The Voices of Christmas
Part II – The Magi – the Voice of Expectancy
Sermon – Sunday, December 3rd 2006
The Magi are an interesting group. There is much we do not know about them, like how many of them came to worship Jesus.
The Magi were a priestly class of astronomers from ancient Babylon. There was a strong Jewish influence in that area because of the 70 year Babylonian captivity that began in 586 B.C.
The trip they took was somewhere in the area of one thousand miles and would have taken quite some time. They did not arrive in Judea until nearly two years after Jesus was born, by which time they were in a house.
It cannot be missed that the Magi are Gentiles who have come seeking the Messiah. They understood that the Son of God had come for all mankind.
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 2 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." 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 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. 5 "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: 6 "’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.’" 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 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." 9 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. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 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. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
What a striking drama – lots of room for the imagination to wander in the narrative.
The expectancy of the Magi is shown in that they were…
1. Seek the Lord –
Matthew 2:2
[The Magi] asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?
We do not know for how long but we do know that they were seeking the Lord.
They did not see the star rise and suddenly think “I’ll bet that will lead us to the King of the Jews!” They were expecting Him to come.
Numbers 24:17
"I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob…
There is little doubt that they were students of the Hebrew Scriptures. When the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity they did not all return – some stayed. They had put down roots.
Jeremiah 29:10-14
This is what the LORD says: "When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile."
Jeremiah was an exilic prophet – prophesying during the time of the exile. There is every possibility that these Gentile Magi heard of this promise.
And the most important one…
Genesis 12:3
I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
The Messiah had come for them just as He had for the Jews. The blessing had come!
The promise remains…
Matthew 7:7-8
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
They had good reason to have a sense of expectancy – to seek the Lord
2. Star of the Lord –
Matthew 2:2, 10
We saw his star in the east…10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.
When they saw the star they had tangible proof that what they were seeking was there.
Numbers 24:17
"I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near.
A star will come out of Jacob…
There sense of expectancy caused them to follow that star – even on an extreme journey.
About a-century-and-a-half before Christ, Hipparchus gave the number of stars as 1,022, and Ptolemy in the beginning of the second century of the Christian era, could find but 1,026. We may on a clear night, with the unaided eye see only 1,160, or if we could survey the whole celestial sphere, about 3,000.
—J. H. Bomberger
We know that stars actually number in the billions and many of them are actually galaxies with numberless stars of their own.
Psalm 8:3-4
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
Whether or not this was a rare lining up of certain celestial bodies or God had prepared this star matters little, it was no less a supernatural event. The Lord was leading them to a special place where they would find their Lord and Savior.
For some in scripture it was a pillar of fire, for some it was a magnificent star that rose – what is it for you?
How is the Lord leading you to that special place with Him? Are you paying attention?
Their sense of expectancy caused them to Seek the Lord and to follow the Star of the Lord and now to give their…
3. Service to the Lord –
Matt 2:2, 11
[We] have come to worship him…11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.
When they arrived they were ready to give to the newborn King their very best.
There was no questioning what they were going to do when they got there. They had a sense of expectancy already – I suggest from before they left the land they came from they knew full well – they were going to worship the King!
Psalm 95:6-7
Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.
Whatever caste they belonged to in their homeland mattered little in these moments.
Romans 12:1 NKJV
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (worship).
Their service (worship) to the Lord was a powerful expression of their faith in Himand who He was
MATTHEW 2:2 ESV
“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.”
They had come for one reason and one reason only. To worship the King of the Jews.
These men had truly given of their time, talent and treasure.
· Time – the long journey they had embarked upon to come to worship Jesus
· Talent – they used their talents as astrologers in following the star
· Treasure – they opened their treasures to Him
MATTHEW 2:11
THEN, OPENING THEIR TREASURES, THEY PRESENTED TO HIM GIFTS OF GOLD, FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH.
Dean Farrar was a privileged personal friend of Queen Victoria, though he seldom referred to the distinction. But on the first anniversary of the accession of Edward VII to the throne of England, during the service in Canterbury Cathedral, he told how the Queen, after hearing one of her chaplains preach at Windsor on the second coming of Christ, spoke to the Dean about it and said, “Oh, how I wish that the Lord would come during my lifetime.” “Why does your Majesty feel this very earnest desire?” asked the great preacher. With her queenly countenance lit up with deep emotion she replied, “Because I should so love to lay my crown at His feet.”
—Light and Life Quarterly
we too should have such a sense of expectancy about being with our Lord that we are ready to lay down our best at His feet in worship to Him every time we gather in His presence.
1. Seek the Lord
2. Star of the Lord
3. Service to the Lord
