The Gooch Lane church of Christ is a group of people in Madison, Alabama seeking to study the Bible and put God’s teachings into practice. We’d love to have you join us for Bible study and worship.
How Satan Sought to
Destroy the Infant Jesus
by Greg Chandler
On many occasions within Jesus’ life as a human, He faced Satan’s attempts for destruction. The earliest of these occurred when a wicked and paranoid king heard that a new king had been born. He first sought to use wise men who had traveled from the east to worship Jesus as a means of destruction; however, God foiled this plan (Matthew 2:12). Now desperate, Herod ordered the deaths of all baby boys under the age of two in the village of Bethlehem to be killed. Despite this horrific act, God again thwarted the plan of Herod by warning Jesus’ earthly father Joseph to take his family to Egypt for safety.
It is interesting to note how this account parallels that of Moses many years earlier. Attempting to stop the growth of Jacob’s family who was enslaved in Egypt, the Pharaoh ordered that all baby boys be cast into the Nile River. Moses’ mother sought to save her son by building a small ark, covering it with pitch, and placing it in the water in hopes that someone would find the child and rescue him. This happened when none other than Pharaoh’s daughter drew him out of the water and raised him in the house of Pharaoh. Note the similarities with Jesus: A paranoid king willing to kill children to protect his power and a child finding protection in Egypt.
The parallels can be taken in one other direction. The word for ark as used in the story of Moses’ birth is the same word as that of the ark which Noah constructed and pitched with tar (Genesis 6:14). As Noah was saved by the water, so too was Moses saved by the water; thus, the story of Moses mimics the story of Noah, demonstrating God’s power to save. Just as Noah saved humanity by obedience to God, Moses helped to save humanity by leading the nation through whom Jesus would one day be born.Ultimately, these shadows point to Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world who offers salvation to humanity through His selfless death on the cross. Though he tried, Satan could not stop the infant Jesus from growing to manhood and dying for humanity’s salvation.