The Plan to Keep Christ Out of Christmas is a sermon teaching us that the plot to keep Jesus Christ our Savior out of our world is as old as creation itself.

Key verses:
Matthew 2:12-23
John 15:18-25
John 11:45-33
Revelation 12:1-6

We’re going to look at three passages of scriptures this evening, Matthew chapter 2, John chapter 11, and Revelation chapter 12. That’s for those of you who like to follow along, and I encourage you to do that. You should check and see if what I am telling you is, in fact, what the Bible says, and if it isn’t, we need to do something about that fairly quickly. But to begin with I want us to read Matthew chapter two and just verse 13. Eventually, we will be looking at verses 12-23 in that passage.

Matthew 2:13: “And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

A Deliberate Plan

Many years ago, there were bumper stickers and other things that said, “Keep Christ in Christmas.” You still see some of that today. I don’t see it like we used to. I saw it on a T-shirt just the other day, and I’m glad for that. But why would it be necessary to say that? I mean, if you look at the word “Christmas,” “Christ” is the beginning of it. But during the period when the slogan “Keep Christ in Christmas” first became popular, when I first became aware of it, you’d see many places with “Merry Xmas.” And so, they’d say, “No, let’s not say ‘Merry Xmas,’ but let’s keep Christ in Christmas.”

There are many people today – they are not hard to find, who like the idea of decorations, they like the lights, they like the party, they like the music, they like giving gifts and receiving gifts – all of these things they associate with Christmas. They make so many Christmas movies today; they are very popular. One channel was so popular with it that other channels started doing the same thing, and that’s normal business. Very few of those ever mention Jesus at all. So why is it that they do not want Jesus to have any part of Christmas? We’re going to take a look at that. It’s not a new idea; it’s an old idea. In John 15:18-25, Jesus says:

John 15:18: “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.”

John 15:19: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”

John 15:20: “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.”

John 15:21: “But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.”

A very important statement “Because they know not him that sent me.”

John 15:22: “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.”

John 15:23: “He that hateth me hateth my Father also.”

John 15:24: “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.”

John 15:25: “But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.”

There is a deliberate plan to keep Christ out of Christmas. There is a deliberate plan to keep Christ out of society. There is a deliberate plan to keep Christ out of your life. There is a deliberate plan to keep Christ out of everything.

Pharoah’s Plot

In Exodus chapter one, we looked at this in Sunday School this morning, and we read of Pharoah’s plan to kill all the male babies. Now, you have to ask yourself why he would want to do that. Could he have tried to get rid of the descendants of Abraham? Why do that? Well, because Abraham’s line produces Isaac, and Isaac produces Jacob, and from Jacob comes Judah, and through Judah comes Christ.

So, if Pharoah could have done away with the people of Israel – I want you to think about this – he could have eliminated the people of Israel. His idea was to kill all male babies of Israel and keep all the girl babies alive. But kill all the boys so there would be no heritage. There would be no descendants passed down. If he could have succeeded at that, there would be no nation of Israel. Now, follow me. If there were no nation of Israel, there would be no Bible.

At the point that Pharoah was doing that, there was no Bible. Possibly the Book of Job but none of the rest of it. It was Moses who had not been born yet and was almost not born because of what the Pharoah was doing. It was Moses who gave us Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. So, there was no Bible in those days. If Pharoah had succeeded in eliminating the male children of Israel, there would be no Bible, and there would be no Savior. Mankind would have lost, and Satan would have scored a tremendous victory.

So, Exodus chapter one, the slaughter of the babies in Exodus one, ties in very closely with our celebration of Christmas because had Pharoah succeeded in his plan – he didn’t because the midwives didn’t obey him, we know that – and because Moses was hidden for three months, his plan did not succeed. If it had, there would be no Christmas to celebrate. There would be no church to preach in. There would be no Bible to preach from.

Herod’s Plot

Matthew chapter 2, verse 12 says this, “And being warned of God.” Who was warned of God? That would be who we call the wise men. They were warned of God in a dream.

Matthew 2:12: “And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.”

They didn’t go back to Jerusalem. They went another way. The Bible doesn’t say exactly how they went, but we could draw a pretty good assumption. There was a way north on the east side of the Jordan River. It took you up through Syria and the mountainous region in the western part of Syria. It was a harder path than going through Jerusalem and going on the west side. But a lot of people did it. A lot of the people of Jerusalem would do that going north because they didn’t want to go through Samaria. So, I guess that that is the course the wise men took. Again, the Bible doesn’t say that I’m speculating, but it would kind of make sense. They would have been heading north, and you’ll hear more about that on Christmas Eve.

But the wise men who came to Herod and asked where Christ should be born were warned not to go back to Jerusalem and not to speak to Herod again. It took a little while to figure out that they weren’t coming back. I don’t think Herod was a stupid man. He was a cruel man, a hateful man. He was so hated that when he was buried, the people came and dug him up and desecrated the tomb and the body and all of that.

But he was not a stupid man. He was a great builder and a great architect. So great an architect was he that some of the buildings he built are still around. They are in ruins. His palace at Masada, for example, is in ruins. It’s beautiful. Can you imagine that? If it’s beautiful in ruins, what must it have looked like when it was all intact? He was a great builder. So, not a stupid man but a very cruel and evil man. So, in verse 13:

Matthew 2:13: “And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

It says, “And when they,” – “they” were the wise men, and they were gone. “Behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream” – he appears to the wise men in a dream, he appears to Joseph in a dream saying, “Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”

We already talked about why Pharoah would want to destroy the people of Israel. It wasn’t to stop the Bible from coming into being. He didn’t know anything about that. It wasn’t to stop the Messiah from coming. He didn’t know anything about that. It was just to eliminate the nation of Israel. He feared, and it tells you that in Exodus chapter one, he feared that they were growing so large a population that if an army attacked Egypt, they would join that army and overthrow the Egyptians.

I’m going to speculate again. But I firmly believe had Pharoah not enslaved the Israelites, they would not have turned against him. They were happy where they were living until he enslaved them. They were content there. But he made the choice to enslave them, and then they were no longer happy there. So, they might have sided with an attacking army. That didn’t happen, but that was his concern, his fear. He didn’t want to lose his kingdom. Bear that in mind. Pharoah did not want to lose his kingdom to the people of Israel. So, look at verse 14 again:

Matthew 2:14: “When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:”

Matthew 2:15: “And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.”

A lot of people read that prophecy and say, yeah, that’s Moses going down and taking the people out of Egypt. But it is not only referring to that. It is referring to that but is also referring to Jesus coming out of Egypt.

Why was Jesus taken into Egypt? To escape Herod. Herod had no jurisdiction in Egypt. He couldn’t do anything to them as long as they were in Egypt. And they stayed there until Herod was dead, which if you study history, you go back and look. It wasn’t a terribly long time that Herod lived after the birth of Jesus. So, they left Egypt then and went to Nazareth. You would think that would be the end of Herod’s plan. But it wasn’t. Look at verse 16:

Matthew 2:16: “Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.”

He is going to do a better job than Pharoah did. Pharoah said to kill all the male babies and keep the girls alive. Harod changes that. He says he’ll kill all the babies. Every child in the region of Bethlehem, two years old and under, kills them all. He wanted to be sure he got this newborn king.

It’s often been pointed out – I think there is some validity to it that from two years old and under, so it’s possibly now two years or so after the birth of Jesus, that he is seeking to kill Jesus. Obviously, some time had passed since the wise men came, and they probably didn’t come like we all see in the creche, the manger – scenes where you see the shepherds and the wise men there at the same time. That’s probably not how it was. And so, the wise men would have come later, much later. How much later, we’re not told. But they probably came later. Matthew 2:16 again:

Matthew 2:16: “Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.”

So, he figures, “It has been a long time since those guys were here. We need to find out what’s going on. This ‘king’ that they were seeking, I need to get rid of him.”

Matthew 2:17: “Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying,”

Matthew 2:18: “In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.”

So, the effort to kill Jesus was to take the Christ out of this world. Pharoah was afraid because of the people of Israel, he could lose his kingdom. Herod was afraid that because of this child, he would lose his kingdom.

You have to think about that logically. I said Herod was not a stupid man, but sin makes you do things that are illogical. He had done many evil things. He killed members of his own family, many of them, because he thought they would take over his throne. Had he been logically thinking at this point in his life, he would have realized that someday he wasn’t going to be there. He would realize that someday he would die, and it was closer than he thought it was. And someday, there would be another king.

So why fear this little child who he asserts is going to be king? Why not allow him to grow up? Herod would be gone by then. He didn’t want his legacy to be erased. He submitted his legacy in history, that’s for sure, by the destruction of all these little children in Bethlehem and sent the people into mourning. Herod slaughtered all of them, all the little boys, all the little babies, not just boys, to get rid of one child.

Caiaphas’ Plot

Now let’s leave Matthew and go over to John’s Gospel, John chapter 11. You know John chapter 11, most of it very well, the chapter that includes the raising of Lazarus. But I want to point out something to you in John 11 that results from the raising of Lazarus, it is after Jesus brought him back from the dead.

John 11:45: “Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.”

That’s a very important statement. There were many who came down from Jerusalem to Bethany for Lazarus’ funeral. Apparently, the family of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus was very prominent. They were very well known. Many people came when Lazarus died, and many of the religious leaders from Jerusalem came down. And it tells us very clearly here in 45:

John 11:45: “Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.”

Do you know that that upset the religious leaders, the members of the Sanhedrin? They couldn’t have some of their people believing that Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior. They couldn’t have that. Why? For the same reason that Herod wanted to destroy the baby Jesus. How do you know it’s the same reason? We’ll see it in the scripture here in a moment.

It’s for the same reason that Pharoah wanted to kill the people of Israel. Eliminate them by getting rid of all the male babies so there would be no heritage, no dissent. His reasoning was in time, the people of Israel would forget about their heritage entirely. They’d forget about where they came from, they’d forget about Joseph, they’d forget about Isaac, they’d forget about Jacob, they’d forget about Abraham, they’d forget about all of that. They’d cease to be a people.

Herod wanted to get rid of this child, who they were saying was a king. “No king going to be around here but me.” Well, these folks were thinking the same way. Again, verse 45:

John 11:45: “Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.”

John 11:46: “But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what Jesus had done.”

“But some of them” – obviously a minority. I imagine they went in there and said, “You’re not going to believe what this guy has done now. I don’t know how he set this up or how he pulled it off. But it looks like he called a man out of the grave who was dead and buried for four days.” Did it matter that they brought that message? It did. Look at verse 47:

John 11:47: “Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? For this man doeth many miracles.”

“Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council” – they gathered together the 70, the Sanhedrin, the religious leaders of the nation. “We’ve got to do something about this guy. He’s doing miracles. People are believing in him. People are following him.” Why is that a problem? Why was that not good news? Why didn’t they like the fact that their Messiah had come, their Savior had come? As we sang a while ago, “Come thou long expected Jesus. Come to set thy people free. Israel’s hope and constellation.” Why is that not a good thing? Look again at 47:

John 11:47: “Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? For this man doeth many miracles.”

John 11:48: “If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away our place and nation.”

“If we let him thus alone,” – if we leave him alone, “all men will believe on him.” Again, why is this a problem? 48 again:

John 11:48: “If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and he Romans shall come and take away our place and nation.”

Can I help you with something? The Romans had already conquered their nation. They had, and not recently. They’ve been there for a long time. They weren’t so worried about losing the nation, other than the fact that they didn’t want to lose their place. Remember, these were the religious rulers of the nation. They had authority. They had power. You read about Caiaphas being the high priest living in a palace. They didn’t want to give up their position. They didn’t want to give up their authority. They had it too good. They were respected everywhere they went. People would invite them to special events and give them the best seats. They didn’t want to lose their position.

John 11:49: “And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all,”

Now, I’ll be honest with you. I like that verse 49. I would like to share that verse, but I have shared that verse with people. Why do I share it? Well, read it again, just read 49 all by itself out of context. I think you’ll get it:

John 11:49: “And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all,”

That’s a good verse to share with people. “Ye know nothing at all.” Caiaphas goes on in verse 50:

John 11:50: “Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the nation perish not.”

“Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people” – Caiaphas knew that one man should die for the people. Was he becoming a believer? Absolutely not. How do you know that? Well, let’s read the whole verse so we can get it in context:

John 11:50: “Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the nation perish not.”

He knew that the Messiah would die for the people. How did he know that? Isaiah’s prophecy. Do you know that many people today, when they read the book of Isaiah, they leave out the 53rd chapter, which tells us about Jesus being crucified and dying for the people? They’ll tell you the reason they can leave it out is, is that it was not originally in the book of Isaiah. It was added in later, much later, centuries later, by the Christians. Let me share with you a problem with that theory.

I was in the Shrine of the Book, where they had copies at that time in the nineties, they had copies of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Why did they have copies? Because that was built to house the Dead Sea Scrolls, but at that time, Saddam Hussein was launching Scud missiles into Israel. And if one of them had hit the Shrine of the Book, the Dead Sea Scrolls would be gone. So, they took the originals and put them in an underground vault, and they presented copies of them to preserve the Dead Sea Scrolls.

But in the center of the shrine is a book. The whole building is built to look like the clay pots in which the scrolls were found in 1947. And in the center of it is a large, wrapped-around pole as it would have been, a copy of Isaiah. And you know what? It has the 53rd chapter in it. What is the big deal? That is the oldest copy of Isaiah known to exist.

So, how can you say that Christians added that later when the oldest copy of Isaiah in existence has that passage in it? Am I saying it’s a lie? Yes, that’s what I’m saying. It’s a lie. But how do we know that Caiaphas, though he knew that passage, didn’t believe in Jesus? Well, again, let’s read verse 50:

John 11:50: “Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the nation perish not.”

John 11:51: “And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;”

“And this spake he not of himself” – He didn’t come up with that on his own. “But being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;” – he did not consciously recognize that Jesus was going to die for the people of Israel in the sense of being the Savior. His idea was that Jesus would die to get the Romans at peace with the Sanhedrin. It had nothing to do with saving the people. Let’s read 51 again:

John 11:51: “And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;”

How did he do that if he didn’t do it of himself? God had him do that. As the high priest, as the spokesman for Israel, the Lord empowered him to do that.

John 11:52: “And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.”

So, Jesus died for the people of Israel, but not for the people of Israel only, but for children of God all over the world, those who would believe in Him.

John 11:53: “Then from that day forth, they took council together for to put him to death.”

There was a plot to murder Jesus Christ. Who hatched that plot? Caiaphas and his associates. They plotted together to murder Jesus Christ. That’s why they needed Judas to locate Him for them. You see, during that last week which begins shortly after this passage in the next chapter, that last week when Jesus was in Jerusalem, He’d come in the day to do His preaching and teaching, then He left the city every night because He knew they wouldn’t come after Him in the daytime in public in front of everybody. They’d come at night. So, until He was ready, He didn’t come into Jerusalem at night. They didn’t know where Jesus and the disciples were meeting. So, they get Judas to locate Him for them.

Understand, and I’ve said this to you before, but I think it bears saying again, those men who came and arrested Jesus in Gethsemane, they were not Roman soldiers. So often, you see pictures and paintings of Roman soldiers, but they were not Roman soldiers. Who were those men? They were an elite force called the Temple Guard. They were a police force to enforce the law around the temple and to keep security at the temple, and they were under the command of the high priest. He sent them. He sent his own police force to go out and arrest Jesus. Romans got involved later when Herod sent Him over to Pilate.

What am I saying that Caiaphas was responsible? Yes, Caiaphas was responsible. What about Pilate? Wasn’t he responsible? Absolutely. What about Herod? Was he responsible? I said Herod was dead. This is a different Herod. Folks, they were all responsible.

Who Else is Responsible?

But you know who else was responsible? Let me give you a story. I think you’ll get it. You often hear me mention Dr. Monroe Parker. He was one of my mentors, and I’m so thankful for that. But his testimony was this. He was going to college to study medicine. He had planned to become a physician. He was a church member and a Sunday School teacher. But he would tell you that he was not saved. Do you mean there are church members and Sunday School teachers who are not saved? Far too many of them.

He said an evangelist came to their church, Phil Shuler, not Robert Schuller, that used to be on television. This is a totally different person, but Phil Shuler came, and during his sermon, Phil Shuler said to the church, “Your sins crucified Jesus.”

Dr. Parker wasn’t Dr. Parker at that time. He went back and thought about it the next day while he was working. He said he came into the church on Sunday, sat down with his boys’ Sunday School class, and said as he sat at the table surrounded by boys that he taught, he quoted Phil Shuler. He looked at the boys, and he said, “Boys, your sins crucified Jesus.” He said all the boys dropped their heads. They knew it was true.

But then he said, it struck him, he said, “Boys, my sins crucified Jesus.” He said when Sunday School was over, they went to the church service, and the pastor gave the sermon that day. And when he gave the invitation, Dr. Parker said he was the first one down the aisle to be saved. He said every one of those boys followed him. Every one of them went on to serve the Lord.

I tell you that story to tell you my sins crucified Jesus. I could point a finger at Caiaphas, I could point a finger to Herod, Pilate, and others, but you know the old saying when you point one finger, there are three others pointing back at you. My sins crucified Jesus. But they had a plot. They had a plot to destroy Him and put Him to death.

The Origin of the Plot

Let’s go to Revelation 12, and I want you to see the origin of all this. If Pharoah didn’t know that there was a Messiah coming, if he didn’t know there was a Bible going to be written, and he didn’t, then why did it matter to him to get rid of the people of Israel? We already told you of his motives. But in Revelation chapter 12, we get the real story. John is giving us part of the revelation here, obviously.

But I want to say something about this book before we read it. It’s this. A lot of people look at the last book of the Bible, and they consider that a dark and mysterious book, hard to understand. I’m going to tell you that before I was saved, I read the Book of Revelation. I didn’t understand all of it. I’m not telling you I understand all of it today, but I understand a lot more than I did. And if you do the same thing, you’ll read it and study it, and you’ll understand a lot more and more.

But it’s not called the book. It’s not called the enigma. It is not called the mystery. It’s called the Revelation. This book was not written to make us wonder and be confused and not understand what God is. This was the revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ given to God’s people so we would understand. That’s the whole point of the book to understand what God has done, what He is doing now, and what He is going to do. Look at verse one:

Revelation 12:1: “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars;”

That is significant. This woman represents the nation of Israel. The crown of 12 stars represents the 12 tribes of Israel. Now watch carefully in verse two:

Revelation 12:2: “And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered”

Why? Because the Messiah, the Savior, is going to come through Israel, did come through Israel. Verse three:

Revelation 12:3: “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads.”

That’s very interesting – a seven-headed dragon, a great red dragon, has seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. Maybe you see it when you’re younger in cartoons. I don’t see it anymore or in other places. It’s the depiction of the devil, and he’d be red and have horns, and he’d have a long tail. Does anybody remember that? Where did they get that idea? From this passage. “Well, that’s not how I saw it in the cartoons.” No, but what you see in the cartoons is not accurate, but that’s where they got the idea.

Revelation 12:4: “And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.”

“And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and did cast them to the earth:” – this third part of the stars of heaven refers to the third of the angels. And Satan, the dragon – how do we know it is Satan? Read on, and we’ll find out. His tail took, or he took with him, a third of the angels. And where did they go? Look at it carefully, “His tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth.” Where did they go? They came here. These are what we call demons, or demonic spirits referred to in the Gospels most of the time as devils. Again, verse four:

Revelation 12:4: “And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.”

Watch this, “For to devour her child as soon as it was born.” What did he want to do? He wanted the baby to be born and killed. That’s what Pharoah did. Pharoah wanted the baby boys to be born and, as soon as they were born, kill them. That’s what he told the midwives. Read Exodus chapter one. You’ll see it. It’s what Pharoah did.

It’s what Herod did. Herod was there, and he was going to get rid of all those babies two years old and under. He wanted to kill them. I’m not going to get political here, don’t be afraid of that, but I’m going to say something. What are we doing today? Kill the babies. Where does that come from? Where did Pharoah get that idea? I’ll tell you where he got it from. He got it from that great red dragon. He got it from Satan. Satan was there to devour the child as soon as it was born. Look at verse five:

Revelation 12:5: “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”

“And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron:” – Isn’t that something? The child of the woman is suppose to rule over all nations. He is the king. “And her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.” When we read of Jesus ascending back to Heaven after His crucifixion and resurrection, where do we see Him next? At the right hand of the throne of God. Verse six:

Revelation 12:6: “And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.”

That is so significant. We don’t have time to expound on it right now, but that is so significant. Verse seven:

Revelation 12:7: “There was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,”

Revelation 12:8: “And prevailed not; neither was their place found anywhere in heaven.”

Revelation 12:9: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with him.”

Revelation 12:10: “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before God day and night.”

Revelation 12:11: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”

“And they overcame him” – How? “By the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony, and they love not their lives unto death.”

Revelation 12:12: “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time.”

This is prophecy, but it is also history. It tells us exactly what was going on behind the scenes when Pharoah decided to kill all of the baby boys of Israel. It tells us what was going on behind the scenes when Herod wanted to kill all the babies in Bethlehem.

By the way, it wasn’t Roman soldiers who went down there to Bethlehem either. I read somewhere awhile back that there is no record of the Roman army coming down and killing people in Bethlehem. They didn’t. That was Herod’s men again. They did his dirty work for him. Herod commanded them through the high priest. Was Caiaphas agreeable to that? I’m sure he was. Wait, those were his own people. It was more important to Caiaphas to stay in power than it was to save his own people, I guarantee you, like a lot of politicians.

Let me throw one other thing in here, it’s not in my notes, but I think you’ll find it interesting. If you go to Jerusalem, there are two tombs they say are the tomb of Jesus. Obviously, they both can’t be the correct tomb. By the way, both of them are empty. The one I believe is the correct tomb is the one they call Gordon’s tomb. I don’t have time to explain all that to you, maybe another time we can do that. But it’s empty, and many years ago, decades and decades ago, they did testing on the floor of that tomb, and nobody has ever decayed in that tomb. It’s located in a garden. It’s very close to a hill that looks like a skull. It’s pretty good evidence.

But just a few years ago – I think not more than 30 years ago – there was a construction project going on in Israel. A piece of heavy equipment, I think they were building a new road if I remember right, don’t hold me to that. There was a construction project, and a piece of heavy equipment hit a hollow spot, and they stopped all work. They do that in Israel. Whenever they are unearthing or digging something, if they hit something hollow or something unusual or an old, buried ruin, they stop all construction. They call in the Israeli Antiquities Authority, which examines the whole area to see what indeed has been unearthed. Do you know what they found that day? The tomb of Caiaphas. Do you know what they found? Caiaphas’ bones. Jesus’ tomb is empty. Caiaphas’ tomb was not. I say they found Caiaphas’ bones, and they found the whole family, all of them buried there in that tomb.

Near the last week of His time on earth, religious leaders held a meeting to decide to destroy Jesus. The plot was serious and a deliberate action to kill Jesus. But they were just doing what Pharoah had tried to do, what Herod tried to do. Where did this evil originate? It originated with Satan. The plan was to destroy the child as soon as He was born. The child is born, and the enemy attacks.

“That was all over a thousand years ago, and those plots failed.” You are correct. But there is today a very real plot to keep Christ out of Christmas. They like having a celebration in December. They like having the lights and the festivities, the parties, the music, and all of that. But don’t need Jesus. Don’t make something religious.

Years ago, when I was teaching in a public school aftercare program, did that for 12 years; at the end of every class, I would tell a story, and I think that was the children’s favorite part of the class. They’d say, “It’s story time.” I would tell them stories about different things. I would tell them stories about heroes. I would tell them some stories about great events, and I would tell them stories about great scientists.

When it got to December, I’d tell them the story of Hannukah, and I would tell them the story of Christmas. One year, I was sitting with a group of elementary children, and I told them the story of Christmas. One little boy said, “Christmas is about Jesus?” He had no idea. I dare say most of them had no idea, either.

The world doesn’t understand. If you ask the world, “What person is the center of Christmas?” They are going to say it’s Santa Claus. That’s the wrong answer. There’s a very real plot to keep Jesus Christ out of this world. The plot goes back, all the way back to creation. It will finally be resolved. Let me show you that, and we’re finished tonight. Turn over just a few chapters to chapter 20, Revelation chapter 20.

Revelation 20:10: “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

That’s how the story ended.

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Let us pray. Father, thank you for blessing us. Thank you for the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose coming we celebrate this time of year and whose coming we should celebrate all year. Lord, help us, like the old hymn says, “Turn our eyes upon Jesus.” Help us to see that all the things that have happened were prophesied and told in your scriptures centuries before they occurred and that the plot to stop the Savior from coming is as old a creation itself. But the Savior, the Lord God, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, was before creation and will be after. Help us, Lord, to tell others that they might believe and be saved. We ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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