Word of Salvation – Vol. 39 No.48 – December 1994

 

That I Too May Go And Worship Him!

 

Sermon by: Rev. P. Abetz

Readings: Micah 5:1-5 Matthew 2:1-12

Text: Matthew 2:1-12

 

Brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ,

We are quite used to travelling long distances.  Some of you who are here today to worship with us, have probably travelled quite some distance.  At Christmas many people take the opportunity to meet up with family and relatives.  To do that we think nothing of driving or flying a few thousand kilometres.  Business people fly from one side of the globe to the other to sew up a business deal.  Politicians likewise, jet around the globe, to try and keep relationships between countries in good shape.  So for us to have a person in our town or city from a distant place is nothing special.

But in the time our text was written travel was a very arduous and dangerous task.  There were no newspapers to keep you informed of local, let alone international, events.  And certainly no radio and TV!  And so if a person arrived in your town and claimed to be from a far-away place, it was quite an event in that town.  It was an opportunity to catch up on news of events in other places.

But now try and picture the situation of our text.  Travellers arrive from a distant land, and they are not so interested in telling you news, as wanting to hear more details from you about something that had supposedly happened in your town!

1.  THE ARRIVAL OF THE MAGI

We read in our text that shortly after Jesus was born, some Magi arrived in Jerusalem (2:1).  We do not know much about the Magi; we do not even know how many of them there were!  But we do know that the ancient Babylonians believed that the stars directed the affairs of the world, and so they devoted much time to the study of the stars.  The Magi appear to have continued this activity for they said that the reason they had come was that they had seen the new king's star.

As these Magi came from the east, they would have known something of the Jewish expectation of a coming Messiah from the dispersed Jews.  It would seem that God in his desire to make the descendants of Abraham a blessing to all nations, had communicated the birth of Jesus to these gentile Magi in a language they understood, namely, through the stars.

Having seen what to them was clear proof that the "King of the Jews had been born" they had set out for the capital of the Jewish nation to worship him and to bring him gifts.  Once they arrived in Jerusalem they naturally started asking around: Where is the one who has been born the king of the Jews? (vs.2)

To them there was no question about the fact that the king of the Jews had been born.  God in his grace had somehow convinced them of this beyond any doubt!

And so they continued to ask around.  And soon King Herod and all Jerusalem got to hear of it.  Before long Herod and Jerusalem were disturbed.

2.  HEROD AND ALL JERUSALEM WAS DISTURBED

The Greek word translated "disturbed" in our NIV Bibles means: agitated and angry, to the point of becoming utterly confused, in much the same way as the contents of a bottle of medicine becomes confused on shaking.  When the word is applied to people, it conveys the idea that the people concerned do not quite know what you are doing anymore!  The gospel writer in effect is telling us that it all became too much for Herod and for the people of Jerusalem.  After all, the claim that a King of the Jews had been born, was a significant event, if it were true.  But the residents of Jerusalem and its King had not heard of it yet.  Strangely enough, the Magi were so utterly confident that their information was right that the citizens of Jerusalem were rightly puzzled: How could they have missed such an important event?

King Herod knew that one day the Christ (Messiah) would be born, and so he asked the chief leaders and the priests as to where the Christ would be born.  And when they told Herod that it was to happen in Bethlehem, which was only a few kilometres from Jerusalem, King Herod took it seriously.

And that was the second reason why Jerusalem was disturbed.  If it was true that a king of the Jews had been born, the citizens of Jerusalem knew that Herod would not tolerate any competition for his throne!  If these men had travelled such a considerable distance to worship a new born king of the Jews, then there was no knowing how King Herod would respond.  For Herod was proud to be the king of the Jews, and he never hesitated to shed blood to maintain and consolidate his position.  His determination to hold on to power had caused him to kill his own wife and sons, and he had perpetrated a number of horrific atrocities against the Jewish people.  As far as Herod was concerned there was only one King of the Jews, and that would be himself.  And he did not hesitate to use any means to keep it that way.  And so Herod was beside himself.  Had his network of secret informers finally conspired against him and deliberately kept him in the dark on this matter?  Surely if the Messiah had been born, he would have heard about it before anyone else?

You may have noticed as we read the Bible passage that the Magi very specifically asked: Where is the King of the Jews?  Now Herod considered himself King of the Jews, but he knew they were not looking for him, because the Magi were looking for a King who had just been born.  Herod feared that if this new King of the Jews would come in his life-time, his authority would be challenged.  Herod knew full well that the whole focus of the Jewish religion was to look forward to the coming of the Messiah.  They had waited for him for thousands of years.  But he was a bit fuzzy on the details of the prophecy.  Herod knew where to get the facts.  Did you notice too that King Herod quickly realised that the person the Magi were looking for was none other than the Messiah, the Christ?  Note that he asked the chief priests and the teachers: Where is the Christ to be born?  In response to Herod's questions, the chief priests and teachers soon quoted from Micah 5:2 and told Herod that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem.  And yes, He was to be a ruler "who will be the shepherd of my people Israel." (vs.6).

Armed with this information, Herod secretly had the Magi come to him.  He wanted to use them to check out this potential threat to his kingship.  What the Magi had said obviously had the potential of being true.  If it were true, then he would have to act quickly to eliminate this newly-born king of the Jews.  Herod would not tolerate competition for his throne even if it was the promised Messiah!  In the past Herod had allowed nothing and no one to even become a potential threat to his kingship, and he was not about to change plans or strategy.  If there really was a new born king of the Jews, even if He was the Messiah, He would have to be eliminated.  And so he hatches a devious plot.

Let's look in some more detail at the different ways in which the people involved in the text responded to the news of the birth of the King of the Jews.

3.  THE THREE RESPONSES

All three groups of people responded in different ways.

Firstly let us look at the Magi.

A.  THE MAGI

When they received the word that the "king of the Jews" had been born their reaction was that they wanted to see this child face to face and worship him, even though it involved leaving their homes for a time and making a long and dangerous journey.  They had somehow been told by God that the birth of the King of the Jews was of cosmic significance, and so they genuinely wanted to worship and bring their gifts.  And when they found the child, we read that they were overjoyed.  They had found the king they were looking for.  They had found the Messiah.  And having fallen down to worship him, they went on to give him their gifts.

The paradox here is that the gentile Magi recognised the infant as the King of the Jews, the Messiah, while the Jews, through whom God had promised the Messiah would come, failed to recognise Him.

Next, let us look at the response of the priests and teachers of the Law.

B.  THE PRIESTS AND TEACHERS OF THE LAW.

They had seen and heard the commotion in Jerusalem and they had been caught up in it.  These people were the spiritual leaders of Israel.  They were the religiously educated.  And every Jew eagerly spoke about the great day when the Messiah would come.  So these men too would have often said how much they longed for the coming of the Messiah.  And now they were presented with the facts about the birth of the Messiah which had caused the Magi to travel such a great distance.  So at least there was a possibility that the Messiah had been born.  And yet the priests and teachers made no effort to check it out!

Why not?  Well, if it really was the Messiah, they might need to change.  They would lose some of their prestige and power.  For to the Messiah would belong all the power and authority.

In their supposed looking forward to the Messiah, they had made up their own system of rules and regulations, so now that He was here, they did not even want to see Him.  Their whole system of rules of self-justification would come tumbling down.

Let's next look at the response of king Herod.

C.  HEROD.

It is all very well to be harsh on King Herod.  But before we consider how Herod responded, let me remind you that there is something of Herod in all of us.  Herod wanted power.  He wanted to be in control.  He wanted to be the King of the Jews.  Herod could see that this Messiah was a threat to him.  His life would have to change.  It would mean that Herod would have to submit to someone else!  This Messiah was certainly not for Herod!

And so he schemes to get rid of this new "King of the Jews" even though he knows him to be the Messiah.  He had so brilliantly and deceptively liquidated thousands of opponents before.  So, one more opponent, even if it was the Messiah, would not stand in his way.

But our text tells us that Herod too was disturbed.  Herod was not able to think clearly.  This was not just one of those things that happened.  This surely was divine intervention.  For Herod now does something very stupid.  He does not send his trusted soldiers to Bethlehem to check it out, but he sends the Magi to check it out.  He tells them: Go search for the child and when you have found him, tell me, so that I too can come and worship him.

Herod could have sent soldiers to accompany them, and then destroy the child on the spot.  But God in His eternal providence caused Herod to think in a confused way, and this gave time for the Magi to find Jesus and worship him.  And in order to delay Herod even further, God gave the Magi a dream warning them to go back to their own country by another way, so that Jesus' parents had ample time to flee to Egypt.

Even Herod's scheming was not going to be able to thwart God's glorious redemption plan!  God had deliberately sent His Son into the world, to give mankind the opportunity to be re-made in God's image.  God was determined to make it happen, and that means that nothing could stand in God's way.  God's power is greater than that of Satan, who would want to frustrate the plans of God.

It is all very well to consider how others have responded to the birth of the Messiah.  But the important issue for us is how we respond to the fact of Christ's birth.

Essentially, there are only three possible responses to the birth of the Christ.

Our response can be one of:

A.  Worship and praise that our God has allowed His Son to come into the world to restore the relationship between Himself and us.

That means we need to take the claims that Jesus made very seriously.  He claimed to be the Son of God, come into the world to pay the price for our sin; taking upon Himself the punishment that rightfully should have been mine and yours.  On account of His birth, suffering death and resurrection, we have been restored into a living relationship with the H-eavenly Father.  That is essentially a response of faith.  Trusting that Jesus really is who He claimed to be.  Trusting that He did indeed accomplish what the Bible says He did.  He won eternal life for us.

If we accept that Jesus is the Messiah, sent from God, then our hearts will be moved to offer our worship and praise; indeed to offer our very selves to Him as our gift of thankfulness, just as the Magi offered their precious gifts.

Another way we can respond to the birth of Christ is:

B.  Simply ignoring it.

We can let life go on as before.  Many people do that.  They will celebrate with Christmas parties and presents.  But they ignore the claims of Jesus, because they know that accepting His claims has consequences.  And they are not willing to face those consequences.  Accepting Jesus Christ as the God-given Saviour from sin would require a significant change in one's life.  It means letting Jesus be Lord and Master.  Many people are not willing to yield their life to Jesus.  So they conveniently ignore the birth of Christ.  That is what the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem did.  They ignored Jesus.

We have many people in our society who are quite happy to think of Christmas as a cute cultural or religious celebration.  A good excuse for families to get together, or to have party.  But by ignoring the claims of Jesus they think that life can keep on going as before.  But the consequence of that position is to fail to receive the benefits of Christ's saving work.  Ultimately it means spending eternity separated from God, in hell itself, rather than enjoying the wonders of eternal life.

The only other alternative is to:

C.  Try and do away with His claims on your life.

That was the approach of Herod.  He tried to liquidate the Messiah.  Perhaps we are more sophisticated in our day and age.  Nobody would set about wanting to physically kill Jesus.  After all that is outside of the realms of possibility for us.  But instead, we have people who try and explain away the claims of Jesus.  They try and refute them by saying that the Bible is just a book of myths handed down from ancient times and should not be taken too seriously.  Others want to claim that there is no such thing as a God, other than what we make Him to be.  Still others want to say that Jesus was only a man of his time.  Certainly, He was a clever teacher, but not the Son of God.

But burying one's head in the sand does not make the claims of Jesus disappear!  Those claims still stand.  And those who try and explain them away, so that they can feel justified in ignoring them, will come to eternal grief.  They will suffer the grief of an eternity separated from God, just like those who pay lip service to the claims of Christ, but still ignore them.

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, the fact of the Messiah's birth put all of Jerusalem into uncoordinated confusion.  But the Magi knew what they wanted to do.  They wanted to worship Christ the Lord and bring Him gifts of thankfulness?

As we celebrate Christmas together, may each one of us be moved by the Holy Spirit to consider afresh the claims of Jesus and to accept those claims in faith.  Let us rejoice in His willingness to come.  Let us rejoice in all that Jesus accomplished for us in the course of His earthly life, His death and resurrection.  May that move us to render worship unto Jesus, the Son of God and render unto Him a life of thankful obedience.

Amen.