Responding to the Birth of a Savior: Matt. 2:1-12

Kevin Wright

Christmas 2022 • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

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If you have your Bible, turn with me to Mathew chapter 2. About a month back, I made a comment to apparently the wrong person, that I was struggling to get into the Christmas. Usually I am like Mr. Christmas, I love Christmas, I love the music, the nativity, the trees, the lights, the presents, family time, food, presents, gifts, wrapping paper, ribbons, bows, and did I mention presents… Obviously you may have picked up on my love language. I’m usually like a little kid, but this year, I struggled to get in the mood. And so, this one person shared this information with others and the next day I came to work and walked into my office, to the sound of Christmas music blaring from my computer, Christmas lights hanging everywhere, and many of my things wrapped up as presents. My chair was wrapped up like a present, and numerous books, even my coffee mug, all wrapped in festive paper. Now, I have to admit, it helped. The gift lover in me was feeling the love, and began to feel the Christmas spirit coming alive from within. But unwrapping my books and my chair really wasn’t all that exciting, because obviously I already knew what they were. I was thinking about that this week, as I was studying for this message this week. For so often, when we come to these familiar texts of Scripture like the Nativity, we know what’s there. We know the story. And for some of us, it’s just not that exciting anymore. Yet, these words that we are about to read together should excite our souls and bring the greatest joy to our hearts, far more than the presents we have opened this morning. Let’s pray that it will…. (PRAY)

Read Matthew 2:1-12…

Today, as we work through this text, I simply want you to notice four distinct responses to the news of Christ’s birth.

1) The greatly troubled and hostile response of a king (vs. 1-4; 7-8).

Verse 1 of our text makes it clear that Jesus was born into another man’s kingdom. We are simply told that Jesus was born in the days of Herod the great. King Herod is a fascinating and complex character to consider this morning. He was appointed king of the Jews by Rome, even though he wasn’t a Jew himself. Herod, you see, was an Idumean, a descendent of Esau, and so most of his subjects held him as a complete outsider to their faith. He was a very clever individual, a gifted warrior, a skilled orator, an outstanding architect, and strong diplomat. At times, he was a very compassionate leader. In seasons of economic hardship, he was known to give back some of the tax money that was collected from the people. In fact, during the great famine of 25 BC, Herod melted down various gold objects in his own palace to buy food for the poor. But at the same time, Herod was also extremely cruel and merciless. He was known for being incredibly jealous, suspicious, and he greatly feared that he would lose his power and throne. In fact, in his last years about the time when Jesus was born, Herod killed half of the Sanhedrin, 300 court officers, his wife, his mother-in-law, and three of his sons as he often feared they were scheming against him. Perhaps, the greatest evidence of his madness, was during his dying days, for he arranged for all the notable men of Jerusalem to be assembled and murdered as soon as his own death occured, so that the people of the land would weep instead of rejoicing on the day of his death. This man was Herod the great, king of the Jews, and he reigned when Jesus was born.

So you can imagine, the response of such a king, when he hears from the magi that they are there to worship the new born King of the Jews. The Bible in verse 3, simply tells us that Herod was troubled, meaning he was disturbed, or even terrified. Herod was king, and he was not about to be overthrown by a baby. Notice our text, seems to present a calm king at this point, who inquires of the chief priests and scribes, and sends the magi on their way, asking them in verse 8, to go find this child, and come report to him the baby’s location, so he could go and worship him as well. But make no mistake, the king had no interest in worshiping the king of kings. In fact, in verse 16, we see his true colors. The text tells us that “he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.” You see, the king responded to the birth of Jesus with great hostility because his personal reign as king was threatened.

Church family, the spirit of Herod lives in many people today. There are countless people who hate King Jesus and are hostile to everything associated with Him. They despise His followers, His teaching, His church and His kingdom. They live as their own king, reigning over their domain, and they do everything they can to keep Jesus out of their lives.

Since I know few of you watch the news, I doubt if you have noticed that hostility has been on the rise in our country. It’s rather scary, isn’t it? I mean let’s face it, there are many in our culture who consider training up children to love Jesus to be the equivalent of child abuse. They mock the truth of Scripture and seek to silent our voices, no matter what the cost. Now, listen there is a reason for this, their is a reason why people hate the name of Jesus. And that’s crazy, right, because other religions believe in far crazier and stranger things than we do. But let me tell you why, please understand that intelligent people only attack that which they know to be a serious threat to their way of thinking, and more importantly, to their way of living. And Jesus, the Messiah always poses that threat!

You see, Jesus is a real threat to anyone and everyone who thinks serious about him. If Jesus is King- it simply means that you are not. It demands your dethronement and places you into submission of His reign. It means you can’t live your life as you have in the past. You must let your kingdom die, your rule and your control go. You must relent of the things you love. Herod understood this. He understood that when it comes to Jesus, you either love Him or you hate Him. You either submit to Him as King, or you resist Him all together. How about you? I realize that by God’s grace you are not as bad as Herod. You probably have never killed anyone or gone on a massive killing spree, but who is king of your life? Does Jesus, pose a threat to your way of living? Do you reign as your own personal king? Or do you submit to Another? That’s the first response found in our test that we must consider, but its not the only one. Second, notice...

2) The anxious and concerned response of the people (v. 3).

Now out of all the responses we are going to consider today, this one will certainly be the shortest, because scripture gives us very little to study. But please don’t miss the end of verse 3. When Herod the king heard the news of Jesus’ birth, he was troubled, and notice what it says, “and all Jerusalem with him.”

When an evil tyrant leader is upset, there is sound reason for everyone under his rule to be concerned for their own wellbeing, and so the people of Jerusalem grew very anxious over this news. Even though these were a people who were familiar with Scripture and knew that a Savior was promised to their nation, they still quaked in fear. The scripture here seems to suggest that these men and women felt more threatened by the possibility of political instability, than they longed for their deliverer.

As I think about the people of Jerusalem and the fear they experienced, I couldn’t help but grow convicted over my own heart. Over the last several years, as our world is growing more and more chaotic, and more divided, I have to admit, that my thoughts are often too fearfully consumed with the drama that has unfolded and continues to unfold in Washington. Instead of looking to Christ our king, we can easily paralyze our faith by being over concerned with political instability. Listen, as Christians and as Americans we must be informed and concerned with what occurs in Washington, but we must not allow their decisions and actions to move us to fear. We must not allow politics to distract us from longing for revival and for Christ to return. 2 Timothy 1:7 reads, “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” Church family, if you are struggling with all that is going on in our world, can I just challenge you to make vow in this upcoming year. Let’s unplug ourselves form the news a little, and cast our eyes on Jesus, by reading through His Word, from beginning to end this coming year. I mean can you imagine the difference that might make, if we all decided to collectively spend more time delighting the Word of God than we do anxiously watching the news. Let us not be like those in Jerusalem who grew overly concerned and anxious with the politics of the day, to the point that it kept them from worshiping and longing for the Savior. Let us feed our brains the peaceful and timeless truths this coming year, instead of allowing our minds to feast on the anxious ridden news of the day. That’s the response of the people, but notice with a third response…

3) The apathetic and indifferent response of the religious elite (vs. 4-6)

As Herod received the news of Jesus birth, he immediately summons the gathering of the chief priests and scribes of the people, and he asks them where the Messiah was to be born. These two groups of experts and leadership couldn’t be more different from one another, like modern day democrats and republicans they were completely different. The chief priests at this time were basically religious oriented politicians. They were mostly Sadducees who were willing to accommodate Roman authority and Greek culture to retain their wealth and power. Its was all about the money and their position. Scribes on the other hand were mostly Pharisees, conservative teachers of the Scriptures, who longed to preserve the traditional Jewish culture. They were the “teachers of the Law,” and they knew the Word. These scribes spent all day meticulously copying the scriptures word by word, line by line. They were Bible experts, and so when Herod gathers these men together, they didn’t have to go dig through manuscripts to find the answer to this simple question. You can almost image all the scribes raising their hands quickly in unison to answer an easy question.

Notice how they respond to Herod by saying, “They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet: ‘AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.’ ”

They knew the answer, yet notice that none of them travel to Bethlehem to worship the Shepherd King. There is no rejoicing, no race to see the one whom would be called Immanuel. Nor did even care to investigate the report. The little town of Bethlehem was only six miles down the road, but it was six miles too far down the road for these individuals. They simply answered the king’s question and went about their day.

These men were indifferent, uninterested, and apathetic to the birth of the King. I wish I could tell you that much has changed over the years, but there are many religious people who still respond to the message of Christmas with apathy. Maybe that’s you today. You are here, physically, maybe even mentally, but your heart is far from Bethlehem. Christmas to you has little to do with Jesus, its more about family, gifts, and memories. Yet make no mistake, you know what Christmas is all about, like the scribes and chief priests you could ace a pop quiz on the nativity story, but you chose to be content with a knowledge of God that is void of worship. Oh, if that is you here today, I pray that God would stir your heart to worship Him who is worthy of your adoration, praise, and worship. That your heart would rejoice and burst forth in joyful music at the thought of God’s great love for you, who sent His only Son to die for you, and desires for you to live in His grace.

Well, there is one last response to consider, and as you have guessed by now, it is the only proper response, and that is…

4) The adoration and worshipful response of sinners from afar.

The wise men of the nativity were gentiles from a far and distant land. They were either from Arabia, Persia, or most likely in my opinion from Babylon. I say that because we know from the book of Daniel that the Babylonians had “magi” or as we may call them wise men. In fact, their ancestors were probably introduced to this long-awaited coming king of the Jews by Daniel himself. But these men, according to the book of Daniel were selfish, incompetent, and brutal pagans. They were portrayed as Daniel’s enemies and as rivals, as they too were counselors to the king. But just consider the word magi itself for a second, for it should remind you of the English word magic or magician. Now, in our modern world perhaps shaped more by Harry Potter than Scripture, you may have neutral thoughts towards magic. But I assure you that Scripture does not, it speaks boldly against all forms of magic, especially astrology, which we know the magi practiced as they attempted to predict the future from gazing at the stars.

The prophet Isaiah actually mocks such men… He wrote, Isaiah 47:13-14… “You are wearied with your many counsels; Let now the astrologers, Those who prophesy by the stars, Those who predict by the new moons, Stand up and save you from what will come upon you. Behold, they have become like stubble, fire burns them; They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame.” Yet, our great God chooses to speak to this group of idolatrous stargazers through His star. Stars had great significance for these men. They noticed stars, stars got their attention, so God used a star, a bright light in the sky, much like burning glory of God’s presence that led the Israelites through the wilderness and to the promised land. Notice that God spoke their language, and to this very day, God speaks in countless languages that get the attention of His people.

The magi were wealthy intelligent pagans serving a pagan king, yet God spoke to these sinful men and drew their hearts to worship the king. The magi should rightfully remind us that God draws sinners to Jesus. It’s so intriguing that these men would band together with their many servants and guards, they would pack up their treasure to follow a star when they knew so very little about what it meant. When the people who knew so much ignored the signs, ignored the reports that king had been born… this group of men traveled months, through dangerous terrain, running the risk of being robbed of their treasures in a foreign country, they simply responded in faith to what they knew and sought to worship the newborn king. JC Ryle says of this account, “We read of no greater faith than this in the whole volume of the Bible. It is a faith that deserves to be placed side by side with that of the repenting thief. The thief saw one dying the death of a criminal, and yet prayed to Him, and called Him Lord. The wise-men saw a new-born babe on the lap of a poor woman, and yet worshiped Him and confessed that he was the Christ. Blessed are they that can believe in this fashion!”

This is the only proper response to being in the presence of Immanuel. They fall to the ground before the Holy God, our Immanuel, and they worship Him who is worthy of all praise… and according to verse 11, they open up their treasures and presented their gifts to Him. The gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Now we have no idea why the wise men who knew so little of Scripture chose these particular gifts. They probably brought that which was common to their custom and governance. But these gifts are quiet fitting for our Messiah. Gold being the precious metal of kings, beautiful, rare, expensive. This was certainly a fitting gift for the birth of the king. Yet, they also brought frankincense, that glittering, fragrant gum, that require much hard work to extract from the bark of a rare tree. According to Leviticus 2:2, this precious and costly oil was traditionally burned in the temple as an offering to God. And yet we find It offered here to the Son of God clothed in flesh. Lastly, they presented Jesus with myrrh, which was another expensive spice and perfume. It’s estimated that a bottle of myrrh could have cost as much as $10,000 in today’s terms. But perhaps most significant about this particular gift is how it points us to the death and burial of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Mark 15:22-23, the text reads… “Then they brought Him to the place Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. They tried to give Him wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it.” This wine and myrrh mixture was offered to those being crucified to deaden the pain of the cross. Yet Jesus refused this powerful medicine so that he could be in complete control as he fully faced the wrath of God poured out on him for the sins of man.

After Jesus died on the cross, we are told that Joseph of Arimathea was granted permission to take Jesus body and burry him in a nearby tomb. He was joined by Nicodemus, we discover this in in John 19:39-40, which reads… “Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. So they took the body of Jesus and abound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.”

What an interesting gift the magi gave on that Christmas morn. A gift that connects the nativity to the crucifixion, and a borrowed manger to a borrowed tomb. Jesus, Immanuel, God’s only Son, our Savior, the Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God. He came according to Matthew 1:21 “to save His people from their sins.” God out of His indescribable love for us sent His Son on a mission to sacrificially die in our place, so that those who believe in Him may have peace with God and experience eternal life. He longs for you to know Him, to grow in His grace and favor, and today He simply calls on you who are far from Him in your sin to joyfully worship Him with the wise men. He longs for you to be willing to leave behind your comfort zone within your sinful life, to be willing to risk much for His glory, and to make Him the greatest treasure in your life. He simply calls on sinners who are far from Him to repent of their sin and enter into His joy. If you are here today, and have never placed your faith in Christ, and have never turned from your sin, Jesus offers you the most incredible gift today. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What a priceless gift salvation is, your sins demand death, but Jesus came to save sinners and died your death in your place. You simply must acknowledge your sinful state, turn from it, and believe the gospel by living for Him. And as we do that, God gives us the greatest gift of all, peace with Him and eternal life.

In the coming days, as you will be putting up your Christmas decorations, I hope you will pause before you pack up your nativity scene and consider just how scandalous that scene was. We have a teenage mother, with a baby conceived out of wedlock, lowly, dirty, and irreligious shepherds who were known for being so untrustworthy that their testimonies were not even permissible in a court of law, and then there were the magi- gentile sinners who obsessed over magic. All these sinful individuals huddled around the baby, the Messiah, who came into this world to save sinners.

What a crazy scene, but oh what a beautiful one as well. For the nativity perfectly depicts the good and joyful news of the gospel. For the gospel is for sinners like you and me, people who are broken by sin, even those we would consider the most unlikely candidates of God’s love. This is why Christmas is so special and why this season should move each of us to worship the King with overwhelming and overflowing joy in our hearts… for the King has come, and He will come again.

This morning we are going to close our service by singing Joy to World together. We are going to sing it as a song of praise for the first advent, His birth, His life, His cross, and the empty tomb, but also we will sing these words as our closing prayer of hope, for the Second advent when Christ will return for as the song says, He will make His blessings flow far as the curse of sin and death is found. Oh how we must hope and long for our King to come again! And when we are finished singing, I pray each of you will leave in the joy of the Lord and have a Christ-centered and Merry Christmas.