The Magi: Its What You Do With What You Know
Matthew 2:1-12
Please open your bibles to Matthew 2:1-12
This morning, we are going to talk about three responses to the Gospel. You might remember from our study of the angel’s message a couple of weeks ago that the word Gospel comes from the Greek word euangellion which means good news. But this wasn’t originally just a religious term. In ancient times, when an army was fighting a battle away from the city, the watchmen would wait on the city wall for a messenger to return from the battle lines, either with good news—we won!—or bad news—the army is defeated. And a messenger bringing news of victory was called a euangellios—an evangelist.
And of course, the announcement of the birth of Jesus is THE good news. It’s the announcement that the war against sin is finally, completely over. Because Jesus came into the world, sinners who were dead in their trespasses now could be made right with God again. So how could anybody respond to that with anything less than fall-on-your-face worship?
Let’s read together Matthew 2:1-12. If you are physically able, please stand to honor the reading of God’s Word:
2 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, 2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose[b] 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.
Pray
If your bible is like mine, the chapter heading for this passage of Scripture is “The Visit of the Wise Men.” Actually there’s a lot more going on in this passage than just the wise men, but there’s a few things I want to point out that aren’t in the Scripture at all, but are things we’ve added to the story over the years. First, notice that they absolutely did not get there the night of Jesus birth. I love that when Diane Causey and her crew decorated the sanctuary they put Mary and Joseph down front and the wise men in the baptistry. Which, by the way, is almost due east! How do we know they weren’t there? Verse 11 says they went into the house and saw the child. So we know that Mary and Joseph were living in a house by this time, and the Greek word used for child here isn’t the same one Luke uses for a newborn baby. Given that Herod would give the order for all male babies two years old and under to be slaughtered (v. 16), Jesus would have been as old as two at the time.
Even though one of our favorite Christmas carols calls them “We Three Kings,” we don’t know for sure that there were three of them (we get that because of three gifts). We don’t know their names—even though traditionally they have been named Balthasar, Caspar, and Melchior. The Bible never says they were kings. It calls them “Magi” or wise men, which means they were astrologers or philosophers. and even though we sing “Wee Three Kings,” it never says they were short. (Wee Three Kings).
What we do know is that after a journey of as much as 900 miles, if they came from Babylon, they come to Jerusalem, find King Herod, and they ask exactly the wrong question:
Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? (v. 2). Why was this the wrong question? Because as far as Herod was concerned, He was the king of the Jews. That’s what it said on his business card, anyway. King Herod was born in. 73 BC in southern palestine. He wasn’t born a Jew—he was actually an Edomite, which means he was descended from Jacob’s brother Esau. And I want you to remember that detail, because it’s going to be important in a few minutes.
In 31 BC the Roman Emperor Octavian named Herod the King of Judea. So at least in title, Herod was the king of the Jews.
There is no doubt that under King Herod, Israel prospered. History calls him Herod the Great because of his massive building projects. He built entire cities, such as Caeserea Maritime on the edge of the Mediterranean. He built huge fortresses, such as Antonia in Jerusalem, and Masada.
And he quadrupled the size of the Temple in Jerusalem. Herod arguably did more for the Jewish people than any ruler since Solomon. The problem was, Herod had absolutely no heart for God. He was absolutely ruthless toward anyone he perceived as a threat to his power. When his sister convinced him that Mariamne, one of his eight wives, was scheming against him, he had her killed, along with her two sons, her brother, her mother, and her grandfather.
So this was not the guy for the Wise Men to ask “Where is the one born King of the Jews?”
Herod: was Threatened by the Gospel
Verse 3 says that “When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.” (v. 3) Well, yeah. “All Jerusalem” had seen Herod’s rage before. Even though he said in verse 8, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him,” the people who lived in Jerusalem didn’t need an angel in a dream to tell them that King Herod had no intention of worshiping Jesus.
The truth is, for Jesus to be king, that means Herod couldn’t be. The word “monarch” literally means “one ruler.” In America, which has never had a king, we don’t really have a grasp on what that means. But to name someone king is to acknowledge his authority over every area of your life. The king determined what crops you would grow, what job you would have, sometimes even who you would marry. In an absolute monarchy, there wasn’t any decision you could make without the blessing of the king.
Now, maybe you’re saying, “Christianity isn’t really like that, is it?” it’s still my life. They are still my decisions. I just need a little bit of Jesus to, you know, help me out when I get in trouble, or answer my prayers, or give me guidance on making good decisions.
If that’s your idea of following Jesus, then let me suggest to you, with all the love in my heart as a pastor, that you aren’t really interested in making Jesus Lord. You are more interested in making Jesus your genie. Jesus isn’t here to be our genie. He is here to be Lord of our lives.
Are you threatened by the gospel? Are there areas of your life you still want to be king over? I am afraid that there is a little more of Herod in me than I want to admit. There’s habits and pleasures and relationships and distractions that I don’t always want to give up. And like Herod, I’m tempted to say, but look at all I’ve done for you, Lord. Look at what I’ve built. Listen to what I’ve preached. Isn’t that enough? But the truth is, if Jesus isn’t Lord of all, He isn’t Lord at all.
There is a second response to the gospel in these verses. I’d never really paid much attention to this part of the story before preparing for this week, but let’s look at what Herod did next.
After encountering the Magi, Herod called the chief priests and the teachers of the law together and asked them where the Messiah was to be born. They shared the answer by quoting the prophet Micah, who pointed to Bethlehem about seven hundred years before Jesus was born there. But here’s what’s fascinating to me: we never hear another thing about them again.
If Herod was threatened by the Gospel, the chief priests were indifferent to the Gospel.
This is really interesting. The teachers of the law and the priests have just heard that the long-awaited Messiah might actually have come. so they look at the Scriptures. In response, the ones who have dedicated their lives to God and the Scriptures, the ones who make their living from teaching about God’s law and His prophecies about the Messiah do nothing. They don’t investigate; they don’t search Him out. They just say, “He’s probably over that way somewhere.”
Imagine that you’re the president of the Prattville branch of the Star Wars fan club. You’ve known for months that “The Rise of Skywalker” was coming out on December 19. People ask you, because they know you are the president of the fan club, when its coming. And you are able to tell them all the show times, the cast list, the name of the director, everything. But, on the Sunday after the premiere, people come to you and say, “So how was Star Wars?” And you say, “Oh, I haven’t seen it.” The truth is, you got back to work, got back to your business as usual, and forgot all about it.
Sometimes, I’m afraid that’s what I do with the gospel. This is the story of the birth of the king, the forgiveness of sin, the redemption of God’s people. And sometimes, I get so wrapped up in trying to keep church going that I forget the wonder of the Gospel.
The priests and teachers of the law are waiting and teaching about the Messiah. When news comes that He’s arrived, they give Herod the biblical answer: “Head on over to Bethlehem.” But they don’t do anything else about it. From what I can gather about the Pharisees, I think they were mostly excited about the fact that they were able to search, study, and give the correct answer. But it seems like they didn’t really care about the Messiah Himself—the One they knew so much about. They were more interested in what they knew about the Messiah than about the opportunity they had to come to know, receive, and worship the Messiah.
Just from this sermon today, you now probably know more about the Magi than 80 percent of the population, but don’t let your knowledge and familiarity with the events of Christmas steal away the wonder of it! It’s important to learn about God. It’s essential to study His Word and His commands. But don’t make the mistake the teachers and priests made where they put knowing about God above knowing God. Jesus didn’t say, “I know my sheep, and my sheep know about me.” He said, “I know my sheep and my sheep know me” (John 10:14). God reveals Himself through His Word, but the whole point is to draw close to Him in order to know Him more and to become more like Him in His love. As the Bible says, “Knowledge puffs up while love builds up” (1 Corinthians 8:1). God showed up on Christmas so we can know Him and have relationship with Him. Don’t let your familiarity with the story or your focus on new knowledge make you indifferent to the gospel itself.
Now let’s look at the third response to the Gospel—the Magi. Herod was threatened by the Gospel. The priests and teachers of the law were indifferent to the Gospel. But the Magi were Transformed by the Gospel
11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
What’s amazing to me is that the ones who were least likely to give Jesus the worship He deserves in this story were the only ones who did. They weren’t from Israel. They weren’t Jewish. These were intellectuals, probably from Persian Babylon. The reason many people believe they came from Babylon is because that would explain how they would have been familiar with Jewish prophecy. Because 400 years before that, there was another wise man living in Babylon- a Jewish prophet named Daniel .After Daniel interpreted a dream for King Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar appointed him the chief over all the wise men of Babylon.
Because of Daniel’s influence in the royal court of Babylonia and Persia, the Hebrew Scriptures were held in high regard. And the wise men might very well have been familiar with another ancient prophecy, made by another non-Israelite named Balaam. You might remember Balaam was the guy that was hired by the king of Moab to pronounce a curse on Israel. But every time he opened his mouth to curse them, he wound up blessing them instead. And in Numbers 24, we read:
a star shall come out of Jacob,
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;
it shall crush the forehead of Moab
and break down all the sons of Sheth.
18 Edom shall be dispossessed;
Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed.
So they knew to look for a star coming out of Israel. They knew that it would herald the birth of a new king (that’s the scepter part). And they also knew that this new king would cause the overthrow of all of Israel’s enemies. Including Edom. Remember where Herod was from? If you haven’t heard me say it before in this series, then hear it now—God’s Word is awesomely, incredibly precise.
They were also two years late to the party. But once they did get there, they had the only appropriate response. When they saw the child with his mother, they bowed down and worshiped him. Notice the text says they worshiped Him. With all respect to my Catholic friends, they didn’t pay much attention to Mary. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Maybe you’re thinking, what’s a toddler going to do with gold, frankincense, and myrrh? But see God’s gracious provision at work. In the very next section of Scripture (verses 13-14) Joseph is warned in a dream to take his family to Egypt to escape the wrath of Herod. No doubt these valuable gifts funded their escape.
If you want to guard the meaning and wonder of Christmas, I suggest that you start with worship. There is nothing that centers our hearts and minds on what really matters like worship. We don’t worship God because He’s in need of it. We worship God because we are in need of it. Giving Him the praise He’s due reminds us of who He really is. Our worship fuels and feeds our gratitude. Our worship brings us back to the grandeur, the grace, and the greatness of God. When we worship, we experience a deeper connection with God and fall deeper in love with Him.
The Magi worshipped through their gifts and offerings. The shepherds worshipped through proclaiming the good news. The angels worshipped through song. Mary worshipped by pondering all the amazing events in her heart. If we do anything this Christmas, let’s remember what God has done and give God His due. He is worthy of worship. Like the Magi, you can choose whatever form of worship best fits the occasion. The Magi had precious metal and spices—they gave God what they had. What do you have to give to Jesus this Christmas? The beauty of worship is that it can be done in so many ways: through song, through prayer, through gathering and fellowship, through celebration, even through service or your job.
So, what are you doing with what you know?
As we bring this message to a close, let’s realize that every character in the text had the right information about Jesus. Herod knew about the birth of the king of the Jews, but he didn’t want to give up control over his own life in order to let Jesus rule. The teachers of the law knew about God, but they didn’t seek to know Him personally. The Magi show us what to do with what they know—through worship!
As we go into the new year, some of us need to get to know God. most adults have never read God’s Word all the way through. Would you commit to getting to know God through His Word? AW Tozer said that Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian. Maybe you need to make that commitment this year.
Some of you have been around church for a long time. You know all the stories, You’ve heard lots of stories. But you haven’t allowed yourself to be transformed by the Gospel. Its all just head knowledge for you. Or, like Herod, you don’t like the idea of any other king over your life.
Let me remind you of what the Gospel is. It is the royal proclamation that the battle is over and that Jesus is the victor. Jesus is Lord whether you surrender to him or not. But the gospel isn’t just a proclamation. Its an invitation. An invitation to rebels to lay down their arms. An invitation to worship the newborn king.
