Jesus Our King | Matthew 2:1–12

Introduction: Good morning and Merry Christmas to those that are with us in person as well as those that are watching online. We are so glad that you are joining us on this Christmas morning. Over the last few weeks as we have been going through advent, we have been going through a sermon series. The last two weeks pastor Matthew talked about how Jesus is our priest and our prophet. This morning we are going to look at how Jesus is our king. To do this, we have to look back at what the history of the king was for Israel. So before we dive into today’s text, I think it’s important for us to look at a little background information. Originally, Israel did not have a king. But God knew they would one day want one. While the Israelites were in the wilderness after Moses led them out of Egypt, God created for them a plan. We read in Deuteronomy 17:14-15

Deuteronomy 17:14–15 ESV

“When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.

This didn’t happen for a really long time. Israel would enter the promise land, conquer it and live in it for generations with no King. The idea was that God was King, there were judges who would lead the people, and the prophets would communicate to the people on behalf of God. But eventually the Israelites started to look around and decided that this was not good enough. Everybody else had a king and they wanted one too. We read about this is 1 Samuel 8:4-7

1 Samuel 8:4–7 ESV

Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.

The people decided they no longer wanted God to be their King but wanted to be like everyone else, which is a whole other sermon in itself. But God complied. But there were specific guidelines for the King that were different for any king in any other nation. We see this in the passage from Deuteronomy we looked at the first few verses of a second ago. Deuteronomy 17:15-20

Deuteronomy 17:15–20 ESV

you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

So the King was suppose to be an Israelite. They weren’t to acquire many wives because they would turn their hearts away from God. They were suppose to have limited wealth. And they were to keep God’s law. This was different than any other nation because in other nations the religious and civil law were made and based around the King. But here, the King was subject to God. But this goes south pretty quickly. The first King, King Saul, has the kingdom ripped away from him because He was disobedient. David, the next king, was a flawed man who did some terrible things. But he repented from his sin. He wanted to build a temple for God but God told Him no that his son would build it. But he made a promise to David in 2 Samuel 17:16

2 Samuel 7:16 ESV

And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’ ”

But David dies and his son Solomon becomes King. Solomon started off by being faithful. When God asked him what he desired, he said to have the wisdom to rule God’s people well. He also built the temple. But then things went wrong. He violated God’s commands by acquiring much wealth. He also acquired many wives who did indeed turn his heart from the Lord. As a result, after Solomon died Israel was split in two. Ten of the 12 tribes were the northern Kingdom of Israel and the capital of Samaria. After years of disobedience they were defeated by the Assyrians who took everyone except the poorest of the poor to foreign lands and brought people from other lands there. Eventually the people would marry and have children together eliminating the Jewish identity of the people. The people would eventually be called samaritans. Judah, the southern Kingdom which remained in the rule of David’s descendants, was occasionally obedient and faithful to God, but overall they were not. A while later, they were defeated overtaken by the Babylonians. They were taken to Babylon to live for 70 years until freed by the Persian empire to go back to Israel. The Jewish people were now largely scattered. Even those that did return were still subject to foreign empires. But God had promised them a king. A descendant of David was going to come and be there King. So they waited, and that is where we pick up today. We are going to be looking at Matthew 2:1-12. Please stand with me as we honor the reading of God’s word. Matthew 2:1-12

Matthew 2:1–12 ESV

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 Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 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 Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “ ‘And you, 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 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.

2:1-2

Explanation: The word translated wise men may be one of the most misunderstood translations we have in our entire English Bible translations. The Greek word is Magi. Magi were in no way traditionally associated with the God we worship. The believed in a blended view of the false religion zoroastrianism with astrology, the interpretation of dreams and black magic. In fact the Jewish Talmud a piece of Jewish literature, “He who learns from [magi] is worthy of death.” They are called wise men because magi were believed to know secrets about the world. Scripture does not tell us how many of them there were. But we know they were not the kind of people that would be thought to be interested in coming to find the King of the Jews. But here they were.

Exposition:They said they were there because they had seen his star. These men were obviously very familiar with the Jewish scriptures. Numbers 24:17

Numbers 24:17 ESV

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth.

Explanation: If the men were familiar with this passage, they were probably also familiar with passages that spoke of how the King would bring eternal peace to his people. How he would bring about a day where there was constant peace and his people would not hurt or go hungry. They probably realized that this figure was being spoken of as more than just an earthly king. They may have been aware that there are verses like Isaiah 49:6 that say, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth.” They must have realized that this king that was coming into the world was not coming to just save the people from an earthly empire, but to save them from their earthly condition. The condition that causes us to look at the end of our lives with fear. And this King was not just for the Jewish people. He would be for all people. And so upon seeing his star, they knew that the hope for their salvation had arrived. So they left their homes and travelled who knows how many hundreds of miles. They were probably coming from Babylon which was over 900 miles away or Persia which was over 1,000 miles away. And they came to worship Him.

Application: You see we are a lot like the magi. We are sinners. We are naturally distant from God. But this gift of salvation is available to us as well. Do we respond in worship. Do we see Jesus as this King and worship Him. Or do we respond like the people in the next few verses.

Transition: These men who travelled from this distant land seemed to cause quite a stir in Jerusalem.

Exposition: Matthew 2:3-6 “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 Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “ ‘And you, 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 Israel.’ ”” King Herod was appointed to be governor of the region of Judea by the Roman Empire in 37 BC. He was “King of The Jews,” though he reported back to the Roman Emperor. He was only half Jewish as one of his parents was descended from the long-time enemy of Israel the edomites. This made him not particularly popular with the Jewish people. He was also extremely paranoid. He had his wife, her two sons and his son all taken out. the famous emperor Augustus once said it was better to be Herod’s pig than his son. All the people were awaiting their true King. And Herod knew that was a threat to his power. So Herod is naturally bothered by this. But the text says all of Jerusalem was bothered by this. There are a few reasons why. The first is that people know how paranoid Herod is and were rightly worried about what he may do. But there were others that were benefitting from the current system. So Herod calls together all the Jewish leaders who are well versed in the Jewish scriptures and asked them where the Messiah was suppose to be born. They tell Him in Bethlehem which was only a few miles away from Jerusalem. This was foretold by the prophet Micah as we read in verse 6.

Exposition: We see Herod start to go to work now. We read in verses 7 through the first part of verse 9 Matthew 2:7-9 “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.” Herod is obviously up to something because he calls the Magi into a secret meeting with him. It’s clear the Magi didn’t understand Herod’s reputation. The current king of the Jews called them into a secret meeting telling them to go find the new King everyone is waiting for so he can worship them. Yea, sure. Whatever.

Application: We see King Herod is bothered maybe even scared by the fact that the Jewish King may have been born. But the Jewish leaders, the ones that claimed to be waiting on this King, didn’t even go look for Him. Why? Because they liked things the way they were. And we are so quick to point our fingers at people in the Bible and cast judgement on them. But don’t we do the same things? For Jesus to be King, that means he is in complete control. That means that he is the one to whom we submit . We really like doing the things we want to do don’t we? If God is King then his word has authority. How often do we look at things and say, “I don’t really consider that a sin,” or , “That’s not that bad.” If Jesus is King, it is. How willing are we to give of ourselves to others, may even those we don’t know? If Jesus is King this is what we are commanded to do. If you are here this morning and you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, is what is holding you back that there are areas of your life you don’t want to change?

Illustration: I’ve mentioned up here before that one of the questions that I like to ask people that don’t believe in Jesus is, “If I could convince you that Jesus is real, would you want Him to be?” I mostly get the answer no and people usually say, “No because my family doesn’t practice that religion and it could cause issues.” or, “That would mean there are some things I would need to stop doing.” Something of that nature. The other day I asked somebody that question, and he told me yes at first. I then said, “Even if meant you had to change some of the ways you live.” He then said, “Well, maybe not.” But Jesus being King is not dependent on whether or not we want it to be true. This baby was not dependent upon what actions Herod took. It wasn’t dependent upon whether or not the Jewish leaders took it seriously. It was true because it happened the way God had always said it would. In the same way, whether or not we want Jesus to be King is not dependent upon us.

Application: But if Jesus is this promised King. It is not a bad thing. The King was to keep God’s law and was to care for His people. If Jesus is King, which He is, he has come to save us from our sins. He has been sent by God. He is what is best.

Transition: So once the Magi leave, they go and find the King they were looking for. And their response was quite a contrast from that of Herod and the Jewish leaders.

Exposition. We read, Matthew 2:9-11 “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.”

Exposition: So the magi leave and once again, they see the star. We don’t know exactly how the star came to be. Some have suggested maybe it was several planets coming together at the right place in the constellation to make a bright light. Maybe it was just something supernatural by God. Maybe it was both. It certainly seems that it was a supernatural occurence here because it leads them to where Jesus is. When they see the star, Matthew tells us they rejoiced exceedingly with joy. It seems that when they saw the star they left for Jerusalem thinking that the new king would probably be born in Jerusalem and everyone would know where he was. But when they got there, that didn’t happen. But then the star arose and let them that way. And they rejoiced greatly. Mathew is emphasizing how happy they were. Then they go into the house they see him. It seems that some time has passed since Jesus was born because instead of using the word for baby Matthew uses the word for child. But when they saw Him, they bowed down and worshiped. Once again this is the same word used in Revelation when people bow down and worship Jesus.

Explanation: A few chapters later in Matthew we read about when Jesus was an adult and was tempted in the desert. Satan offered to give him all the kingdoms and glory of the world if Jesus would fall down and worship Him. Jesus told Satan that scripture says only God is to be worshiped. Any other time a human is worshiped it is condemned. But here it isn’t. The reason is because Jesus was not just fully human, but also fully God. God himself had come into the world. The rightful King was the Son of God. We sing at Christmas the song, “O Come O come Immanuel.” Immanuel means God with us. This young boy was Immanuel. He was God in the flesh who had come to be King of His people. And He would be a better king. Remember, the reason Israel had a King was because the people had rejected God as their King. But now God has come Himself as King. And He did not come just to His own people, but to all the world. The first people to bow down and worship Jesus were gentile, non-jews, who had spent their lives practicing false pagan religion. And they came and worshiped Him.

Exposition: They then opened their treasures, that language is best understood like opening treasure chests. Not little boxes like we see at nativity scenes, but full chests. There has been a lot of speculation about the meaning of gifts. Some say the gold was for a king and the myrrh was because that was what a body was anointed with before burial. Scripture doesn’t tell us if that is why they did it. We do know these were customary gifts for a future king during this time. But they also fulfilled scriptures that said God’s King would be brought gold and frankincense and that God would anoint His King with myrrh.

Application: These men who had been far from God their whole life. These men who were not apart of the Jewish people travelled hundreds of miles by foot bringing expensive gifts to bow down and worship this king? Why, because he was the King of all people. he was the savior of all people. We celebrate Christmas because God has sent His Son into the world for our sake. It doesn’t matter what our past is. It doesn’t matter where we come from. God has come into this world to save us from our sins. That is why the Magi worshipped Him and we should too. God has shown His love for us. He has not left us to save ourselves. He has not left us to make ourselves right before Him. No, He has come and just asked us to believe in who He is. The first step he has asked us to make, is to just acknowledge Him as King.

Application: Maybe you are a believer in Jesus Christ. But have you approached Christ with this reverence. Do you treat jesus like a king, or as somebody that you go to in certain times. Are you willing to inconvenience yourself like the magi did in time and treasure? Or do you fit God in?

Transition: This passage doesn’t end with this verse. Instead, it ends with verse 12.

Matthew 2:12 “And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.”

Exposition: The word warned in verse 12 refers to a divine warning. God warned the magi about Herod. Even the evil of a powerful man like Herod couldn’t stop the will of God. God had a plan for this child. His plan was that the child would grow into a man. He would do miraculous things that could only be done through the power of God. He would live about 33 years and never commit a sin. Then, he would be put through a sham trial and put to death on a cross though he was not guilty of any crime. He would die because we were sinful. There had to be punishment for our sins. There was. But it was Christ our King who took on that punishment. The punishment for sin is death. But he would not remain there. On the third day he would rise again. And then he would ascend to heaven where he has taken his rightful place upon the throne at the right hand of the Father. But He has not left His people. In fact, he is interceding on our behalf to the Father. And he has promised us that we no longer have to fear death because on the other side of this life for those that place their faith in Him is eternity in heaven.What a good King. He has conquered our enemies of sin and death, and given us entry into His kingdom by His blood.

Conclusion: As we close today, I want to ask you what today means to you? Is it time with family? That’s not a bad thing, but it shouldn’t be the ultimate thing? Is it about giving gifts? Once again, not a bad thing but is it the ultimate thing? Or is today about the fact that we celebrate the birth of a King. Not just any king. A king that did not just come for the people that were already his by race. But for those that He would make His own. A king that loved His people so much that he gave Himself up on a cross for their sins though He himself was sinless. And then he would rise again giving us the promise of eternity. That is the King that Jesus is. Have you believed in this King. Have you accepted the gift of salvation that he brought to us? If not, let today be the day.