The Magi Visits Jesus – Dec. 24th 2006
The Scripture text this morning is Matthew 2:1-12.
This event is always associated with the Christmas story, even though it probably took place when Jesus was a little older. Most scholars believe that Jesus could have been already a year and a half to 2 years old when this event took place. But still, every nativity scene that we see, the 3 wise men are there in the stable. When we see a story about Christ’s birth on TV, the 3 wisemen are there. Every Christmas play that we see, the 3 wise men are there bringing their gifts to the Christ Child. Even the new movie that’s out right now, “The Nativity” the wisemen are present. So am I going to organize a campaign to banish the wise men from the Christmas story? No, but I do want you to be informed.
I want us to look at this event from the perspective of the different people represented in the text. The King has been born, and we see that there are three different responses to his birth. Herod the Great, the religious Jews, and the wisemen all respond to this birth in a different way. King Herod opposes the King. The religious leaders ignore the King, and the magi seek the King. And 2000 years later, these three responses are still present today. Some people oppose Jesus Christ, some people ignore Him, but yet, wise people still seek Him.
(pt 1) For those that oppose the King of Kings, we have the example of Herod. Verse 3 tells us that he was troubled when the wisemen inquired about the King of the Jews. As far as Herod was concerned, he was king of the Jews. Rome had given him that title. He had been ruling in Jerusalem for a long time and he didn’t want a Messiah coming along and ruining everything so he opposed the Savior with all of his might. Herod didn’t realize that this little baby was his only hope for eternal life, but yet with a jealous rage he tried to kill the Child.
But what do we know about Herod? Who was he? Why did he oppose the Savior? Well, because of the records of Roman historians, we actually know quite a bit about Herod. He was a Jew from Idumaen descent, which means that religiously he was a Jew but biologically he was not Judean but instead his ancestry was from the Edomites. In 587bc, Babylon conquered Judea and dispersed the Jews to different parts of the world. And when that happened, many of the Edomites moved into Southern Judea and settled there. This land in Southern Judea where the Edomites settled became known as Idumea, and even though Herod technically grew up in Judea and was a follower of Judiasm, the true Jews didn’t accept him as their king because he wasn’t from the line of David.
As an Idumaean, Herod’s ancestors were Abraham, Isaac, and Esau. Esau was the father of the Edomites, so with Herod on the throne this gives us a picture of the old struggle between Jacob and Esau. The Spiritual verses the carnal, the godly verses the worldly. But it also gives us a picture of the sins of the fathers being handed down to one generation after another. Remember, Esau, the father of the Edomites, was an angry man. When Jacob beat his brother out of his birthright and blessing, the Scripture teaches us that Esau consoled himself by saying, “The days of my fathers mourning are almost over…then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
Throughout biblical history we see that the Edomites were an angry bunch of people, who fought with Israel for hundreds of years…even though they were relatives. In the book of Amos, God says about the Edomites: “…I will not turn back (my wrath against Edom) because he pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked…” And this same anger ran through the veins of Herod. He was an angry man. He was a cruel man. He killed anyone who opposed him.
How did Herod come into power? Well, Herod’s father was appointed as procurator of Judea by Julius Caesar, and he in turn gave responsibilities to Herod within Galilee. When Herod’s father died in 40bc, Caesar Augustus was so impressed with Herod’s administrative abilities that he appointed Herod as "king of the Jews" and gave him rule and authority of Judea.
But of course the Jews themselves never looked at Herod as their king, he didn’t have the right pedigree. And even though Rome recognized Herod as the king of the Jews, the Jews themselves did not, and because of that, he was a paranoid man, always afraid that someone was going to try to steal his power. **If you are one who marks in your Bible, circle that word “born” in verse 2. Herod wasn’t BORN king of the Jews…he was appointed. So it was that one word that troubled him so greatly. Isn’t it ironic that Esau lost his birthright to his younger brother and Herod lost his appointment to the One who has the true Birthright? And so he grew more and more suspicious and paranoid about losing his power. In his later years, Herod became especially suspicious of his own family. He had his wife tried and executed for treason. He had her two brothers murdered. Then he became suspicious of two of his sons, so he had them put to death, and then weeks before he died, he had a third son executed.
Herod is probably best known for reconstructing the Jewish temple in 19bc, but even that did not endear him to his Jewish subjects. They could never accept him because of his Edomite descent and this frustrated him terribly. So when the magi came from the east asking "Where is he who is born King of the Jews?" we understand why this troubled him so. And because everyone was fearful of what he might do, all of Jerusalem was fearful as well. For 36 years, Herod tried so desperately to hang onto something that was never his in the first place and these men from the east confirmed to him that God did not accept him as king of the Jews either. So when we read of him killing babies in Bethlehem, we see that as awful as that is, it really is quite in line with his character.
Just by studying this passage we see that Herod was manipulative, paranoid, and ruthless. We also see that even though he was a Jew, he did not know the Scriptures, because he had to bring in the priests and the scribes to tell him where the Christ was to be born. Even though he told the Magi that he wanted to worship the Child, he had no intentions of doing so. He was a murderous liar that opposed the Child.
There are people today who oppose the Lord. They stand against the teachings of Christianity as well as its founder. They also oppose those who follow Christ. The devil and his demons are opposed to our Lord and so they are opposed to you too. There are satanists and occultists that oppose the Lord. Radical Islamic terrorists that oppose Christ and his followers. Naturalists and Atheists that oppose the Bible and its author. I seriously doubt that there is anyone here this morning that falls into this first group…I mean it’s Christmas Eve, why would you be here if you opposed the Child, but in case there is one here who opposes the Lord and is against His teachings, let me tell you that you will be crushed unless you repent. The Lord’s kingdom has no end, but those who oppose the King of kings have no future. In the event before us, Herod represents all those who oppose the Christ Child.
(pt 2) For those who ignore the King of the Jews we have the example of the religious Jews. The chief priests and the scribes are only mentioned in verses 4 and 5 in this passage, but isn’t it fascinating that they are a part of this event. They had the knowledge, these guys studied the Scriptures, they knew that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, but yet the report from the magi didn’t even seem to rouse their curiosity. You would think that these guys would at least go to Bethlehem to investigate. Jerusalem and Bethlehem were only about 5 miles apart, but yet they stayed home. I’m sure their attitude was, "What do these astrologers from the East know about OUR Messiah? We have the Scriptures, WE are God’s chosen people. Certainly God is not going to reveal our Messiah to pagan Gentiles who chart the stars!
Reading through the Scriptures, we see that a constant theme throughout the Bible is the rejection of the Lord by his people. Remember when Jesus stood overlooking Jerusalem and said, "O Jerusalem, How I longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks, but you would not have it." John 1:11 says that "Christ came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him." In His ministry, Jesus found greater faith in Astrologers, Roman Centurions, and Phoenician women than in the Jewish people. In fact, throughout the gospels, there are countless times when the people marveled at Jesus and the signs that He did, but there are only two times when the Lord ‘marveled’ at the people. The first time is in Matthew 8 when the Roman Centurion asked Jesus to heal his servant…and Jesus said He would come over to the house…and the Centurion said “Lord, just say the word and he will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, and I say to this one come and he comes and to this one go and he goes…so just say the word Lord, and my servant will be healed.” And what did Jesus do? He marveled and said, “I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel…” The other time Jesus marveled was in Mark 6 when the Scripture tells us that He didn’t do a lot of miracles in His hometown…and Jesus was amazed by their LACK OF FAITH. According to the Scriptures what amazed Jesus? Two things: The faith of a Gentile, and the lack of faith in the Jews. And here in our text this morning, we see that same lack of faith.
Isn’t it fascinating that it’s the religious people who ignore God. The gentiles have come from a great distance to seek the King but the priests would not travel 5 miles. They’ve already got God in a box and He doesn’t work through heathen magicians and so they ignore the report that the King of the Jews has been born in Bethlehem. Only 5 miles away, and they refuse to go investigate it. The priests knew the Scriptures and pointed others to the Savior but they would not go and worship Him themselves.
Friends, I see a caution here for us. We consider ourselves to be somewhat religious I suppose, people who study the word of God and embrace the doctrines of Christianity. However, let us not get so caught up in religiosity and ritualism that we ignore the Son of God. Jesus came to us as a little Child, and ironically, we must come to Him as a child. Remember, in Matthew 18, the disciples wanted to know which one of them was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God. Was it the guy that prayed the most eloquent prayers? Was it the guy who did the most good-deeds? Was it the guy who gave the most? Who will be the greatest? And Jesus called a child to Himself and said, "Unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." So we see that we need to add humility to our knowledge.
These chief priests were filled with knowledge, but "knowledge without humility only puffs us up.” These folks were religious, they knew the Scriptures, yet they did not know God, and so, they missed Him. They didn’t recognize Him. They didn’t see it coming. Their curiosity wasn’t even touched. They didn’t even go to Bethlehem to check it out…they ignored the signs, and they missed it.
(pt 3) For those that seek the King of Kings, we have the example of the wisemen. Scripture tells us that they were from the East. Tradition tells us that it was perhaps the Orient. Others believe they came from India. They saw a star that led them to Judea, now it was gone and they needed some guidance. They ended up in Jerusalem because that’s a logical place for a king to be born and so they asked for directions. And let me just guys, if you’re one of those men who refuses to stop and ask for directions, you can see that there is biblical precedent for doing so. The wisemen asked for directions, so it’s OK. But, we see that Herod sent them to Bethlehem. And as they were on their way, they saw the star again and rejoiced. They found the Lord and presented him with gifts, and then they worshiped Him.
Since there are three gifts mentioned, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, we have just assumed that there are three men. But really, all we know for sure is that there are at least two, and possibly as many as 12. Traditionally, we call them wisemen. But that’s not the accurate translation of the word "magi." We get our word "magic" from this word, so those who practice magic are known as "magi." So to properly translate the word "magi" we would have to insert the word "magicians or astrologers" rather than wisemen. But we don’t like those words because they are associated with the occult. That’s why many translations just leave the original Greek word in here rather than attempt to translate it. Certainly it doesn’t strengthen our theology to know that God led astrologers from the east by a star in the sky, especially when we know that God doesn’t want us to be involved in that kind of activity. You can see why the King James translators either left the Greek word "magi" or inserted the word "wisemen" in its place.
I feel that it’s important to say that the presence of astrologers in the biblical record is not a divine endorsement of astrology, but rather we see that God is speaking to pagan men by means of natural revelation through the language that they would understand. They responded in faith, but yet this revelation was imperfect because they ended up in Jerusalem rather than Bethlehem. But the star reappeared to them and it led them to Jesus. Meanwhile the Jewish people had the Scriptures, a more perfect revelation, that clearly told them where the Messiah will be born and they didn’t even check out the story of the magi.
So can God speak through astrology? Yes, for we see that He did it once. Is astrology then a normal way for God to reveal things to us? NO! Absolutely Not! God has given us His word, a far more accurate means of revelation. The religious Jews ignored God’s revelation and so He made it known to the pagan world instead.
I think it’s also important to point out that the magi were seeking the Child, but following the star. In verse 2 we see that they ask where they can find the King of the Jews. Their purpose in coming was to worship the Lord. Verse 11 tells us that when they came into the house and saw the Child with Mary His mother; they fell down and worshiped Him. This was why they came. They came to worship.
After 4 weeks of studying the birth of our Lord, we are beginning to see some common threads through all of it. God did not chose wealthy people to raise His Son, but instead He chose Mary and Joseph, two poor Jews that no one would have suspected. They were just ordinary people. God caused Mary to become pregnant before her wedding which brought judgment from the Jews. Certainly they would have thought that if Joseph married her, then he was the one that got her pregnant. They were treated as outcasts…is it any wonder that He did not perform many miracles in His hometown?
Mary and Joseph were looked at as second class citizens. But then God sent an angel to the shepherds to announce the birth of the Savior. You would think that kings and rulers would receive this announcement but instead God announced it to the outcasts. They also were just ordinary people. And now, we see pagan astrologers coming from a great distance to worship the Child, while the Jews wouldn’t even go 5 short miles to investigate the claim of the magi. "He came to His own, but they would not receive Him." The banquet has been prepared but those who were invited refused to come, so instead, sitting around that banquet table are shepherds, astrologers, tax collectors, and sinners. Are you going to be seated at that banquet table? If we come as children then we will.
For the magi, the plan was to find the Child, worship Him and then report back to Herod. Remember, Herod told them that he wanted to worship the Child too, but Herod lies. He wanted to destroy the Child. In verse 12, we see that the magi was warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod so they went back to their own country by a different way.
Physically, they left for their own land by another route, but they also left a different way spiritually. But that’s the way it is when we come to Christ, isn’t it? When we come to Jesus and worship Him, we leave differently then when we came. When a sinner comes to Jesus, he leaves as a new creation. He leaves a different way. Before we can feast around that banquet table, we must be changed by Christ. Remember I said that seated around that table will be shepherds, astrologers, tax collectors, and sinners. But there will also be shepherds, astrologers, tax collectors and sinners that will not be seated around that table. What makes the difference is coming to Jesus and leaving a different way.
According to tradition, these men were called "wisemen" because they were men of science. They studied the stars…they were studiers of medicine. But spiritually speaking, they were wise because they were seeking the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. They came from a great distance to bring their gifts and to worship the King of the Jews, and they weren’t going home until they found Him. Yes, they were wise men.
You know, we really don’t know much about these wise men. The familiar Christmas Hymn says, "We Three Kings from Orient are...but in all truthfulness, we aren’t sure that there were exactly three, they probably were not kings, and it’s doubtful that they were from the Orient. Most scholars suspect they were from Persia which is modern day Iran. They were not present at the stable when Jesus was born but instead they showed up approximately a year or more after the birth of Christ. Our traditions about these men are based upon a lot of speculation. And so, these men really are a mystery to us.
So rather than focusing on what we don’t know about these men let’s emphasize what we do know about them. They were seeking the Lord. They came from a great distance to worship the King of Kings. In Proverbs 8:17 God says that those who diligently seek me will find me. In Jeremiah 29:13 God says, "You will search for me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart." This is one thing that we know for sure about the magi, they sought after the Lord with their whole heart, and they found Him, and they worshiped. By looking at this passage this morning, we see that there are those that oppose Christ, those that ignore Him, and those that seek after Him. Which one describes you?
