The Magi Worship Jesus

We have some incredible things happening in this text before us, the most notable of which is this star that seems to defy natural law and have a mind of its own.

We will talk about that for sure, but I don’t want you to miss the significance of some of these other details.

Matthew is being meticulous once again in the names he mentions in his record of Christ.

First of all he has just established a bit of a historical anchor point for us, as well as peeked the interest of His Jewish audience once again.

v1 “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the the days of Herod the king...”

This established 2 things

This is not the city of Bethlehem in the Galilee region, but the very specific city of Bethlehem of Judea, the City of king David.

This is all taking place during the rule of Herod the Great, who died in 4 BC.

Herod the Great had a reputation for murdering just about anyone who gave even the hint of usurping his rule, even his wife and children. In fact, history tells us that this herod did in fact take the lives of several close family members.

Augustus, the Roman Emperor, had said... “it was safer to be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son.”

But despite this, he accomplished some incredible things

DA Carson said “He was wealthy, politically gifted, intensely loyal, an excellent administrator, and clever enough to remain in the good graces of successive Roman emperors. His famine relief was superb and his building projects (including the temple, begun 20 B.C.) were admired even by his foes.”

That’s the Herod Matthew is telling us about.

let’s just leave him there for a moment, and we will get back to him.

Next, we have the wise men enter Matthew’s account.

v1. 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.”

Let’s start with what we know about them from the text itself...

They are coming from the east of Jerusalem.

We don’t actually know where precisely in the east, because Matthew doesn’t tell us, but tradition and some speculation might say Babylon because of their interest in the stars.

We do know from places like the book of Daniel chapter 5, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Daniel as chief over the magicians, enchanters, and astrologers. In other words, Daniel was made chief over the Magi. Those were the magi, the magicians of Babylon.

It’s the word we ultimately get the word, Magic, from, but it’s not the slight of hand kind of stuff. We can thank Disney for cutifying magic, but Babylonian magi were men known to be steeped in the occult pagan practice of astrology and reading messages in the stars.

Funny though, that all of them together, in all of there attempts, heard nothing from the stars when Nebuchadnezzar needed an interpretation for his dream, and yet Daniel, by God’s power, told it to him word for word.

2. They were not particularly wise, and probably were not kings.

Sorry, Christmas song!

The reason they were called wise is because of their study and observation of the stars. This was an extraordinary skill set, so people called them wise.

3. They came when they saw His star appear.

Based on the text, They could have traveled even thousands of miles to see Jesus.

In verse 7, Herod called for a secret meeting to inquire from their expertise when the star had appeared. Based on Herod’s decree to kill all children 2 years and younger later in this chapter, it’s safe to say that the wisemen were expecting a child about 2 years in age. So they could have been traveling for that long.

4. we can gather from the gifts they brought that they would have been very wealthy, bringing gold and expensive spices for a King.

And of course, the number of gifts presented is the only biblical source for saying that only three magi traveled there, but there really could have been a few dozen of these men traveling together.

Ok, so those are just a few observations about the magi, and Herod.

There’s another group of people that Matthew introduces for the first time in this section.

Before he summoned the magi secretly, look at verse 3 and 4. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

This is in response to the enquiry that the magi made to Herod. Herod, being no Jew himself, but a prideful and arrogant tyrant over Jerusalem, hired by and in league with Rome, really had no clue what to do with this. So he gathers the professionals - The chief priests and Scribes.

The Scribes were those leaders of Israel who’s job it was to know and apply God’s law and customs to Israel. What is key here is that they knew what the law and the prophets said.

And the chief priests were basically ex-high priests, men who were also zealous for the law of God.

The reason this is significant here is because this is the very first run-in between Jesus and this group. No doubt, many of these particular men would be dead by the time Jesus is baptized and begins his public ministry, but from that point on, there is no shortage of encounters.

And the attitude of these men here in Matthew chapter 2 is indicative of every other encounter with christ, and a reflection of their hearts.

John 5:37-40 His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

Herod leans on the experts of Scripture to know where the Christ would be born, and they know exactly where this be.

They quote a prophesy from Micah 5:2, and with precision they speak of the very place of His birth, and they speak of His ministry to shepherd and lead Israel, and to rule them.

But with all of this knowledge, who is it that shows up to worship Christ? It’s the shepherds who come to worship him. It’s the magi, traveling hundreds of miles, guided by a moving star, who come to worship him, while the experts of the law choose to remain ignorant.

So let’s back up try to tie this all together and find out what Matthew, and the Holy Spirit, is wanting to teach us.

Jesus is born in Bethlehem, the city of David.

At some point around the time of His birth a star appears in the sky that the magi, who we’re already studying the stars, began to observe.

Now, It’s possible that the magi have some knowledge of prophetic literature, and some historical tradition says that they do, but all we know from the text is that from their observation of the heavens, and this particular star, they conclude that a significant figure has been born, so significant that He is divine, and worthy of worship.

“We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

They go to Jerusalem because that would make sense for the birth of the king of the Jews, and unknowingly, they begin to evangelize in the city with the news of this new king.

The word gets to Herod, and he is deeply troubled by what he hears, and all of Jerusalem with him. This word for trouble speaks of an inner turmoil because of the news. He’s not just a little upset about this.

Why is he troubled?

Because his rule was threatened.

Not only his rule over Jerusalem, but the rule over his own heart, the gods he worships, and the idols he serves.

Herod is threatened, ultimately, because Jesus is the true King.

Jesus Christ is either a threat to your way of life, or He is your life.

Some professing Christians today spend far too much time trying to figure out how to blur the lines on this. So you become more like the Scribes in this story, and you develop a comfort with the knowledge of Jesus that you have, even knowing the very Scriptures that speak of him, but you do not yet run to worship him.

At least Herod is clear on his stance…he hates the threat, and will take action.

We have both scenarios in our culture today. We have the nominal Christians - the Christian in name only.

And we have the overt enemies of the King who have made clear that their allegiance is with the prince of darkness, and there is every effort to destroy life.

Spiritually speaking, both are dangerous and damnable, because neither have surrendered to the Lordship of Christ…and in terms of how Satan uses each of these, we have everything from abortion and the murder of Christians around the world - to luke-warm churches full of people, who are fat in the word and who think they are in Christ but are actually not because they are still trying to figure out how to make Jesus softer for them, and not such a threat.

Brothers and sisters, there’s no questioning that Jesus is a threat to the world, and to the natural and unregenerate life.

We’ve got sages and astrologers traveling thousands of miles, costing them probably millions in modern day funds - all because of Jesus. We’ve got an entire city troubled because of what Herod might do regarding this threat. We’ve got Herod himself enraged, squirming on his throne because of a baby born in Bethlehem that He KNOW’s is the true KING of KINGS!

And while all of this is happening, what is God doing?

He’s sovereignly seeing to it that the Son of God comes into this world and is welcomed by the exact people God intends, orchestrating all of it, and Jesus is at center stage!

Let’s see what the magi do after the secret meeting with Herod...

v9  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.

Now, there is no way for me to comment on this accurately, because I was not there, and this is nothing less than supernatural. The best we can tell, they came to Jerusalem because this was where the star was shining as they looked from east to west. Arriving at Jerusalem, the star was no longer clearly directing them, but as they left Herod’s palace, the star that had appeared for them while in Babylon, began to go before them once again, and when they saw the star - check this out… “They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.”

Can you feel their joy?

Might have been similar to what the children of Israel felt every time they saw they pillar of cloud and fire leading them through the wilderness to the promised land.

Joy because they journey isn’t over yet.

Joy because they were not going to be left without direction.

Matthew Henry makes this comment...Israel was led by a pillar of fire to the promised land, the wise men by a star to the promised Seed, who is himself the bright and morning Star

v11 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.

Couple details - They go into a house, not a stable, and they see the child with Mary, his mother…they don’t see a newborn baby.

So sort of presents a problem with the three wisemen joining the shepherds in the nativity scene. But those are just details.

It’s the activity in the house that is most significant.

Upon seeing the child, the magi, perhaps a dozen or more, fall down, and worship Jesus, and one by one, begin to open treasures from their land in honor of the child King. None of which they did for Herod by the way...

But this is the right posture of a Christian, bowed down at the feet of Jesus, the King, giving our all and sparing nothing. Having no fear of how he threatens our rule, but freely giving way to His rule.

This is right

There is even some significance in the gifts themselves, because gold was a common gift for kings, frankincense was an incense recognizing the smoke of incense that would rise to God, and Myrrh was an embalming perfume for burial, all of which point us to the deity and purpose of Jesus to die for our sins on the cross.

Matthew gives us a lot to think about here, but I hope what we’re all seeing is the monumental impact that Christ had and has on this world, and how he brings every man and woman on this earth to an impasse.

Herod made his decision. The Scribes made theirs. And the magi, who paid more, lost more, gave more, and yet they were filled with exceeding joy and worshipped Christ because they realized that what God had given to the world by sending His Son is worth laying everything we have down at his feet.

So lets do that, church.

lay it all down

What areas of your life are you treating Jesus as a threat,