The Wise Bow Now
Text: Matthew 2:1-23
If you would, please take your Bible’s and open them up to Matthew chapter two.
I mentioned to you last Sunday that we don’t know the exact year and month that Jesus was born, and that it wasn’t really that important in the larger scope of things. We know for a fact that HE WAS BORN… we’re just not exact on the dates. Just like most historical figures from antiquity.
Part of the reason for that is because our modern day calendar was created by a guy named Dionysius Exiguus, about 500 years or so after the birth, life, and death of Jesus. He was trying to determine a date for Resurrection Sunday… but his calculations were off a few years.
Here’s what we know… Jesus was around 2 years old when Herod ordered the murder of the male children at Bethlehem… Herod died sometime between 4 and 1 B.C. We also know that Herod’s son, Herod Antipas ruled Galilee from the time of his father’s death to 39 A.D. The Gospel writers never gave any dates… because they were more concerned with events, and the events they write about line up perfectly with the historical account… The Bible is true and reliable… it was Dionysius Exiguus who got the dates wrong.
Ok…
So, over the past three Sunday’s we’ve looked at the Christmas story, and I hope you’ve picked up on a common thread I’ve been pointing out. Matthew wrote a genealogy of Jesus, and it was a long list of men and women who believed in the promise of God… it was a long list of people who had faith. Joseph and Mary were people of faith. They believed the Word of God and trusted in His good plan. The shepherds, we men of faith. They believed the report of the angel, they went and saw Jesus lying in a manger, and went out evangelizing everyone afterwords, sharing the Good News. And I read to you all the announcement of the angel to the shepherds from Luke 2:
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace among those with whom He is pleased.”
And we tied that back to Hebrews 11:6, “Without faith, it is impossible to please Him…”
So this morning, we’re in Matthew 2:1-23, please follow along as I read (READ TEXT).
Now hold your place in Matthew, and turn with me to Luke 2:21-38 (READ).
So Jesus was born. He was laid in a manger, but He didn’t stay in a manger. 8 Days later He was taken to Jerusalem, to the temple and circumcised according to the command of God given in Genesis 17… and according to the Law, given in Leviticus 12. It was at that time, He was given the Name Jesus, the Name that the angel told Mary she should name Him. Mary herself had to be pronounced clean by the priests, in accordance with the Law, just like every other Jewish mother. And then she presented Jesus to the Lord… That’s important, because remember, Jesus was born under the Law, and fulfilled the Law.
Next, Luke introduces us to two people, Simeon and Anna. They were both devout believers, who had FAITH, and were looking for the promise of the coming Messiah.
And remember, this was 8 days after the birth of Jesus…
We still consider it part of the Christmas story, but the reality is – Time is moving on. Jesus is 8 days old now… He’s growing. And time has to move forward, because in 33 years He’s going to die for our sin. We’ll see that even more as we go back to our text in Matthew…
Matthew 2:1-10 (READ). Now jump down to verse 16 (READ).
Did you catch that? Herod ascertained what time the star appeared… then he orders the murder of every male child two years old and younger. Verse 8 tells us that Jesus was a “child”… He’s no longer a baby at this point in time… And Mary and Joseph are living in a home now.
So Jesus may be two years old by this time….
And the reason I’m pointing this out to you is because it’s easy for us to get confused about things we read in Scripture or, we sometimes read things into Scripture based on our own ideas, or our culture, or things we’ve been told. The wise men weren’t at the nativity, but some enterprising, marketing genius can add more to the price if the wise men figurines are included.
So, let’s look at these Wise Men.
They came from the East to worship Jesus… and there’s a few things we should notice here. First of all – they’re Gentiles – they’re from the east, probably Persia (Modern Day Iran), but maybe even India. They were “Magoi” – that’s the actual word we translate into “wise men”… in other words, they studied the stars, medicine, religion, and a type of eastern philosophy… We don’t even know if there were three of them. We know they brought three kinds of gifts, but there might have been 20 or 30, or maybe even more. But again, people assume there were three men because there were three types of gifts. History tells us that these Magoi traveled in larger groups… so even if there were only 3 Magoi, they would’ve had an entourage of slaves, and gaurds, and pack animals which need handlers… It was probably a large procession.
And verse 2 from our text tells us that they came to WORSHIP He who had been born King of the Jews. They’re coming pay homage to a King. And for most people, when they think of worship they think, “Oh, that’s when we sing in church…”. But these guys have brought treasures – gifts. Worshiping the Lord is not just limited to singing. Our entire Lord’s Day gathering should be one of worship. The songs we sing, the music we play, the tithes and offerings we give, the preaching, the teaching, the ordinances of the Church…
ALL OF THAT IS INCLUDED IN WORSHIP!
And so, they come to Israel, and they stop in Jerusalem… It’s political etiquette to stop in and visit the guy in charge of a region before you bring your entourage into his realm. . So they stop and speak to Herod, and they say, “Where’s the new born king? We saw His star in the east, and we’ve come to worship Him.” You would think he’d be in the palace right? But He’s not in Jerusalem… And Herod was a paranoid maniac… he’s afraid of losing power and authority, so he starts asking questions and he’s manipulative and just plain wicked. He tells these Magoi to go find Jesus and then come back and tell him, so that “he can go and worship too.”
EVIL PEOPLE LIE!
And I get it… sometimes people can lie inadvertently or unintentionally… they might say they’re going to do something, and time gets away from them and they can’t get to it… That’s not what Herod does. Herod knows good and well that he intends to murder this new born King… and he purposefully and maliciously lies to these men, in order to try and manipulate them.
The Bible actually tells us that doing that is as the sin of witchcraft. It’s bad. It’s evil.
But that’s what kind of person Herod was.
And not only that… Herod summons his own “wise men”. The chief priests and scribes and asked them, “Where the Christ was to be born?” And they told him, “In Bethlehem.”
And so, he sends the Magoi on their way… and I love verse 9… it says, “the star went before them until it came to rest over the place where the Child was.”
Now look at verse 11 (READ).
It’s amazing, isn’t it? These guys have traveled hundreds and hundreds of miles… I mean, if they came from Persia, that’s about 800 or 900 miles… On horseback, or camel, maybe a cart or wagon of some sort. And when they see Jesus, they fall down and worship Him!
We come in the comfort of our cars or pickups, we sit in a comfortable building… but do we worship? Or just go through the motions?
They worship Jesus by prostrating themselves before Him… and by giving gifts – Three types of gifts: GOLD is a gift that is given to a king, and it was presented to the King of Kings on that day. FRANKINCENSE was a gift for a priest, and Jesus is our Great High Priest, the mediator between God and man. And Myrrh was a gift for one who was about to die – it was used in the preparation of the dead for burial. These were “Wise Men”. And wise men still worship the Lord today. In-fact, Scripture says in Psalm 53, “It’s the fool who says in his heart there is no God.” These men saw God in the flesh, and worshiped Him accordingly.
These wise men are set in direct contrast to Herod and the scribes and chief priests.
Herod doesn’t go worship… instead he tries to murder Jesus. Jesus would’ve been a threat to his way of life… and isn’t that what abortion is? The world will murder babies because that baby will be an inconvenience on someone’s way of life. The world hates Jesus. Sure they might tolerate a nativity scene, they might even talk in religious lingo from time to time… but if Christ gets in their way… if He interferes with selfish and sinful ambition… or if His Gospel demands they repent – they hate that! They hate that His Word tells us that He is the only way to be made right with God! They hate the fact that HE IS LORD.
They don’t want Jesus to be Lord – they want to be Lord.
They’re ok if Jesus stays in a manger… but if He dies on a cross, is buried and resurrected, and then ascends to heaven, that means He really is God the Son and that all that He said and did are true, and we must bow before Him and obey Him, and live for Him, and serve Him. It means that we must turn from sin and selfishness and serve Him as Lord.
The chief priests and scribes… showed another kind of hatred. They were altogether indifferent. They knew exactly where Jesus was to be born. But look what they do…
They don’t travel the 8 or so miles with the Wise Men to worship the new born King… instead they remained in Jerusalem, and even helped Herod with his evil plot. They knew what the Scriptures said – but they didn’t care.
They had knowledge, but it wasn’t mixed with faith!
And these scribes and Pharisees would remain enemies of Jesus throughout His life here on earth. Until they too finally had Him crucified.
They rejected their Messiah… and this rejection wasn’t due to ignorance. They had the Scriptures, they rightly knew He was to be born in Bethlehem. They rejected Him because they didn’t want Him to be Lord over them.
The Christmas story shows us that only a few people came to worship Jesus – first it was shepherds, then a couple of devout believers 8 days later, and then Gentiles led to Him by a star. But for the rest of the world it wasn’t that way.
Those at the inn couldn’t be bothered to make room for Him… they had their own things to worry about – the cares of the world – too busy for Jesus… I’m too busy doing my own thing, making my own way, climbing the ladder of success or just don’t want to be bothered by religion or God, or anything like that.
To Herod, Jesus was perceived as a threat to his power and position, and authority… His way of life really. He was the “king” and wasn’t about to let anyone else rule his life, or tell him how to live. How dare Jesus make demands of Herod! That’s how he saw it all…
And to the religious leaders and religious scholars – it was almost like Jesus was just purely an academic thing… Oh sure we study the Scriptures, but we don’t actually apply them. We can quote them, but not live them. We’ve memorized what they say, but we don’t put them into practice. Hearers of the Word, but not Doers of the Word.
Instead, let us be like the Wise Men. Seek the Lord while He may be found. Worship Him with all you have – for He is worthy! Bow before Him because He is both Savior AND Lord, and those two things are inseparable. You don’t get one without the other.
Because the King is coming again. The day is coming when EVERY knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father!
The wise men were wise because they didn’t wait for that day. Instead; they set their hearts on Jesus, and came to Him in faith and with hearts full or worship.
Let’s Pray
