn’t see any evil at all. But as long as we have a free will, you’re going to see good, you’re going to see bad. Is that true in your own family? Well then, if it’s true in your own family, why wouldn’t it be true in the world? See, people will come in and say, we want peace in the world. How are you going to have peace in the world until you have peace in the country? How are you going to have peace in the country until you have peace in your own state? How are you going to have peace in your own state if you can’t have peace in your own county? How are you going to have peace in your county if you don’t have peace in your city? How are you going to have peace in your city if you can’t have peace in your home? And how are you going to have peace in your home if you can’t get along with each other? That’s where Christ is relevant to international peace. And so we’re right down, folks, to the thing that when God gave man a free will, then we have an opportunity to choose. And that answers questions like this. Where was God when those little babies were being killed? He was right where he always was, on his throne, giving man a free will to choose, crying out to them with everything that he can do, come to me, come to me. And man, with the same tenacity, turning and saying, uh-uh, I’m doing it my way. A voice is heard in Ramah weeping in great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more. Children gone. Now after Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared at a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and he said, Get up and take this child and his mother and go to the land of Israel for those who are trying to take the child’s life. are dead. And I would also assume that after that had taken place, he figured he had gotten the Messiah. And so he had no more worry, this king has been annihilated. So he got up and he took the child and his mother and they went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, he will be called a Nazarene. And so folks, what we have tried to do here is to see how that this Lord Jesus Christ, how he was born faithful, being led again by God in all ways. And then we back up into Luke, go back to Luke 2 again. We lost those first few years of Christ. There’s no record of that. But what was interesting to me was when we were in Israel, there’s a city that is outside of Nazareth And I believe, if I’m not mistaken, it was called Sapphoris. I think that’s the pronunciation. But it was there in this city, which is just a few miles from where Jesus was in Nazareth. And there was a huge building project that took place in that city that very easily Jesus and his family could have been working there as carpentry, in their carpentry work, But even more important than that is Jesus’ grandfather was the head of the synagogue there. And that’s where they trained rabbis in that city. And when you realize that Jesus was called a rabbi and that he could not be a rabbi if he hadn’t been schooled in the rabbinical training, And inasmuch as his grandfather, Eli, was the head of this Jewish seminary to train for rabbinical work, it makes sense that that’s where Jesus was in this period of time, was being trained in rabbinical schools. His knowledge of the Scripture was unbelievable, which you could attribute to him being God. But it also makes sense that he was being trained in rabbinical school in his grandfather’s rabbinical training place. Otherwise, how would they call him rabbi? And so there’s a lot of things that are being discovered today through archaeological findings that are shedding some light on these early years of Jesus. And when I go to Israel in April, our guide that we had the last time is going to be our guide again and he is the one who showed us this information and some of the archaeological findings around it and also had showed me a book that had been written in regard to this subject and I’m going to try to pick that up when I’m there and bring it back and share with you because it’s fascinating to learn that that is certainly a very viable possibility that that’s exactly what Jesus was doing in those years was studying in school Now we pick up again in verse 41 in chapter 2. Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. So again, we know that every year they went in for the feast, which could explain why they were there when the wise men were there. The three of them. Now when he was 12 years old, they went up to the feast according to the custom. And after the feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends, because they would go in great caravans and Kids being kids, you know, mom, dad, I want to go back with my cousins and this and that. So everybody was safe. They were with family. So they just assumed that’s where he was. But when they didn’t find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. And after three days, they found him in the temple court sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, son, why have you treated us like this? Didn’t that sound just like a mother? Why are you doing this to me? Well, I’ve been worried sick. Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you. Do you think she might have been a little angered? Guys, that’s what we’ve talked about before. This may not be 100% true, but it sure is a lot true. Whereby anger is a secondary response to fear. And this is a typical example of that. Your first response is, I’m fearful that my kid’s gone. Then after you find him, you’d like to cut their head off. So you’ll normally find that many times the root of your anger is fear. And you’ll see that anger is just a secondary response to that fear. So instead of trying to deal with anger, deal with the fear. Okay, everyone who saw him was amazed. His mom said, we’ve been searching for you. Why were you searching for me, he said. Didn’t you know that I had to be in my father’s house? But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Isn’t that something? Here is Mary and Joseph. Revealed this whole thing by an angel, a dream from God, a virgin birth. That’ll be enough to make you think at least. And yet, it says they did not yet understand what was going on here. And you know, guys, I don’t have any problem at all understanding that. You know, that’s why people go in seeking signs and miracles and signs and miracles and signs and miracles as you’d think one would do. But no, after one, I need another one. Because if your faith is built upon signs and miracles, you’re going to always need one. And that’s why Jesus said, blessed are you who don’t see that believe. And he said to people, you’re an adulterous generation always looking for a sign and a miracle. I’ll show you a miracle. And he said, watch me raise from the dead. So guys, in a final analysis, I believe Jesus was saying to us, the final miracle that ought to be enough through all of the rest of this, that if you cannot believe me when I’ve been raised from the dead, that it’s no fault of mine. I’ve given you every sign you need. You see, folks, even though we know that the virgin birth was a virgin birth, man could still say, not so sure about that, and it could be debated. But when someone’s raised from the dead, that’s a hard one to debate. So the final miracle of God that He said, I’m going to give to you, if you cannot believe me, in regard to who I am with that miracle, then you’re not going to believe anything. And I’m not going to show you any other miracle. And I see people today seeking miracles and signs and wonders and excitement. And you say, marvelous, what did it do for you? If it increased your faith, something’s wrong with your faith. Because if your faith isn’t big enough to believe Jesus because of the resurrection, something’s wrong with your faith. And if I keep needing an assurance, something’s wrong. And it’s like people who are constantly saying, I need, I need, I need. Or I thirst, I thirst, I thirst. And Jesus said, when you drink of regular water, you’re going to thirst again. But when you drink of my water, you’ll never thirst again. And so folks, all of these things were set into motion. not so that we become sign seekers and miracle seekers, but that we can put our faith squarely and securely in revealed truth as it relates to the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you so much for tuning in to Classic Christianity with Bob George. We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s program. We truly hope that today’s message has inspired you to walk a life of faith in the Lord. Find more information online at bobgeorge.net. There you’ll also find available CDs, DVDs and Bible studies available for purchase. It’s through your help that we are able to spread the good word of Jesus Christ. Until next time, walk in faith, be good to one another and praise the Lord. Amen.
SPEAKER 03 :
Put Jesus first in your life and turn your life around.
