Sunday Sermon: The Wise Men Seek the King (Matthew 2:1-12)

WWUTT Podcast

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:18

You are listening to the teaching ministry of Gabriel Hughes, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas.

00:27

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast, we feature 20 minutes of Bible study through a

00:32

New Testament book. On Thursday is a study in the Old Testament, and then we answer questions from the listeners on Friday.

00:39

Each Sunday we are pleased to share our sermon series. Here's Pastor Gabe. Matthew chapter two, beginning in verse one.

00:49

Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the

01:02

Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and we have come to worship him.

01:08

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the

01:18

Christ was to be born. They told him in Bethlehem of Judea for so it is written by the prophet and you,

01:25

O Bethlehem in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people

01:35

Israel. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.

01:44

And he sent them to Bethlehem saying, go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him.

01:56

After listening to the king, they went on their way and behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.

02:05

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly and they fell down and worshiped him.

02:13

Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh and being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

02:28

Let us pray. Heavenly father, as we come to these scriptures today, I pray that we along with the wise men may see a great light.

02:37

We may see the light of our Lord Jesus Christ who has come to this world. He has come to show us our sin and need for a savior and has shown us

02:48

God the father through grace and truth. Be with us as we study these scriptures.

02:55

Bless us in your truth this morning. We pray this in Jesus name and all God's people said, amen.

03:01

Thank you. You may be seated. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, so we're not sticking with the

03:07

Christmas story after Christmas, we're now after Christmas and moving on here.

03:13

We often associate the wise men as being present with Jesus at the time of his birth.

03:20

After all, that's what our nativity scenes depict, correct? Probably have your little nativity scene at home that has

03:26

Mary and Joseph, the Christ child in the middle. Maybe an angel is hanging overhead and you've got shepherds accompanying, perhaps little figurines of a donkey or a sheep or something to that degree.

03:36

And then three wise men, right? That come along as well. They're there with the shepherds worshiping

03:42

Jesus. There was a film, it was a little over 10 years ago now called the nativity. That was a live action depiction of the birth of Jesus.

03:51

And I remember hearing an interview with the filmmaker, I believe this was on family life today with Dennis Rainey.

03:56

And the filmmaker said, we know that the wise men were not there on the night of Christ's birth.

04:03

He would have come later. But since the film is called the nativity, and most folks have a nativity scene in their home, we went ahead and took some liberties with the story and included the wise men along with the shepherds.

04:15

So you've got that scene with the shepherds and the wise men together worshiping the baby Jesus. Now, I don't think there's any harm in doing that.

04:23

But as we understand the story accurately, the wise men would have come to worship

04:28

Jesus somewhere around six months to 18 months after he was born.

04:34

And we know that because of what is said later on when Herod ascertains about the time that the wise men said they saw the star and Herod to cover his bases decided to kill all the male children in Bethlehem and the surrounding region who were of the age of two and under.

04:51

So again, Jesus was somewhere between six months and 18 months old when the

04:57

Magi came and visited him there in Bethlehem. So we read the

05:02

Christmas story on Christmas Eve, and now we're moving into the events that are just after the birth of Christ.

05:10

Matthew chapter 2 is the only place in Scripture that records for us the Magi that would come and worship

05:16

Jesus, but this was prophesied even in the Scriptures. And the Magi came to worship

05:22

Jesus because they were following the prophecies that had been made about him.

05:29

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the

05:43

Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.

05:49

And this is a story that just about everybody is familiar with, right? The way we have this depicted in our nativity scenes is that you've got three wise men because they brought three treasures to him, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

06:04

But the reality is that there were more than just three. There was actually a very large caravan of men who had come from the region of Persia.

06:15

And it may not have just been men, but maybe also some women who were with them as well.

06:21

But those who were leading this caravan, who came looking for the king who had been born king of the

06:26

Jews, they were all wise men from the land of the Persians. We saw his star when it rose and we have come to worship him.

06:34

And we know that there was a large enough group of these foreigners that came into Jerusalem for it says in verse three, when

06:41

Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all of Jerusalem with him.

06:49

If it was just three guys, that wouldn't have really attracted a whole lot of attention.

06:55

It wasn't uncommon to have foreigners that would come into Jerusalem. There were Gentiles who were there.

07:00

There were Gentiles that would come curious about this Hebrew God. There was a certain place they could go in the temple.

07:07

They couldn't go beyond that. But there were nevertheless foreigners that came to Jerusalem to worship

07:14

God. It wasn't unusual. So three of them would not have attracted much attention.

07:20

But this was a large caravan of men who are referred to as magi.

07:25

As we have this word that appears wise men in the Greek, it's translated from the

07:32

Greek word magioi. And it's from this Greek word that we come up with words like magic or magician.

07:39

It originates from the same root word. Magi were priests of Zoroastrianism, which was the state religion of the

07:46

Medes and the Persians beginning in the 6th century BC. These priests practice a variety of what we might call magic arts, which is why they're called magi.

07:57

Some of these arts include soothsaying, divination, believing that the divine would reveal truths to us from the heavens.

08:06

So astrology, the position of stars in the sky and even where planets were located, somehow affected human affairs, so they would study the stars, and also interpreting dreams.

08:19

Now because these men were astronomers as well as astrologers, they were indeed looking for signs in the heavens.

08:28

And because these men valued the wisdom that came from a number of different peoples on planet

08:33

Earth, not just among their own wise men in Persia, but actually from various wise men and philosophers that came from just about everywhere.

08:43

Because they valued the wise sayings of all sorts of wise people, they also had in their possession the

08:50

Old Testament prophecies of the Hebrew prophets. This would have happened around 605

08:57

BC when the Hebrews were deported from Jerusalem into Babylon and eventually were taken over by the

09:05

Medes and the Persians when the Persians came and took over Babylon. We know that Daniel and his friends, that we know

09:13

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, became some of those wise men that were appointed to the king's service there among the

09:20

Medes and the Persians. And so they would have brought the Hebrew scriptures along with them. Recently on the podcast, on the

09:27

Friday Q &A, Becky and I were asked a question, were the wise men, were they of different races?

09:35

Because typically when you have that wise men nativity scene, what have you got there? You got one man who's very clearly white, probably have two white guys there, even though there may not have been anybody quite that Caucasian among the

09:48

Magi, or you might have somebody that looks Asian, and then a third person who is black or African American.

09:55

We would call African American. He would be actually African. Would it have been the case that these men were indeed multiracial?

10:05

And the answer to that question is yes, they would have been. And we know that because of what we read in the

10:11

Old Testament concerning the wise men that were appointed to the king's court. When they took over a people, they would find the wise men from that people, and they would bring their wise men in among their wise men.

10:23

And there was such favor that was shown with Daniel that he was actually placed over all of the wise men.

10:28

So you have Daniel who's a foreigner, who's a Hebrew, and he's even shown greater favor over the

10:35

Medes and Persian wise men because the Spirit of God was with him. Daniel 6 .3

10:40

says, Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps because an excellent spirit was with him.

10:48

Because God's favor was with Daniel, and because Daniel was so highly thought of by the other magi, by the other wise men, they searched his scriptures.

11:01

They wanted to know, who is this God Daniel worships? And so they read the

11:06

Pentateuch. They read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. We even have prophecies written there about a king who was to come.

11:16

It was Moses who said, there is a prophet who is going to come after me, one who is greater than I, and you will listen to him.

11:25

Moses even wrote in Numbers 24 .17 that a star shall come out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.

11:33

And the wise men of the Persians would have interpreted this as, a star will indicate the time in which the

11:41

Savior is going to be born, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, meaning this person is going to be a king.

11:50

That word scepter indicates he is going to be royalty. Daniel himself even wrote about a king that was to come.

11:59

Daniel 7 verses 13 through 14, and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people's nations and languages should serve him.

12:10

His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom will be one that shall not be destroyed.

12:20

This was what Daniel prophesied concerning the coming of a king, and even these wise men that held

12:26

Daniel in such high regard would have been awed by this particular prophecy.

12:31

Really? A king is coming, you say, who is going to be even greater than the king of Babylon was?

12:37

Than the king of the Medes and the Persians? Than the king of Egypt, Pharaoh himself? There's going to be a king who's going to come that's greater than this?

12:46

And so they continued to search the Scriptures, wondering when this king would arrive.

12:52

Daniel actually wrote about that as well. In Daniel 9, 24 through 25, 70 weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city to finish the transgression.

13:03

This is in reference to the people of Israel who had been exiled into Babylon and then to the

13:09

Medes and the Persians. To put an end to sin and atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.

13:21

Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build

13:27

Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks.

13:33

Then for 62 weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time.

13:40

How was this interpreted? Daniel prophesied that the Messiah would come 483 years after the

13:48

Persian emperor commanded the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem. Exactly how many years it would be before the

13:55

Savior would come. And the wise men were calculating, watching the stars, knowing the decree that had gone out from the king of Persia to rebuild

14:07

Jerusalem, to rebuild its walls, and calculating at what time the Savior was to arrive.

14:14

And so about the time that they speculated this Savior would be born, a star appeared.

14:21

Just as was prophesied in Numbers 24, a star that would come out of Jacob, a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and they started following that star to the place where the

14:32

Savior is born. Now, there's all kinds of folks over the years throughout history that have tried to ascertain what this star was.

14:42

And some have speculated that it was a conjunction between two planets. Some have speculated that it might have been a comet of some kind, or maybe some sort of supernova that appeared in the heavens.

14:55

The thing about all of these different theories is that none of them are very bright. Pun intended.

15:03

That bright spot in the sky just would not have been unusual enough for wise men or even astronomers to look at it and go, hey, there's something funny about that.

15:13

Let's follow it and see where it leads us. Something we know about the star that the wise men followed is that it was always in the east and it moved.

15:23

For we have read here that after they went beyond Jerusalem, they followed the star and it settled over the house where Jesus was.

15:31

We would not expect that kind of behavior of something celestial like a conjunction of planets or a comet.

15:38

Besides that, pagans often thought of comets as symbols of doom and gloom.

15:45

Like there was some sort of destruction that was going to come upon us because we've seen a comet, so it wouldn't have been a comet that they followed.

15:51

This wasn't something natural, but rather it was something supernatural. It was something that hung in the heavens that would have looked high up in the sky to us, but certainly would have hung lower than the sun, moon, and stars.

16:05

And it would have hung low enough also that a great number of peoples on planet

16:12

Earth were not writing about this celestial event. If it was something high up in the heavens that everybody could have observed, then we would have expected to see some sort of historical record written by a number of different peoples from all over planet

16:25

Earth. And we simply don't find that. So we know that this was a lower celestial event, something that may have been slightly above the clouds, but not too much higher that people other than the wise men would have noticed it.

16:43

The wise men followed this star, just had been prophesied a star would lead them to the place where Jesus was born.

16:51

And they said when they arrived, where is he who has been born, king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.

16:58

The star would not have told them that they were looking for the king of the Jews. How did they know they were looking for the king of the

17:06

Jews? Because they had read the Old Testament scriptures. And all of this was by the sovereign divine plan of God.

17:18

Even when he exiled the Israelites to foreign captivity, punishing them because of their sins, because they worshiped false gods instead of the true

17:29

God. Even when God was doing that, he was still working out that he was going to provide a savior and whoever believed in this savior would be forgiven their sins and have eternal fellowship with God.

17:47

And he would do this not just among his people. It would be from his people the savior would come, from the

17:53

Israelites. He would not just do this for them, but he would do this for the whole world.

18:00

That everyone on earth would have a chance to look and see a great light that God had given through his son so that all who look upon him would live.

18:15

The Magi were doing what the people of Israel should have been doing. They were looking for a savior.

18:20

And the interesting thing about this, they were looking for this savior for 600 years.

18:30

From the time they had first been introduced to these prophecies concerning a savior who was coming, not just for Israel, but for the whole world, a great king.

18:42

Not just at that time, but even in the years that followed, when would this king arrive?

18:48

Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star.

18:58

We've come to worship him. The Magi already believed whoever this king was, he was worthy of our worship.

19:10

What was the response to their question? They came, a large caravan of them, they stirred up the people of Jerusalem when they came asking this question.

19:20

And when Herod the king heard what these wise men were asking, he was troubled.

19:26

And all of Jerusalem with him. Why were they troubled? Because they didn't know what they were talking about.

19:37

Herod and the rest of Jerusalem going, what? Who are these guys? And why have they come here asking for the one born king of the

19:45

Jews? Herod's going, I haven't given birth to a son recently. In fact,

19:50

Herod killed some of his own family because he was a wretched, murderous king.

19:59

The rest of Israel, they're going, we haven't heard about a king who's been born. What are these guys saying?

20:05

Where is he who's been born king of the Jews? And so Herod, trying to get some sense of what they're talking about, he assembles his own wise men, his chief priests and the scribes, and he inquired of them where this

20:21

Christ was to be born. And the wise men told

20:27

Herod, this is verse 5, in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet, and you,

20:33

O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people

20:42

Israel. Now, here's an interesting question. If the Magi had the Old Testament scriptures, the prophets, that told them about a coming

20:52

Messiah, why weren't they paying attention to the prophet who said exactly where the

20:58

Messiah was going to be born? They knew this Messiah was coming. They knew it would be in the land of Israel, but they did not know exactly the town.

21:05

Why is it that they didn't know that? Because this prophecy wasn't given until after the

21:11

Israelites came back from Babylonian captivity into Jerusalem to rebuild its walls and rebuild the temple.

21:17

That's when this prophecy was made. So the Medes and the Persians didn't have it. It was given from Malachi to the people of Israel about 100 years after they had first been exiled to the

21:31

Babylonians. They were in Babylonian captivity for over 70 years, or in the captivity of a foreign nation for over 70 years, before the king of Persia allowed them to return back to Jerusalem and rebuild their city.

21:44

And so they did not have this prophecy. It would have been exclusive among just the people of Judah.

21:51

So the scribes and the Pharisees and the chief priests, they knew this prophecy. They had to tell

21:57

Herod about it. And you owe Bethlehem in the land of Judah. That's where this king is to be born.

22:02

He's specifically going to be born in Bethlehem. Think about the revelation of the coming of Christ that is given to us in the

22:12

Old Testament. Would you be able to predict the birth of a person and exactly where they would be born 500 years from now?

22:21

Would you be able to do that? This is only by God's divine hand who is upon this.

22:27

And He reveals His plan to His prophets who tell His people, and they were dumb to it.

22:36

In fact, even after the people of Israel had come back to Jerusalem and rebuilt its walls, their hearts were still hardened against God.

22:43

And there were still things that they were doing, walking in sin instead of righteousness. That's why

22:48

God gave them the prophet Malachi, who told them to repent of their sin. Most of Malachi is repent.

22:55

But then, in also this call of repentance, we have this promise.

23:02

The promise of a Savior who's going to be born specifically in Bethlehem.

23:08

Now, there was actually more than one town called Bethlehem, even in Israel. So, Malachi specifies exactly.

23:16

It's you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah. From you shall come a ruler who will shepherd

23:23

My people Israel. So, verse 7, Herod summoned the wise men, the

23:29

Magi, and he ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.

23:36

And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, so that I too may come and worship him.

23:46

Now, there is a literary device at work here called dramatic irony. It's called dramatic irony because the

23:55

Magi in the story don't know what Herod is up to, but you and I do. Because we know this story.

24:01

We've read this before. We know that Herod doesn't actually want to come and worship the baby

24:06

Jesus. We know that what Herod wants to do is kill him. But we won't study more about that until we get to the lesson next week, the flight to Egypt, that we read about in verses 13 through 15.

24:18

And then the next week, even Herod's attempt to kill the children in verses 16 through 18.

24:25

So we know that Herod doesn't actually want to worship this king. He is a bloodthirsty king,

24:31

Herod is, and so he wants to put Jesus to death. But note again that it's the

24:38

Magi, men from a foreign land, who came looking for this Savior, rather than the people to whom this

24:47

Savior was born. John 1, 11 through 13, we read this,

24:58

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

25:16

See, my friends, the Magi represent every single person who comes to Christ.

25:25

For before we came to Christ, we were walking in darkness. And it's through the sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ that it says in Isaiah 9, 2, we have now seen a great light.

25:39

God has shown us the light of his Son, Jesus, in the gospel that has been proclaimed.

25:46

God sent his Son, born into human flesh.

25:52

We read in Romans 8, 3, He lived a perfect, sinless life.

26:02

As we talked about on Tuesday night and our Christmas Eve service, Jesus was conceived without sin, because he was not conceived by the seed of man.

26:11

He was conceived of the Holy Spirit. He was even conceived holy and sinless, so that he might be that perfect, spotless sacrifice who would die for our sins.

26:23

And only Jesus could do that, and no one else. Jesus fulfills all the covenant promises that were made through David and Abraham, and even becomes the one who is qualified to take away the sin of the world, because he was virgin -born, fulfilling the prophecies that had been made about him.

26:42

Jesus lived a sinless life, so that we might also walk in holiness as Jesus walked.

26:49

As it says in 1 John 2, if we say that we believe in him, we should also walk as he walked.

26:57

And he died, laying his life down as an atoning sacrifice on the cross for our sins.

27:06

It wasn't enough that he died, but he also came back to life, showing that he himself had power over death itself, so that all who believe in Jesus, our sins are forgiven, and we are risen again to new life, eternal life with God, forever in glory.

27:27

This message has come to all, that anyone on earth could hear the message of the gospel, so that we might repent of our sin and follow the

27:40

Lord Jesus Christ. And so live. The Magi were from a foreign people, just as we were likewise.

27:52

We were likewise of a world walking in darkness. We read about this earlier this year.

27:57

We were going through Ephesians chapter 2. We were once dead in our sins and our transgressions, following the pattern of this world.

28:06

The spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, guess what?

28:19

Like the rest of mankind. But God, who is rich in mercy, didn't leave us dead in our sins.

28:30

He made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved.

28:38

The Magi came looking for a savior, when

28:45

Judah should have been looking for that savior. They were the ones that had the scriptures, and they had no idea what the

28:55

Magi were talking about. What this demonstrates, and what this represents to us, is that the people of Israel had become hardened in their hearts, and though they were a people who practiced religion, it was not authentic religion.

29:11

Though they had the temple, which was built in honor to God, they did not worship

29:19

God in any meaningful way that God accepted, for they didn't even know His word.

29:25

In John 8, Jesus said, these are my disciples, they who listen to and obey my word.

29:35

And the people of Israel were not doing that. Amos 5 speaks to this people when it says,

29:41

I can't stand your noise. Who is required of you, this trampling of my courts?

29:46

We read that also in Isaiah chapter 1. Take away from me your offerings, your incense, it's repugnant to me.

29:54

I don't care for your singing, I hate it. That's what God says to His people Israel. Because though it sounds like they're doing worship, it's not authentic.

30:03

It doesn't come from a heart that is changed and transformed before God. It's all exterior, there's nothing inside that's genuine.

30:10

They think that because we do this, we're righteous because we do it. But we are not made righteous by our works.

30:17

We're made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ who is righteous. The people of Israel had fallen so far from God that their worship wasn't even genuine.

30:28

R .C. Sproul has said, God is never pleased with ignorant worship. Worship must be grounded in the knowledge of God.

30:36

So though you could have walked into Israel in the first century at this time and you would have seen all sorts of worship going on in the temple, it was worship in stupidity.

30:48

For they didn't even know about this king and where he was to be born.

30:53

How could you say that any of this worship was authentic when they did not even know the promises of the coming

30:59

Messiah and they were troubled when a foreign people came in asking where is he who has been born king of the

31:06

Jews. My friends, may it never be said of us. May it never be said of anybody who walks into this building.

31:15

I see people worshiping here but they don't know God. I've heard

31:24

Paul Washer say that the biggest mission field in America today is its churches that are full of people that acknowledge

31:35

God with their lips but their hearts are far from him. And I say this to you in a reverent fear of God because I know the weaknesses in my own flesh and I know how easy it would be for me to fall away from the call to righteousness and be tempted by the ways of this world.

32:03

It'd be very easy for me to do that which is why I daily need to be meditating upon the scriptures of God and submitting myself before him in prayer lest I go the way of Israel and my heart become hardened and dark.

32:23

In Joshua chapter 1, the Lord said to Joshua, meditate on my word day and night.

32:29

Let it not depart from your lips, from your mouth. And we know that Jesus has said it's from the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks.

32:37

So if our heart is genuinely for God, may his word be that thing that pours forth from our lips.

32:43

May we delight to say it and to speak it and proclaim it. May we not be ashamed of it.

32:51

For as Paul said in Romans 1 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the

32:59

Jew first and also to the Greek. It was to the Jew first that the message of the gospel came but they rejected it and it was those of a foreign people that believed it and came to rejoice in the gospel message.

33:15

The people were confused. Herod was not even all that impressed with what the Magi came asking about.

33:21

He sent them on their way and then what was the Magi's response to what they found? Verse 9, after listening to the king, they went on their way and behold the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.

33:39

And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

33:45

Now imagine this scene. They've just been to Jerusalem. They didn't know where the

33:51

Savior was born. So why did they go to Jerusalem and why did they go to the palace? Naturally, if someone's going to be born king of the

33:57

Jews, he's going to be born there, right? Your capital city where your castle is. That's where the king is going to be born.

34:04

So that's why they went there. They went to Herod and it's clear to them, Herod doesn't know what they're talking about.

34:12

He has to talk to his own wise men who then tell him, well, this is where the Savior is going to be born. So Herod goes back to the

34:18

Magi and says, ah, okay, I've figured it out. Bethlehem is the place where you want to go. It was just four miles away from Jerusalem.

34:24

You could have seen the palace from Bethlehem. And so he tells the

34:30

Magi, this is where you are to go and when you find the king, let me know because I want to come worship him too. So the

34:36

Magi leave the palace, the most royal place in the land of Judah. They go to a little peasant's town, a little shepherding community in Bethlehem, just a couple hundred people, three, four hundred maybe at the most.

34:50

They come to this little bitty town and the star rests over this little peasant's house.

34:57

And what did the Magi do? Did they stand there and go, what? This is it? Are you kidding me?

35:03

The one born king of the Jews is born here? We've made a mistake. Let's go home.

35:10

That wasn't their response. They saw this place, this meager little humble estate and when they saw it and they knew this was the place because the star was showing them, they rejoiced with great joy.

35:27

They've not even gone in the place yet to find him. They just see the house and they're excited. We've journeyed from so far.

35:34

We've been waiting for 600 years since we first heard about these prophecies and here we are.

35:41

Here it is. We've made it. We've arrived. The Savior is born with great joy.

35:50

So verse 11, and going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshiped him.

36:03

These foreigners from a foreign land, all of them would not have even fit in the house. So I kind of picture this as they kind of come in, they fall down and worship him.

36:12

Hey, it's our turn next. So they walk out of the house, the next group of these travelers come in and they fall down and worship

36:19

Jesus. Over and over again, these foreigners, they bow before this child because they are convinced.

36:26

Why? Because Jesus had performed some sort of miracle in front of them. How did they know that he was the

36:32

Savior? Because the Bible told them so. That's a song that we still sing, right?

36:40

Jesus loves me. This I know. How do you know Jesus loves you? Because the

36:47

Bible tells me so. They had the Old Testament scriptures that told them, this is the child.

36:55

This is the one who is worthy of your worship. And they did not even question it. They fell down and they worshiped him.

37:04

Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

37:12

Do not miss the significance of these particular treasures. These were regal gifts.

37:19

As a matter of fact, we read in 1 Kings 10 .10 that when the queen of Sheba came and brought

37:25

Solomon gifts of gold and very great quantity of spices, this means she brought him gold and frankincense and myrrh.

37:35

That's what that means. So the queen of Sheba comes to Jerusalem. She wants to behold the greatness of this king that she's heard about around all of the world.

37:44

His great treasure, his great wisdom, Solomon. So she comes and she brings gold and a great plentiful amount of spices.

37:52

She brought him gold, frankincense and myrrh because that's what you give to a king. They were also gifts that had signs of divinity attached to them.

38:02

Now remember, these gifts are brought by foreigners. The queen of Sheba, she was a foreigner. The Magi, they were foreigners.

38:08

Gold is a gift that you would give to a king. And it was something that indicated, because it was such a precious and bright metal, it was something that gave an indication of divinity.

38:21

Remember that the Ark of the Covenant itself was overlaid with gold. Frankincense was a spice that was burned.

38:30

Even in Exodus 30, 34 through 38, God gave Moses instructions on how to put together a fragrant offering that would be burned in the tabernacle, lifting up a fragrant sense unto the

38:42

Lord. Myrrh was extracted from trees just like frankincense was, but myrrh had a different purpose to it.

38:50

It was an embalming ointment. So consider the significance of these three gifts.

38:56

Gold indicating that Jesus is a king. Frankincense foreshadowing that he was going to be a fragrant sacrifice unto the

39:05

Lord. Ephesians 5, 2, walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and a sacrifice to God.

39:16

This is what we talk about whenever we refer to Jesus as the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 2, 2, he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

39:27

This means that Jesus satisfies the wrath of God with the sacrifice that he gave on the cross.

39:35

He is that fragrant offering. Propitiation applies the same way.

39:42

And then you look at the gift of myrrh. Myrrh was a foreshadowing of the death of Christ and his burial, but even also of his resurrection.

39:56

So whether or not the magi understood the significance of these gifts as they presented them to the

40:01

Christ child, they were nevertheless in the providence of God foreshadowing what would become of his son as a sacrifice for our sins.

40:12

They presented him with gold and frankincense and myrrh. Their gifts demonstrated that they believed this child was the king and he alone was worthy of their worship.

40:24

And so my friends, likewise, what we give unto the Lord is going to demonstrate that we believe that Christ is someone who is worthy of our worship.

40:35

And what do we give to God? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh? If you placed an offering in the offering plate this morning, thank you.

40:43

But no, that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about giving everything that we are unto the

40:50

Lord. Everything. Remember, Jesus said, and we're going to come to this as we go through Matthew, what is the greatest commandment?

40:57

That you love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength.

41:05

Romans 12 .1, you've heard me quote it many times. In view of God's mercy, present your bodies as a living sacrifice unto the

41:14

Lord, holy and acceptable to Him. This is your spiritual act of worship. Let everything that we say and do be a demonstration of, we believe

41:26

Christ is King and He alone is worthy of my worship. Let us not be led astray by temptation.

41:35

Let us not be persuaded by the philosophies of this world, by materialism or religious pride.

41:46

May we be completely devoted from the heart, from the inside out, to our

41:54

Lord Christ, who died for our sins and rose again, that we do not have to fear the judgment of death, but we stand in the presence of a most holy

42:04

God. The magi demonstrated their worship in the gifts that they give.

42:10

And so we must also demonstrate our worship before God in the giving of our whole selves to Him.

42:18

Verse 12, being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

42:24

And that's gonna be the bridging verse between our lesson today and what we will look at next week, the flight to Egypt in verses 13 through 16.

45:58

Thank you for listening to our weekly sermon presented by First Southern Baptist Church of Junction City, Kansas.

46:12

For more information about our church, visit fsbcjc .org.

46:18

On behalf of our church family, my name is Becky, inviting you to join us again this week, growing together in Christ when we understand the text.