We Three Kings: The Three Kings at the Manger

When you see the title to our sermon today, you would be understandable to think we were going to discuss the kings who attended the savior at the beginning of his life, who we often identify as the “Three Kings of Orient” who we bearings gifts for the savior. And while we will look at these men and discuss who they were and how they tie into biblical prophecy and the story of the savior, we will look at them next week because contrary to popular belief, the three kings were not at the manger scene and some scholar believe that Jesus may have been as old as two years old when they arrived to pay homage to the God-Child.

No, we are not going to talk about these men today, that will be next week, but we will instead look at the old Christmas story together, and pay note to the three kings who were involved in the Christmas story.

Let’s look at our text together:

Luke 2:1–20 ESV

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Let us look at the first king:

Caesar: The King who Took Glory for Himself

Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (Octavianus). He was the nephew of Julius Caesar and took his adopted father's name upon himself and added the title Augustus in Latin, which meant venerated one.

he was the first emperor of the Roman Empire, taking absolute power. Augustus took upon himself the authority, honor and glory of a god. Augustus, being Caesar's great-nephew and adopted son, decided to use his great-uncle's status as a deity, a title that bestowed on Julius Caesar by the senate following his death, and executed a daring political maneuver to gain control of the Senate. He named himself Divus Filius, the Son of God, and the name stuck. From that point on, Caesar Augustus was not only considered the August Ruler of a new Empire, he was the Son of God and would have deity bestowed upon himself following his death. August would create an empire that would last almost 500 years following his death.

Augustus claimed “I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.”

in 14 AD, Augustus would write a memoire that we still have called, “The Deeds of the Divine Augustus” that detailed his truimphs as Emperor. By the time of his death, Augustus was the most powerful man in all of the world ruling an Empire that ruled all of modern day Europe, the Western Middle East including what is modern day Turkey, Syria, Lebanon and Israel, and Northern Africa from Egypt to the Atlantic Ocean, a land mass comparable to the United States today.

He was the unopposed ruler of the greatest Empire in Antiquity.

And the story of the birth of the Messiah begins with the self-titled “son of god” giving a decree”, but while Caesar was exercising his authority as king, there was another king at work that day.

God: The Sovereign King Of All

Despite all of Caesar’s power, on this day, God showed himself to be greater than Caesar. God in his sovereignty orchestrated all of creation for this moment. In fact, in a very real way, all of history finds it's fulcrum on this night, 2000 years ago, and God orchestrated it all from the beginning to accomplish his purposes.

In his book “Miracles” C. S. Lewis once stated, “The central miracle asserted by Christians is the incarnation. If the [incarnation] happened it the central event in the history of the Earth- the very thing the whole story has been about.” (Pg.108)

God worked all of human history out to point to this day, this day when a mother would scream out in the pain of childbirth, a pain brought about by the effects of sin. On this day when all of creation would hold its breath, lookin in anticipation, a creation separated by the destructive nature of sin. On this child, lying in a manger, a stone enclosure set up to protect the lambs of the shepherds who were watching their flocks by night, the very lambs who would soon be sacrificed in the temple in Jerusalem for the sins of the world.

All of creation was focused on this manger, in this stall, on this night, that God orchestrated to bring about the birth of Jesus.

All the promises of God that we have talked about in the weeks leading up to Christmas find their fulfilment in this manger in Bethlehem. Here in the manger, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the good Shepherd who will lead us to still waters, the promised child who would crush Satan, the True David, and the faithful Israel rested. ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY was moving toward this day, and God like a conductor directing the strings, the woodwinds, the percussion, and the brass to all play their parts in perfect harmony orchestrated one of the greatest kings to ever exist to accomplish his purpose at just the right time.

Christ: The King who Humbled Himself

Finally, we have Jesus lying in a manger. There’s great significance in the manger. Why, Manger comes from the Latin word for chew or eat. It refers to a trough where horses and donkeys and cattle ate. For example, Luke uses it in Luke 13:15:

The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it?”

And in that manger, God lay.

Colossians 1:19–20 ESV

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

In that manger, the God of the universe condescended himself.

“Despite our earnest efforts, we couldn't climb all the way up to God. So what did God do? In an amazing act of condescension, on Good Friday, God climbed down to us, became one with us. The story of divine condescension begins on Christmas and ends on Good Friday. We thought, if there is to be business between us and God, we must somehow get up to God. Then God came down, down to the level of the cross, all the way down to the depths of hell. He who knew not sin took on our sin so that we might be free of it. God still stoops, in your life and mine, He condescends. ― William H. Willimon, Thank God It's Friday: Encountering the Seven Last Words from the Cross

Philippians 2:5–7 ESV

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

On Christmas morning, the immortal, omnipotent, eternal God of the universe, cried out in a manger in hunger, and cold. Christmas is the story of contrasting kings. A king on a throne in Rome, and a king in a stall in Bethlehem, and while one is called Augusta, the august one, the other is seated in glory and is the savior of all men.

So which king sits on the throne in your life today? Is it the king of self, the king of self-worship and self-praise, or is it Christ? One of them will sit on the throne, who sits there today?