The King is Here

Fantastic in terms of the mystery and the magic that they present. And I think one of the main reasons I love Christmas movies is they fit my favorite genre of story. There's always a coming-of-age story in a good Christmas movie. There's always somebody who's real bitter and selfish and they have a life-transforming experience that then makes them give everything away. There's always a nice story of coming of age, of a change of character. And this is a good thing. Mr. Dickens and Dr. Seuss give a great way of proclaiming what one particular type of Christmas spirit is supposed to be. It's not a time to focus on yourself and what you get, but it's a time to give away to others and find joy in giving. What's a good moral message? But I'm not really sure it really captures the Christian Christmas spirit, because really, if we're thinking about Christmas from a Christian perspective, it's all about what we get. If we're thinking about Christmas as Christians, it's not about what we give at Christmas, it's about what we get at Christmas. Because Christmas is all about the Father sending us the good and perfect gift of a Savior. So the thing about Christmas, the thing about these great stories, while they do present a good morality, of course, we don't want to be selfish and bitter. Like the Scrooge or the Grinch. No, it doesn't do enough not to just be, not to repent of being a Scrooge or being a Grinch, no. Christmas is about receiving. It's about receiving the Savior. So this morning, we're going to do the same thing we do every Lord's Day. We're going to look at scripture and we're going to look at what God teaches us about the gospel of scripture reading this morning. Our text is Matthew two. Please read with me, and if you do not have a Bible, we have Bibles at the end of each pew, if you want to take that home with you, it is yours as a gift this morning. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose, and have come to worship him. When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled. and all Jerusalem with him, and assembling all the chief priests and the 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 worshipped 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. Now, when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Rise. take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt I called my son. Then Herod when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men became furious and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem, and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping in loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children, she refused to be comforted, because they are no more. But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Rise, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel. For those who sought the child's life are dead. And he rose and took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. And when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled. He shall be called a Nazarene. Now, if you look at this story, Matthew gives us some catchwords to catch our attention, to draw our attention to particular movements or transitions in the story. And it's a very easy catchword. It's look at this. You see there, or you heard the phrase, Behold. It's there four different times. V. 1, V. 9, V. 13, and V. 19. These are key transitions in the story. Behold, wise men come looking to worship the King. Behold, the star rose and they're able to go worship Him. Behold, you must take this child to Egypt. lest he be destroyed by Herod. Behold, the child shall be a Nazarene." We're going to look at these four sections. The first two I'm going to address together because they form more of a united story. The next two are more major transitions within the story. So, if we look at the story, there's a clear setting. Jesus was born. We're not quite sure how old Jesus was when the wise men began their journey. It's obvious that he's somewhere between infant and two years old, because this is a time frame Herod knew. Those are the children that Herod had killed, seeking to destroy the child. We know that Herod, the king, is in charge. We know that these wise men, well, they're from the east. Let's look at these different characters and how the story plays out. Behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is the baby king? so that we can worship them. Well, these wise men are probably from Babylon. Maybe they heard of the Messiah. Maybe they are keeping the promises that they heard about because Israel was in captivity in Babylon for so long. Maybe traditions have continued to be proclaimed in that pagan, Gentile nation. And maybe there are some that were holding on to these promises with hope. Or maybe they're just astrologers. Clearly, the magi in this instance, they are students of the stars. And they saw something very unique about this star. This star doesn't function like a normal illuminary that we see at night. No, this star just rises and moves. There's something special about this star. It's interesting that they knew that there was something about this star that was necessarily related to the king. Now, the only close connection I can see is Numbers 24-7, where a pagan prophet declared that the star, the king of Judah will rise out of, the king of Israel will rise out of the tribe of Judah. That's Numbers 24-7 where that prophecy takes place. So, these wise men, these astrologers, they come into Jerusalem and they start making some noise. Where is the king that was just born? We want to go worship him. Now, this sounds fairly innocent, but if we understand what's taking place at this time, this is dangerous. Because, you see, the king that's been put over Israel by Rome, King Herod, he's known as Herod the Great. He's one of the greatest governors the Roman Empire has ever known. He is a ruthless, bloodthirsty tyrant of a governor. He's a politically savvy governor. He's able to manipulate and move and change things to always come out on top. He leads Israel through famine. He leads Israel through many wars. During this time, there were many revolts. The Hasmoneans, the faithful Jewish elect. They would rebel against this king, and he would always take his iron fist and crush them. He was a great, great king, one of the greatest governors the Roman Empire knew. We can see his bloodthirstiness, and once he was called before Antony, because Cleopatra had put certain whispers in Antony's ear. He was called before Antony to be charged with certain crimes. And he was so afraid that his beautiful wives would be taken by Antony if he were killed that he ordered them all to be murdered if he didn't return. This is the kind of tyrant that's king over Israel. We can see his political brilliance and his Roman allegiance in the great buildings that he put up. He's one who builds the temple. He builds a palace called the Herodium. It's out in the middle of nowhere. And the point of this palace was to say to all the Israelites, look at the glory of Rome. And it was to say to the Romans, look at the glorious things I'm building for you. King Herod is really an amazing king if we look at him through secular eyes. He accomplished everything he wanted to. And here, these wise men, they come into the city. And they start saying, we have come to worship, not the tyrant. We've come to worship the King who was just born. Now, it's said that all Jerusalem was actually shaken by this. And that's because whenever Herod shook, the whole city trembled with fear. They're aware that Herod's tyranny, Herod's wrath, It may be coming soon. And so here we have Herod. It's an interesting context for these wise men to be coming in. A man of blood. And he goes and he asks the scribes, the chief priests, where this king is supposed to be. And you see the trickery. He sends out the wise men. I want you to go find this baby king. I want you to go find this newborn king so that I can worship him. Obviously, he's trying to pull a trick. He wants him to come back, report to where this king is so he can go and remove this threat to his kingdom. The last thing he wants is for the Hasmoneans, the Jews who want to revolt against him, to have any hope that there's a real king that they can trust, another king that threatens his power. Well, the wise men have a dream. God comes to them and says, go out another way. Do not return to Herod. Now, as you look at the story, it's interesting how you have, well, really different groups contrasted. And it's all revolving around Jesus. Jesus, this infant, this baby. Now, obviously, he's so much more than just an infant. He's God himself incarnate. But an infant, born in a stable, causes the entire city of Jerusalem to be upended. It causes this king to be threatened. It causes men from the east to travel and labor to come and worship him. And you see a great contrast between the men from the east and Herod and even the scribes. You see, Herod is threatened by the king. He wants to destroy him. And it's great shame here, if you think about it, the scribes have been told that the one Messiah that they've been studying about for years, their masters of Scripture, they've been studying about this Messiah for years, and now they're told that a star has arisen and this king may have been born. Doesn't say they go out to look for him. Doesn't say they go out to worship him. Doesn't say anyone in Jerusalem goes and worships him. No, they sit back, they stay back, maybe out of fear of Herod, maybe it's apathy. Who goes and worships the king of the Jews? Gentiles. Here, the king of the Jews, the hope is here. The king is born and the Gentiles are the ones who are going to worship him. Now, let's look at these different groups and let's ask ourselves, who do we relate to in this story? So I think we all can relate to every figure presented because every figure is relating to Jesus at some level. Every figure is looking at Jesus and thinking about how are they going to respond to this king? Well, Herod's really the easy one, isn't he? Herod represents our pride. Herod represents us. who like to think that we have our own little throne, our own little kingdom, our own little world that we're in charge of. You see, when Jesus Christ is born, when Jesus Christ is revealed to us, when Jesus Christ is lifted high and presented to us, what we're supposed to see is that he is the Lord and the Savior, that he is actually in control of things that we have no control over. He is the only one that can give us forgiveness of our sins. He is the one who's supposed to be the king that commands and instructs our lives. Maybe you're not a believer here this morning. As we talk about Jesus Christ, he's a threat to you. Just like he was to Herod. He's a threat to you because he's telling you that you're not as in control of your life as you think you are. There's something that you cannot solve in your own life, and that is your guilt before God. There's something in your life that you cannot solve. You see, we're all kingdom builders. We all are trying to build up our own little city for our own glory, for our own pleasure, and we love to be in control of it. Maybe someone here is in despair. Maybe someone here has walking in the midst of their city and they feel it falling all around them, falling down. They feel the ruins of their city. Well, be encouraged, because today you're hearing of the great king who can not only rebuild your city, but he's going to give you the kingdom of God. So when we try to control our own kingdom, well, ultimately, we end up in our own ruins. Maybe you're successful. Maybe you're not experiencing the consequences of your decisions. Maybe you're extremely successful. Maybe you have put together structure and order in your life to where you say, my city is functioning well. Look around at how ordered my life is. Look at how successful my business is. Look how successful my family is. Friends, all you're doing when you point to your successes is pointing to a wall that you've built. You're building a wall up that you think you can point to and say, look at what I've done, God, on that judgment day. You think you're pointing to a wall that says, look how good I've been. Look how wonderful I've been. Look at what I did with this life you gave me. And what God is going to say is that is worthless. That does not save you from your sin. That does not save you from the judgment of God. Friends, when all we're doing is looking at our successes, looking at what the order We presented in our own lives what we're doing is giving ourself a false sense of security. That all is well with our souls. We have to realize that no matter how successful things are in appearance, it's our hearts, our rebellion, our spiritual state before God that matters. Christians, we're the worst at building walls. We're the worst at looking around the world and putting up structures, building blocks, not to keep us away from God, but to keep other sinners away from us. We're the worst at building walls up to look at ourselves and say, look how wonderful my life is, because we have righteous blocks we build with. What we end up doing is building up beautiful walls of self-righteousness that keep us from appreciating from enjoying, from finding pleasure in the God who saves sinners. It keeps us from participating in His Kingdom and loving Him more because we realize this King, this King saves sinners like us. We all, at some level, relate to Herod. Because in some way, this King is a threat to us. He's a threat to our absolute control. He's a threat to our false sense of security. He's a threat to our self-righteousness. But he's a threat in a good way. Because he has come to destroy our false sense of security. He has come to cure our self-deception. He has come to look at our cities and show us how broken they are. And point us to the Kingdom of God. Point us to his work on the cross. Point us to his resurrection that gives us true hope. Now, maybe some of us this morning relate more to the scribes. Maybe this morning, as we think about the scribes in the story, we're concerned about what they, we relate more to how they responded to the king. Now, maybe they, didn't go worship because they had a fear of Herod, so we could all relate to a fear of man at some level. But I really think what must be there, even if it's fear of man is related, is apathy. These are men who have devoted their lives to study God's Word 40 hours a week as a full-time vocation. These are men who sought to know everything there was to know about God and His Word. They were men who were supposed to be set apart to know when the Christ was coming, to know what the signs were going to be like. But yet. When he actually comes. They don't go out to meet him. They don't go out to worship him. I feel like these are the men that I can most easily relate to. Because I love knowing all the answers. I love knowing where to find it in the text. I love knowing how to logically make the argument. I love growing up in my head knowledge. What I've come to learn the hard way is that when I grow in my head, oftentimes I'm hardening in my heart. Oftentimes, the more I'm growing the information that I put in my head, I'm really making the heart harder and harder. This is what the apathy of the scribes does. They study God's Word. They study the mysteries of God. And instead of it producing a greater love for God and a greater love for others, it makes them more self-righteous. It makes them threatened by God because of their self-righteousness. Friends, as we think about this holiday, as we think about what took place That brings this holiday to bring a special Christian celebration. Think about what you learn. Think about what you study and think about the fruits that it produces is what you do in your worship, is what you do in your own devotion, is what you do in your private devotion. Is it bringing about a greater love for God and for others? Or is it bringing about. A self-righteous, judgmental spirit. Third, as I was reviewing this sermon last night with my wife, as it's always wise for me to do, to say, should I say that? I said, who do you relate to most? She said, well, tell me who they are. And so I walked through Herod and the Magi, or Herod and the Scribes and the Magi. Well, she responded correctly. I want to be like the Magi. I want to have a desire that doesn't fear man. I want to have a desire that doesn't fear circumstances or consequences. I want to have that kind of desire to worship the king. Friends, how do you foster that kind of desire? Well, it's by being like the scribes at some level. It's by studying his work. But it's studying His Word with always the intent that how can I love God more through this study? It's studying the Word with other brothers and sisters so that they can watch your heart and keep you accountable. Because self-righteousness is always lingering to destroy us. Friends, we grow in our desire to worship the King by knowing the King more. By seeing our need for the King. For seeing the depth of our sin, the depth of our depravity, and seeing that He is the only hope that we have. Friends, as we think about who this King is, the great mystery has been revealed. The King is Jesus, the God-Man, God incarnate. It's a good thing that He threatens our kingdom. Embrace that threat to our kingdom. It's a good thing that he has revealed himself in Scripture. But read the Word, seeking to know Him personally. And friends, be like the Magi. Worship Him boldly and loudly. Our next section begins in verse 13. You see there it's marked with a behold. We see a major transition. The Magi have come. They have threatened the King of Israel. The King of Israel. Herod the great and now verse 13 after they depart now when they departed behold an angel the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said rise take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him and he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod This was fulfilled what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, out of Egypt I called my son. Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem, and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping in loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they are no more. Again, we see the blood on Herod's hands. We see that he is willing to go to any lengths to remove any threat to his kingdom. What's amazing here is what we see is about Jesus Christ. He was born in Bethlehem to fulfill what we studied for last week. He's born in the city of David. He's born to fulfill the promises made to David. But now God protects him. God made sure that his plan is not thwarted by any way, by even the strongest man, the most able man in all of Israel. He sends Joseph and his family to Egypt. He protects them. Now, what's interesting here is last week we studied how Jesus is the fulfillment of all the king promises. He is the one true king. He is the one who's come to save the nation Israel from their sins. But God's promise to Abraham said that you would have a nation who would be a blessing to all the world. The nation itself is in many ways a major part of God's purpose in his plan for all the world to be blessed. And if we look at this and actually ask, why does Jesus go to Egypt and why is there a prophecy he's fulfilling? Jesus just does not fulfill the promises made about the king. Remember how the king failed and the king failed and the king failed and now we have a successful king. Well, if we look at it, the nation of Israel failed. And the nation of Israel failed and the nation of Israel failed. The nation of Israel had its purpose as well. And every people, every generation of Israel failed and failed and failed. But here Jesus comes. And he is a true nation of Israel. Matthew is explicitly saying Jesus is now the son of the father, just as the nation of Israel was supposed to be the son of the father. The nation of Israel was supposed to be a light to the dark world. The nation of Israel was supposed to be a blessing amidst the curse. But oftentimes, if you look at Israel, they're full of darkness. They're not a blessing, they're a further curse wherever they go and to whomever they relate to. The nation of Israel failed. And here God is saying Jesus is going to follow the same footsteps as the nation of Israel to show that he is replacing the nation of Israel. He is the one whom all the promises rest. He is the one in whom every promise is a yes and amen. He goes down to Egypt, which is the most defining moment for all of Israel. And he comes out of Egypt. That promise that Matthew is quoting from Hosea, that's referring to the nation of Israel. He's explicitly saying Jesus is replacing these people because they did not do what they were called to do. So I already think about this morning. Well, we're the church. We're actually called Israel in the New Testament. We, the church, are the body of Christ and he is our head. If Christ is about being a blessing to all nations and being a light to all nations, we are supposed to follow his lead. We are supposed to adopt his mission as our personal mission. If Jesus Christ is the new Israel, if Jesus Christ is a new light to the world. If Jesus Christ is the only light to the world, we are supposed to be about his business. We're supposed to be doing the work of our king in our head. We are the ones who are supposed to be proclaiming him. You see, the nation of Israel was always supposed to be pointing ahead. The king will come. The king will come. And year after year, they felt frustration because it was always a failure. We have an easier task. We get to say the king has come. We get to point back and say, look at the beautiful promises God made and look at how He has fulfilled them. Look how God has given us such a wonderful salvation. in Jesus Christ. We get to proclaim the God who is with us, who is like us, and who is for us. Let us be faithful to that task and let us praise God in the midst of the fear of that task that even the King of Herod could not thwart, could not change the plan of God to bring about his salvation. Finally, friends, the last movement, the last section, verses 19 through 23. But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel. For those who sought the child's life are dead. And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was raiding over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warmed in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee and went and lived in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled. He shall be called a Nazarene." Now, let's begin with making some observations. We don't see an Old Testament text stating that he's going to be a Nazarene. We don't see that explicitly stated. And so there's two options as to what Matthew is doing here. One, this could be a play on words. The Nazarite vow that Samson took. It could be looking back and doing a play on words that he is going to be like those great judges, those great heroes of the faith. That's one option, and it's a real option. The other one is that there is a prophecy in the oral tradition of Israel that he would be a Nazarene. That simply was not recorded for us. Either way, we do know that this is inspired scripture and we do know that he has fulfilled this promise, whichever way we understand it fulfilled. But what does it mean that Jesus is a Nazarene? Why is that important beyond simply fulfilling a prophecy? Well, first, Jesus is contrasted with Herod here, isn't he? Herod's all about pomp and circumstance. Herod's all about his royal regalia and the trappings of glory that he can surround himself with to make himself feel important and wonderful and glorious and special. Jesus needs no such trappings. Jesus needs no such surroundings. No, he's beginning a new kind of kingdom, the kingdom of God. He's beginning a kingdom that begins with humility, with lowliness, with meekness, with brokenness of spirit. He represents the beginning of the kingdom that is different than the kingdom that the Jews wanted, which was a kingdom of power and prestige and glory. He begins a kingdom that's humble in its beginning. See, the kingdom of God is about the lowly and the meek. The kingdom of God is about the humble. You can't come to God in your pride. The kingdom of God is not about those who boast themselves up. The kingdom of God is about those who finally see that they need a savior in their weakness, in their low state. He comes to minister to the sick. He comes to minister to the broken. He comes to heal all of us. Because whether we realize it or not, we all are full of foul-smelling sin that is a cinch to God. Jesus Christ comes to heal us, to comfort us, to forgive us of that sin. What we can look at this morning is how amazing it is that God Himself who is deserving of all the trappings of glory this world could ever put together. So, a God who was in His kingdom, in eternity, surrounded by angels singing His praise. And we can see that this God came down to us and humbled Himself to the point of being born in a manger, in a stable. We can be amazed at this God who is so worthy of all glory and all praise, who is supposed to be surrounded in the eternity and the infinity of angels. And he's born in Nazareth? The nowhere city of all Israel? We can be amazed of what humility and humbling and descending Jesus took. But what we should really be amazed by is how far Jesus goes spiritually for us. You see, He gives us physical representations that He's coming down to meet us in our lowest state. But what we must realize is that He was judged as a sinner. He was put under the wrath of the Father. That's how far low we should be amazed that Jesus comes. He comes to meet us where we are in our lowest state in rebellion against God. We can think about the sweetness of the manger. We can think about the humility of Nazareth, but what we should be overwhelmed by is the love that he has for us. That he takes our sin. He humbles himself even to the point of the cross. Friends, this is the Son of God. This is the Son of the Father who is in perfect relationship, in perfect harmony, in perfect love with the Father throughout all eternity. But he takes upon wrath from the Father so that we do not have to. That's the lowest state Jesus took upon himself. The manger is sweet, but the cross is the lowest point. That's where we should think about his humility and that's where we see his glory and love. Let's pray. Father, Your message is so sweet. Your Word for us is so powerful. Your Gospel is so full of love. We praise You. We thank You. Lord, the mystery of the Incarnation is so great and how You brought it about. The mystery of these stories. The way Gentiles worship You as the King of the Jews, while the Jews did not. Lord, thank you for this wonderful story that gives us great encouragement that even in our greatest failures, even in our greatest sin, your love overcomes. There is no boundaries as to how low you reach down to us to heal us and to comfort us. We thank you for your great love, Father. We thank you, Lord, for your great obedience and your great love, Jesus. And we pray that your spirit would be in us to give us eyes to see the beauty of your gospel. In your holy name we pray. Amen.