Astrology was widely practiced at the time of Jesus' birth, and the ancients believed that the stars predicted the rise and fall of rulers, so the appearance of this star was a significant reason for Herod, who was notoriously paranoid, to be concerned at the report of the birth of a new king in Israel, and further down Matthew tells us that Herod had all boys in Bethlehem under two years old killed. Herod deceived the wisemen under the guise of seeking to worship the Christ-child, and the chief priests and scribes were complicit in his sin by giving him the information to that would lead him to the birthplace of the Messiah. So Herod and the religious leaders rejected the Christ, but the pagan astrologers sought to worship him.

For all the sentiment that images of a baby in a manger surrounded by angels and shepherds brings, Christmas actually confronts us every year with something that is increasingly offensive to the modern scientific era -- and that is the reality of miracles. The idea that a virgin girl could conceive and give birth is ridiculous to the naturalistic mind, and in a day where all we hear is -follow the science,- we must admit that science will not lead us to Bethlehem's manger, because what happened there is scientifically impossible. Virgins do not conceive and give birth. Yet the virgin conception of Jesus has been a core doctrine of the historic Christian faith for 2000 years. The ancient Apostles Creed says -I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord- who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.-

Some of the most absurd ideas come from those who approach the claims of Christ and Scripture in arrogant unbelief. Take for instance, the idea of the -big bang- - an explosion out of nothing in an attempt the origin of the universe, or molecules to man evolution to explain the origin of life on this planet. R.C. Sproul said, -Nothing could be more irrational than the idea that something comes from nothing.- We claim to be the smartest the human race has ever been, but if we reject the Lord Jesus Christ, we are, like that little table-top puzzle at Cracker Barrel says when you leave four or more pins, -just plain dumb.- In Romans 1-22, the Apostle Paul says arrogant ignorance is characteristic of the heart that rejects truth -- -Claiming to be wise, they became fools.- Yet in our arrogant unbelief, we would rather persist in ignorance than submit to the reality of divine Creator who lays claim on every cosmic square inch of his universe - including our lives.

For the Jew, the denarius coin represented the tyranny and idolatry of the Roman empire and for them to have to use this coin was offensive. Notice that Jesus did not have this coin, but the Pharisees and Herodians did, and Jesus springs a trap of his own. Here they are in the temple of the one true and living God with an idolatrous coin bearing the image of a pagan emperor who claims to be divine -violations of the 1st and 2nd commandments-, and by already having the coin in their possession, they show that their objection to what that coin represented was just superficial piety. In effect, Jesus was saying to them, 'if you guys have no problem carrying around Caesar's idolatrous money in the house of God, then you shouldn't have any problem paying Caesar's taxes.' Jesus saw straight through their self-righteous piety and exposed their hypocrisy. They had fallen into their own trap. I wonder friends, what kind of hypocrisy does Jesus need to expose in us-

The testimony of God's saving grace toward Harvey Gross, converted from Judaism to Jesus Christ - Yeshua HaMashiach.

The testimony of God's saving grace toward Harvey Gross, converted from Judaism to Jesus Christ - Yeshua HaMashiach.

The parable of the tenants is bleak - there is a vineyard neglected, servants rejected, a Son murdered, and judgment rendered, but here in verses 10 and 11 there is an anchor of hope- even the murderous and wicked actions of man are part of the sovereign plan of God to bring his Son to his rightfully exalted place as the chief cornerstone -- the one who holds all things together by the power of his word -- and it is marvelous in our eyes. The mysterious plan of God that sovereignly reigns over the sinful deeds of man is a beautiful hope for all who have eyes to see it.

The Sadducees' problem wasn't John. Nor was it that Jesus didn't offer enough evidence to be the Messiah. Their problem was that no matter what John said or what the evidence pointed to, they rejected Jesus because he was a threat to their self-sufficiency, and friends, that's still the problem today. There are a lot of Christians who try to convince unbelievers of the reasonableness of Christ through evidence, but evidence is not the reason why people don't believe. Just like Jesus did with these Sadducees - you can meet people half-way, ask the right questions, present the best evidence, and they still won't believe. The reality is that there's an abundance of evidence for the person of Christ, but the stubborn heart of unbelief resists it all. Why- Because of the driving theme of this passage- the rejection of his authority over our lives. We reject because we don't want to submit to Christ. Bottom line. Reason and evidence have nothing to do with it.

The context of this often misunderstood verse on prayer is Christ's judgment on faithless Israel - signified by the cursing of the fig tree and cleansing of the Temple, and once we start to see these verses within that context, it becomes clear that Jesus is not promising that all of our prayers will be answered if we just believe. Instead, he's calling his disciples to true believing faith in God, not the empty faith of external religious forms that the faith of Israel had become, and this is a reminder of our own need to have this kind of true believing faith in God today, lest we become like the barren fig tree and corrupt temple, having confidence in our own works and religious acts instead of the living God.

What about the church in America- Is she a tree with full leaves but no fruit- Oh friends I think so. We are rich in beautiful buildings and programs for every conceivable need and demographic. We have spectacular services with engaging public speakers and professional musicians -even though most Christian worship songs today are the same four chords over and over, but that's beside the point-. We have all this production value in the American church, but we are barren of real fruit. We're watching Christian leader after Christian leader denounce the faith, we're seeing our young people reject Christianity and embrace the religion of secularism. We're watching once conservative Bible-believing churches and seminaries compromise with the unbiblical ideologies of our culture, all while we're the richest and biggest we've ever been. We've got full leaves but no fruit. And friends, if the American church doesn't repent, Jesus will say to us, -May no one ever eat fruit from you again.- Perhaps he already has.