Podcasts about matthew 2:1-12

Epiphany of the Lord (Year C, 2024-2025)Scripture Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12

The Magi Visit the Messiah 2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi ...

In this episode, Pastor Dom teaches about the importance of the Wise Men in the Christmas story. Matthew 2:1-121 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, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.' ” 7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” 9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.Revelation 1:2020 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.Revelation 17:1414 …for He is Lord of lords and King of kings;Hebrews 4:1414 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.John 19:39-4039 And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. 40 Then they took the body of Jesus, and bound it in strips of linen with the spices, as the custom of the Jews is to bury.John 3:16-17God, Jesus, Faith, Christian, Church, Sunday, Sermon, Message, Bible,16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

John talks about how we have two principal feasts and should not be displaced by any other celebration:  Epiphany and the Baptism of the LordOriginally they were on the same day, and still are for many Eastern Orthodox Churches.Both stories are unsettling, intense, almost violent. They rupture the lives of those involvedHe finishes by askingWho is the God revealed in JesusHow do we live that revelationWe then watched "Rich" by Rob Bell, part of the Nooma series.The notes for this sermon can be found here

We all know the story of Jesus' birth in the manger. But what else happened following the birth of Christ? Find out about those who visited Jesus shortly after his birth in this new mini-series on the Gospel for Life! For more information about this group, please visit their website at reformationboise.com. If you have a question, comment, or even a topic suggestion for the Pastors, you can email them here. There is only one rule: Be Kind!

Epiphany of the Lord (Year B, 2023-2024)Scripture Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12

We all know the story of Jesus' birth in the manger. But what else happened following the birth of Christ? Find out about those who visited Jesus shortly after his birth in this new mini-series on the Gospel for Life! For more information about this group, please visit their website at reformationboise.com. If you have a question, comment, or even a topic suggestion for the Pastors, you can email them here. There is only one rule: Be Kind!

You will never worship the King if you want to be king

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cUBN_RDPFA

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, 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.” 3 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. 5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:6 “‘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.'”7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 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.” 9 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. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 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. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Epiphany of the Lord (Year A, 2022-2023)Scripture Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12

Hey, y'all! Welcome to the Gary Church Podcast . . . from Gary Church, here in Wheaton, IL. We would love to have you worship with us! You may find more information about our next worship service at www.garychurch.org. This is a special SERMON REWIND episode. The reason is we had a huge snow and wind storm hit Chicagoland. As a result, we did not have in-person worship. Instead, we broadcasted our Epiphany service from last year. It is the scripture and sermon from from January 3rd, 2021- the 2nd Sunday of Christmas Day,  the first Sunday of the New Year, and Epiphany Sunday! Our scripture is read by  Cindy Plate (01:06) and the sermon by Rev. Dr. Chris Pierson is entitled “What Can I Give Him?” (02:59). At Gary Church our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!Matthew 2:1-12Revised Common LectionaryVideo of the entire January 3rd, 2021 Worship Service at Gary Church

Most Americans have some knowledge about Jesus, the Church, the Bible, and so on. They can even tell you many things about God, but they lack wisdom, that is, they lack understanding in how to use this knowledge and apply it to their lives in a meaningful way. Since they have no wisdom they make their own opinions, stand in their own judgments, and make the same mistakes over and over again as they continue to walk in spiritual darkness. Wisdom truly makes all the difference. Find out how in this episode.

Epiphany of the Lord (Year C, 2021-2022)Scripture Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12

"The Wise Still Seek Him"

Sermon recording from Sunday, December 5th, 2021.A study of Matthew 2:1-12.Thesis: Find the wisdom, truth, and grace in your worship of Jesus.  

The Sunday morning teaching of Salisbury Bible Fellowship

Hey, y'all! Welcome to the Gary Church Podcast . . . from Gary Church, here in Wheaton, IL. We are only able to gather 10 people a day in our sanctuary with masks on and social distanced for safety. However, we are still able to stream worship live on-line on Sundays at 9:00 and for viewing anytime afterward. You may find our worship services at www.garychurch.org. This is the scripture from January 3rd, 2021 the 2nd Sunday After Christmas Day and first Sunday of the New Year. The sermon is by our Senior Pastor, Rev. Dr. Chris Pierson. This message is entitled “What Can I Give Him?” and our scripture is read by Cindy Plate. At Gary Church our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!Matthew 2:1-12Revised Common LectionaryVideo of the entire January 3rd, 2021 Worship Service at Gary Church

Epiphany of the Lord (Year B, 2020-2021):Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12

This is the sermon preached by Rev Stephen Haward in Market Harborough Congregational Church on 3rd January, the service also included our covenant for the new year and we are delighted to welcome Karen into Church Membership. The full service is here.The bible reading is Matthew 2:1-12

Given at St. Anselm's Abbey by Abbot James Wiseman on January 3, 2020.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men[a] 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. - Matthew 2:1-12

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men[a] 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. - Matthew 2:1-12

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men[a] 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. - Matthew 2:1-12

Listen as Pastor Ben preaches on Matthew 2:1-12. Support the show (http://my.simplegive.com/dl/?uid=urba902165)

Epiphany of the Lord (Year A, 2019-2020): Isaiah 60:1-6 • Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14 • Ephesians 3:1-12 • Matthew 2:1-12

Camp Hill UMC, Celebration Sermon, January 5 2020, Matthew 2:1-12, Mysterium Tremendum, Brand Eaton

Sun, 05 Jan 2020 19:48:37 -0500 Pastor Len Kuyvenhoven 22:39 no Matthew 2:1-12,General Topics https://www.ridgewoodcrc.com/index.php?option=com_sermonspeaker&view=s

Matthew 2:1-12

This Epiphany Sunday, Dr. Jordan explores the connections between the Magi’s journey to visit Jesus, and our own pilgrimages of life and faith. From Isaiah 60:1: “Rise, shine, your light has come …” Matthew 2:1-12, connects that passage with the fascinating story of the Magi following a star, going to Jesus, bringing gifts and encountering Herod. GOING DEEPER: Traveling with others always requires particular sensitivity and skill. The same is true as we journey together in faith. Using the five points of the star the Wise Men followed to Jesus, we are challenged to live by these five points for our own deeper wisdom. Kindness is contagious Flexibility is helpful Humility is vital Gratitude is transformational Generosity is sacred Finally, like the Magi, we inevitably encounter Herod in or around Jerusalem. These troublesome times of life necessitate not only wisdom, but also courage and strength. Therefore, like those Wise Men of old: Be aware of the warning signs Know where you stand and where you need to go Listen for holy messages of deeper wisdom Feel free to “go home a different way” Let your light shine! If you’re looking to learn more about Herod the Great or Cleopatra, two enormous influences in first-century Palestine, we recommend reading Herod King of the Jews and Friend of the Romans as well as Cleopatra: A Life. Both are available on Amazon. — FBC Decatur is a vibrant and progressive community of faith located in the heart of Decatur, GA. Here you will find people who are: learning to follow Jesus in everyday life; encountering community through authentic relationships; finding meaning by learning how to believe not just what to believe; and in learning how to believe discovering purpose through making intentional, impactful contributions to the world around them It’s our hope that your story intersects with our story at FBCD, and that with God’s help, we might write something new and meaningful together. Visit our website Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

Epiphany - the day we celebrate the divine revelation of Christ to those beyond the Jewish nation. We think of Epiphany as the day we remember the coming of the wise men to worship the Christ child and we think immediately of camels, the star, and...

Epiphany of the Lord (Year C)Isaiah 60:1-6 | Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14 | Ephesians 3:1-12 | Matthew 2:1-12

Eastern Hills Baptist Church

Joseph is the voice of TRUST…trust in God. The wisemen are the voice of adoration, while Herod is the voice of deception. John is the voice of preparation, preparing the

How do people respond to Jesus? I. The wise men sought out Jesus because God sought out them, vv1-2. II. Some were alarmed, anxious, or apathetic, but the wise men adored him, vv3-11. III. They gave gifts to Jesus because he was God's gift to them, vv11-12.

Epiphany of the Lord (Year B) Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12

MATTHEW 2:1-12 - Derek McCollum

Pastor Jeff looks at Matthew 2:1-12 in the final part of our Advent series, Within Our Reach. The five-week journey is a re-discovering of how Jesus brought hope, peace, joy and love within our reach through the story of Christmas. We look to learn what the implications of that reality are for our lives.Support the show (https://tithe.ly/give?c=397080)

Pastor Andy Davis preaches a sermon on Matthew 2:1-12 and explores the Magi's visit to Jesus Christ. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - The most famous, miraculous sign in the Old Testament was the burning bush. As Moses was tending his father-in-law, Jethro's sheep, and he saw this amazing sight that broke all the laws of physics. How this bush was burning, but not consumed. Well, I want you to imagine a similar scenario in which you are hiking out West, let's say you're out in the Rockies and you're hiking up a steep mountain and you're going through the woods and you're getting tired, it's hot, and suddenly you hear a rushing mountain stream, vigorous rushing mountain stream. And so you make your way through the woods to the stream, only when you get there, you see something you can't... It defies all the laws of nature, all the laws of physics. The stream's going up the mountain. What would you think? What would you think if you stood there? You'd be like, "I don't know if I would drink from it, I would be so stupefied. I'd be like, "Is it water? Is it healthy? What could I do? What should I do?" I'd just stand there in amazement. Isaiah chapter 2:2 gives a prophecy of the success of the Gospel in that kind of an image. In Isaiah 2:2 it says, "In the last days, the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains. It'd be raised above the hills and all the nations will stream to it. And many peoples will say in that day, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways and show us his laws, we will walk in the light of His laws. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem and all the nations will see it, and they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, and they will not learn war anymore. Come, oh house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord."” So here's this image of a mighty river flowing up a mountain, the highest mountain in the world, even. How would we explain it? Well, it has to do, I think, with the success of the gospel to the ends of the earth as people come to faith in Christ and they make spiritual pilgrimages to Christ. Spiritual pilgrimages. They don't need to physically go anywhere. And the idea of water running, rushing up a steep mountain defies all the laws of physics, it's not a natural streaming. It's a supernatural streaming. It can only be affected by supernatural forces on the people that are making the pilgrimage. Nothing but a supernatural force will cause them to leave their old way of thinking, to leave their old way of worshipping, their old value system, and make a pilgrimage to Christ to come to Christ. Now for me, I love those stories, I love hearing the stories of how brothers and sisters in Christ from all over the world came to faith in Jesus, especially if there are signal providences, amazing signs, visions, dreams, other things involved. A few weeks ago we gave you in an insert, a prayer, a week of prayer, a guide from the IMB. And there was a story in there of a woman given the name Delara from Central Asia. We're not told her country, we're not told her real name. But we are told the circumstances of her, a Muslim woman, coming to faith in Christ. She had a dream and in that dream she saw a structure she'd never seen before and three men there in front of that structure who she didn't know. But in the dream, she knew one person, Jesus, and Jesus lifted her up in her dream, out of her bed, set her on her feet, and invited her to come to this building. And then she woke up. Within the next week, she was in a certain part of the city and there she saw the building and it was a church. She'd never been there before, but it was definitely that place. And she went inside and the three men were there, including one man who spoke to her and led her to Christ. Now, I'm gonna get to heaven, I'm gonna hear 100 million stories like that, of how the nations streamed up against all odds, against every inclination of the sinful human heart, against all of the teachings of their native religions, whatever they were, to come to faith in Christ. A few weeks ago, I was meeting with a woman who is serving as a missionary in North Africa, in a Muslim country in North Africa. She told me a similar story, this is remarkable. Of a man who came to faith in Christ, a Muslim man, who had just within the last year been a member of an ISIS cell group, preparing... And he was preparing for a suicide bombing mission. And he was training and preparing for this. And he was told he had to go to Mecca, make his Hajj, his pilgrimage to Mecca, to purify himself for his entry into paradise. So he went on the pilgrimage, but when he got there he could find no transportation to the Kaaba, the Black Stone that all the Muslims go around seven times counter clock-wise, that's the consummation of their pilgrimage. He couldn't get there, he couldn't get... I don't know, from the airport or exactly, I don't know the details, but he couldn't get there. There was no bus, there was no taxi, there was no way to get there. Finally, this little bus comes and the door opens and there's this man there, and he says, "I'm trying to get to the Kaaba" and this man looks at him for a long time, doesn't say anything, just looks and he says, "You're going the wrong direction." "Beg your pardon?" "You're going the wrong direction." That's all he said. Door closed, drives off. Wow, that was unnerving. He somehow found a way to complete his Hajj, went back to his home country. A few weeks before he was to die in a murderous suicide bombing in the name of Allah. He went to the home of a Christian for dinner, someone he knew, and when he got there, on the wall, there was a picture there of the Last Supper. He was immediately fascinated, he said, "Who is that man in the middle?" "Well, that's Isa, that's Jesus." He said, "No, that was the driver of that bus." Now, you're like, "What did Jesus look like?" And don't go there. It doesn't matter. What matters is that was the man he saw. And he knew what he was doing was sinful, it was wrong. He knew he was going the wrong way, he had no peace in his heart. And so, from the Muslim context of honor and respect for Jesus, even beyond that, to the fact that Jesus actually is not merely a prophet who did miracles, but actually God in the flesh, he was led to faith in Christ. And then told the rest of the story to his brothers and sisters there in his home country. Now for me, I love to hear those kinds of stories, I wanna know what God does to bring someone from point A to point B, to bring them to faith in Christ. Now, the account we're gonna read today of the Magi is one of the first such stories, maybe the first, of a pilgrimage made from a distant land by Gentiles, pagans, to come to worship Jesus. And so we're gonna walk through that this morning. I. Endless Fascination with the Magi Now, we have an endless fascination with the Magi, which is part of the Christmas scene, and we are interested in it. And so you're probably wanting to know what I'm going to say about the Magi, you're hoping I'm not gonna touch too sharply on your nativity set. Well, I'm probably gonna mess with your nativity set a little bit, and mine too. But we're gonna find out about the Magi. Now, Christmas is filled with all kinds of images and we know it's powerful, it's a powerful force in our culture. Very strong feelings. Some of those forces are good, some are not so good. Christian parents would do well to saturate the minds of their children in the theological truths of the birth of Christ, to tell them the truth about who Jesus was. You heard Wes reading John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God." He was with God in the beginning, all things were made through him. A number of verses later, verse 14, "The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten, from the Father, full of grace and truth." A few verses after that, "The law was given through Moses, grace, and truth came through Jesus Christ." "Christian parents would do well to saturate the minds of their children in the theological truths of the birth of Christ, to tell them the truth about who Jesus was." We're not wondering who he's talking about at all in John 1. So for us as Christian parents, to just saturate the minds of our children and say, "Teach them this, teach them who Jesus is, that He is God in the flesh." And teach them why he came. 1 Timothy 1:15, "This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst." That's a great verse, year-round. Cherish that verse. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst. If you ever feel like the worst sinner, that's your verse. That's why he came. Now, the biblical images of Christ are powerful enough to consume our imaginations, our minds for the rest of our lives. We don't need all of the other myths and legends. Luke 1:30-33, which we looked at last week a little bit, where the angel Gabriel said, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor or grace with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of his father, David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever." Son of God, Son of David, the incarnation. And then the angel appearing to the shepherds outside Bethlehem, "Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born for you." Isn't that powerful? A savior for you, and he is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you, you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. So this is the theology of Christmas, the incarnation, the idea that God became human and came to save us from our sins. Now we know that there are overwhelming images, many of them secular, lining up with Christmas. I'll like to count all of the different phrases that you hear on the radio as you're listening to seasonal music. So it is the most wonderful time of the year. Silver bells. I've personally never seen chestnuts roasting on an open fire, I don't know what happens. I would picture they would explode, but I don't know. And then you've got the other weird things that entered somewhere around when I was a little kid, like the Grinch and the Snow Queen and the elves and all that sort of stuff that come in with those TV programs that come in every year. Then you've got Ebenezer Scrooge and the three ghosts, past, present and future. I saw recently, a movie, The Man Who Invented Christmas. Some of you have seen that, about Dickens and the circumstances of him writing The Christmas Carol. And it's just striking how unimportant Christmas was in Victorian England back before that time. But it was really Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and then Dickens in the story that made it huge. So just all of these images. And then there are other threads that are theological, like the hymn we just sang, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is the most... I think the most theologically rich Christmas carol we ever sing. "Christ by highest heaven adored Christ the everlasting Lord. Laid in time, behold him come, offspring of a virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh, the godhead, see. Hail the incarnate deity." Incarnate deity. "Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Immanuel." What you may not realize is Charles Wesley wrote maybe dozens of verses to that and those were the best. The four that we know are the best. Wes chose a few extra. Where did you find those? You have to ask him. Where did you find out about the second Adam? That was amazing. But I know that Charles Wesley wrote more than made it in the hymnal. Very rich and powerful, and so we should saturate ourselves in it. Now when we come to the Magi, there are lots of misconceptions. So here I have to go there, I have to talk about the nativity sets. So there we see Joseph, Mary, baby Jesus, the shepherds, that's all good. A barn, maybe, might have been in a cave, but barn, manger, fine. And there they are, the three kings, alright? And they're in rich kingly robes and they've all got different ornate boxes and they're offering... I've got it too. I set it out every year without any pangs of conscience at all. Now honestly, the number of the Magi is unclear. Because they gave three gifts we think there are three of them, we don't know. The Magi are not in any way said to be kings in the account. They're Magi. Talk about what that means in a moment. Those two misconceptions come together in a very famous Christmas carol, "We Three Kings... " You know that one, "We three Kings of Orient are bearing gifts, we traverse afar. Field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star." In the 14th century, a cleric named John of Hildesheim wrote a work called "The History of The Three Kings." So you can look it up, you can get some of the text online, it's public domain at this point. He included some details about the star they followed, details that are not found in the Bible. He gave us their three names, Melchior, Balthasar, and Gaspar. They were said to be kings of Ind, Chaldea, and Persia. They chanced to meet on the outskirts of Jerusalem, all of them guided by the star, they bumped into each other and then they proceeded together to Bethlehem where they presented their gifts. They departed back together to the border of the ancient realm of Ind, where a watchtower is maintained, that's where the star had first been sighted. On and on, this account goes. Turned out that all three of the kings returned to the watchtower on the border of Ind, and there they built a large and ornate tomb for themselves and they all died on the same day and were buried in that tomb. Well, so much for John of Hildesheim's account. In the city of Cologne, Germany, you can go and actually find supposedly the bones of all three kings. So, if you wanna make a pilgrimage to Cologne, Germany, and go to the shrine of the three kings, there are some bones. I don't know whose bones they are, but there are some bones there. But today, I think it's better for us to walk through the biblical account and see what Matthew tells us and what timeless lessons we can take from this beautiful narrative. II. Walking Through the Biblical Account So let's begin at verse 1 of chapter 2 of Matthew. Verses 1-2, "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 in the east and have come to worship Him.'" So this occurs some time after the birth of Christ. The only account we have of that, of course, is Luke 2, which I've already cited a little bit, the account of the shepherds, the angelic visiting, the army, the host of heaven, the glory of God. Here in this text, the time is set as the reign of King Herod, Herod the Great. Herod was a thoroughly evil man. He was paranoid, he was insecure, very powerful. Under his rule, the Temple, the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was refurbished and greatly expanded with mighty stones, the very things that Jesus' apostles pointed out to him right before his death, such that the temple in Jesus' day was called Herod's Temple. He was given the title "King of the Jews," though he actually wasn't Jewish at all, he was Idumean. His father, Herod Antipater, had done some favor for the Romans and as a result, Herod's family was given the right to rule Judea under Roman rule. Herod was a consummate politician. He did everything he could to curry Roman favor and maintain his power. In return, the Roman Senate gave him an army and with it, he expanded his borders into Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. He was ruthless and merciless as a ruler. He slaughtered zealots by the score, any who would cause any trouble to the Romans. He had 10 wives and 12 sons. One of his wives, Mariamne, had a brother named Aristobulus who was the Jewish high priest. Herod the Great thought he was a threat and had him murdered, then he had Mariamne killed as well. He was so paranoid that he had his two eldest sons put to death. His entire life was one of plots and assassinations, all of them geared to keep him in power. One of the final acts of his life was the arrest of some leading citizens of Jerusalem with the command that they be killed the moment he died so that there would be weeping in Jerusalem at the time of his death. He knew very well no one would be weeping for him. So this is the king, this is the setting, this is the one who is in our account. Now, who are the Magi? As we've already said, they almost certainly were not kings, but rather were counselors to kings. The word magi links them directly to the priestly cast of the Medes, those that linked up with the Persians to topple the Babylonian Empire, the Medes, according to the ancient historian, Herodotus. They were active throughout Babylon, Persia and Mesopotamia during the region of the Old Testament. The original Magi were priests of the Zoroastrian religion. Zoroastrianism was the official, the state religion of the Persian Empire. Amazingly, it's still practiced by a very small group in India called the Parsis, who fled when the Muslims took over in Persia, modern-day Iran. Zoroastrianism has some parallels to Judaism, monotheism, animal sacrifice, hereditary priestly cast like the Levites has that, but the religion was essentially satanic because it had a mixture of the occult. They did a lot of witchcraft, sorcery, potions. And especially, they would blend science, would be a legitimate science, chemistry, etcetera, with the occultic issues. So you would have astronomy, which would be the stargazing. When you're looking up at the sky, the night sky and noting the alignment of the stars, the planets, different motions, and the spheres, that's astronomy, science. With astrology, which is taking whatever insights you find from the stars and applying them to current events here on earth or about the future, so that's astrology. And they did both. They were experts at both. They were greatly desired as counselors to kings throughout the ancient Near East, they rose to positions of power in the courts of the kings and the Babylonian and middle Persian and Greek empires. The word magistrate in English comes from them. The Latin word for teacher is Magister also comes from magi. And of course, we get the word magic or magician from them as well. Now, we meet them in the Book of Daniel, and this is very relevant to our story in Daniel chapter 2. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and he wanted to know what it meant, and the Magi were experts at interpreting dreams. They frequently would write down interpretations of dreams, a scheme that you would take when you see these symbols. They had whole libraries of Dream Interpretations. Nebuchadnezzar didn't trust them as far as he could throw them. So in order to confirm that they could give a right interpretation of his dream, he wanted them to tell him what his dream was, the content of the dream and then he would give them permission to interpret it, this is all in Daniel chapter 2. And so he calls the men in Daniel 2:2, the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers to tell them what he had dreamt. None of them could do it. But God revealed the content of the dream and its meaning to Daniel and his friends as they fasted and prayed throughout the night. And it had to do with the flow of human history, it was a statue with a head of gold and chest and arms of silver and belly and thighs of bronze and legs of iron and feet, partly iron, partly clay. It was a statue and it had to do with the unfolding of human empires, one empire succeeding the next. And at the end, the interpretation of that, Daniel 2:44 says, "In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but will itself endure forever?" An eternal kingdom. And every kingdom needs a king. So we're talking about an eternal king of an eternal kingdom. And it's quite possible that Daniel, and perhaps other Jews and succeeding generations kept these prophecies, these Jewish prophecies alive in that region of the world, and it's specifically among the cast of the Magi. The Magi speak in this text of one born King of the Jews. No one is born King. You can be born the crown prince, the heir to the throne, but Jesus is born a King, and that's prophecy, there was no baby gonna be born in Palestine who would be born King of the Jews. And so that's all got to do with prophecy. So we see this rich heritage of dreams and stars and Jewish prophecies perhaps coming together. And look at verse two, at the star they had seen. "Where is the one they said who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship Him." Magi were stargazers, astronomers and astrologers, both. They were led by dreams and visions and they also had these prophecies. And suddenly, this celestial portent comes up in the skies. You would imagine a larger, more radiant, more glorious, different, don't know, just different caught their attention, never seen anything like it before. It appeared. Either in the East or it's rising, can't tell from the Greek. But it had the ability to move and it was the kind of thing that you would want to follow if you're into that type of thing, where you thought that the celestial portent meant something for the future on Earth. And they did believe that. And so clearly, they started to move and they started to follow this star. Now many have wondered, tried to figure out what this thing was. They link it to Jupiter or the moons of Jupiter or a comet. I don't think any of those explains actually what the star did. Its ability to move, to lead people, to... It wasn't moving rapidly like a shooting star. It was just... The journey would have taken a long time, weeks. And it had the ability to stop over a specific place in Bethlehem and identify where the baby Jesus was. If you look at verse 9, it says, "The star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was." All I can do is speculate, I can imagine it was an angel or something, they're sometimes likened to stars or just an inanimate light that had these attributes similar to, let's say the pillar of fire that led the Jews out of bondage in Egypt. A light that would go at night and lead them on and identify a specific house where the baby was. Now, when they come with this question, this question disturbs Herod. Look at verse 3, "When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed. He was turbulent within him and all Jerusalem with him." This is no surprise, from what you've already heard about Herod, how paranoid he was, how zealous to hold on to his throne... What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Willingness to give up. Whoever finds his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. If he said, let him have my throne, I wanna worship Him, everything would have been different, but that wasn't his nature. And specifically the phrase, "Where is the one born King of the Jews?" That was his title. He was jealous for it, he was shaken deeply and he shakes Jerusalem with him. I don't know what that means, but we can imagine. So he calls in the scholars in verses 4-6 to ask a biblical question. "When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ 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, by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will be shepherd of my people, Israel."" So this is amazing, these chief priests, scribes, coming together and they've got the right Bible answer ready to go. And they know exactly where the Messiah is to be born, they've got the right biblical answer. Don't you wonder why they didn't go and look for themselves? It's not a long trip from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, why not go and find out? But they had no interest in it. So they've got the right prophecy, the Jewish religion was all set up with the prophecies, but they didn't think they were being fulfilled. And this becomes a pattern that's lasted to our present day. Accurate thinking about the prophecies, but not thinking they've been fulfilled in Jesus. And so they didn't go anywhere. Now, at this time, we are putting the accounts together, the census was going on, populations were moving to their ancestral homes, and those of the household of David, the lineage of David, were going to Bethlehem, the city of David. And so this was all going on. Now, the words of the prophecy come from Micah chapter 5:1-2. And it speaks there of a ruler whose origins are from ancient times, from eternity past. And he's gonna come in and be a ruler who will shepherd the people of Israel. What a beautiful prophecy and a prediction. Well, Herod hears this, he's got the location, he's got this shocking turn of events of Magi saying that a baby has been born king of the Jews. So this paranoid, wicked tyrant is not gonna let this sit. He was an evil man, but he was hardly passive, he was not lazy or indolent. He was a man of action. He was a doer. And so he hatches a plan to use the Magi to lead him to the baby. Look at verses 7-8, "Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. [He's got the location, now he needs the time. Verse 8] He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me so that I too may go and worship him." Well, obviously, we know his intentions are dark, he had no intention of worshipping this child. He knew the general location, the vicinity, but he didn't know exactly where this baby was and he wanted to know the timetable. 'Cause we know exactly what he's going to do, he's gonna try to kill this child. He's gonna search for the child to try to kill him. Well, "After they had heard the king, [verse 9] and they went on the way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was." So we've got this moving, heavenly, glorious being, angel or star moving on ahead and they follow the short distance from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. And it stops and it illuminates, verse 11, it speaks of a house. So again, sorry for your nativity set. But the baby is in a house at this point. Which house? They didn't have addresses back then, they didn't have numbers on the houses, so it's helpful to have a heavenly column of light, don't you think? Illuminating the house, just like your Christmas card show. I think that's probably exactly what happened. "This is the house, go here." It's incredible. And so the house is glowing with a heavenly light and so they go there. And it's identified in verse 10, I love this, "When they saw the star, they were overjoyed." Oh, how I love meditating on that. The purpose of all of this is your joy in the glory of God. That's what's going on here. That you would be redeemed out of dark idolatrous wicked thoughts to find joy in the glory, the radiant glory of almighty God, salvation. The joy of salvation, that's what we've got here in verse 10. That's the whole reason for Jesus coming, as it says in Luke 2:10 and 11, the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David, a savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord." Isaiah 9 speaks beautifully of this incredible joy that should be filling our hearts. It says in Isaiah 9, "You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy. They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing up the plunder. For to us, a child is born, to us, a son is given. The government will be on His shoulders. Great joy and enlarging of a nation's prosperity, the beauty of a harvest and of the military conquest." Sheer unadulterated happiness, that's what it's all about. I know we've seen many times that saying, "Wise Men Still Seek Him." I was thinking about that yesterday, I was thinking about that statement, "Wise Men Still Seek Him", it's like, yes, but they only seek him because He first sought them. We love because He first loved us, we seek because he first seeks us. It says in John chapter 4, "These are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks." He seeks us, he sought the Magi where they were living. He brought these compelling forces into their lives to get them to get up and move and go and find Jesus. So the real wisdom to seek Jesus comes from God ultimately from him first, and so they sought him and they found him and they found him at a... Joy, overwhelming joy. But what I find so amazing is how little they know about Jesus and His mission at that point. I think they're just happy at coming to the end of their journey. They found the baby, they saw the King who has been born, the King of the Jews, but the joy is infinitely greater for them now. They bowed down and worshipped this baby based on a very small amount of information. We know more now, don't we? We know all of the reasons why Jesus came, at least those recorded in scripture, we know what he came to do. And so how much greater should our joy be? I was praying this morning as I was preparing to preach, I was like, "Oh God, just give me the ability to communicate the words of scripture in such a way that God's people, my brothers, and sisters would feel the joy they should feel." You should have a foretaste of joy that cuts through all of the materialism, all of the business and all of the cares and grieve that are attended to 12 months a year of sickness and death and sorrow and sin. Just let all of those things slip off you. Some day, if you're a Christian, someday they're all gonna slip off you. You're gonna leave them behind like Elijah left his cloak behind. You're gonna just be ascended up into heaven and you're gonna be free and you're gonna celebrate, and you're gonna be learning Jesus up in heaven. These Magi knew very little about this baby and what he had come to do, but they were still filled with joy. Verse 10, "When they saw the star, they were overjoyed." "And then they bowed down... " Verse 11, "On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary and they bowed down and worshipped him." This worship is the point of our salvation, God sent his Son into the world to free us from empty idols. To serve the living and true God. And to worship Christ is to worship the living God. Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." "God sent his Son into the world to free us from empty idols. To serve the living and true God. And to worship Christ is to worship the living God." So we can say, anyone who worships Christ through him worships the Father. And so they worshiped him. And then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. These gifts represent sacrificial worship. They're costly to the Magi and therefore acceptable to God. Practically, it could be that Joseph sold them and used them to pay for their time in Egypt. Joseph and Mary were not wealthy. Then the Magi were warned in another dream in verse 12 not to go back to Herod and they returned to their country by another route. Now we know the tragic epilogue, the rest of the chapter. God warns Joseph in a dream to get up and take the child and his mother, and he got up during the night and fled for their lives to Egypt. So it could be fulfilled the prophecy out of Egypt, I called my Son, but then Herod realizing he had been outwitted by the Magi was enraged and sent soldiers to Bethlehem and to its vicinity to kill all the boy babies that were two years old and under in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. A terrible tragedy, fulfilling the words of Jeremiah the prophet, "A voice is heard of lamentation weeping, great mourning. Rachel, weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they are no more." So isn't it amazing how we go from incredible joy in verse 10, exceeding joy to incredible lamentation by the end of the chapter? Jesus was a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. He had to weigh down into our misery, in our sorrow and sin and death and bring us up out into lasting joy. Alright, that's the account. Let's just look at some timeless lessons by way of application. "Jesus was a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. He had to weigh down into our misery, in our sorrow and sin and death and bring us up out into lasting joy." III. The Timeless Spiritual Significance First of all, the Magi represent first fruits from the Gentile nations. God has a saving intention to every tribe and language and people and nation. And instead of them coming to the promised land, the Old Covenant was a come-and-see type of religion. Where the Queen of Sheba came from the ends of the earth to see Solomon's wisdom and glory. The new covenant is a go-and-tell kind of religion, where from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth the message goes out. And so the Magi are first fruits of that in Matthew 8:11, it says, "I say to you, many will come from the east and the west and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." Psalm 22 predicted it. 27 through 29, it says, "Now all the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before Him. For dominion belongs to the Lord and He rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship. All who go down to the dust will kneel before Him", those who cannot keep themselves alive, they're gonna bow down before him and worship him, Psalm 22. Isaiah 66, almost at the very end of that incredible prophecy, verse 19, it says, "I will set a sign among them and I will send some of those who survive to the nations, to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians, famous as archers, to Tubal and Greece and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory and they will proclaim my glory among the nations." That's missions. And so God overruled the false religion of the Magi and compelled them physically to go. But now no one needs to go anywhere. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, "You don't need to make any pilgrimages anymore, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem." God is Spirit and you can worship him anywhere you want. We have to go and tell. That's all about missions. Jesus said in Luke 24, after his resurrection, this is what is written, that Christ would suffer and rise from the dead. And repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. So the Magi were the first fruits from the Gentiles. Secondly, the star represents supernatural testimony to God, to Christ. God crafted the heavens and made a normal communication of his glory and the stars and the planets and the sun, the moon. And the heavens are telling the Glory of God, it says in Psalm 19, day and night, they display knowledge. Day after day, there's no language where their speech is not heard. So that's natural theology, that's the communication of the existence of a great God. But then, there is one night for the Magi, supernatural, unearthly testimony. Supernatural in breaking to the natural order that led them to change their lives and their way of thinking, their way of worship. And that represents the supernatural communication that is in the scripture. And we are given the word of God to know who Jesus is and what he came to do, how he was born of a virgin, how he was an incarnate God, how he lived a sinless life and did all these signs and wonders and miracles and how he died on the cross and rose from the dead, and how if you believe in Him, if you put your trust in Him, all your sins will be forgiven. That's supernatural, and the two come together. Thirdly, dreams, unusual guidance. I began the sermon with a couple of illustrations of this. I was reading a book called, "Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus", Nabeel Qureshi. I would commend it to you. A tremendous story about how this very intelligent, capable college student, a Muslim, came to faith in Christ. God used three different dreams to kind of finish Nabeel's doubts and concerns coupled with a Christian friend who was continually sharing the gospel with him. So when we get to heaven, we're gonna hear these stories of the streaming of the nations, supernaturally uphill. Can't wait. Fourthly, the prophecies of scripture are God's clearest guidance. Micah 5 tells us where Jesus is to be born. But the most important prophecies in the Old Testament don't have to do with the physical details of Jesus's life, how he was Jewish, how he was born in Bethlehem, etcetera, it has to do with why he came, what he came to do. And of all of the prophecies that described what he came to do, Isaiah 53 is the most important. There it says in verses 2-6, "He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him. There's nothing impressive, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds, we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." That's why he came. There's no text in all the Bible that says it more clearly than that. Jesus came to die in our place that we might live forever. So the question for you is, do you know Him? Have you trusted in Him? That text, Isaiah 53, begins with these words, "Lord, who has believed our message? Or to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?" Has the arm of the Lord been revealed to you, to your heart? Do you see in Jesus, your Savior, from the wrath of God? Fifth, the priests represent Jewish indifference. As I mentioned, they couldn't be bothered to go from their study of the scripture to actually see the fulfillment there in Bethlehem. And Paul says that even to this day, a veil covers their hearts whenever scriptures are read, for the greater part of the Jews do not yet believe that Jesus is their Messiah. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive Him. And yet, someday we believe that God is gonna do a supernatural work in the Jewish people and remove that heart of stone and put in a heart of flesh. He's gonna take that veil of blindness away from their eyes and they're gonna see in Christ the glory of God. Sixthly, the king represents royal hostility to the gospel. We live in a world set against Christ where kings and prime ministers and lowly government officials use their positions of influence to try to stop the spread of the Gospel, it's happening in nations all around the world: Communist nations, Muslim nations, atheistic, secular nations, Hindu nations, rulers use their positions to try to hinder and stop the spread of the Gospel. It is a futile battle. Psalm 2 says, "Why do the nations conspire and rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One." They say, "Let us break their chains and throw off their fetters." The One enthroned in heaven, what does He do? He laughs. There is nothing these low-level kings can do to stop the spread of the Gospel, but we as Christians, we need to be mindful of that battle and prayerful. When Peter was arrested and put in jail by another King Herod, the church gathered and spent the whole night in prayer for him. So also we Christians who know nothing but religious freedom, at least right now, we do, we should be mindful of the fact that brothers and sisters in Christ are incarcerated in other countries and pray for their release. There are ministries that talk about the persecuted church, find out more, and pray for them. Seventh. The slaughter represents spiritual warfare. I thought I would never have mentioned Revelation 12 in a Christmas sermon again, but here I am, I'm mentioning the fact that Revelation 12 reveals behind the scenes that the slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem was motivated by Satan. He hates Jesus, he hates Jesus's people, he hates all humans, and he orchestrated the slaughter of the infants and that struggle is still going on. It is Satan that is moving and pushing these low-level kings and officials and all that to do what they do, he's the puppet master. And so we need to be mindful of the spiritual warfare involved in the Christian life and put on our spiritual armor. IV. Application: The Real Gift of Christmas Eighth. The gifts represent sacrifices of love. Psalm 72, 8-11 says, "He will rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. All the Desert tribes will bow down before Him and His enemies will lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and distant shores will bring tribute to him, the kings of Sheba and Seba will present him with gifts. All kings will bow down to him and all nations will serve him." So here are these Magi picturing that, Psalm 72, they're all bowing down before Jesus. And the gold to me represents tribute, the most precious metal there is brought in tribute to this king. It's a sacrifice. And the incense was frequently mingled with sacrifices and would go up in a fragrant offering to God, and this, I think represents the deity of Christ, they're mindful of the deity of Christ. And then the myrrh, of course, was there at Jesus's death when Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus used it to wrap him up in cloths. The evidence of his physical resurrection still smelled of myrrh. All of these things are very expensive. They're very costly, they represent the principle of sacrifice and worship. We can't give to Christ a sacrifice that costs us nothing. So you have to ask what does your Christianity cost to you? What costly patterns of service are you involved in? What patterns of outreach and service to alleviate suffering among other people in the world, especially eternal suffering of hell, are you involved in? And if you must answer honestly, not much, if any, at all, then I would urge you to pray. Then in the year 2018, God would give you a pattern of ministry, a regular ministry that will cost you something. It will cost you time, energy and money and will result in the alleviation of suffering, especially eternal suffering through the preaching of the Gospel. Pray for God to give you an identifiable ministry so that a year from now, if I were to say, "What ministry would you say cost you something in sacrificially giving on your part", you'll be able to tell an answer. So if you don't have one, ask God to give you one. One way you can sacrifice now, and we've said it all month, is 'The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering'. I'm a trustee of the International Mission Board, and the missionaries need funds to stay on the mission field, it's literally true that with insufficient funds missionaries are called back and have to enter a different pattern of service here in the States. That's what happened two years ago to balance the budget. So I'm saying going forward, the budget balanced, it's healthy, the IMB is on solid financial ground, but it depends every year on the gifts of Christians like you. So give. Ask the Lord what he would have you to give and give sacrificially. Ninth and finally. Worship is the ultimate purpose. They came to worship Him, they bowed down and worshipped Him. I would suggest that tomorrow, set aside some time to worship Christ. At the name of Jesus, every knee is gonna bow and every tongue is going to swear that Jesus Christ is Lord. Set aside time to worship Christ tomorrow. I just wanna finish with these words. The real gift of Christmas has nothing to do with what you bring to him, has nothing to do with your version of gold or incense or myrrh. The gifts the Magi brought, they were a nice touch and they symbolized our giving to Christ, but honestly, what's far more important is what he gave you or came to give you. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And out of Jesus's death flows every gift you'll ever need, full forgiveness of sins. By the shedding of his blood, all your sins are forgiven. Adoption as sons and daughters of the living God. A guaranteed place at the banqueting table with Christ in the new heaven, new earth. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, a lifetime of good works that he wants you to do. And then a resurrection body just like his that will shine like the sun in the kingdom of your Father. That's what he came to give, far more important than any gift you could ever give to him. Close with me in prayer. Lord, thank you for the time we've had to celebrate with great joy, the truth of Christ being born, the truth of Christ, God incarnated, walking amongst us, the truth of Christ dying in our place on the cross, the truth of his physical resurrection from the dead, his ascension to the right hand of God. Oh God, I pray that you would now fill each of my brothers and sisters in Christ with a sense of supernatural joy, that despite anything they may be going through right now in their lives, that they feel a foretaste through the Holy Spirit, a foretaste of their heavenly inheritance, which is joy in Christ. And Lord, I finally pray for those that walked in here as yet unconverted, speak to them, speak to their hearts, let them know, Lord Jesus, that you are a tender-hearted and merciful Savior and that you can and you will save them of sins if they will simply call on the name of the Lord. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

Andy Davis preaches a verse by verse expository sermon on Matthew 2:1-12. The main subject of the sermon is the Magi's visit to Jesus Christ.

Epiphany (Year A) Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72:1-7,10-14, Ephesians 3:1-12, Matthew 2:1-12

Sermon Series Gospel of Matthew "The Tale of Two Kings-Part 1" Matthew 2:1-12, 2:9-12 Orig Sermon Date: 10-17-10

sermon transcript Introduction: What is Epiphany? Traditional Date: January 6th Recently, I was reading an article in National Geographic on some of the new-fangled telescopes that they're making that are apparently going to be multiple times stronger than the Hubble Space Telescope, and yet here on Earth. They will be in Chile, in other places, and they are just huge. But I was really arrested by the opening paragraph as the author writes, he said this, “When you start stargazing with a telescope, two experiences typically ensue. First, you are astonished by the view—Saturn's golden rings, star clusters glittering like jewelry on black velvet, galaxies aglow with gentle ancient starlight. Second, you soon want a bigger telescope” Later in the article, he said this, "A telescope doesn't just show you what's out there, it impresses upon you how little you know," and that kind of awareness is sometimes called an epiphany, an awareness of just how little you know. That word was on my mind as I was writing this sermon, epiphany, is a date on the church calendar, not our church, generally, we don't follow the liturgy in the church calendar, but genuinely, January 6 is Epiphany. I was raised Roman Catholic - don't be afraid, dear Baptist friends - I'm not bringing us back to Rome or back to the church calendar, but I was thinking about this word epiphany, the Feast of Epiphany follows the 12-day feast of Christmas, it's generally associated with the visit of the Magi. That is a Biblical focal event. Definition Now, what does the word means? It's really a transliteration of a Greek word, which means to manifest or to show or to display. In the Greek religion, in the Greek religious world, there would sometimes be a sudden unveiling or manifestation of a divine being, sometimes the Pantheon, the Gods would come down in human form, and suddenly you'd realize you're in Zeus' presence. The word is actually used in multiple ways in other fields, for example, there are books that have Epiphanies, authors that write them in, sudden awakening or perception about the true nature of something, an illuminating discovery, that kind of thing, realization or disclosure. Short story writer, O Henry, delighted in these kinds of things, and every Christmas we read The Gift of the Magi, I don't know if you've ever read that one, but it's a pleasant little story, a short story, and epiphany is right in the center of that one. It's a story about two young newlyweds who are living in a 19th century tenement, some poor dwelling. They have almost no money, but they want to give precious gifts to each other, and so, the young woman sells her hair, she cuts off her hair to a wig maker, so that she can buy a chain for her husband's precious inheritance, his pocket watch, which he sells to buy some combs for her hair. And so, they have an epiphany, really of not just what each had done, but of the love they have for each other. He called it The Gift of the Magi, because he centers it on the idea of that kind of a sacrificial gift, and the gift ultimately of Christ to us. It happens in other fields too, not just literature, but science. Perhaps you've heard the story of Archimedes who was hired by a local Greek tyrant to pursue a jeweler, who he thinks had cheated him. This King thought that the jeweler had made a crown that was supposed to be pure gold out of partly silver, partly gold, and he wanted Archimedes to find out whether it was so without destroying the crown. Hard to do. But he was there at the local bath, and as he got into the bath and saw the water spill out, he had an idea concerning what we know as specific gravity, how some things are -you know, displace more weight, and he said, “Eureka,” which means, I found it. He had an epiphany, he figured out how to do it. And so, science throughout time has had those kind of moments, Isaac Newton with the apple falling, and he thinks about gravity. Albert Einstein's father gave him when he was five years old a compass, and he kept trying to get the needle to end up somewhere other than true north, and he couldn't do it. And he started thinking about this mystical force, this magnetic force, and it got him thinking ultimately toward Physics. Basic Concept So, these kind of moments of epiphany are around us all the time, but I want to focus on the true epiphany that there is in the world, and that is not anything that we discover about ourselves, some new insight about yourself, good or bad, I don't mean that. Anything we discover about the physical nature or scientific world around us, however valuable that might be. Or something you discover in history, or a surprise ending in literature, none of that. The true epiphany is Christ Himself. That Christ would manifest Himself to you. That's my desire this morning. If that happens, I will have succeeded today. That Christ would in some way reveal Himself to you, manifest Himself to you. Christ is an infinite being, the second person of the trinity, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, very God from very God begotten, not made. Being of one substance with the Father through whom all things were made. He is the ancient of days, living in eternal union with the Father, eternal relationship, good fellowship with the Father. Through Christ, God the Father created all things. Everything that was created was created through Christ, and there's not a person in this room here today that fully and perfectly and completely knows Christ. You all have more learning to do as do I, and it will take an eternity of epiphanies, of new moments of insight, of new flashes of inspiration. And I contend, I'm going to end up the sermon there, I'm just telling you where I'm going, that's what we're going to spend eternity doing. Having more and more manifestations of Jesus, more and more insights into the greatness of Christ. We're going to spend eternity that way. This is the central business of our lives that we might know God, the only true God, and that we might know Christ whom God the Father has sent. That is eternal life. Christ Manifested to the Magi Account Given in Matthew 2:1-12 So let's focus on this first epiphany, the one that they do in the church calendar is this one to the Magi in Matthew Chapter 2. You can look there in your Bibles, if you like, at the account, Matthew 2:1-12. Keith read it for us, I'm going to go over it again, just to have the words in your mind. Matthew Chapter 2, "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 born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship Him.' When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ 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 be the shepherd of 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 make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report back 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 in the east 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 worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route." Who Were the Magi? Now, who were these Magi? There are lots of popular considerations of them, they have grasped the imagination of people reading these accounts for 2000 years. You've sung the hymn “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” Eric told me he bumped it from the worship service after reading my sermon manuscript, so it's alright to sing “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” We don't know for sure if there were three, and we don't know for sure that they were kings. Maybe, maybe not. So go ahead and sing it, but just know, maybe, maybe not, as you sing, “We Three Kings of Orient Are.” Marvin Vincent in Word Studies in the New Testament said this, "Many absurd traditions and guesses respecting these visitors to our Lord's cradle have found their way into popular belief and into Christian art. They were said to be kings and three in number, they were said to be representatives of the three families of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and therefore one of them is pictured as an Ethiopian. Their names are given as Gaspar, and Balthasar, and Melchior and their three skulls said to have been discovered in the 12th century by Bishop Rainald of Cologne are exhibited in a priceless casket in the great cathedral of that city. So during the Middle Ages and Medieval Roman Catholic times, when Pilgrims were going all over Europe to seek out relics and to worship based on those relics, they would go to Cologne and there would be these three skulls with three golden crowns, one on each skull. How weird is that? And there's this huge gold and silver box with Crystal, and you're looking through these skulls and you kneel down and worship something. I'm not sure what you're worshipping at that reliquary, but there they were, and they would look at these skulls. It’s hard to prove or disprove concerning the skulls, but that's the way it was with relics in the Middle Ages, but who were the Magi? Well, in the Old Testament world, the Greek historian Herodotus said the Magi were a priestly caste from the Medes. The Medes live in the land we now know as Iran, modern Iran, Persia. They were very active throughout the fertile crescent of Mesopotamia, especially in Babylon during the Old Testament era. They were originally priests in the early form of that religion that came to be known as Zoroastrianism. They had an altar on which they claimed there was a perpetual flame that had come down from heaven. They kept it burning forever, and they offered on it blood sacrifices. Zoroastrianism had become the official religion of Persia by the 6th century BC. It's still practiced today in India by the Parsis who were refugees, who fled from the Muslims in the 7th century AD. So the Parsis still practice Zoroastrianism and are probably the descendants of the Magi. The Magi religion is monotheistic and bears some resemblance outwardly to Judaism, but it has deep roots in the occult. Magi used demonic practices such as sorcery and astrology and wizardry and divination of dreams and communication with the dead, and other occultic practices that are strictly forbidden in scripture. The words magic and magician come from the Magi. In the Babylonian kingdom, Magis were extremely influential in Nebuchadnezzar's court. They figure prominently in the Book of Daniel. So they were counselors and advisors. They looked at the stars or they interpreted dreams, and in this way, they could give information to Kings. And thus the word magistrate also comes from the Magi. Magis had a special skill in interpreting dreams, but Nebuchadnezzar apparently didn't trust it as you remember in Daniel Chapter 2, he wanted the Magi to tell him what his dream was and then to interpret. They needed to clear their supernatural credentials with him first, and no one could do that, except that God revealed it to Daniel in a dream. "'And you remember the substance of that dream, and the substance of it was of a statue with a head of gold and chest and arms of silver and belly and thighs of bronze and legs of iron and feet, partly iron and partly clay that represented the flow of human history and how a rock was cut out, but not by human hands, and it struck that statue and turned it into chaff and a wind blew all the chaff away, but the rock that was cut out, that supernatural rock became a huge mountain that filled the whole earth."' And Daniel interpreted and said, 'In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all of those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.'" Now, you know what happened, Daniel became basically the chief of the Magi, at that point. He was promoted and was in charge of all the Magi. Do you think it's possible he might have more fully instructed the Magi in that kingdom, in the prophecies that Isaiah and Jeremiah and others had given concerning that coming king? I don't think it's a stretch to think that Daniel would have trained them, the Magi concerning this. Well, if you fast forward ahead to the time of Christ, the Magi suddenly appear in the court of King Herod. Verse 1 and 2, "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem and Judea, during the time of King Herod, here come these Magi from the east. And where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw a star in the east and have come to worship Him." At this time, Magi would still have had tremendous influence in the Middle East. Of course, the power of the West was Rome, but they were centered around the Mediterranean Sea. All the other empires up to that point had been mostly eastward-type empires, heading toward India, going that direction. The Babylonian, the Medes, and the Persians, the Greeks, Alexander went right to the Indus River, going east, going east. Rome was West, and Rome basically face west and went up north toward France and Britain. And East and West kind of met in the Middle East, right around Palestine. There was at that time a mighty kingdom called the Parthian Empire. And the Romans and the Parthians had numbers of battles and a struggle for supremacy. The Magi were instrumental as pretty much king makers in the Parthian Empire, and so, they would identify who the coming kings were at the Parthian Empire. So the Magi show up in the court of King Herod. Now, Herod is a Roman puppet, he's a puppet king in a buffer state between the Roman Empire and the Parthian Empire. So you can imagine why Herod would have been so disturbed by the Magi showing up. More than anything, I think Herod feared that some usurper, some king would come and take his place, he was utterly paranoid about that, so he would have been disturbed anyway by anyone coming to see a King born. But the Magi would have arrived with some pomp and circumstance, they would have shown up perhaps with a small army. John MacArthur says it's likely that they were wearing conical-shaped hats, like we associate with wizards. Probably not riding camels, but most likely riding Arabian steeds. And so, they would have been quite a forceful show. Meanwhile, Herod's army is out there helping with the census, so he would have felt threatened in every way by these Magi. King Herod heard the news about what the Magi were asking. "He was disturbed," it says, "and all Jerusalem with him." The word troubled, it means troubled, they're greatly agitated, shaken to the roots. Isn't it amazing how much earthly leaders seek selfishly to hold on to their power and they're willing to do anything to do it? So Herod starts an investigation. He starts interestingly with a Biblical investigation. Calls in his Bible experts. All the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ 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 be the shepherd of my people, Israel,''" quoting Micah Chapter 5. So he does a little Biblical investigation. Secondly, he investigates with the Magi themselves. He calls them in secretly, and he finds out from the Magi the exact time that the star had appeared in the East. And then we see his false motives. "King Herod sent them to Bethlehem and said, 'Go and make a careful search for the child. And as soon as you find him, report back to me, so I too may go and worship him.'" So he's trying to find out now an actual literal location of where this baby is. Now, Herod was one of the most murderous kings in that region's history. He was a thoroughly evil man. He was successful in politics, but he was bitterly unhappy in his private life. He married 10 wives, seeking to find happiness one after the other, including the beautiful Hasmonean Princess Mariamne who he loved passionately, but then had murdered. Later in 7 BC, he had her two sons killed as well. His favorite son, Antipater, he found conspiring against him and had him killed as well four days before his own death. And yet for all of that, he fanatically kept the Mosaic dietary regulations. He wouldn't eat any pork. And so therefore, Roman emperor Augustus said about Herod, "I would rather be Herod's pig than Herod's son." And so, it's not a stretch to imagine why he would, at the end of Matthew 2, slaughter all of the infants in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under. Clearly not worried about collateral damage, but he wanted to be sure that this infant was killed. So that was Herod. Herod's offer of worship was clearly false. Oh may it not be that way with us. "'These people honor me with their lips,' said the Lord, 'but their hearts are far from me.'" What is the nature of our worship toward Christ? Herod was a hypocrite, a liar. He didn't have any intention of worshipping Christ, but the Magi were different. The Worship of the Magi The Lord had done, I believe, a supernatural work in the Magi's heart. The worship of the Magi, I believe, was sincere. Look at Verses 9-11, "After they heard the king, they went on their way and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. And 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 and of incense and of myrrh." So now we come to the epiphany, Christ disclosing himself, or God the Father, disclosing Christ to these Magi. Christ disclosed himself to the Magi in multiple ways. Let's start with Scripture. I believe that that's probably where they first heard about the King of the Jews, not from the star, but from the prophecies, maybe as early as the time of Daniel, but certainly through multiple interactions with the Jews who were scattered throughout that region, and so they are aware of the prophetic word, the Jews were conquered people. It did not seem like anything would come from the stump of Jesse, but God had planned that a shoot would come up from the stump of Jesse, he had said it through Isaiah the prophet. And like the thief on the cross who looked over to a dying Jesus and said, "Remember me Lord, when you come in your kingdom," so also these believers in the prophecies were able to look not at the present circumstances of Israel, but at the prophecies and the power of God behind them, that some day there would be a glorious king of the Jews who would rule over all the earth. And so the Magi were not in fact king makers in this case, they were just king recognizers; they recognized that Jesus was born King of the Jews. And so the epiphany came first through Scripture, through the prophecies. Secondly, it came through the star, the supernatural star, never has there ever been a star like this star, and never will be again, I would imagine. It was a remarkable star, it was a star that led them on a journey, it moved. It was a moving star, movable star. I don't know what it is, and it's always humorous to go over to the UNC planetarium and they suppose what it was, or aligning up. Look, I'm telling you what, planets don't line up and move over a specific house in Bethlehem, amen, they don't do that. And so this was a moving star, so it was high up in the sky enough that it was seen to be a star, but it was moving. It was traveling. They had never seen anything like this, and it caused them to get their entourage together and move out. I don't know what it was. Some believers think it might have been somewhat like the Shekinah Glory of God, you know how God moved in a pillar of fire and led the Jews through the promised land in that way, and maybe he just kind of shortened it down to a star up in the sky, or maybe it was an angel. Sometimes angels are called stars. An angel who just shone with a certain radiance it looked like a star and moved, and when they saw the star stop in Bethlehem, right over the house where Jesus was, they're overjoyed. And I don't think it's a stretch to think that there was some kind of light that then shone down on the specific house. Bethlehem was a town, a village, maybe even a little city, and a specific place was identified by the light of the star, and so I don't think that the Christmas card artists are too far off when they show a star up in the sky and a light coming down right onto the house where Jesus was. But now comes the true epiphany, and that is that this little baby should be worshipped, worshipped. "On coming to the house, they saw the child at last, with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him." The epiphany was not complete without seeing the face of the baby, and perhaps their motives would have been mixed maybe somewhat political, I don't know what all their motives were in moving out and making that journey, but their motives and falling on their face and worshipping the baby were simple. This baby was God. And I believe that God the Father had revealed his son to them. This was the epiphany. Jesus said this in John 6:44, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day." So the epiphany of Jesus was a direct revelation to their hearts of the true identity of this baby, not merely King of the Jews, but Son of God, that's why they worshipped. What is the Significance of their Visit? Now, what was the significance of their visit? I think their visit itself was a sort of acted out prophecy of the future success of the kingdom of Christ. These Magi were Gentiles, and they were coming to open up their hearts and their treasuries and pour out blessing on the Christ. It's a picture, I think, of the success of the Gospel among the Gentiles worldwide. Certainly the gold and the incense and the myrrh, pre-figure certain aspects of Christ's ministry, gold, Kings, a treasure and incense somewhat the priestly aspect used in the Levitical priestly ministry, and then myrrh was used to wrap up dead bodies and used to wrap up Jesus' body as well, a prediction of the death of Christ as well. But I think even more, there's a sense that these Gentiles, these significant Gentiles have traveled a distance to come and worship Jesus and give gifts of worship to Him. And so it says in Isaiah 60 and Verse 11, speaking of the New Jerusalem, where Jesus will sit on His throne and He will receive worship for all eternity. And it says in Isaiah 60 and Verse 11, speaking of the New Jerusalem, "Your gates will always stand open. They will never be shut day or night, so that men may bring you the wealth of the nations-- their kings led in triumphal procession." Picking up on the same idea of the Lord, moved, John in the Book of Revelation, to describe that Holy City, the new Jerusalem. In Revelation 21, "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. And the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and the honor of the nations will be brought into it. Glory in the honor of the nations will be brought into the New Jerusalem. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life". So this is the epiphany, the revelation of the identity of Christ to these wandering Magi, but the epiphanies, dear friends, were just beginning at that point. Christ Manifested to the Jews by His Life The Apostle John’s Statement Christ's physical life on earth was an epiphany, a revelation of God the Father. The Apostle John said this in John 1:14, "The word became flesh and made His dwelling among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth." Jesus' life in the body was an epiphany of God's nature. Anyone who sees him has seen the Father. And so John also writes in 1 John 1:2, "The life appeared; we have seen it, and we testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared" - same Greek word, epiphany – "has appeared to us." So Jesus' life in the body was an epiphany of the nature of God. John the Baptist’s Testimony So also at the moment of John the Baptist testimony concerning him, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, He's revealing His mission. But he did more than that. John the Baptist said this to huge numbers of people who were standing around, and a huge entourage, every day, people went out to be baptized by John, and John proclaimed this, "'I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was so that he might be revealed'" -that's a word, epiphany – "'revealed to Israel.' Then John gave this testimony, 'I saw the spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. I myself would not have known Him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me the man on whom you see the spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit. I have seen and I testify that He is the Son of God.'" So even John wouldn't have known Him except that God revealed it to him. The Miracles of Jesus The miracles of Jesus were each one of them epiphanies. Each one of them, a revelation of the nature of God and of the power of Christ, the identity of Christ. For example, the first one, after changing water into wine at the wedding at Cana in Galilee, John made the statement in John 2:11, "This the first of His miraculous signs, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee. He thus revealed" –epiphany – "he thus revealed His glory and His disciples put their trust in him." So Jesus' miracles were displays of Christ, displays of his compassion, displays of his knowledge and of His power, and displays of His love and His nature. At the end of that gospel of John, John wrote this, "Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book, but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And that by believing you may have life in His name." Has that happened to you? Has God revealed - God the Father - revealed the Son to you in such a way that you have life in His name? Have you trusted in Him? Have you known His power to transform a sinful heart? I plead with you, come to Christ. I plead with you to believe in Jesus, you are hearing the gospel this morning that God became man, that He suffered and died on a cross, his blood was shed for the sins of the world. That if you simply trust in Him, your sins can be forgiven. My desire is that as I speak these words, the Holy Spirit will be revealing Christ in some heart today who's never seen him before like he or she should. That today would be for you, the day of salvation. Trust in Him, that's why the miracles were done originally, and that's why they were written in the book, so that we might know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Oh, may God reveal it to you. Peter’s Confession Remember Peter's confession, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Do you remember what Jesus said? "Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in Heaven." If the Father will reveal Christ to you you'll be saved. You will see the light of the glory of Christ and you will be saved. Revealed by His Resurrection from the Dead It's an epiphany. And it happened when Christ was raised from the dead as well. It says in Romans 1:4, "who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead." A display of the glory of God and the resurrection of Christ. Now, that's why we're here today. When I was growing up, you always went to church on Christmas Day. And I was talking to my sister out about it. “You don't have a service on Christmas Day,” I said we do if it lands on Sunday. We celebrate the Lord's day because he rose from the dead. And there's an intimate connection between the birth of Christ and the resurrection of Christ from the dead. It's why he came to defeat death, took on a human body for that reason, and what an epiphany that was. Christ Manifested to Individuals by the Gospel As the Gospel is Preached, Christ is Revealed And so even now, dear friends, around the world, there are more epiphanies than we can count. Hundreds of thousands of them every day, just like the one that happened to Simon Peter, an epiphany of Jesus, when the gospel is preached, the gospel is the power of God for salvation. And while the gospel is being preached, the Holy Spirit then does something in the human heart, takes out that heart of stone and puts in that heart of flesh, opens eyes of the heart, that were blind to Jesus, and suddenly the light shines in, and it's an epiphany of Christ. As the gospel is proclaimed, very, very plainly, Christ is manifested and he appears. Christ is publicly portrayed in Galatians 3, as crucified. That Vision Saves Souls! Epiphanies All Over the Earth We proclaim Christ, we portray Christ, and then the Holy Spirit reveals Christ in the heart and people are saved. Christ is manifested every moment also, moment by moment in the hearts of believers too. Are you done with epiphanies? You done with manifestations of Christ? Do you have enough Jesus? Thank you very much. Oh, no Christian would ever say that. The apostle Paul put it this way, in Philippians 3:10, "I want to know Christ." If you want to ask me what I want, "I want to know Christ, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing, the sufferings," I want more of Jesus. This is an apostle who had written the book of Romans, who had done all these magnificent things, he had been caught up to paradise, and all it did is make him want more of Jesus. Christ Manifested to Believers by the Spirit The More You Obey Christ, the More of Himself He Will Disclose to You Do you have enough Jesus or Christian friend? Or would you like some more epiphany? Would you like some more revelation? Well, turn in your Bibles to John chapter 14, and verse 21. I want to give you the secret for a lifetime of epiphanies. Here's the secret right here in John's gospel. It's not much of a secret because I've told you probably 40 times before, but I'm going to show it to you again. John 14, and verse 21. You want to know more of Jesus? You're feeling distant from him? You're feeling cold toward Christ? Is your heart a little hardened? You don't feel His presence in your life? John 14:21 is the answer for you. "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me, and whoever loves me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love him and will…" What do you have? "…manifest," disclose, reveal "myself to him." Same Greek root, not epiphany, but related to it, He will show, he will display Himself to you continually, if you meet the criteria. Daily Life a Series of Epiphanies for the Obedient Christian Look at it again. Whoever has my commandments. What does it mean? You have to know what they are. What are the commandments of Christ? Where are they found? They're found in the written Word of God. Saturate your mind with the commands of Christ, find out what he wants you to do. Know the Word of God, re-dedicate yourself in 2010 to taking in the Word of God. Let Him speak to you what His commands are for you, and every day those commandments stand over you and beckon you upward in terms of epiphany, beckon you upward to more and more revelation of Christ, those commands do. Suppose he commands you by the Spirit and by the Word to give some money away to missions, and if you obey, He will manifest himself to you in some new way, he will reveal Himself, His heart for the nations, he will soften your heart a little bit more toward the work of God. If you don't, he won't. It's a conditional promise here. If he commands you to share your faith with a co-worker at the workplace, and if you overcome your fear and your self-focus and all of those things, oh, how sweet it would be to be free from the fear of man. Amen? To just not even care what people think about you, to not even care, but just if you overcome that fear and you just witness faithfully and you share the gospel and show your heart, your love for souls, he will disclose Himself to you. He may not disclose it to the person you're witnessing to, but he'll disclose himself to you, and if you don't, he won't - not in that way. You'll have missed a blessing. If he commands you to seek his face in prayer, to give a little more time in prayer, perhaps even fasting - when was the last time you fasted? Maybe God will call on you to fast and pray just for a simple purpose, I want to see Christ more clearly. I want to focus a little more on Christ, than I have recently. I feel a deadness, a dullness in my heart, and if you obey that command and go seek his face in prayer and put everything aside and seek for Him with all of your heart, you will find Him and He will display or manifest himself to you, He'd be a new epiphany of Christ to you, and if you don't, he won't. And so the reward standing over our daily moment-by-moment obedience is greater and greater revelation of Christ to you, you'll just get to know Jesus better, and if you choose not to, you won't. Jesus said in Matthew 11:29, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from me." The yoke represents submission to His kingly authority. Bow your neck, bow your knees to his kingly authority, do what He commands, and He will teach you. And what do you think the topic of his teaching will be? He says, learn from me. Or literally in the Greek, learn of me. How about just learn me. I'll teach you me, I'll teach you who I am, I'll teach you what my heart is, I'll teach you the way I obeyed my father, I'll teach you myself, if you just submit to me, and so I would urge that you re-dedicate yourself to the Word of God, to the hearing of the word of God, not just in this context. Hear sermons, hear good preaching, but preach to yourselves through the word of God, find out what He's commanding, if you have his commands and if you obey them, secondly, I would suggest that you go after some commands that you need to obey in your quiet time, seriously, every day, just go after the Word of God and say, "God, show me at least one thing I need to obey today, something I need to do, show me something in your word that I need to go and obey." And he will, he will. And in that way, it will be a lifetime of epiphanies of Christ. Christ Manifested to the World by His Return “Epiphany” Used to Refer to His Second Coming in Glory – The Ultimate Epiphany of Christ Two more, dear friends, Christ is going to be revealed, the epiphany will come to the whole world, when he comes back in power and glory. He will be manifested by His appearing, the Greek word is epiphany, he is coming back some day, dear friends. Titus 2:13, "waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing, epiphany, of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ". And you will not need any faith for that moment. For it says in Revelation 1:7, "Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced him. And all tribes of the Earth will wail on account of him." So shall it be, Amen. Revelation 1:7, he's coming back dear friends. And the Apostle Paul said at the end of his life, "I have fought the good fight, I've finished the race, I've kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day." Listen to this, "And not only to me, but all who have longed for his epiphany, longed for that day when Jesus comes back and shows Himself to the world." Do you long for that? Are you saying, "Maranatha, come Lord Jesus! I want to see you come back, I want to see you in the clouds, I want to see you up in glory. I long for that day." Well, then He'll reward you a crown of righteousness, says Paul. Christ Manifested in Eternity One Final Word: Christ will Never Run Out of Ways to Disclose Himself to Us And after that is that it? Are we done with epiphanies? No, it's just beginning. When we've been there 10,000 years, bright shining as a sun, we've got another infinitude of epiphanies yet to go. Have you ever wondered what you're going to do for eternity? Oh, eternity, eternity. What shall I do for eternity? I just want to do my favorite things for eternity. Oh really? Is there any favorite thing that would really have such an infinite hold over your heart that you would want to spend eternity doing it? I can't imagine anything except this one thing, to learn Jesus, I want to know Christ, that's the only topic that can hold my attention for eternity. Is there enough of Christ for eternity? What do you think? Someone say, yes. Alright, thank you Hubert. There is enough in Jesus for all eternity. And we're going to have eternity to study him. Isaiah 9:6, "Of the increase of His kingdom, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne forever and ever and his kingdom will never end. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this." So here's this burning zeal like the sun, it never burns out, and so it just pulses that we would know Jesus. The father wants us to know Jesus. And you say, "Why would the father want us to know Jesus?" Because it's in knowing Jesus that we know him. He is the perfect revelation, so it will be in Heaven, and so there you will be in the new heaven and new earth, learning Jesus every day. This morning, I was in my bedroom and Jenny and I were marveling at a little rainbow up on the wall, and Jenny, I found where it came from. It's from the mirror on the side. Okay. She was trying to block it, couldn't find where it was, and then duties carried her away, it's coming from the beveled cut of the mirror, and I was looking at the beauty of it, it was really beautiful. You're wondering why I had time to do it, and she didn't well, that's another topic, but I was standing there, putting my hand there and there it was. There it was. This beautiful rainbow on the side, I think the new heaven and new earth is going to be like that. It's going to be just this magnificent display of glory and we're like, "Where did it come from?" It came from Jesus. Look at that, the greatness of Jesus, an epiphany for all eternity. Close with me in prayer.

Andy Davis preaches a verse by verse expository sermon on Matthew 2:1-12. The main subject of the sermon is the blessed arrival of the Son of God in this world.

I. A Modern Misunderstanding We're going to continue our series on Matthew with a contemplation this morning of the visit of the Magi in Matthew chapter 2. How many of you have little nativity scenes at home? Do you have a little replica... I've got one too. Do you put the three kings right there nearby? I do that also - I admit it. There's always three of them. Have you ever noticed that? There's always three and they always have crowns on them. I think it's really fascinating. But I think it's good for us, however, romantic that picture is, to get back to the Bible and try to find out what God says about these Magi because they are fascinating people, and there's an awful lot of truth in these 12 verses. We're looking at Matthew 2:1-12. We're going to be considering who these Magi were, but I think we're going to also see something about their visit that is prophetic and that actually points ahead to the future even beyond our days. Now, not only in their gifts, but in the very fact of their visit, something is there that many of you perhaps have not contemplated. We are going to be learning some more about the Magi that I think will fill out your understanding. So let's listen to 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 in the east 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 Christ 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 be shepherd of 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 make a careful search 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 in the east 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, and of incense, and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. II. The Magi from the East
 So who were these Magi? The Magi from the east. Well, they weren't kings despite the famous Christmas carol, "We Three Kings of Orient Are." It's beautiful poetry and not a bad song, but not true to the Bible. They weren't kings. Actually, the word "magi" comes from the tribe of their origin, the Magoi. They lived in the area of the Medes and the Persians, who eventually conquered the Babylonian empire. They lived in what we call modern Iran, so they were Iranians. Now, from the word "magi", we get the word magic because these people claimed to know the future. They would study the stars. They were into astronomy. Astronomy is the science of the study of the position of the stars and planets. And they actually had more accurate charts and graphs and maps of the heavens than there were available anywhere else in the world at the time. They were careful students of the stars. But they didn't leave it at that, they moved on into astrology, which is different than astronomy. Astronomy is a science, astrology is not a science. Astrology is the idea that you can discern something about the future from the position of the alignment of the stars and planets. It's totally faulty, and a lot of idolatrous religious systems have gotten into this kind of thing. But the Magi definitely did it. They thought that they could predict the future based on the positions of the stars. And so, also, they were able, so they believe, to interpret dreams and through the knowledge of the dreams and knowledge of the stars, they could predict the future. And from that, we get a second English word from the word "magi", we get the word magistrate. Now, you may have thought that magic comes from "magi", but magistrate is a new one for me. But it makes sense because these people, all kings and emperors and dictators want to know the future, don't they? They want to know what's going to happen so that they can make provisions for the future. We know about Joseph, and he was able through interpretation of dreams to tell what was going to happen with Egypt, remember? He was a very valuable magistrate, a counselor to the king. We actually meet the Magi in the Bible, maybe you didn't realize this, but they appear in the Old Testament in the Book of Daniel. In Daniel, chapter 2, King Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, had a dream, and his dream troubled him and he wanted to know the proper interpretation of the dream. Daniel 2:1-2 reads this way, "In the second year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams and his mind was troubled and he could not sleep. So the king summoned the magicians, [that's the word for Magi] the enchanters, the sorcerers, the astrologers, to tell him what he had dreamed.” So he set before them an extraordinary test. No one had ever asked this of a Magi, a magistrate before. He wanted to be certain that they weren't fooling him or that they weren't tricking him with the interpretation. He wanted to know the certain interpretation of that dream because he felt it told something about the future, and it did. It was a special kind of dream that God had sent. So he said, “I’m going to give you a test, Magi. You've got to tell me what my dream was, and then you have the privilege of interpreting. Because if you can tell me what my dream was then I know you have power to interpret it. The Magi said, “No king or emperor, however mighty, has ever asked this of anyone. How in the world can we tell you what your dream is? You tell us the dream and we'll give you a sure and certain interpretation.” He said, “You are just trying to gain time. I am going to kill you all.” So he started to issue an order that all the wise men in Babylon be killed. Daniel was included among their number though he had very different methods. Daniel was an exile from Judah. He was a believer in God, a godly man who had a wonderful prayer life. He was called in and he offered to the king the information that if he gave him one day, he would fast and pray and he would seek the answer of the dream. So all the Magi had a stay of execution for one day. Daniel did fast and pray and God did reveal to him not only what the dream was but the sure and certain interpretation of the dream. I don't know if you remember what the dream was but it was a dream of a statue, a tall awesome statue with a gold head, and silver chest and arms, and bronze torso, iron legs and then feet partly mixed of clay, partly mixed of iron. Daniel gave the interpretation of the dream. He said, "This is the flow of history, King Nebuchadnezzar, from you forward. Each of the portions of the statue represents a portion of human history.” At the end, he gave this final interpretation. “The statue was destroyed by a stone cut not by human hands which hit at the foot of the statue, destroyed it into a million bits, and then the stone cut not by human hands grew to be larger and larger until it conquered the whole world. Everyone wanted to know what the interpretation was. And Daniel said in Daniel 2:44 "In the time of those kings," the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed nor will it be left to another people. That kingdom will crush all the other kingdoms and bring them to an end but it will itself endure forever." This was a prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ and His establishment of His Kingdom which will live and reign forever and ever. An incredible prophecy. The Bible doesn't say but I imagine that afterwards the Magi probably all gathered around him and said, "Thank you for saving our life. "We know later they were somewhat jealous of Daniel but at that point perhaps they were willing to listen. And I think it was at that time that Danial explained to them what it meant that there was going to be a King of the Jews descended from David and that he was going to sit on David's throne and reign over his kingdom. Isaiah told us this prophecy in Isaiah chapter 9. Daniel, I'm sure, knew about that prophecy and he explained it to these ancestors of the Magi. Now, the years past, generations came, generations went but the Magi continued to study the stars. They continued to look to the heavens, predict the future, sometimes accurately, sometimes not. III. The Miraculous Star and the Momentous Visit to Jerusalem Have you ever looked at horoscopes? You will meet someone new today, this kind of thing, predictions that sometimes they come true and sometimes they don't. But this prediction was of a kingdom specifically that would come after all of these others, after the Roman Empire and it would be set up. It was a sure and certain prediction and very accurate. Well, the generations came and went and the Magi continued, I think, to wonder who was this King of the Jews who was coming and who's coming had been foretold. Then suddenly one day, they looked up to the heavens as they did every night and they saw something new, something they had never seen before. It was a miraculous star. Now, it says in verse 2 of the text, "We saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him." Actually, a better translation would be, ‘We have seen His star in its rising, as it rose up.’ And I think what happened was they were looking at the stars and the planets and something new was rising up in the heavens. Now, this star was a very unusual star. As you continue to read in this account, all stars are marvelous and we're learning more and more about stars as we continue to advance in technology. There's so many of them, more than could ever be numbered but they're demonstrations of God's creative power and His Majesty but this star was different. It was unique. It had the ability to move and to stop. In verse 9, it says, "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." A very unusual star. Some scholars think it was a comet but does a comet behave this way? Furthermore, stars don't move, do they? They really just stay fixed, it's planets that move. Actually, the Greek word for "wander" is "planea." We get the word planet from wandering. So it's the planets that move around, stars pretty much stay fixed but this star however was able to lead and to guide them even to identify a specific house in Bethlehem. Now, that's a special star. So what was this star? I don't really know. I think, this is just a guess, but I think that, you remember when the shepherds were out in their fields at night, the angels came and what accompanied the angel? When the first angel came, he was accompanied by a brilliant light. You remember the light of the glory of the Lord shone all around the angel. A bright glowing, a shining. It was called, what you could call the Shekinah glory of God. And I think perhaps what this special star was, was a gathering up of the glory of God into a ball up in the heavens, and God had full control over it and its motion. Do you remember when God led Israel out of Egypt? How did He lead them at night? It was a pillar of fire, you remember? A tall pillar of fire. Well, if you can imagine the pillar of fire just compressed a bit into a ball and set up in the heavens, and it led the Magi. Well, I don't really know about the star but I know this, it had the capability of inspiring these star watchers, these star worshippers to put together a caravan of camels perhaps, to pack up some things for a journey and to set out from their native land. It was a special star, a miraculous star. The star led them into what I call a momentous visit to Jerusalem. Now, why do I call it a momentous visit? I didn't really think much about the visit to Jerusalem until I considered what it was that was leading the Magi. Now the star, I've already told you in verse 9, had the capability of leading them specifically to a home. Then why did they go to Jerusalem instead of Bethlehem? Jesus was in Bethlehem, wasn't he? Why were they led to Jerusalem? What was it that they had to do in Jerusalem? Furthermore, we know in verse 12, that God was speaking and communicating to the Magi by means of dreams. Look down in verse 12, it says, "And having been warned in a dream, not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route." So God actually communicated to them by means of a dream. It's fascinating. So God could easily have warned them not to go to Jerusalem. Now why should He have warned them? Or why would He have warned them not to go to King Herod? Well, what was the outcome of the visit to Herod? Think about it. If the Magi had just quietly slipped into the country, found where Jesus was, worship Him and then went back to their country, Herod would never have heard about it. There would have been quiet, silent. IV. The Monstrous King Herod But God did not want his Son entering the world silently in this way. He wanted people to know. So, God came to Herod, and he knew exactly what Herod would do. He knew exactly how Herod would react. The outcome was, that King Herod heard about this and was troubled, he was distressed, he stirred things up. And so we look at the monstrous King Herod, in verse 3, "When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him." The word means raised into turbulence, storming around inside. And all Jerusalem with him means he agitated all of the neighborhoods. Perhaps he was looking for Jesus. He didn't really know where he was. Stirred up, turbulent. Well, what was the outcome of this visit, this momentous visit to Jerusalem? We know that when the Magi didn't go back, there was the slaughter of all those babies around Bethlehem. A terrible thing that Herod did, but fulfilled prophecy, accurate prophecy. We know also that Jesus, Joseph and Mary were chased to Egypt as a result of this visit to Jerusalem, another fulfillment of prophecy. And we know that ultimately they ended up in Nazareth at the end of chapter 2, another fulfillment of prophecy. So the Magi actually were led first to Jerusalem to get King Herod all stirred up so that these prophecies might be fulfilled. It was a momentous visit to the monstrous King Herod. Now, why do I call him monstrous? Herod was actually called Herod the Great by his people. What is it that makes someone great in our world? In two weeks we're going to be talking about John the Baptist, who Jesus said was the greatest man who ever lived. But what do people think makes someone great? Well, King Herod had all the trappings of greatness, he had royal robes, he had a crown, an awesome throne. He had built up Jerusalem to such a point that it really was a model, a miniature model of Rome, which he had visited earlier. Now, Herod the Great was actually not Jewish, but was an Edomite. Now the Edomites were descended from Esau. Remember Jacob and Esau were twins? Born of Isaac. And God chose one of them, Jacob, to be the line through which Jesus would come. They were his chosen people, Jacob was the father of Israel. But Esau, now Esau was a different kind of man, wasn't he? Do you remember anything about Esau? He sold his birthright for a dinner. He was hungry one day, remember? He totally focused on the moment, his god was his stomach. And whatever he could get out of the moment that's what he was interested in. King Herod is no different. He had perhaps more to lose than Esau did, but he was an Edomite through and through. Focused only on the temporary situation. "What am I living for now?" "I have a house, I have a family, I have a job. I have a life that I like very much. I don't want anything to come in here and stir up my life." Are you like King Herod at all? You want to keep things safe, want to keep things secure, hold on to what you have? Well, that was the way King Herod was. He had a lot to hold onto. He had rebuilt the temple, the temple had taken 40 years to build. We know this from John chapter 2. It was King Herod that did all that building. He was an awesome builder. He was great at collecting money. As for the building, in Mark chapter 13, the disciples looked up and said to Jesus, "Look teacher, what massive stones, what magnificent buildings." Do you remember what Jesus said? “Not one stone here will be left on another, everyone will be thrown down." That is Jesus' acknowledgement of Herod's greatness, it's temporary. “All men are like grass and all their glory is like the flower of the field, the grass withers, the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8). King Herod's greatness was temporary, as temporary as the morning mist. How many Americans today know anything about Herod the Great? But you see Jesus' kingdom keeps getting larger and larger, stronger and stronger. Monstrous King Herod. Herod was a good friend of Caesar Augustus. That's how he had managed to finagle being king over that region in the world. He wasn't from there originally. He made a trip to Rome. He actually was a refugee from his own land, and guess where Herod went? He went to Egypt. The very same place that he chased Joseph and Mary. From Egypt Herod went to Rome, and at Rome he got to know Caesar Augustus, and he got to know the Roman senate, and in 37 BC the Roman senate designated him with a title. Do you know what it was? King of the Jews. He was given the title, King of the Jews even though he wasn't Jewish. And he went back and he began to reign as King of the Jews. Then suddenly these Magi show up and said, "Where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him." And so Herod was disturbed because he thought he was going to lose everything. What Herod didn't realize is just what Jesus has said, ‘Whoever tries to hold onto his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, he will keep it for eternity.’ What should Herod have done the moment the Magi came? He should have done what the King of Nineveh did in the Book of Jonah, take off his royal robes, take off his crown, get off his throne and go down with them to Bethlehem and worship Jesus, but he wouldn't do that. And so he held on and lost everything. V. The Bethlehem Prophecy from Micah Instead the first thing that Herod did in verse 4 is, "He called together the people's chief priests and teachers of the law and asked them where the Messiah was to be born.” This is the Micah prophecy. Micah was a prophet who lived seven centuries before Jesus, 700 years before Jesus was born. Now it is incredible that God, in His knowledge of all history, could pinpoint a tiny little village, 5 miles south of Jerusalem where the Messiah would be born - the accuracy of this prophecy. The chief priests, the teachers of the law, they knew where the Christ was to be born, in Bethlehem and Judea, for this is what the prophet has written. The identification was so accurate. Now, Bethlehem was the place where Rachel... Do you remember Rachel? Rachel was Jacob's wife of his heart, the one that he loved. She was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. She died in child birth when Benjamin was born. And afterwards, she was buried in Bethlehem. That's the first mention we ever get of Bethlehem. Now, the word Bethlehem means, "house of bread." It was a place where there was a granary, a store of barley grain. We know that David's ancestor, Boaz, lived in Bethlehem and he married Ruth. He had a son named Boaz, and Boaz had a son named Jesse, and Jesse had a son named David. And so David grew up in Bethlehem too. And he took care of flocks, while shepherds were watching their flocks at night, remember? David was a shepherd that way, seated with the flocks at night around Bethlehem. And so Bethlehem came to be called, "The Town of David," "The City of David." After the exile of Babylon, Bethlehem became a no-place, a nowhere- nobody cared about Bethlehem. It was a tiny little town of insignificant stature; except in one regard, Micah 5:2 said it would be the place where the Son of David, the descendant of David, the eternal King of kings and Lord of lords would make his entrance into the world. How was it that this birth came about in Bethlehem? We know from Luke chapter 2 that Caesar Augustus was motivated to issue a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. What was it that motivated Caesar? Could it be that he got out the prophecy of Micah, and he said, "Now I know that Jesus needs to be born in Bethlehem. So I think I'll issue a census so that everyone, even Joseph and Mary will go there and give birth to the baby." Are any of you paying attention? Is that what Caesar did? No, he didn't. Now Caesar had other motives. What were Caesar's motives? Two things: Money and a piece of the empire. He wanted his tax money, and so he wanted to know how many people there were, and he also wanted to know what the local populations were in each of his holdings so he would know how many troops to put there. That was what motivated him. But it doesn't matter what motivated him, God had a different reason. And so he moves in Caesar Augustus' heart, the most powerful man on the face of the Earth. I love Proverbs 21:1 which says: "The king's heart is like a water course in the hands of the Lord. He directs it, or channels it, whatever way he chooses." Isn't that powerful? The king's heart is like a water course in the hands of the Lord. He directs it whatever way he chooses. That goes for kings, it goes for dictators, it goes for emperors, even goes for presidents. The king's heart is like a water course in the hands of the Lord, directs it whatever way he pleases. VI. The Mock Worshiper And so that decree got issued. And Joseph and Mary got ready and went down to Bethlehem because he was of the house and line of David. It was the sovereignty of God to make sure that prophecy, that Micah prophecy, got fulfilled. In verses 7 and 8, we're introduced to the mock worshiper. What is a mock worshiper? Somebody who worships not in truth, somebody who worships not in spirit, somebody who makes pretense at worship. And that's what King Herod did when he 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 make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me so that I too may go and worship him.’ Do you think Herod wanted to worship that child? Absolutely not. Herod went crazy when the Magi didn't return back. He went insane with rage. What's fascinating to me though is that he didn't do it the first time when the Magi came and said there's one been born, King of the Jews. It would have been just like Herod to react at that moment and seek to find him and kill him. God protected Jesus just for that short amount of time so that the Magi could finish their visit, and Joseph and Mary could be warned to get out of town before Herod came. So the king's heart is like a water course in the hands of the Lord. A kind of a muddleness came over Herod and he just said, ‘Well, why don't you go to Bethlehem and try to find him and when you do, come back and tell me, and I'll go and worship him.’ But he had no intention of worshiping. Herod was a consummate politician. He was tricky and devious, and at this point he's trying to play with the Magi and use them for his own purposes. The Magi are going to be his spies, and they're going to come back and tell him where Jesus is - the mock worshiper. Worship means, to ascribe value to something, to look at something and say, this is valuable, but it goes beyond that, there is an attraction, a strength to worship, a love, an affection to worship. Herod ascribed value to Jesus coming but he hated it, he was angry at it, he rejected it, he was threatened by it, you see? So you see that he is not a true worshipper - he is mock worshipper. VII. The Mission Consummated Verses 9 through 12, we see the mission consummated. The Magi got what they looked for. They'd been traveling so long, so many miles. I don't know how long it took, weeks, months. We have no idea. But they traveled over all that distance and it says “after they heard the king, they went on their way and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.” That miraculous star guiding them right to that home. And what does it say next? When they saw the star they were overjoyed. Do you see the difference between the Magi and Herod? Herod's anger and their joy? They were so thrilled to be able to come to the end of their journey and then they go into the house where Jesus, Mary and Joseph were. I thought that the Magi came when Jesus was around two years old. I now, having looked more carefully at the text, have no idea how old Jesus was. All I know is that Herod found out what time the star appeared, but it may have appeared months before Jesus was born so that they would get on the road and be there in time. So I really have no idea how old Jesus was when they came. All I know is he wasn't in the manger, but in a house at that time. The Magi come into that house and they find the object of their worship. They find Jesus Christ. Now I don't really know what they knew about Jesus at that moment. Did they really understand that he was God incarnate? That all of their idolatrous worship systems had to be put aside and that this was the King of kings who had come to earth to die on a cross for them? I don't think they could have known all that. But perhaps Mary and Joseph, and maybe there were some shepherds still coming to visit Jesus, told them more about some of the prophecies and the predictions about this child. I dare say they left going back to their home country knowing more about the King of the Jews than they knew before they came. But they worshiped him. They knelt down and they worshiped. And that was the end of their journey, and it was a long journey. It was a difficult journey but it was consummated with joy and with worship and with bending of their knees. And then it says that they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh, and here we get to the area of meaning. What is the meaning of the visit of the Magi? I think they are themselves prophetic visitors and the gifts that they bring themselves are prophecies. How are they, the Magi, prophetic visitors? I think it's because they're Gentiles, they're non-Jews. And they came from, in effect, the ends of the earth to come and worship Jesus. VIII. The Meaning Explained And that fulfills very clearly the prophecy that God gave to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, when he said, "Through your seed all nations on earth will be blessed." And Isaiah said the same thing in Isaiah 49:6, speaking of the Messiah, God says this, "It is too small a thing for you," you could put the word Jesus in there. "It is too small a thing for you [Jesus] to be my servant. To bring back or restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel that I have kept. Now I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." Isn't that powerful? In Isaiah 49:6 is the clear prophecy that the Messiah would come as a light for the Gentiles to the ends of the earth. And so the very visit of these Gentile Magi coming to worship Jesus is a prophecy that one day this gospel message will spread to the ends of the earth. Jesus himself said, "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached to the end of the earth and then the end will come... To all nations as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt 24:14) In the last 15 years we've seen an incredible acceleration of the fulfillment of that prophecy. As people from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation are hearing the gospel and believing and worshiping Jesus Christ. Do you know that when the sun rose in Japan this morning, they were the first, I would say, major nation to see the sun, they are the land of the rising sun, and there are Christians there. And they worship Jesus today. And the sun continued on and moved over China, and there are Christians in China. And there are Christians in Siberia. And there are Christians in India. And the sun continued to move. And what is it that unites all these people? It's the same thing the Magi did. Kneeling before Jesus and worshiping him. Giving glory and praise to his name. The Magi are prophetic visitors that someday this little baby would grow to be the Savior of the world, not just of Jews. But also their gifts are prophetic. The fact that they even brought gifts is prophetic. It says in Isaiah 2:2, "In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as chief among the mountains. It will be raised above the hills and all nations will stream to it." The streaming of the nations to Jesus. Well, it happens because the disciples go out to the ends of the earth and preached the gospel. This is the streaming of the nations. And they're going to bring their riches. In Isaiah 60 it says this, talking of Jerusalem, "Arise and shine, for your light has come and your glory is shown to the nations." In Isaiah 60:5-6 says, “Then you will look and be radiant [speaking of Jerusalem] your heart will throb and swell with joy. The wealth on the seas will be brought to you. To you the riches of nations will come. Herds of camels will cover your land. Young camels from Midian and Ephah and all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord." It’s all been prophesied and predicted that Gentiles would come from the ends of the Earth and bring gold and incense and worship Jesus. But I think these gifts are actually symbolic of something deeper. Why did God send his Son to earth? What did he want? Put simply, he wants you. He wants your heart. He wants who you are. He wants your worship. He wants you to love him. He wants you to kneel before him and give him homage and honor and praise. That's what he wants. And what is he willing to pay for it? He's willing to pay the death of his own Son. The blood of his own Son, that's what it's worth to him. Prophetic gifts. Gold. Do you know that more wars have been fought over gold than any other precious substance on earth? Some call it the "material of kings." How about frankincense? What do you know about frankincense? Frankincense actually comes from a rare Arabian tree. An article in National Geographic in speaking about frankincense notes that you take a knife and you cut this tree, deeply, a deep cut, and you go away and you wait. Come back in three months and at the bottom of the cut there's this resin that's dried into a hard globule. You break it off and then you wait another few months and more comes out. That's where frankincense comes from. Do you know how valuable it is? The time it takes to gather this. Well, frankincense was also used for medicine. And the Magi probably used it for medicine, so they gave it to Jesus. Maybe a hint at Jesus' healing ministry in the fact that he would heal people. But do you know also that it was one of the four ingredients of special worship? In Exodus chapter 30 frankincense is included with three other ingredients to make a special incense that was burned in worship and praise to God every time sacrifices were offered in the Jewish system. It really is a symbol of praise, isn't it? It's a symbol of worship. Incense going up to God and praising his name. But what about myrrh? Of these three gifts, myrrh is the only one that makes reappearance in the gospel. In John chapter 19, ‘A man named Joseph of Arimathea brought some myrrh to Jesus and mixed it up with some strips of linen and wrapped it around Jesus' dead body.’ Seventy-five pounds worth, burial of a king. Jesus was only going to borrow it though. It's kind of sticky and would have stuck all those linens together into a shape. A few days later, the disciples visited and the myrrh was there, but the body wasn't. It's a prediction of the death of Jesus Christ. Also, of his resurrection, for he didn't come just to die, but to give his life as a ransom for us and be raised from the dead on the third day. Prophetic visitors, prophetic gifts. But the modern application for us is simple. You have, in this story, in these 12 verses, two paradigms of how to respond to Jesus' coming. You have King Herod and you have the Magi. King Herod, selfish, threatened by the coming, would never consider taking off those royal robes and worshipping Jesus. Instead, he's going to do everything he can to attack him and, if he can, to kill him. Hatred of Jesus. And, then you have the Magi. Sacrificial love for Jesus. Come from the ends of the earth to worship him. Give everything they have in honor of him. Which is it going to be for you? Which of those two more nearly characterizes the way you deal with the coming of Jesus Christ? Are you more like King Herod? Or are you more like Jesus? Or perhaps you're like the scribes and the Pharisees? You know the prophecies, you know all about it, but you don't do anything at all. There's no reaction, they don't get angry, they don't come and visit. They just do nothing IX. Application I think God calls us in his Son to look at our own treasures, to look inward and say, "What do I have to bring to the King? What do I have to offer to him?" Maybe you don't have gold and incense and myrrh, but maybe you have your life, your time, your money, your gifts, your energy, your zeal. God owns it and wants it, come and give it to him. Or perhaps you need to ask a deeper question. Maybe I don't need to give something to Jesus right now, maybe I need to receive something from him. Maybe I need to come and acknowledge that I have never come into a relationship with him, and that I need him to be my savior. Today, for you, could be the day of salvation. Picture in your mind the Magi kneeling before Jesus, and see if you've ever done that. Have you ever acknowledged Jesus' deity and his perfection and that he died on the cross for you? Come and worship, but even if you're a Christian, no one escapes. All of you should come and bring all of your valuable things to him. Scour your life with your mind and bring everything to Jesus in worship.