Power in the Pulpit | Matthew 2

Intro: Good evening, everyone. We will pick back up where we left off last week. Last week we looked at two different things. Last week we looked at the Genealogy of Jesus which proved he was a son of Abraham and David. We also looked at the announcement to Joseph that Mary, his soon to be wife, was pregnant with the Son of God. Tonight we are going to be looking at something that occurred a while after the birth of Jesus. Have you ever the experience where you get to school on a Monday morning after a good weekend. Then somebody walks up to you and mentions a test, paper, or project you totally forgot about. There’s several different stages a person experiences in those moments. There is the moment of confusion, the moment where you start asking other people if that’s true and what the test was over or what you were suppose to do. And then there is the plan to either not fail, or to avoid the fallout of what is coming. We are going to see the element of all these things in today’s text. We will see that God sent His King to be the savior for all people, and nothing can stop that plan. We have a long passage again tonight, but since we are not breaking it up the way we did last week, I am going to ask that you stand as we honor the reading of God’s Word. Matthew 2 “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…”

Matthew 2:1-12.

Exposition: The chapter starts by saying in verse 1 Matthew 2:1 “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,” The word for wise men is translated Magi. When we consider the word Magi, there is actually a pretty good bit we know about people that were Magi in this day. Magi were located in Persia which was about 800 miles East of Bethlehem. They were made up of a combination of experts in astronomy, believers in astrology. Some were considered magicians and others were men who pursued knowledge. It was a pretty prominent role in the region from which they came. They were political but also religious. One thing they were not, was Jewish. They would not have been practitioners of the Jewish religion, even if they were familiar with Jewish scriptures. That makes what they say in verse 2 even more significant. In verse 2 we read, Matthew 2:2 “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.”” There are several things that are important in this verse. This first is that he was born King of the Jews. They did not say where is the one that will become king. They said the one that is King. I had a former students say this around Christmas time and I thought it was great. Most kings are born to become king. Jesus was born as King. That’s because he was both the Son of David, making him the earthly King, but he was also God Himself. He was the creator of the world. He did not have to be made King. He was King by nature of who He was.

Explanation: The Magi say that they saw this King’s star so they rose and came to worship him. When they said they saw his star, it seems likely that they are referring to an OT passage found in Numbers 24:17 “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.” This passage was thought to be speaking of the Jewish Messiah. At this point in world history, there were Jewish people spread out as far as Persia. It is likely that these men were familiar with this passage and being people that studied the constellations, upon seeing the star believed that the Jewish King.

Application: But they didn’t say they came so they could get a sneak peak of a celebrity. They said they came so that they could worship him. These men, who were not Jewish, had come to find the King of the Jews so they could worship Him. This tells us two things about Christ. First, he is not a King that should just be honored. The word that is translated from Greek to worship in English carries the sense of bowing down to a deity. He is not just a king to be honored, He is a God to be worshiped. The second is that though he was King of the Jews, he did not just come for the Jews, but he came for all people. These men were Jewish. But they came to worship Jesus. Joseph is being very intentional in telling this story. He’s showing that this child he is describing is the blessing from Abraham to the entire world. These men knew that Jesus was to be worshiped by all people. He came to extend grace not just to the Jews, but to us as well.

Exposition: Word clearly gets around about these men pretty quickly. Verses 3 and four say Matthew 2:3-4 “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.” So they get there and start asking where the King of the Jews has been born. And Herod is like, um excuse me. Who did you say was born?

Explanation: You have to know a little bit about Herod to undersrtand what is happening here. Herod had been installed to rule this area as a govenor for the Jewish people. He himself was half Jewish, but was not from the line of David, and his other race was that of a people that had long antagonized the people of Israel. So he wasn’t well liked by the people. He was incredibly paranoid that people were trying to undermine him or overthrow him. He had both his favorite wife and several of his sons killed out of this suspicion. The famous Roman emperor once said that it was better to be Herod’s pig than his son. So knowing that he was already paranoid, it makes sense that he was troubled. He didn’t see this as good news. He saw this as a threat. But he wasn’t the only one that was scared. All of Jerusalem was troubled. This probably refers to the religious leaders, but could mean everybody. The Romans had granted the jews freedom that had not given others. There was probably fear that if Rome got word of a king being born, they would clamp down. The reaction wasn’t joy or at least curiosity. It was paranoia about the changing of the status quo. If God placed something in your life that was different, but you knew it was his plan, how easily would you accept it? We cannot allow different to scare us away from what is better.

Exposition: So Herod gathers all the religious leaders and asks them where the messiah is to be born. We see their answer in verses five and six. Matthew writes, Matthew 2:5-6 “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.’ ” They show Herod that it is written pretty clearly that the messiah would be from Bethlehem. Bethlehem was only a few miles away from Jerusalem, so you know Herod realizes that there has to be something to what these men are saying. So he starts asking more questions. We read in verse 7 Matthew 2:7 “Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.” So now he’s trying to figure out about how long ago it was that this king may have been born. So he says in verse 8 Matthew 2:8 “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.”” Which pretty obviously he has no intention of finding the child for worship. But the wise men, probably not knowing Herod’s history go on to try and find the child. Matthew writes in verses 9-10, Matthew 2:9-10 “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.” So the wise men set out, probably heading towards Bethelehem, and then see the star rise again. And they start following it again, and it takes them exactly to where Jesus’ family is living.

Explanation: There are several things that we need to point out about this passage. This seems to be a supernatural event. The star seems to have gone away for some time since they first saw it however long ago, but when they leave Herod, it just so happens to appear again. There have been people who have tried to point to certain constellations or super nova type phenomenon which may have been what the Magi saw. But the text seems to make it clear that it was a super natural event. It’s also important to note that Matthew refers to Jesus as a child and not babe or baby. It seems that Jesus would have reached the toddler stage by this point. This will be important a little bit later on.

Exposition: So they get to the house, and what do you think they did, leave some casseroles on the front porch and keep going? No, it was much more than that. We read in verse 11, Matthew 2:11Exposition: So they get to the house, and what do you think they did, leave some casseroles on the front porch and keep going? No, it was much more than that. We read in verse 11, Matthew 2:11 “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.” So they go into the house and they do what they came to do, they worship him. This is a child that is probably around two years old. They don’t start acting like they stole his nose. They don’t try to pick him up and play with him. No, they understood this was no normal child. This Child was a king. But not just a king, a king of a divine nature that needed to be worshiped. They then opened their gifts and gave him gold franincense and myrhh. These are gifts that were given to royalty. They acknowledged who Jesus is.

Application: What does it look like when you go before God? How often do you treat God not just as a King but as the Holy God He is? When you approach God, whether it be in Sunday morning service, your time studying God’s Word, or when you pray in a group setting or by yourself, do you resemble the posture of these men who came and worshiped. Or does it look like something you do because you know you have to or because you know people are watching. Do we worship Jesus? When we ended last week’s message, we talked about how we could tell who Joseph believed Jesus to be based on how he took Mary in as his wife and raised Jesus as his own son, though he was the Son of God. The same is true of the magi. We can tell who they thought Jesus was based on how they bow down to worship. And how we approach Jesus says a lot about who we believe him to be. What does your life say right now?

Exposition: The account of the wise men’s visit ends with both a reminder of God’s unstoppable plan, and Herod’s evil plan. Verse 12 reads, Matthew 2:12 “And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.” Herod obviously planned on using the Magi as a way to find out where the child was and easily take care of what he saw as his problem. But God was not going to allow that to happen. And he warns the Magi in a dream who go another way.

Transition: So, this part of the passage ends with the Magi being warned not to go and tell Herod where the child was. This confirms what most people reading this story could probably pick up on pretty easily. Herod’s intentions did not involve worship. But God had a plan that no plan of a mere mortal like Herod could stop.

Matthew 2:13-18.

Exposition: Starting in verse 13 we read, Matthew 2:13-15 “Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”” Just as Joseph had been told in a dream about Mary’s pregnancy being from God and how the wise men had been warned about Herod in a dream, Joseph was warned in a dream about Herod’s plot to try and kill this child he had heard had been born King of The Jews. The angel in the dream tells Joseph to go to Egypt and Joseph when he woke up, took Mary and Jesus and fled to Egypt.

Explanation: There are several reasons why the location Joseph was sent to was Egypt. The first was proximity. The Egyptian border was less than 100 miles from Bethlehem. And though it was a part of the Roman empire like the area of Bethlehem, it was not in Herod’s jurisdiction. Whatever plot Herod came up with, if Joseph could get to Egypt, Jesus would be safe. There was also already a large Jewish community in Egypt that would allow for a pretty easy transition. But there was another reason, and that was because there were hints in scripture already that this was going to happen. In verse 16, Matthew quotes from the prophet Hosea. The context of Hosea does not speak of the Messiah, but it states this phrase. A phrase that would end up being true. This was not plan b. God always knew he would call his son out of Egypt.

Exposition: We already know that the wise men went a different way to avoid having to go through Jerusalem and tell Herod where the child was. And Herod takes this as well as you would expect. Verse 16 says, Matthew 2:16 “Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.” So Herod gets angry and immediately responds by going and killing every male child that was two and under, based on the timeframe the wise men had given him. While there is no other record of this event outside of scripture, the whole event makes sense. One, this fits well with who Herod was known to be. When Herod was getting close to his death, he ordered that his oldest son, who was to succeed him, be executed. A few days after that, he was so worried that people were going to be happy he was dead, he ordered that at his death the firstborn in every family be killed, though this was never carried out. He was paranoid and obsessed with his place as king. The area of Bethlehem was so small, this probably meant no more than twenty children were killed. While that’s obviously a tragedy, it makes sense that it was lost in other things Herod did. In verses 17 and 18, Matthew once again quotes a scripture without the context of how it was originally written. He writes in verses 17 and 18, Matthew 2:17-18 “Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”” This passage originally referred to how the people of the tribe descended from Ephraim who was one of the sons of Joseph who had the coat of many colors, had to march past the tomb of Ephraim’s grandmother Rachel on the way to Babylon when going to captivity. Here he is saying that once again, there was the crying because of the loss of life near Rachel’s grave. Terror has once again struck that region.

V

Transition: We know that Jesus did not stay in Egypt forever, right. We also know he didn’t return to Bethlehem, so how did all that happen. Matthew tells us in verses 19-23.

Matthew 2:19-23.

Exposition: We read in verses 19-21 Matthew 2:19-21 “But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.” So Herod is dead and God, once again through a dream, sends an angel to tell Joseph to return to Israel because the one who was trying to harm him was dead. So Joseph once again is obedient and returns back to Israel. But the text tells us he doesn’t take his family back to Bethlehem where both his and Mary’s families were from. We read in verse 22 Matthew 2:22 “But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee.” Archaleaus was the son of Herod the Great, and was just as brutal as his father. In fact, he was so brutal that Caesar Augustus late removed him from his position and exiled him because he feared the people were going to revolt. Joseph was taking no chances with this so he instead goes to a region being ruled by a different, less brutal son of Herod. He goes ot Galilee and according to verse 23 Matthew 2:23 “And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.” This quote is not found in the scriptures. But what we know about Nazareth was that it was a dead end town. It was small and didn’t have a lot going on. In fact, we can see examples in the NT of how despised it really was. Matthew seems to be alluding to how the prophets said the messiah would be despised, just as Nazareth was.

Conclusion: Have you ever wondered what Jospeh must have thought about what was going on? We talked last week about how he had been told he was going to be responsible for being the legal father to the Son of God. I wonder if the thought it would be easier than it was. The child went into labor while they were visiting Bethlehem and it appears they ended up staying there for a long period of time. Then in the middle of the night they have to flee to Egypt to live for several years. Then when they go to return, they don’t feel comfortable returning to the region they were in before fleeing so they have to then start over in a new place again. And this place, is not really famous for anything. I wonder if there were ever moments where Joseph questioned what was going on or asked God questions. But through it all, Joseph could look and see how God had delivered his family from trouble and to where they needed to be. He knew that God had a plan. I don’t know where you are walking in life right now, but maybe you feel like things shouldn’t be the way they are. But what I can promise you is that God has a plan. And we know he has a plan because he allowed this savior of the world to grow into a man. And as a man he then would die on a cross. Not because of his sin, but ours. He took on death but then rose again from the grave. Making a way for us all to be forgiven. Are you ready to accept that plan for your life. If so, I will be right over here during this final song. Come talk to me or see me after, but don’t let this time pass.