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Introduction
In our reading we have a contrast between the wise men on one hand and Herod and the religious leaders on the other.
Here we have a description of what a wise person should do at the birth of Christ and we have a description of what foolish people do at the birth of Christ.
As we look at this passage we have this contrast in a kind of sandwich.
We have a good exmaple at the start then we have the bad example of Herod and the religious leaders and then we have the wise men mentioned again at the end.
As we look at this well known passage that documents some of the events that took place around the birth of the Lord Jesus I want you to ask yourself which one of the groups do you resemble most in your life?
Which one of these responses to the Lord Jesus best describes your response?
I want us to walk through this passage together by looking at it in three parts.
The first part is v.1-2.
Here we have our first description of the wise men.
This section is called; The wise come to worship
I.
The Wise come to worship
In v.1 Matthew begins like a good historian and tells us the time and place where these things happened.
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,”
Here we learn these events took place in Bethlehem of Judea during the days of Herod the king.
Then we read that wise men came from the east to Jerusalem.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), .
The word that we translate wise men is the Gk.
word magoi, which we normally transliterate as Magi.
These magi were a preistly cast who were renowned for their wisdom in astrology and interpreting dreams.
The were known for their skills in the dark arts and were often in the kings courts and would be advisors to kings.
We have an example of this kind of people in the book of Daniel.
We are told that they came from the east, it isn’t clear exactly where they came from but it is believed by many that it was probably Babylon, which is modern day Iraq.
So Jesus was born in Bethlehem, during the days of Herod, these wise men came from the east to Jerusalem, then we read that they came for a purpose.
V.2 tells us the wise men came; “2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?
For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”
The wise men came all the way from the east to Jerusalem because some how they knew that something very inportant had taken place.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), .
They were looking for one that had been born king of the Jews.
They knew he had been born they said, because they saw his star in the east.
They had come for the specific purpose of worshipping him.
From this verse there are three questions that we must answer.
What did they mean by the king of the Jews?
What did they mean by they saw his star in the east?
Why would they come to worship him?
The title King of the Jews was clearly a Messianic title, any Jewish person who would have heard this title would have immediately thought of the Messiah, the Christ.
The one who would come form the line of David and would reign on David’s throne.
These Magi had trvelled from the east in order to find this one who was the Messiah, the one born King of the Jew’s.
They knew he had been born becuase they saw his star oin the east.
What did they mean by this?
Many here see a reference to the prophecy about the Messiah given by Baalam in
“I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult.”
I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult.
A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult.
A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult.
And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult.
The Magi were known for their scholarship and maybe they had studied the Old Testament and by the grace of God had to understand this prophecy.
And destroy all the sons of tumult.
How would they have had the OT scriptures?
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), .
It is believed by many that these Magi were from Babylon.
If you know your Old Testament history you will know that the inhabitants of Judah, who were part of the Southern Kingdom were taken into captivity in Babylon around 586 bc.
They would have taken the Scriptures with them, maybe this is how they Magi knew that this star in the east was a fulfillment of this prophecy.
Ofcourse we know that God had obviously opened their eyes and revealed this truth to them by his free grace, but I believe it is very probable that it was through that they saw the significance of this star in the east.
The irony of this story is that the people of Israel failed to recognise the coming of their Messiah but here some Magi from the east knew he had come and so they travelled to come and find him.
But they didn’t just travel to see what had taken place, they had come for a specific purpose and that was to worship.
Why would they come to worship?
The answer is obvious, by the grace of God they knew that this babyu was more than an earthly king.
Whether they knew the full truth about the person of Christ, that he was God incarnate, we cannot say but they knew that this was no ordinary king and so they came to worship.
Later on we will see exactly how they did this.
App-
But for now I want us to pause and ask ourselves does this example of the Magi match our behaviour
Could it be said about you that you would come to worship the Lord Jesus?
Do you see in Jesus more than some earthly leader and because of this you worship him?
This is what the wise men did.
They came to worship.
This is what wise men do to this day.
They worship Christ.
Are you wise?
Do you worship him?
He is worthy of all you worship and more besides.
Does this example match your conduct?
Or are you more like the ones found in the next part of our passage?
After we are told about the wise men, we are then introducted to Herod.
This is the second part of our passage, The heading for this section is The unbelieving are troubled.
II.
The unbelieving are troubled
Look with me at v.3 “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.”
Herod and all Jerusalem were troubled but probably for slightly different reasons.
Herod would have been troubled because in the mind of the Jewish people he was a usurper.
He was from an Idumean background, he was not a Jew and he was not of the line of David.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), .
Herod knew that in the eyes of the people he was not the rightful king and so the news that one had been born who was the rightful king would have cause Herod to greatly fear for the future of his reign.
He knew he was not the rightful king and the thought of the birth of one who was troubled him.
The people on the other hand were probably troubled at the fact that Herod was troubled.
Herod was known for being paranoid, he is infamous for killing his favourite wife and some of his family members because he believed they were planning a coup.
He was known for commiting atrocities in order to secure his throne and the people would have feared that Herod would have done something eratic and evil inorder to erradicate any competition.
As we know from the rest of this chapter Herod lived up to his reputation and had all the children in Bethlehem aged two and under put to death.
Herod was troubled and the people were troubled.
These wise men had travelled to Jerusalem to seek this one who had been born king of the Jews but he wasn’t in Jerusalme so Herod called the religious leaders together to find out where the Christ was to be born.
Look with me at v.4 “And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.”
Herod asked the chief preists and the Scribes where the Messiah was supposed to be born and they knew exactly where because God has told his people several hundred years before this had taken place.
V.5-6 says “So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), .
‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’
”
This prophecy that is quoted from reveals that the Christ was to be born in Bethlehem and is a pointer to the Jewish readers of this Gospel that their Messiah is this Jesus.
God has promised to send a Saviour and now the fulness of time had come and God sent forth his son.
App- The fact that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy as well as every other prophecy reveals his true character.
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