let's uh turn now be seated and turn to matthew chapter 2 today matthew chapter 2 and we're continuing our study now in the book of matthew and today we are reading 1 through 12 of matthew chapter 2 let's give our attention to the word of the lord matthew uh chapter 2 beginning at verse 1 this is God's holy word now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king behold wise men came from the east came to Jerusalem saying 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 when Herod the king heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet. 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. Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. 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. 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. And when they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the house they saw the child with mary's mother and they fell down and worshiped him then opening their treasures they offered him gifts gold and frankincense and myrrh and being warned in a dream not to return to herod they departed to their own country another way and there we will end the reading of god's word well i have made the case the last few weeks as we have started this series in the gospel of matthew that what matthew is doing right up at the beginning of the gospel is is setting straight the mission of of the messiah identifying who he is and what that means for his mission matthew is very interested in this matthew is very interested in this because i believe this is a book being the most jewish of gospels that is intended to go after the religion of the pharisees and matthew clears all that away right from the beginning and sets priorities this is emmanuel this is god with us and his purpose the shining purpose in matthew 1 was he shall come to save his people from their sins that drives what's happening here today nothing detracted christ from that mission nothing pulled him off the path of that mission and the birth narratives are showing us that and they're also capturing for us what matthew what jesus would be up against in his earthly ministry they're foreshadowing things for us it's helping Matthew is us to see that and how committed from the beginning Jesus is to the work and the mission the father gave him to do but that came with a lot of challenge that came with a lot of challenge and Matthew continues to show us this Matthew continues to show us this what we have front and center in Matthew chapter 2 is a clash is a clash not only with a king but is a clash with the expectations of the people for who they wanted the Messiah to be rather than what He had actually come to accomplish. Now that's very important for this day. That's very important for us. There are a lot of people who have an idea of what they want Jesus to be for them and they have terms for how they will worship Him But that doesn't mean that that is who he is or what his word has said about him. And I believe Matthew wants us to think through this dilemma. There's a line here that has always deeply troubled me. It is a perplexing, it's a surprising line in the middle of Matthew chapter 2. In fact, I think it really captures the whole course of his ministry. It's in verse 3. that all of Jerusalem was troubled over the news of His arrival. That is stunning. That is a shocking statement. What in the world the Messiah has come and Jerusalem itself is troubled? You mean, they could celebrate holy days, but not want what the holy days are all about? Which is, you know, quite possible for us, I think, today. That we could be doing the same thing, that sort of in the heart of Matthew's gospel concern, a lot of people said, Jesus, draw near to me with their lips. But their hearts are totally absent. Well, what would cause that? I think that's really one of the things I want to explore here briefly with you today. What would cause that? And I think that can be answered. Why would they be troubled? I think it could be answered in light of the different responses that Matthew captures in chapter 2 to explain what's happening and to challenge us with how to receive our Messiah. And there's really three responses that are captured here. And those responses, I think, are meant to help us and challenge us as to what true celebration and worship of the Savior looks like and what that means. So we're considering that briefly here today, the announcement of his arrival, the response of unbelief, and then the response of faith. Notice verse 1. 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 saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star when it rose and have come to worship him. We have these three wise men, these magi as we call them, Walking around Jerusalem, asking the question, where is he? We've seen the star. We're here to worship. That is quite a moment in the Gospels. I don't know if I could capture what that was like as they're walking around the streets of Jerusalem. You would think that the whole place would have broke out into praise. There's been great interest in these figures. I always find at Christmas time, it's amazing all the detail we get of things that I'm not sure really help us with. So much effort and time is given to try to explain identities and things and details in this. I think we miss sort of the heart of what the author's doing. But it is fascinating that they're from the East. You know where most likely they came from. Babylon. They knew about Daniel. They knew the prophecies of the Messiah. They remember Daniel. And the reason they are seeking him isn't this fascinating? Because this light is up in the heavens leading them to the Savior. To rest over where the child is. Now I'm not sure how much the people of Jerusalem really sat down and thought about this. But here are these Babylonians saying a great light has lifted up above us. And it has led us through the wilderness to rest over the sun. That's a remarkable thing. Israel knew that story. Think of Nehemiah 9. This was celebrated everywhere. And I grabbed that on Nehemiah just to show even after the exile. Think about this. You, in your great mercies, did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to lead them to where they should go. A great light has shown up in the sky and it's leading them through the wilderness. And it's leading them and it rests over the Savior of the world. Now think of how much this fulfills. How did I start this sermon today? Boys and girls, how did I start the sermon today? Well, I read Isaiah 60. Listen to Isaiah 60. Arise, shine, for your light has come. And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples, but the Lord will arise upon you and His glory will be seen upon you and nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. Here we are. Who could put that together? How many years previous had that been said? There was a pillar leading them in Israel and the land here, that entire land that they had headed to, remember, that they had foreshadowed their rest. That theme Matthew takes up. What is the heart of what Jesus said in the ministry? In Matthew 9, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden i will give you rest i'm your land i'm your rest what we have in these early birth narratives is a carefully constructed theological point being made if as a replay of the exodus narratives just think in the next section out of egypt i'm sending him to egypt so that it might be fulfilled out of Egypt I've called my son. That's Israel's story. And here is a pillar in the sky leading the peoples to him. It's a remarkable moment Matthew's working with in the history of redemption. But the surprise of the text is who is being led to the Savior? It's not Jerusalem. It's the outcasts of the nations. And you get a sense of prophetic fulfillment in their speech. Where is the one to be born king of the Jews? They're out in the streets of Jerusalem proclaiming this. What a message. It's not the Jews, which means the star first went and led them to Jerusalem to say this. It's not the Jews who are saying this. It's the Gentiles. Haggai 2. For thus says the Lord of hosts, One more, and it's a little while, shake the heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all the nations, and they shall come to the desire of the nations. That's Jesus. Or probably better is Psalm 72 to fulfill this. Listen to the language. May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute. May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all the kings fall down before him. All nations serve him. For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy. He saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life and precious is their blood in his sight. Long may he live. May gold of Sheba be given to him. May prayer be made for Him continually and blessings be invoked for Him all the day. May His name endure forever. His fame continue as long as the Son. May people be blessed in Him. All nations shall call Him blessed. Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things. Psalm 72. That's this. There's a reason the Bible calls Jesus the morning star that has risen in our hearts. Now they see it. They've come to the king of all the earth. And you would think that Israel would follow too. How many people are worshiping Jesus at his birth? Just a few. And Matthew wants you to think about that. It's the responses that have puzzled him. Now the first response we can say, I think, without missing it, is the response of Herod. Herod hears this. He's a crafty, crafty man. And he's immediately troubled. He has a secret goal, of course. Notice the full-on hypocrisy. I want to worship him. Tell me where he is so I can come and worship him. What a snake. What a fox. Because verse 9 tells us that his entire goal was to kill the child. Well, I think this captures throughout history all the demonic and the political attempts to destroy the Christ. This represents, I think, in general, the nations and the peoples and the hatred of Christ in political systems that is built into it. Capturing for us all the efforts of the evil one in history to destroy God's Son. I mean, that's Revelation 12. It's Psalm 2. Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot a vain thing? The rulers of the earth take counsel against the Lord and against His anointed. This is that. This is that kind of response. This is what you see in general in government to the Christ throughout history. I think Matthew here first presses us with the response of complete hatred of God's gift. Complete rejection. Total and utter disdain due to the demonic and cosmic powers that have tried from history, from Genesis chapter 3, from the seat of the serpent, from the serpent himself, to stamp out the Messiah, to stamp out the woman's son. How much, just hatred is there, come on, how much hatred is there built in to people simply to hate God and hate his son when he's given a message like this? How do you explain that? Who would love, if they could, to stamp him out of existence? I mean, I'm not getting into how this was done. I'm just saying the point of what you saw in Iowa this week that they would set up a satanic statue in the government building there. That was Iowa, not California. Well, everyone acts stunned and shocked. Here's a satanic ruler wanting to kill him right from the beginning. It shouldn't shock us. The response of Satan and the world to the Christ, that shouldn't shock us. Really. It's always been that way. My concern is the response of who's tied in with this. and i think matthew says did you notice it in verse three now after jesus was born in bethlehem of judea in the days of herod the king he doesn't say here that just herod was troubled he links together herod being troubled with the entire city of Jerusalem. That's his city. That's the king's city. I know of no other verse that has puzzled me more because this in our day would be considered the church people. You think this is a big concern of Matthew? That they claim to worship God and draw near, but their hearts are far? Why would Matthew want to park here for a little while? Why would Matthew want to park here for a little while and have us think about this? Well, what if we, let's try to understand this just for a minute. What if we in all of our prosperity and in all of our wonderful family time heard tonight that Christ was coming? that's a good question I think my question what if tonight he was coming what would your response be some of you might be troubled because that would disrupt everything that disrupt everything. All your plans. Your family plans. The peace you're enjoying. Because you're not ready. What if? How would you respond? Would you rejoice? Would you run to him? Would you bow to him? Or would you be terrified to death? It's a good test as to where we are right now. You see, there's a tension that dominates this whole section between the true king and the false king. Who really is the king of the Jews, Matthew's saying. And so when we probe a little bit further as to why they were troubled, it helps just for a minute to look at Herod. The wise men are running around in the street. That's kind of a pun in my opinion. Are running around in the street asking, where's the king? Where's your king? And what Matthew is showing us here is a surprising response. The response of Israel after all these years to their long-awaited, the response of Jerusalem to their long-awaited Messiah. Well, there's a history to this. Remember Israel's request of Samuel? Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel Arama and said to him, Look, you're old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. We want to be like all the other nations of the world and they have strong political centers of power and we want a strong man to deliver us. Samuel was distressed. Samuel prayed and the Lord said, Go ahead. Heed their voice in what they've said to you. They've not turned from you or rejected you. They've rejected me. Listen, they don't want me to reign over them. Why were they troubled? Well, it's because a figure like Saul was reigning in Jerusalem. He wasn't even a Jew. The guy was an Edomite. And interestingly flowed from the line of Esau. they knew that, didn't matter, what moves me is when Herod, notice this, if you read the commentaries, they'll give you this perspective, and they'll all say the reasoning that Jerusalem was so into Herod was because he was cruel, and he would put you out, and your family out, and he was a loose cannon, I mean, the guy killed his wife and three sons, he'd have no problem wiping out little babies in the region but that's not the answer it was the response is precisely because Herod had become under Roman rule as much as was possible the king they could have never dreamed about getting now why would I say that well he proudly honored himself with the title king of the jews never earned it it was given to him from rome but but on all accounts herod had done something absolutely magnificent you know what he did he built the kingdom in jerusalem greater than in nehemiah's day you take josephus's record of herod's oration when the temple was was built it is something i think not i think i need not speak to you my countrymen about all the works i've done since i've come into my kingdom although i may say i have performed in such a matter as to bring listen, more security to you than to myself, you politician. For I have neither been negligent in the most difficult times about what tended to ease your necessities, nor have the buildings that I've built. I have been made so proper to preserve me as yourselves from injuries, and I imagine that with God's assistance, listen to this, I have advanced the nation of the Jews to a degree of happiness which they've never had before. Regarding the Romans, he says, if I may say so, they are the rulers of the whole world. Now listen to this. I will do my endeavor to correct that imperfection. Come on. Really? Which has arisen from the necessity of our affairs and the slavery we have been under formerly and to make a thankful return after the most pious manner to God for what blessings I've received from him by giving me this kingdom and that by rendering his temple as complete as I am able. Wow. What you wouldn't be ecstatic. He's, I'm returning your worship. I rebuilt your temple. I'm going to deal with the problem of Rome enslaving you. Prayers were always offered up praising God for Herod. Now, if you looked at the outward blessing of it all, how confusing. I mean, how confusing, right? The temple's rebuilt and more glorious than Nehemiah had done. And what was Jesus going to claim? Destroy that temple and all raise it up in three days. And he wasn't talking about that one. Well, he restored the worship of God to Jerusalem. No wonder they're troubled. Here's the Lord. They don't want that. Isn't it something? It would be like Herod giving everyone today the ultimate Christmas gift. What would be the ultimate Christmas gift today? It would be ending abortion. ending the gay marriage stuff, giving you back freedom so that we can just be left alone with our families, not troubled. You know what? The voice of a God and not a man. That's what they said of Herod. The voice of a God and not a man. the news of a king to come in the midst of that and Matthew is seriously implicating his own people and what had happened was this they didn't want anyone to come and tamper with the relative peace and prosperity that Herod had achieved And I mean, there's a reason they would chant that in Acts of the Herods. I thought it was interesting something Dr. Godfrey said of the Christianizing of Rome that scholars have noticed that the move to make Christianity the only legal religion represented in Rome, not the Christianizing of the Roman Empire, but the Romanizing of Christianity. Well, I think you could apply that here. The move of Herod to restore Israel represented not the people to return to the worship of the Lord, but rather the Romanizing of Jerusalem into worldliness. If a leader could give us back America, it would become really interesting to see who would really want Jesus to come tonight. And I think that's the capstone of what Matthew's dealing with here. Emmanuel had come to do what? Well, why are we involved in the kingdom of God? Who do we need to come? See why I said Matthew 1.18 is so important? He's a savior of what? Of the people from their sins. What kind of savior do you need? What kind of savior do you want? so they know he's coming from where they know the scriptures well they quote you know Micah 5 but you owe Bethlehem Ephrath who are too little to be among the clans of Judah for you shall come forth me one who is to be ruler in Israel whose coming forth is from old from ancient of days see they asked they knew where he would come from but they didn't keep reading. And you know what follows, which is what the New Testament authors are always telling you to do. Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever because he delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins in the depths of the sea. Wow. He's going to do that for you? You're king? You will give truth and mercy. Give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham, which you've sworn to our fathers from days of old. The wise men are running through the streets. He's come. The imagery is, to close this out today, with little knowledge, little resource, they have left their homes. They have left all for Christ after this news. They have left the comforts of Babylon. And they've embarked on this long, arduous journey through the wilderness to finally arrive at the morning star of their hearts. And what a beautiful scene is presented. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and they worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. There he is. Here's the response. Matthew's after. They got on their knees and they bowed there as Middle Eastern worship was, they bowed their foreheads to the ground and they stretched out their arms and they prostrated themselves before the king. God has given to us Gentiles an indescribable gift. He's announced his love to the ends of the earth and he got off his throne, Emmanuel. God with us and came to us to save us, to deliver us, and to give us something so much better than what that little strip in Israel under Abraham, that land, could ever afford. God will raise up worshipers from the stones if he has to, if his people won't worship him in spirit and in truth. So I ask that question again. What if Jesus is coming tonight? How would you respond? Are you troubled? Are you ready? Will you worship him now? That's what he's after this season. To worship him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the mind, all of who you are. That's a true celebration of what we call Christmas. Amen. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word to us today. Bless this word to our hearing. Help us to worship the king. We all confess oh lord at times we're not ready confess that we've been cold and negligent confess oh lord that we have had an idea of what we want the savior to be instead of who he's declared himself to be and for all that we ask for forgiveness we ask that we would respond like wise men and worship the lord and the beauty of his holiness with understanding to see the indescribable gift that has been given to us and sent to us from heaven. Thank you, O Father, for such love. May your Spirit work in us to receive the King. In Jesus' name, amen.