A Royal Arrival
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Today we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus the Christ!
As we celebrate, I thought it would be good to focus on a part of the account of Jesus life that occured sometime after his birth, even up to two years after. The coming of the Wise Men.
We find this account in Matthew 2:1-12.
While you are turning there, I want to point out a feature of Matthew. This gospel was written with a Jewish audience in mind. Matthew wanted his fellow Jews to recognize Jesus for who He is, the promised King! His gospel has more quotes and allusions to fulfilled Old Testament prophecy than any other gospel as he attempts to show Jesus as the coming King to the Jews.
Matthew begins this right in the very first verse of the gospel!
This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
He starts with ‘son of David’, and moves on to ‘son of Abraham’. Why? These are the two major covenants that were made about Christ.
The first was with Abraham. So why mention David first? Because it was the prophecy to David that he would have a descendant with an everlasting kingdom. A king from the kingly line of David who would rule over Israel and the world.
As you follow through the gospel of Matthew, He is presenting Jesus as the promised Messiah, the King who would sit on the everlasting throne. However, after demonstrating and showing that he was the king, he was rejected by the Jews. So, he begins teaching in parables about the Kingdom and what it was going to be like. He taught that this kingdom would include others as well as the Jews, and that it was going to come later, when he would return.
And, as he continues on and explains how he was going to die, he also transitions to showing how he is going to fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant, that he would be a blessing to the whole world, ultimately sending his disciples into the world to make disciples.
So, Matthew’s primary emphasis is that Jesus is the King fulfilling the Davidic Covenant, and then he shows Jesus fulfilling the Abrahamic Covenant, being a blessing to the whole world.
After showing the genealogy of Jesus on Joseph’s side, the royal line of David, he concludes with:
Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.
And then he moves into the actual birth of Jesus...
This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.
Notice now the third time he uses the title Messiah, this word literally means anointed. Just as the kings and high priests of old were anointed, Jesus is the anointed King and priest. As this term was used by the Jews, they were looking forward to the coming promised One who would be the anointed King. Matthew is boldly, repeatedly claiming, “This is the anointed King!!”
He continues on...
Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.
But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.
And that brings us to the passage we are examining today, Matthew 2:1-12
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem
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.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
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.
“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
“ ‘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.’”
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
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.”
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.
When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
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.
And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
Prayer
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem
The setting
The setting
Jesus had been born in Bethlehem in Judea, the birth home of David.
Herod
Herod
Herod was king. Herod, a descendent of Esau was ruling in Israel. He was fierce, killing off anyone he perceived as a threat to his throne, including one his own wives and a few of his own sons.
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.”
The Magi and the prophecy about (true) King of the Jews
The Magi and the prophecy about (true) King of the Jews
Astrologers
“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. He will crush the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of all the people of Sheth.
Edom will be conquered; Seir, his enemy, will be conquered, but Israel will grow strong.
A ruler will come out of Jacob and destroy the survivors of the city.”
How did they know this…? Balaam? Daniel?
But what do you think this prophecy meant to Herod, an Idumean, or descendant of Esau, aka, Edom?
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.
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.
“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
“ ‘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.’”
The prophecy of Bethlehem
The prophecy of Bethlehem
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.
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.”
The Mission
The Mission
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.
When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
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.
And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
The Magi Worshiped Jesus
The Magi Worshiped Jesus
Gold - king
Frankincense - priest
Myrrh - prophet, lamb, sacrifice
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”
So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt,
where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.
Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
“A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
Herod would not worship
Herod would not worship
He wanted to be king
Where were the Jews, the priests and teachers of the law?
Where were the Jews, the priests and teachers of the law?
They were more interested in worldly things, and would not have Jesus as their king.
What about you and me?
What about you and me?
Will we be like the Magi, Herod, or the Jews?
The Magi, though of the world, recognized the King and worshiped, giving up their worldly goods for Him.
Herod wanted to be king.
The Jews wanted the things of this world, and would not have him as king.
Let’s worship the king.