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Grace-based biblical teaching and sermons with Pastor Jason White. Messages that focus on Life in Christ and practical application as New Covenant believers.
Today, we are going to be in Matthew 2:1-12 as we dive into week 3 of our Christmas message series, “A Thrill of Hope.” (a look at the Christmas story from the perspective of Matthew)
And what a thrill of hope it really does bring us to know the things that Matthew writes about in these opening 2 chapters. We’ve seen through the genealogy how God had not forgotten about His promises and that He had in fact been working throughout all of history to rescue and redeem us. We are reminded that even when things look hopeless in our lives and throughout our world, that God is still at work for our good and His glory.
And we saw in week 2 how Jesus was born into this world as Emmanuel, God with us and that He was born into this world to die for our sins so that He could be God with each one of us forever!
Is there anything that can provide more hope in our lives than that?
I don’t think so. And today we are going to see how we are to respond to news like this… Look at 2:1 with me…
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
So Matthew tells us that at the time Jesus was born, the king who was in charge was a man named Herod. And what we know about Herod from other sources is that he was a pretty ruthless king, especially late in his life.
He had numerous wives and sons and eventually became really paranoid about threats and those who might try and overtake his place on the throne. So he just killed anyone he thought might try to overthrow him regardless of if it was true or not. As a matter of fact, he had several of his own wives and his own sons killed because of this paranoia that he had.
So this was who was in charge during the time of Jesus’ birth, and Matthew tells us that Magi from the east came to him. Now, we don’t know much about the Magi honestly. We don’t know how many of them came…now some of you think you do because we sing a song around Christmas time titled “We 3 Kings,” which is about these Magi that came to visit Jesus.
But Mt. doesn’t tell us that there are 3, he just says “Magi from the east came to Jerusalem.” Now later on we are going to see that they give 3 gifts to Jesus when they do visit him, but that doesn’t mean that there were just 3 Magi.
Most likely there were more, especially because this was a long trip that they would have made. Most likely they were from Babylon and that was a 900-mile dangerous trip…especially when traveling with expensive gifts.
Anyway, there is a pretty good chance there were more than 3 of them, and here’s the other thing… they weren’t kings like the song says. They were leading figures in astrology, wisdom, and magic.
But at any rate, they are not Jewish…they are pagans, but they are compelled, no doubt by God working behind the scenes, to follow a star and come worship a baby who “was born king of the Jews.”
Notice here that one of the first groups of people that God brought to Jesus was a group of people who were not Jewish. In other words, this is even more confirmation that Christianity is for all nations of people.
God came to forgive and redeem white people, and black people, and Asians, and Hispanics, and Middle-Easterners…
He came for the poor and the rich and the popular and the unpopular…He came for all people, regardless of their nationality, their background, what they had done or not done. He had created all people and He was coming to rescue ALL people.
Which by the way, includes you!
No matter where you have come from…
no matter where you’ve been…
no matter what you’ve done…Jesus loves you.
I mean He created you and breathed life into you…and He came to die for your sins and so that He could be in a relationship with you!
That’s good news, and His offer for you to receive this free gift of salvation into your life is for you… and I’m praying that you will open your heart to receive Him into your life today.
Now, when Herod heard that they were coming to worship another king (a different king other than himself), he got upset…but Matthew tells us that he wasn’t the only one.
Look at verse 3…3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 6 “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
Okay so check this out. Matthew is telling us the religious leaders of Jesus’ day knew exactly where the Messiah was to come from. When they were asked by King Herod where the Messiah was to be born, they quoted from an Old Testament passage found in Micah 5:2. And this passage says that He was to be born in Bethlehem.
And so it’s safe to say that they knew a lot about the Messiah who was to come… and watch this now…some guys show up saying they are coming to worship a baby who they have reason to believe is the Messiah.
And how do they react? Not with curiosity, excitement, and wonder about if this could really be the Messiah…they don’t rush over there to check into it and see…and they certainly don’t go to worship him…NO, Matthew tells us that they are disturbed about this!
This is absolutely crazy! I mean these are the guys who studied this and knew better than anyone about God’s plan to send a Messiah who would be born in Bethlehem and they miss it completely… probably because they were jockeying for power themselves in this region where Herod was king.
But whatever the reason was, they missed Jesus…they, of all people, missed Jesus! So I just want to warn you…To not miss who Jesus is.
I mean this shows us that we can study a lot about Jesus, we can know so much about the Bible and about Jesus but still miss Him and who He really is and what He really came for, what He really wants for you and your life. (about rules, religion, doing this and not doing that…)
But watch: the apostle John, one of Jesus’ disciples, tells us in his gospel about Jesus who He is and what He came for, and what He wants for your life. At the very end of his gospel he says this…
30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Jesus left the glory and riches of heaven to be born into this world so that you might have life in his name.
And there is nothing you can do to earn that eternal life, it’s a gift that He purchased for you on the cross, but just like any gift, you have to receive it. And the way you receive it is through belief/faith. When you put your faith in Jesus to be your Lord and Savior, He will forgive you for all of your sins and come dwell in you and bring you abundant life. Eternal life. Life everlasting.
So, if you’ve never received Jesus’ free gift of salvation, don’t miss out on it any longer. Put your faith and trust in Him and receive His abundant life.
Okay, so back to our text…as we’ve said, the religious leaders of the day, missed who Jesus was and they are disturbed…and King Herod is disturbed…so let’s see what happens next. Look at vs. 7…
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
Now Herod has no intention of going and worshiping Jesus. As a matter of fact, later we see that he directs an order to go kill all boys in and around the Bethlehem area 2 years old and under because he is trying to protect his throne…but the Magi do go on as Matthew tells us next…
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Okay so a couple of things to point out here…first, and I hate to burst some of your bubbles, but what we see here shows us that despite all the little manger scenes that we see being displayed this time of year with these magi being at the manger with Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus, that even though this is the way it is often displayed it’s not true!
Matthew tells us that they went to a house…not a manger. So this was well after the night Jesus was born…Mary and Joseph and Jesus had left the manger and settled into a house.
And the other thing we see here is that Matthew referred to Jesus as a child, not a baby. So, most likely Jesus was between 9 months old and 2 years old at the time the Magi came…He probably was not a newborn infant.
Okay, some of you may need a moment to collect yourself lol but I’ve got to keep going…
At any rate, regardless of how old Jesus was, He was really young and Matthew tells us that when the Magi finally saw Jesus they bowed down and worshiped him and presented him with treasures.
The word translated “worshiped” here in the original Greek that Mt. wrote in is proskyneo which means to show respect for or allegiance to deity…to prostrate oneself before deity.
They were bowing down and worshiping a 1 or 2-year-old kid. I mean picture the scene…this is a little kid, a toddler and these men are bowing down before him and worshiping him.
I mean, I’ve been around a lot of kids in my life and I can think of a lot of words to describe what I’d like to do to 1-2 year olds sometimes, but the word that never comes to mind is “worship, to bow down and worship them.”
But these Magi were not in the presence of an ordinary child…
This toddler was the same One whom Paul writes this about in Col. 1 where he says…
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
This toddler is the One Scripture defines as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end…
He is the One to whom the angels surround in heaven and sing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”
He is described as the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace…
He is the Light of the World, the Bread of Life, the Good Shepherd, The Great I Am, and the Resurrection and the Life. This is who the Magi were in the presence of at this moment!
And so these Magi were not in the presence of an ordinary child, they were in the presence of The Almighty God Himself and the only proper response to being in the presence of The Almighty God is to fall on your face before Him and worship Him.
And so when we see the hope that God provides for us today in the Christmas story from Matthew…
the hope of a God who fulfills His promises and is working behind the scenes for our good and His glory…
the hope of a God who offers complete forgiveness to those who will just receive it by faith…
and the hope of a God who desires desperately to be in a relationship with you, to be “God with you,”…
When we come across this kind of hope that we can find in Jesus, the ONLY PROPER RESPONSE THAT YOU AND I HAVE IS TO ALSO FALL ON OUR FACES AND WORSHIP HIM TOO!
And so I want to give you a chance to do that right now. We are going to stand and sing and worship Jesus, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.