Ps. 17: 10-12, 15  “They close their hearts to pity; with their mouths they speak arrogantly.  They have now surrounded our steps; they set their eyes to cast us to the ground.  He is like a lion eager to tear, as a young lion lurking in ambush.  …  As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.”

I tend to have a hard time looking at an infant and limning in its features the lines of its parents’ faces.   It’s often easier to see a general “family resemblance” –telling a Winterstein from a Wachtman from a Jonen.  Rob has a family of cousins whose parents came from very different models.  One family had very long bodies set on notably short legs, the other had normal bodies set on legs up to their armpits.  Two of these cousins each had two boys.  In both sets, one of the boys took after the one grandparent, and the other boy took after the other, resulting in one brother being about 6’4” and the “little” brother barely making it to 5’2”.  Looking at the four together, you’d expect the two tall ones to be brothers and the two short ones to be brothers, not split sets as they are.  Such is the Puckish nature of genetics!

During adulthood, the resemblance most likely to be noted is how folks start to look like their parents.  I mean, we ALL have those moments as adults when we say something and suddenly realize, “Oh, my goodness, I sound just like my MOTHER!”  We have some voluntary control over that, but the looks?  We’re pretty much stuck with those.  What’s that old saying  – “If you want to know what your spouse will look like in 50 years, look at her/his mother/father?”  The wrinkles we develop, the jowls, the receding hairline, the big ears, the long nose (did you know your nose and ears keep growing your whole life?  Oh, joy.) … they’re in the genes.   Sooner or later, for better or chagrin, most of us will hear someone say, “Boy, you sure look like your dad/mom/grandma/grandpa!” 

In the Christmas story, we can easily see the first verses quoted above as they apply to Herod.  Herod “the Great” was a ruthless tyrant who stopped at nothing to ensure his rule.  He banished his first wife and three year old son so that he could marry the niece of his nephew, both of whom he later executed.  He ordered the execution of a many rabbis and any others who opposed him.  Although he considered himself a convert to Judaism, these actions and his decadent lifestyle led to his being viewed with extreme antipathy by observant Jews.  His being a servant of Rome earned the ire of the nationalists.  Having been elected “King of the Jews” by the Roman Senate, he was not about to let any upstart usurper enter the picture, hailed by the stars or not.  Ordering the slaughter of three or four dozen or so two year old boys around Bethlehem?  A small matter to ensure his rule.  In I Peter 5:  8, Peter says the enemy, Satan, “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”    Herod was a “chip off the old block” for sure.  Like his father the devil, the lion roaring, seeking someone to devour, so, too, was Herod a young lion eager to tear, lying in ambush.    

I recently heard a pastor say “This earth is as close to Heaven as a non-Christian will ever know.”  People like Herod actively work to make earth as much like Hell as possible.  But for the Christian, the second part of that pastor’s statement was “This earth is as close to Hell as a Christian will ever know.”  That isn’t really saying much, when you think about it.  Hell is the absence of the presence of God, and no matter how “hellish” the Herod’s of the world seek to make our lives, they can’t remove God’s presence from us.   Roar as he might, Satan can’t actually devour us.  Our Father never lets go of our hand.  No matter what our circumstances, our Father’s face is always before us.   God is always at work to conform us ever more and more into His likeness. 

When it comes to spiritual looks, there could be no greater satisfaction than hearing, “Boy, you sure look like your Dad!”