Who He Is: Ruler Of The Nations

Please stand for the reading of God's word.

Our Old Testament reading this morning is Psalm chapter 2.

Why did the nation's rage and the people's plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his

anointed saying Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.

He who sits in the heavens laughs the Lord holds them in derision derision.

Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terror and terrify them in his fury saying as

for me I Have set my king on Zion my holy hill.

I Will tell of the decree the Lord said to me you are my son today I have begotten you

ask of me and I will make the nation's your heritage in the ends of the earth your

possession.

You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.

Now therefore Oh Kings be wise.

Be warned.

Oh rulers of the earth Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss

the Sun lest he be angry and you perish in the way.

For his wrath is quickly kindled.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

The New Testament reading is in Revelation chapter 21 starting in verse 21.

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls.

Each of the gates made of a single pearl.

And the street of the city was pure gold transparent as glass.

And I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.

And the city has no need of a Sun or Moon to shine on it for the glory of

God gives it light and its lamp is the Lamb.

By its light will the nation's walk and the kings of the earth Will bring their glory into it

and its gates will never be shut by day and there will be no night there.

They will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations.

But nothing unclean will ever ever enter it or anyone who does what is detestable or false.

But only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

You may be seated if you would take your

Bibles this morning and turn to Matthew chapter 2.

Matthew chapter 2

we're

looking to God's Word and let's just ask God to use this time

speaking to us.

Father once more we come to the point in our worship where we open your word and hear your voice.

Would you give us ears to hear?

Father help us to examine ourselves in light of Jesus

not just to Celebrate the Lord Jesus coming, but why he

came and as we look at him how that ought to change us.

And what we ought to think and what we ought to believe.

So help us now in these minutes that we have to understand this story.

Not just understand the story of something that happened long ago and far away.

But understand it in light of the fact that you put it here for us to respond to.

Help us now.

We pray in Jesus name.

Amen.

Who are the wise men?

Who are the wise men as a kid?

I thought they came from a mysterious land called orient are you know the

song we three kings of orient are and That's what I thought.

I thought they came from this weird country named orient are and if we're gonna be honest they

They weren't kings.

They weren't.

That might have come from some Old Testament references, but Matthew doesn't indicate that they were royalty and.

Three.

You don't know where in the scriptures tells us there were three of them could have been ten

maybe six.

Who knows?

Well, we know.

Right, well, why is that it's because well, they brought three gifts, but Really were there only three

nobody knows.

Let's turn to Matthew chapter 2.

Matthew chapter 2 you're there.

I want to read the first 12 verses you follow as I read.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king behold wise men or

If you have a marginal note Magi is the word used wise men from the east came

to Jerusalem saying Where is he who's been born king of the Jews for we saw his star when it rose

and have come to worship him.

When Herod the king heard this he was troubled in all Jerusalem with him and Assembling all the chief priests and

scribes of the people he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

They told him in Bethlehem of Judea for so it is written by the prophet and You will 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 Israel.

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

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.

When they saw the star they rejoiced Exceedingly with great joy and Going into the

house.

They saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshiped him 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.

Here we come to Matthew's story.

Matthew's history of the Lord Jesus the gospel concerning Jesus.

Now Matthew's no disinterested observer.

He was a tax collector whose life had been gloriously transformed by the coming of this

Jesus and When Matthew writes he has a purpose in mind.

He has a purpose in recording these facts concerning Jesus.

And as you read the book of Matthew it is to show that Jesus is the promised Messiah who has come in

fulfillment of all the scriptures.

He's not merely a Jewish Messiah.

And as you read through the book, it becomes clearer and clearer and clearer.

He's not merely a Jewish Messiah, but he's come to establish his reign over

all the nations.

Now that sounds a whole lot like the person that we just read about in Psalm 2 and The book

ends with Jesus claiming universal authority and Sending out

his disciples to extend his reign over all the nations.

He's come to fulfill the scriptures for Matthew Jesus person in ministry is a

fulfillment of all that was said in the Old Testament scriptures and

Even at his birth Matthew wants to tell you something.

It's this even at the birth of this King there's evidence of his universal kingship

in fulfillment of those scriptures and In this chapter you find

hostility and apathy towards this new King.

Well.

Let's look at it.

Shall we?

The story begins with these Magi arriving in Jerusalem from the East

now the term Magi loosely covered a group of men men interested in dreams and

Astrology and magic by the way magic comes from the term Magi

interested in all those things and and Even in books that they thought contained

mysterious references to the future.

They were not kings but wise men of that time the ones who possessed a great deal of

knowledge and wisdom.

But what's the connection between these mysterious Eastern wise men and a Jewish Messiah?

Well, evidently they were involved in astrological speculations because they connected this heavenly phenomena this

star with With the Messiah.

The possibility exists and and you remember Most of the Jewish people didn't live in that part of

the world like today most Jewish people live scattered all over the world.

They've gone into exile you remember and King Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the nation and

Deported all the people and so there was a significant population of Jewish people living in Babylon.

And so probably maybe that large and influential Jewish population had an effect on these

particular Magi no doubt.

They'd been exposed to the Jewish scriptures in their synagogues.

Writings that contained reference to a future coming magnificent powerful King.

Of course, where did they go?

They went to the city of Jerusalem the royal city of the Jewish people the place where David

had started his rule over the people of Israel and They had come to worship that has to pay

homage to this King.

Now coming to Jerusalem and inquiring about a king will certainly cause a stir.

Because a king already reigns and he hears about their mission.

His name is Herod.

He's called Herod the Great.

He is one of the three Herods that are mentioned in the New Testament.

He's the most famous of them.

Now though although he ruled over the Jews Herod was no Jew.

He was an Edomite.

But when he was 33 the Roman Senate decided to make him

the king of Judea.

Now so he was just a client King.

He was someone who served at the whim of the Roman Empire and it took him three years and Using

Roman forces before he crushed all the Jewish opposition to his rule and as you can imagine

The Jews hated him.

Here had ruled over this people who hated him for 34 years.

Which says something about his abilities.

He was known as a gifted administrator.

His famine relief during his reign was superb.

He was a brilliant general.

He was a ruthless fighter.

He was subtle and intelligent.

He could also be extraordinarily charming and He built this incredible glorious temple for the

Jews trying to win them over.

But the temple that we read about in Jesus day was this magnificent edifice that he had built.

However, Herod had one particular quality that set him apart.

He absolutely loved power.

He loved power and he used all of his abilities to hate to keep to keep it

he even went so far as to kill his wife and his two sons.

In order that no one would challenge his authority He even had made arrangements to have

To have hundreds of Jewish leaders killed on the day he died and.

His cruelty.

Comes out obviously in this chapter as you later read how he just

determines to kill all the babies in Jerusalem.

Two years and Younger.

That's the kind of man he was and here we find him in the last year of his reign

Stricken with illness worried about his throne.

Now Herod hearing reports the arrival of these impressive wise men is disturbed and agitated.

Why?

Because a usurper has been born.

Someone who's going to challenge his rule and unlike the Magi. He's not eager to prostrate himself

before this king.

He wants to eliminate him now.

The people are also disturbed.

They're also agitated not because they're allied with Herod or they like Herod.

But they're disturbed because these sorts of questions can bring about a fresh

outbreak of cruelty from this one that they hated so much and so Herod summons the chief

priests and the scribes of Jerusalem for Consultation and they respond by telling them this promised

king is supposed to be born in Bethlehem according to the prophet

Micah and then of course he has a secret meeting with the Magi in The inner rooms

of the palace.

He fakes humility and he pumps them for information in order to understand more

about where this this king might be and He already has a scheme in mind.

He wants to kill the baby.

So he sends them to Bethlehem on The way to the village that supernatural heavenly

phenomenon, whatever it was confirmed their direction and they're overjoyed.

They find the child they approach him with their gifts.

In the ancient East wherever you come to a superior you bring gifts.

So they recognized him as superior.

They recognized him as a king and they opened their gifts before him.

However warned by a dream they go back a different way.

They go back a different way.

They don't go back to Herod as he asked but God warns them in a dream and they go back home another way

now the question to ask Whenever we come to a text of Scripture.

The most basic you've heard me say this.

The most basic the most important question to ask whenever you're interpreting Scripture is

this question?

Why is this text here?

Why is this here?

Why did Matthew record these events while leaving out

others.

Right.

Why did he record these events and leave out other events.

Here's why.

You need to see the king coming to the nation's.

You need to see the king coming to the nation's.

Even at this point at the birth of the king Gentiles are

drawn to him.

Gentiles are drawn to him now.

No.

Matthew leaves out the whole bit about the shepherds.

Luke doesn't include the wise men.

Why is that?

Why are they doing that?

There's the question.

Why is this here?

Well.

Remember Luke's point.

Luke's point is that this Messiah has been sent to reach the lowest.

Remember the shepherds are the lowest strata of society the very lowest and this

Messiah has come to reach the lowest.

Matthew's point is to tell us the Messiah has been sent to reach even the farthest.

You see Luke besides come to reach the lowest.

Matthew besides come to reach the farthest.

See, they both have a different point.

That doesn't mean they fabricate things.

It doesn't mean they twist it.

It means this is why Jesus came and you can tell when you look at even the events of his birth.

And so Matthew from the very beginning.

Matthew makes the point that this Messiah is not merely a Jewish Messiah.

But this is the one who has come to rule the nations.

He is a Messiah for all the nations not just a Jewish Messiah and.

So this King coming for all the nations fulfills the scriptures.

Look at verses five and six.

Where the the scribes and the Pharisees?

The scribes and the and the chief priests.

Respond with in Bethlehem of Judea.

For so is written by the prophet.

Oh you Oh 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 Israel.

So the promised Messiah does come through Israel to shepherd Israel, but the Old

Testament scriptures.

The Old Testament scriptures also provide a wider vista.

They also have a universal scope.

It isn't just Israel as Micah says but you find this universal rule that this Messiah is coming

that this Mysterious figure of the Old Testament is going to come.

Look for example at Psalm 72.

Psalm 72.

All right.

I want you to follow as I read verses 8 Through 11.

All right.

No, this is probably all right.

This is probably a coronation hymn.

What is that?

It was a hymn sung by the people when a king was crowned and It's supposed to

describe what the king is like.

All right.

And when you read this, it's like wow.

No king ever even came close.

No king of Judah or Israel ever came close to this and that's true it's like the Bible

describes a coming king that fills these robes and no king ever filled those robes and.

So they were looking for a king who would be like this and so even within the the

nation of Israel even within their worship was built this Anticipation for

someone who would meet the description of their king like this one.

And so this is what they're looking for.

Verses 8 through 11.

May he have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.

May desert tribes bow down before him and his enemies lick the dust.

May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute.

May the kings of Shabbah and Sabbah bring gifts.

May all kings fall down before him.

All Nations serve him.

Drop down to verse 17.

May his name endure forever.

His fame continue as long as the Sun.

May people be blessed in him.

All the nations call him blessed.

So here is the the song of a king who is supposed to rule the nations.

Whose rules supposed to extend such that nations bring tribute to him that kings

will come to him.

All right.

Look at Isaiah 60.

Isaiah 60

verses 1 through 6.

Arise shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

For behold darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the people's.

But the Lord will arise upon you and his glory will be seen upon you and nations shall come

to your light and Kings to the brightness of your rising.

This probably is where the idea of Kings coming in the song.

Originated in this prophecy.

All right.

Continue.

Lift up your eyes all around and see they all gather together.

They come to you.

Your son shall come from afar and your daughter shall be carried on the hip.

Then you shall see and be radiant.

Your heart shall thrill and exalt because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you.

The wealth of the nations shall come to you.

A Multitude of camel shall cover you.

The young camels of Midian and Effa.

All those from Shabbat will come.

They shall bring gold and frankincense and shall bring good news.

The praises of the Lord.

You see what he's saying here.

He's saying the nations are going to come and what are they going to do?

They're going to bring wealth.

Gentiles are going to come and they're going to bring wealth to this King.

Verse 11.

Your gates shall be open continually day and night.

They shall not be shut.

That people may bring to you the wealth of the nations and their Kings led in procession.

So we see these universal kinds of things saying in Gentiles being a part of this.

We read in Psalm 2.

Remember Psalm 2 ask of me and I will make the nation's your heritage and the ends of the

earth your possession.

Now therefore O Kings be wise be warned.

O rulers of the earth.

Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice him with Joyce with trembling kiss the Sun lest he be

angry and you perish in the way.

For his wrath is quickly kindled.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him and so there's this view of

Gentiles coming and coming to to this King coming to him

with wealth.

And what do we see here?

We see Gentiles come in bow.

We see the firstfruits of all the nations bringing their wealth.

We see the very beginning of it at the very birth of this King.

That's why Matthew puts it here.

He wants you to see even at his birth.

This Jesus is fulfilling all of these prophecies.

It's beginning to be fulfilled.

They're beginning to worship him.

Now the King who came then commissions us to extend his reign.

Okay, consider this.

Matthew starts here.

And as you go through the book, for example in chapter 8 He tells the the people there's going to be people not

part of us.

They're gonna come and feast at that table.

That's promised in in the scriptures people from afar so all the way through Matthew builds the case that

this Messiah is the one for all the nations until you come to the Very last verses Matthew 28.

Let's turn there

Matthew 28 verse 18 and Jesus came and said to his

disciples all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me you get that.

You see what he's saying there?

I've got all the authority in heaven and earth.

All right.

Go therefore on the basis of that make disciples of all nations baptizing them in name of the Father

and the Son of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have Commanded you and behold.

I'm with you always to the end of the age.

So here is this King.

All right, and he commissions us to extend his kingdom.

The king came.

Gentiles kneel before him now since the king has inaugurated his kingdom more the

nations must be gathered in and the gospel goes out and it tells of this righteous King and it

tells that you come to him and you find forgiveness and righteousness extends and There's a

holy people that are brought out of all the nations.

The very first fruits of his rule over all the nations and it's begun there at his birth.

It continues now in the preaching of the gospel of this King to which you bow your knee in submission.

By which you find salvation.

Right and it extends and his kingdom is not just this guy's ruling over us.

It's a kingdom of righteousness until when he finally comes and it's all fulfilled.

So that as it says in Isaiah 11 and the righteousness of the Lord will fill the earth like the water will cover

the earth like the waters like the waters of the oceans.

All of that is a fulfillment of this Old Testament Scriptures until finally

those prophecies find ultimate fulfillment when Jesus comes again and Finally brings it all

to.

What's the word I want brings it all to an end brings it to its full fruition.

Revelation 21 we saw that just a little few minutes ago.

I want you to turn there again, and here's why.

Because when you read Revelation 21, you should hear the echoes of Isaiah

60.

Revelation 21 if you remember What is what is Isaiah 60 say talks about the rulers

bringing their wealth?

To to to Jesus to the to the Messiah listen to what it says Verse

23 and the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it for the glory of God gives its light and its Lamp is a lamb

by its light.

Will the nations walk and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it and its gates will never be shut by day.

And there will be no night there.

All right, as you read Isaiah 60 they they will bring into it the glory and the honor

of the nations.

This it echoes Isaiah 60.

It's saying this is what's going to happen.

Then this lamb this Jesus is going to receive all the wealth and the honors of all the

nations.

The king has come and inaugurated his reign.

Receiving the adoration of the nations even at his birth.

You see the first fruits of it and now.

That kingdom his rule is extended through the earth through the gospel and in one day He'll return and complete the

fulfillment of all those prophecies.

But what Matthew wants you to see is it started even at the beginning even at the beginning with

Jesus in that house.

Right.

There is the king who will draw the nations to the light.

That's what he wants you to see From the very beginning that was true of him.

Now.

That's not the end of the story as we read it in Matthew 2.

All right, what happens?

When the king does arrive you've got to see that this king always arouses opposition.

He always arouses opposition.

Look at Herod.

He's trembling for his throne in the last year of his life.

He's obsessed with clinging to the power the riches the comforts and the

pleasures of this life.

Things have not changed have they?

People would rather cling to the power and The comforts and the pleasures and the

riches of this life rather than the riches of salvation in Jesus.

It's still the same.

Now look.

If I could sing this I would but I can't but I heard this song by the OJ's.

Any any of you remember the OJ's.

Yeah, see you got to be pretty old to remember.

The old OJ's are from the 70s the Philadelphia Sound.

It was called and the OJ's had a song called living for the weekend.

And I can't do it justice by quoting it.

Please bear with me, but I want you to hear what they had to say.

Gonna have a real real real good time living for the weekend gonna party hard hard.

Come on y 'all.

Let's go downtown.

Come on y 'all.

Let's groove.

Hey, hey, it sounds better with music.

I know.

Monday to Thursday, I'm dead on my feet.

Most of the time too tired to eat.

Too tired to eat.

When I try to read the paper I fall fast asleep.

But as soon as Friday rolls around I lay all my weekly burdens down.

I put on my glad rags and paint the town Friday night alive.

Living for the weekend said I'm living for the weekend.

Don't stop when I party down.

Party hard party down party hard party down.

There it is.

There it's all is.

Right.

Some will cling to the pleasures of drunkenness and partying Rather than repenting of those sins

casting themselves on Christ for forgiveness and finding incredible joy in

walking and following.

Jesus.

The joy that's found there and I want to say to some of you are sitting here today.

Man, you love the parties.

You love the the life of just living for yourself and you what you're finding.

Hope you're finding.

I can't help but think you're finding that it's kind of empty.

It's empty.

Right when the weekends over what you got to drag yourself to work again, and then what live for the weekend.

Wow.

There's a real purpose in life in that.

Right live like that and what happens?

You're miserable, but there's joy in The fact that Jesus comes to change you

and that you find joy in something entirely different.

What you find is you love the things instead of hating the things that God's that God

Loves and loving the things that God hates you find just the opposite and you find joy in that.

You find pleasure in that.

Look at the residents of Jerusalem, they're also agitated.

They're afraid of more cruelty.

Today more people are interested in the status quo.

They dread a change which introduces in their view greater calamities.

Sure life is hard.

They'll say but following Christ is going to be harder and you know what?

You're right.

It will be harder.

But it's a different kind of hard.

It's a heart of abundant life and let's let's face it submitting to Jesus

means Upsetting everything.

Jesus isn't interested in just becoming an addition to your life.

It's not it.

He doesn't want to be an addition, you know in the 70s.

Which was just yesterday.

In the 70s coca -cola had a campaign that said try coke you'll like it.

Simple right.

Well some you know some brilliant Christians got a hold of that and so they Started this

campaign bumper stickers and everything that said try Jesus.

You'll like him.

You know Jesus didn't come for you to try him.

Jesus came to demolish everything and build on a whole new foundation.

Look at Matthew 16 for a moment.

Look at Matthew 16.

All right.

Verse 24.

Then Jesus told his disciples if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his

cross and follow me.

Whoever would save his life will lose it But whoever loses his life for my sake will

find it for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul.

Wow right.

Jesus demands absolute total surrender.

Don't just add him on but absolute total surrender.

He demands all of you.

All right.

But guess what?

It's a better life.

It's a better life.

Some of you here today can talk about how standing for Jesus has cost you something

how doing what Jesus says is not popular and Yet what you find is that there's

purpose in it that there's joy in it that there's even some Satisfaction in

following Jesus, even if it costs you everything.

Look at the priests and the teachers.

They're apathetic.

They're not excited at all.

They knew exactly where to look in the Bible to answer Harrod's question.

But it didn't make any impression.

Now the chief priests were the Sadducees.

The Sadducee and party held the chief priest position.

Okay, the Sadducees were the theological liberals of the day.

They did not believe in anything supernatural.

Right didn't believe in anything supernatural.

They were the theological liberals the religious liberals.

They knew the scriptures, but they didn't believe them.

They knew him, but they didn't believe him.

You know, I could take it to my office and pull commentaries off of my shelf, right?

I've written by people who don't believe the Bible.

But they study it as ancient literature and they have all these things to say about it.

It's interesting to see that.

Yeah, they know the Bible there there there are scholars.

University of North Carolina right now is a hotbed of Theological

study, right?

I'm sorry, Duke University.

How could I get those two mixed up?

Right Duke is and there's lots of theological teaching going on, but a lot of those

professors don't believe it.

Right, that's the that's the chief priest and then the scribes are the Pharisees the religious legalists of the

day.

They're interested in the words and the grammar and fascinating and their own reputations.

Then they were they were more synaptic than the God who spoke the prophecy.

Now some of you may be in those camps.

Some of you may be here.

You've heard it all.

You've been in fact, you may have been here for years your mom and dad made you come here and you've heard it all.

But you don't believe any of it.

You don't believe any of it.

Maybe you believe it's true.

Maybe you believe it's true, but you're like, I don't.

I don't want to you know.

If I respond to that then a lot things are going to change and that's not for me, right?

But in this text that Matthew gives us God presents Christ to you for your belief and

your trust and lastly When the king appears he appears for worship.

For worship the scripture reveals Jesus the one who came so that you might find salvation in him and

having found that you worship him.

That's why this text is here.

So, let me ask you have you seen the king today?

Here God presents his son the Lord Jesus Christ.

He tells you the adoration of the wise man so that you Adore him so that you worship

him.

Have you come to him in repentance for your rebellion and sin against his rightful rule?

That's the question.

Are you a part of the rebellion that declares about God and his king?

Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.

Have you instead kissed the son?

Have you found refuge in him?

In that refuge you're gonna find forgiveness and In submission to him you'll find joy.

In a better life than you ever imagined.

Jesus is the ruler of the nations and that rule begins when he rules your hearts.

Father.

Thankful for your word.

Thankful for the Lord Jesus who came as the king.

And Lord, even now he conquers people's hearts and he extends his kingdom.

Lord.

We thank you for his rule and his reign and we anticipate when he

will come again and all of it will be fulfilled and Peace and

righteousness will reign.

The world over and.

Then then Lord.

We'll have the peace that we so Long for this time of the year.

Help us to see Jesus not merely as a baby.

But help us.

Help us to see him as a king who draws even those outside of his people

to himself.

That because of that he draw he has drawn us God.

Help us to see this Jesus.

And we'll thank you in Jesus name.

Amen.