Matthew 2:1-18

Good to see everybody out here on this Christmas weekend. And if you are with us on Tuesday if your still in the area, we’d love to have you here for our Christmas Eve services at 2:00, 3: 30 and 5:00. And if you’re not, God bless you as you travel about and spend time with your family. And we hope you have a great experience either way.

But without further ado, if you brought a copy of scripture with you this morning, you can find the Gospel of Matthew and the second chapter, Matthew chapter two as we continue in this series, we’re titling Veiled. We had a series of Revelation titled Unveiled. We’re going to come back to that in 2025, but this is sort of the inversion of that. So this is the veiling of Christ. “Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. Hail incarnate deity.” Amen? So that was the inspiration behind it.

And but I also want to say at the get-go that I realize that Christmas doesn’t bring a giddiness to everyone and there may be some heaviness even in this room or watching online. There may be those of you you’ve lost someone during this time, contemporarily or in the past, you had some setback in your life and Christmas doesn’t bring all the jolly that it does in most other people’s lives. And I recognize that and we want to keep you in mind as well. And let’s do that as we pray. Let’s pray together, shall we?

Our Father in heaven, thank you so much for Christmas. Thank you for the incarnation of your Son. Thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus, Lord at His birth. This Lord, this truth that you pierced the darkness, came into our world, moved into our neighborhood and suffered, died, rose again, this is something worth celebrating regardless of the circumstances of our lives. But it’s easy to say that, Lord, when we know that there is still heaviness that sometimes prevails upon these moments. So I do ask in Jesus’ name that you would uphold those who are heavy in heart and mind right now and help them to see through all of that to see the glory of the incarnate God, Himself, in the person of your Son, Jesus. And we pray these things in his name. Amen.

So this message title is brought to you by a little girl’s sudden surprising response that was uttered last week at our children’s program. If you don’t have kids or grandkids, you probably weren’t here and you missed it. But these kids were up here, they were singing their hearts out! It was a beautiful thing! And then afterwards I stood in front of them and preached a little message to them, and I preached about the coming of Jesus that he came, God in the flesh in his first coming. And then I paused and I said to those kids, I said, “But this same Jesus who came the first time, is coming again!” And there was a little girl right in front of me. I didn’t know her. But she was obviously thinking about what I said ’cause she just there’s a moment of quiet and she said, “Wait… What?” And that’s exactly the response we got. I went, “Whoa!” — and everybody else laughed. But in that very moment, I thought to myself, when’s the last time I had a ‘Wait… What?’ — moment with God? When’s the last time you had one of those? — where you’re reading your Bible and you’re hearing a sermon or you heard a brother or a sister in Christ say something and it’s like, ‘Wait… What?’ — And something you just, this, some spiritual truth was either discovered for the first time or rekindled in your heart.

The stories that surrounds Jesus’ coming give us a number of ‘Wait… What?’ — moments in our lives. So I’m gonna ask you to put some fresh eyes on an old account, Matthew chapter two, and here’s the account. It’s up on the board if you don’t have a Bible.

Matthew 2:1-18 (ESV)

1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men (that would be the Magi) from the east came to Jerusalem,

2 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.”

3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;

4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

6 “‘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.’”

7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.

8 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.” (Liar)

9 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.

10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”

14 And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt

15 and remained there until the death of Herod (which would have taken place within about a year. And it’s quite possible that using those gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh they probably lived off that while they were in Egypt. Little trivia. You’re supposed to say, ‘Wait… What?’ – Anyway, I’m not done reading yet, so…) This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by (the Magi or) the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

Now the characters in this story in Matthew’s account actually don’t belong in the classic nativity scene. Now I’m not trying to ruin your nativity scenes, okay? That’s not my desire. My wife has the classic… she has a really cool nativity scene. It’s got a really cool camel and the three wise men. So, spoiler alert, this chapter is about two years after Jesus was born. And I know what you’re thinking. ‘Wait… What?’ But more important than the surprises that come out of this part of the story are how you and I respond to the Child King, and I see three responses from this passage, and I think it’s worth looking at them. Three responses to Jesus, the Child King. The first is the angry. Now, these Magi when they show up, they come from the east and we don’t know anything else about them. The Bible doesn’t delineate anything else about these guys. And so we’re left to speculate and believe me, there’s a lot of speculation! So whatever or whoever these dudes were, it was enough to create a huge stir in the city. In fact, in verse 3 the word “troubled,” that’s a word which means “to shake.” The whole place was shaking. And by the way, it’s probably because there were more than just three wise men. Yeah, that’s exactly. Exactly. Three gifts in a song have ruined it for all of us, right? I mean, three dudes on camels are not going to stir up any city, but an entourage from the east, that would have done something, especially when they’re asking with the question, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” ‘Wait a minute. Wait… What?’ I mean, that’s what Herod‘s doing! Here’s the question. ‘Wait… What? I’m the king of the Jews!’ And this man was a diabolical megalomaniac. History records his wickedness. It is on a level, I mean, seriously, it’s on a Hitler-like level and worse. His wickedness would rival any ruler in the annals of history. He killed his very own flesh and bone sons! He killed his wives. He even killed the wife that he actually loved! Do you kill the wife you loved? That’s another thing. He killed his son-in-law at a party… drowned him! Drowned him in a pool! In fact, that’s why the expression in those days was very popular, whispered, mind you, that ‘it was safer to be Herod’s pig than his son.’ He was a fear-filled man. And again the question, “Where is this one born King of the Jews?” I mean, he was the king! This is why everything was shaking! The scriptures doesn’t… at the end of verse three, all of Jerusalem with him, because when Herod was upset, heads rolled! He was a fearful, fearful man.

I couldn’t help but think of a scene at the end of the movie Gladiator. And some of you probably haven’t seen it, but it’s a great movie, albeit fictitious. And here is the great general of the Army in Rome, Maximus who, out of jealousy is, the new emperor.  Commodus tries to kill him… doesn’t do it, doesn’t succeed, but Maximus ends up becoming a slave. The slave becomes a gladiator, and the gladiator wins the hearts of the people to the point where at the very end of the movie, he’s all… he’s tied up and ready to be put back up into the theater so that, the arena that is, so that Commodus, the emperor, could fight him. It was gonna be a fixed deal, but he was gonna fight him. And they’re having a dialogue. And Commodus says he’s gonna fight Maximus. And Maximus says “You would fight me?” — and Commodus says, “What do you think? — I’m afraid of you?” And I think it’s the classic line of the movie. Maximus’s response is, “I think you’ve been afraid all of your life.”

That was Herod. And that’s some of you. You’ve been afraid all of your life. You’re afraid… some of you are afraid of your reputation being exposed. You’re afraid of something you don’t want anybody to know about you. You’re afraid of death. Some of you are afraid of dying! You live in fear like Herod who was angry, suspicious, and afraid, and he unleashed all of it on the children of Bethlehem. In fact, in verse 16, that word “furious” is where we get a word “thumo” from, he was so explosive in his anger.

And some of you have been afraid and angry all of your life! What if God wanted to use your hurts, your heartaches, your fears that you’re living in? What if he wanted to use them to point you to His Son, Jesus? “Wait… What?’ Now, exactly! Listen, Jesus didn’t just come to be a ruler. He came to be your Redeemer. And when He redeems you, He redeems you from everything, from all of your fears and all of those heartaches. So if you’re an angry, anxious, fearful individual, go to the One who took them all and would like to take them all from you.

So there’s the angry. And then there’s, (this might be even more practical) there’s the apathetic. You know the apathetic… You know what apathy is. You just don’t really care! ‘(Yawns) Whatever. I’ve heard that before.’ And I’m talking about the chief priests and the scribes. By the way, the chief priests would have been the liberals and the scribes would have been the conservatives. I think it’s really interesting that Herod got the two of them together, and he did it because he might have been a madman but he wasn’t, he was a clever madman. He got the conservatives and the liberals together so that neither one would trick him. They’d have to agree. And he asked the question, ‘Hey, where is this Messiah supposed to be born?’ And now these chief priests, these scribes, these were the scholars. These were the smart guys. These were the Bible answer guys. They didn’t have to Google anything. And the answer came quickly in verse six. ‘Well, Bethlehem, that’s where the prophet Micah told us, tells us,’ and we have it quoted right there in verse 6.

Now I want you to think about this with me. A huge entourage shows up in the city. They speak of a sign that they’ve seen in the sky. They appeal to a Jewish messianic promise and then ask for the whereabouts of this Child King. And the answer is it’s a town less than six miles from where they are and they never lift a finger to go there! That’s apathy! They hear of this miracle happening in front of them! — and they do nothing about it!

When that little girl in the Christmas program last week said, “Wait, what?” — and brought the house down, I literally thought while I stood on that dart, “Lord, I need more of those. I need more of those.” When’s the last time you were moved, so moved by a promise from God that you did something about it?

The angry, the apathetic, and then the adoring. That’s where we want to go, right? — the adoring. I know, it all sounds very Baptist… alliterated. It’s all there in the text. What can I say? The wise men, these Magi here, okay? — they are, again, we don’t know much about them. We do know that the Babylonian kingdom of five, six hundred years earlier had these very kind of guys, these wise men, these Magi, and Daniel became one of them! The prophet Daniel became a Magi. Did you know that? And these individuals, mind you, hundreds of years removed, may very well have been the spiritual descendants of Daniel. That’s amazing! … ‘Wait…What?’ It’s possible… but there’s more!

The star. That’s a fascinating thing, isn’t it, right? The star. I mean, stars have been in the news lately, right? I mean, where are these UFOs on the Eastern…? Where are they coming from? And we’re told, because the government knows… they’re either airplanes, or they’re drones or they suggest they might be stars… a really dumb suggestion, the star thing, right? You realize what a star close… anyway, enough of that. This was no ordinary star. Verse 7 says it just comes out of nowhere. And then we’re told that it disappears for a time. Otherwise, why would they have to go to Herod and ask about his whereabouts? So it disappeared for a time, and then it reappears! Like remember they see it and go, “Oh, there it is again!” — and they rejoice! All this is happening so that the prophecy could be fulfilled for sure. And in verse nine, wait for it… Look at verse nine… it hovered! ‘Wait…What?’ It has more like a… this thing is more like a drone. I’m pretty sure they didn’t have drones back then, but it acted more like a drone. It’s definitely not a stellar star. But most interesting to me is that it was visible only to those who were seeking. It was visible, only to those who were looking for the king. And that’s still true today. God reveals His truth to those who are truly seeking Him, not just seeking truth, but seeking Him in the truth. If you seek Him in the truth you’re seeking, you’ll see his metaphorical star, and you’ll be guided as you need to.

You know what elseI love about this star? I love the way the Magi described it! They said it’s His star. It’s His star! And I think maybe, I don’t know what it was. I mean, honestly, we’re not told. It might have been just the Shekinah glory of God… it looked like a star or whatever, I think the artist depictions of these wise men following… probably wasn’t far off. Shekinah glory of God.

Then there’s the fact that Jesus isn’t the Christmas newborn baby at this time. Look at verse 9. What is he called there? He’s not called a “brephos.” That’s the word for infant. He’s called a “ped-in,” which is a child, and it’s translated… the word literally means “a very young child.” So, and in case you missed it in verse 11, where do these wise men show up? Did they show up at the cave? Did they show up at the barn? Did they show up at the stable? No, they showed up at a house. He’s not even there anymore! And this would explain by the way, verse 16, the clear margin that that wicked king Herod wanted to get two years and under, ’cause he wanted to make sure that he’d wipe out the entire area to make sure that he killed this Christ child. This wasn’t baby Jesus. This was toddler Jesus. ‘Wait… What?’ Yeah, probably walking around.

But way more importantly is what the Magi gave and what he received. And it’s there in verse 11. See the word? It’s the word “worshiped.” The only time this word “proskuneo” is used is always toward God! — And it’s received because He WAS God! Amen? The only… the only kind of worship this affords to is to God. And then he brings these three… they come with these three gifts where we get the three kings and the three Magi and it messes everybody up ’cause there’s three gifts. But they are not insignificant. Gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Now the gold clearly was a depiction of his deity that they were worshiping God in the flesh! Just try to envision the toddler Jesus as these individuals… it says that the Greek itself is redundant here. It says ‘they fell down and worshiped.’ To fall down, we get that. It’s almost like they wrote it for English readers because to fall down we get… the word “worship,”  “proskuneo,” means… to fall down and worship means “to fall down.” They fell down and… anyway, it’s redundant! It’s getting the point across that they were worshiping faces down before the Child King, and presenting Him with gold as their God.

And frankincense, which was a very expensive perfume. And in fact, in Exodus chapter 30, frankincense was only to be offered to God. Hmm!

(But then this is where it gets kind of, this is where it weirds out a little bit) And then myrrh, which is at least a less expensive perfume, used for embalming. ‘Here’s gold for our God, and here’s frankincense because He’s the fragrance of our lives, and here’s some embalming fluid for when He dies.’ But that’s exactly what it depicts! The myrrh would have been pictorial of the purpose of His coming to die for your sins and mine. “Oh, come, let us adore Him.” Amen?

I have a couple statements I want to make and some questions. Take them to heart. Jesus’ star was visible only to those seeking Him. Now I’m gonna ask you this: Are you seeking Him? I’m not asking if you’re seeking knowledge. I’m asking you if you’re seeking Him. Herod, these scholars didn’t see the star because they weren’t seeking Him! The star was there, but it was only for those who were looking. Are you looking?

Secondly, the priest and scribes were smart, but they weren’t wise. Are you wise? Bethlehem was just six miles away, but for Herod and the scribes and the chief priest It might as well have been 6,000 miles away! They weren’t going! Being moved by a truth… Being moved by a truth doesn’t mean you’ve been changed by a truth. In fact, it might be just mean just the opposite. Some of you, you’ve sat, you’ve heard sermons, you’ve heard people preach, you’ve been in Bible studies or small groups with individuals. You’ve hobnob with somebody who spoke a truth and you felt it! There was that tinge that was inside. ‘Oh my goodness, I wish you wouldn’t have said that!’ But it didn’t do anything. It didn’t move your spiritual dial at all! If that’s the case, you’re no different than these guys. You wouldn’t have gone to Bethlehem either! — though it was just a stone’s throw away. Is truth changing you? That’s the question. These guys were really smart, but they weren’t wise. Are you wise?

And finally, the wise men offered three gifts to Jesus. What are you offering him?

I heard of a woman that was out shopping, last minute shopping before Christmas. None of you have done that, right? And just hitting every department store and going all over the place, totally exasperated! Find stuff for… can’t find stuff for some of her kids, find stuff for grandkids, can’t find some stuff for grandkids, but she’s got a pile of stuff anyway. She’s totally exasperated! She ends up in a store in the elevator and it’s packed! And she’s just at her wit’s end and she just sort of like the little girl last week here, just sort of blahh! And here’s what she said. “Whoever started this holiday ought to be tied up, strung up and shot!” (WOW!) About 10 seconds went by and somebody in the back of the elevator said, “They’ve already done that.”

One of my earliest memories as, as not as a Christian, but Christmas when I was a little boy, I remember it very vividly. I bought a present for my mom and I was very proud of it! I was like eight years old. I remember I was in Black’s department store, and it was like on the sale rack and it was a book on coins. My mom could care less about coins, but I bought that book for her! And I wrapped that thing up and best I knew how, and I can still remember I have in my mind’s eye I remember my mother opening that gift. And she opened that gift and I’m like, and she looked at it and she read it… read the cover, ’cause I don’t think she ever opened it. And she embraced it. And she said, “Thanks so much, Pat!” — and she gave me a kiss.

If you’re not a Christian, I mean, I offered my mom a worthless book, but she embraced it! If you’re not a Christian, the only thing you have to offer to Jesus is your worthless sin. But here’s the Good News. He’ll take it because He already has. He’ll embrace it because He already has… and He already died for it! The only thing you have to do is thank Him for so doing! — Acknowledge your sin that He took, and then take the gift He gives back to you. Pretty good deal by the way! What an exchange! — your sin for His life. And here’s the deal. Not only will He take your sin and give you eternal life in exchange, He’ll come to live inside of you. Is it, ‘Wait… What?’ Yeah, really, He’ll come to live inside of you [1 Cor. 6:19] and fill your fearful, dreaded, darkened heart with life and light and give you hope beyond all of your heart aches this world has to offer. Will you take it?

Though Christ in Bethlehem, a thousand times be born, If he’s not born in you, your life is still forlorn. Oh, would your heart but be a manger for His birth. Once more would God then come with peace upon the earth. [A hymn with words from Angelus Silesius]

You want that peace? Let’s pray.

Our Father in heaven, we thank you that your Son, the Lord Jesus, was called and was and is the Prince of Peace. And He gives the gift of peace, peace with you when we trust Him as our personal Lord and Savior. There are some here in this room, Lord, some watching online that are filled with dread, you’re filled with fear, you’re filled with anger, and you’re just so unhappy about all the circumstances of life. And while we feel bad for you, Lord, I pray that You will speak to their hearts to show them that Jesus has taken all of that to Himself. And He won’t just be their ruler. He’ll come to redeem them. And if that’s you, dear friend, you’ve never received Jesus as your personal, Lord and Savior, believe on Him today and you’ll have peace. God, I pray for those who do know You, but they have become angry for other reasons, or even worse, perhaps, apathetic. They just don’t really care! Would you make them care again? Would You do something in their hearts that will do more than just be a tinge or a conviction, but will actually cause them to say, “Lord, thank You! Thank You for the ‘aha!’ moment. Thank You for the ‘Wait… What?’ and help me, Lord, to obey what You have convicted me to do, so that I might have the joy of You and spill it over into this world.’ And we pray all these things, Lord, in Jesus’ name. Amen. Let’s stand.