Matthew 2:1-12

Matthew 2, 1-12, the visit of the wise man. There's a lot of tradition isn't there about this episode?

! There's a lot of tradition which necessarily the Bible doesn't tell us. We don't know for sure that there were three Magi.

I like to think there were about 300 of them. It's just an inference isn't it from the three gifts of gold, incense and myrrh from verse 11.

We don't know that they came on camels like it is on your Christmas card. They certainly didn't come to the manger.

You might think they came to the manger but verse 11 tells you they came to the house.

And if the star first appeared to them at Jesus' birth it would seem that it took them a number of months to make the trip.

And it's likely that it was a year to a year and a half after Jesus had been born.

So they arrive in Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary are apparently still living in Bethlehem.

And they go to the house. Not the manger. Probably a toddler by that time.

And of course they don't have names. Casper, whatever the other two are called.

That started in the 6th century.

And it came into vogue then.

And we're not sure that they were kings or not.

So there are some things that we know are not true just that they've come to us through tradition.

But we have this passage in Matthew's Gospel.

And Matthew wouldn't have put it in his Gospel if it was important.

And so why is this important?

And I think Matthew would say something like this.

It is most important.

It's a most important visit because of four Ps.

First of all the place that's involved.

You see that in verse 1.

And in verse 2.

And in verse 5.

And in verse 6.

Bethlehem, Bethlehem, Bethlehem, Bethlehem.

When the Magi come to choose them.

They say where is the one who is born king of the Jews?

Where?

We don't usually pay attention to small towns, do we?

Very much.

I like Bethlehem.

Think of small towns.

You haven't thought of them this week, have you?

Unless we need something from them.

Or we find someone from there.

Probably most of us didn't think this week of

Gretem.

Or Denham.

Or Merthyr Tidbert.

We don't think of those towns, do we?

It doesn't consist.

You don't pay attention to small little places.

Unless there's someone or something that you need to find out.

And so Bethlehem.

This little tiny place comes to be on the map.

And so when Herod finds out the inquiry that's been made, he calls, doesn't he, the chief priests and the theologians.

And he says to those chief priests and theologians, he says to these scholars, where is the Messiah?

Where is the one who is to be king of the Jews, to be born?

And they say, oh, the scripture tells us, Micah 5 tells us, that it will be Bethlehem in Judea.

And then they quote it to him.

Bethlehem.

That is the birthplace, or at least the hometown of David.

1 Samuel chapter 16.

1 Samuel 16 · chapter mention

And David was the king who'd received that great covenant promise in 2 Samuel chapter 7.

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

That was, your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.

God had said, your throne, David, will be established forever.

There'll always be someone sitting on your throne from your family.

But in the time that Micah prophesied, it's about 700 years before Christ.

He was prophesying when the kingship of David, when the line of David, those kings was going to be eclipsed.

And there wouldn't be a Davidic king on the throne.

And it looked like God's promise was going to be eclipsed.

But he prophesied.

Micah says, from your hometown, David, there will come a new David.

A new Messiah.

And he will arise from the very same place where David was from.

And so Bethlehem was David's town.

A little town of Bethlehem.

And the theologians knew that.

And they told Herod, it will be in Bethlehem, in Judea.

Now why does Matthew bang on about this point?

Why does he labour at it?

That Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem.

A few years later, Matthew didn't write his gospel right at the time this took place.

I think he wrote his gospel 20 to 30 years after the time of Jesus.

Some people would want to put it later.

But I would say 20 to 30 years later.

And there was a problem about where Jesus was born.

John chapter 7 verses 41 and 42.

John 7:41

Some Jews are debating about Jesus.

They'd seen some of his works.

And some of them made the statement, look at what he's doing.

He must be the Messiah.

He must be the king of the Jews.

And others said, you know nothing.

You don't know anything.

The Messiah, does he come out of Galilee?

No he doesn't.

Jesus is from Nazareth in Galilee.

The scripture says, he is from the seat of David.

He is from the little village of Bethlehem.

That's where the Messiah comes from.

Don't you know anything?

He can't be the Messiah.

You don't get a Messiah from Galilee.

You don't get a Messiah from Nazareth.

The Messiah will be from Bethlehem.

And there were misconceptions.

Some people knew that Jesus was from Nazareth.

And they never searched any further.

He is Jesus the Nazarene, isn't he?

And the logic went like this.

A Messiah will come from Bethlehem.

The king of the Jews will be born in Bethlehem.

But Jesus is not from Bethlehem.

He is from Nazareth.

He is from Galilee.

Therefore Jesus cannot be the Messiah.

But they were wrong.

And so there is a reason why Matthew in the writing of his gospel

wants to realise that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

Just like Micah, the prophet, had said he would be born 700 years before.

It's important to know that.

And what Matthew is implying here, and it's saying to you and I,

he's saying don't take a superficial view of Jesus.

Especially in this matter of his birth.

Don't say, oh he came from Nazareth.

Search a little deeper.

Check out the details.

He was born in Bethlehem.

The place of David's birth.

The place is important.

Don't take a superficial view of Jesus.

There are some people, they do that, don't they?

Some people have problems with the accounts about Jesus.

The virgin birth.

Or the miracles he did.

Or his resurrection.

And so lots of people have problems with Jesus.

And yet they've never looked at the evidence.

They haven't even looked at the source documents.

They've not taken one of the four gospels

and read them through slowly and carefully.

And asked, what do the sources say?

About this Jesus.

Let me look at the data.

Let me expose myself.

And sometimes we as Christians,

we can very easily take a superficial view.

And when we do that,

we are bound to get a wrong perception.

That's why I think it's important,

even though you may have no problem

in believing what the New Testament says about Jesus,

we can still have a very superficial knowledge of him.

That's why it's such a good exercise, isn't it,

for Christians to take the four gospels paragraph by paragraph

and read it through slowly.

And as you walk your way through, at each point say,

what is this telling me about the sort of Lord I have?

What is this teaching me about Jesus here?

What does it encourage me to believe?

What does it shock me?

How does this disturb me?

Try to hear him.

Don't let the familiarity with you throw you off.

Ask yourself, what does he mean?

How close is he striking?

Do I really believe that about Jesus?

And so on.

Don't take a superficial view about Jesus.

That's why you mentioned the place.

Now secondly, Matthew says to us,

this visit is important to us

because of the people involved.

You see the people in verses 1 and 2?

There's one set of them.

There are wise men, magi, we used to call them.

We don't know where they came from.

They are from the east somewhere.

May have been from Babylon.

May have been from Persia.

May have been from Iran.

Perhaps.

All we know is that they are Gentiles.

They are pagans.

And they may well have been pagan astrologers.

And they are coming to worship the king.

Whom they believe has been born.

So on the one hand, you've got pagan Gentiles

who've got no light at all.

Or very little from the Jewish scriptures.

And then you've got another group in verses 4-6.

You have the chief priests and the theologians.

The scribes of the people.

And they are the ones that have the scriptures.

They know the prophecy.

And they are the ones that answer the question

that Herod pops to them.

And you see something of a contrast.

And Matthew is deliberately contrasting.

On the one hand, you have pagan Gentiles

who have very little knowledge of God's truth.

And yet they are here to worship God's king.

And on the other hand, you have God's professing people.

The clergy.

The Bible students.

The people that know the answers.

And what does the scripture say?

They don't go to worship him.

Or at least they don't seem to have any inclination to do it.

It's interesting, isn't it?

In Matthew's Gospel in chapter 2, verse 4

you have this group of priests and theologians

who answer the Bible's questions

about Jesus' birth and the place of it.

You have the same group at the end of Matthew's Gospel.

Chapter 27, verse 41 and 42.

And they mock.

And they scorn.

The Saviour has been born.

So you have these two groups.

Do you see the contrast?

On the one hand,

you have some who knew

the facts about Jesus.

And you have the others

who adore him.

You have some who study about Jesus.

You have others who bend the knee to Jesus.

It doesn't mean that you can't have both.

But it is interesting, isn't it?

That the contrast is here very deliberately.

It's quite interesting.

The Magi, the wise men,

did not get connected with Jesus

apart from the scriptures.

The Magi needed the Bible

to lead them

to worship the king.

But Matthew also shows us

a group of people

that have the light of scriptures

and yet it didn't lead them

to worship the king.

And that is a great warning

for you and for me.

Because we immediately

put ourselves into the shoes

or the sandals

of the Magi, don't we?

But actually, by analogy,

we are the ones who stand

in the sandals

of the chief priests and the scribes.

We are the ones we meet today

as the professing people of God.

Like the Jewish nation was

at that time.

And here is the warning.

You can have a certain amount

of knowledge about God,

can't you?

You can have a certain amount

of knowledge about God's truth.

You can have the scriptures.

You can answer questions

about the scriptures.

And somehow your sensibilities

have become dull.

And it doesn't move you.

They don't bring you

the rest of the way

to fall down

and worship

the one of whom

the scriptures speak.

Somehow it's like

we can get almost

overexposed to Jesus.

We know a lot about him,

but it doesn't lead us

to know him.

Let me give you

a stupid illustration.

I don't think,

I'm the first one

to think of it,

but I can't word out

who the author was.

Suppose you came in

to this building

this morning

and sitting on the

back left hand side

was a polar bear.

It's a different

kind of polar bear.

It was a massive polar bear.

It had orange stripes

all over it.

It was wearing

Adidas trainers

on its back feet

and it was eating

a massive ice cream.

It was a great polar bear

sitting at the back.

When you came in

you took your service sheet,

you picked up a Bible

and you looked across

and you jumped

out of your skin

and you went to grab

one of the deacons

or one of the leaders.

What is going on?

He shouted.

But the bear

just sits there

eating his ice cream

and he doesn't sit.

He doesn't move.

Doesn't stir.

He just sat there

as bears do.

Stood for the hymns,

opened the Bible reading,

sat down.

Didn't bother you.

You were all a little bit

nervous during the service

but the bear

didn't inflict any harm.

It just sat there

licking its ice cream.

You would have

all sorts of problems

with that.

And all of you

would crowd

into the front rows

although you have

vowed as Presbyterians

never ever do that.

But you would leave

very tentatively.

Come back the next week.

You walk in.

The bear is there.

The polar bear.

And you've got problems.

Again.

You nervously go

through the service.

The following week

you come again.

You might tremble

a little bit

but gradually

you get used to it.

And if the bear

kept coming for

four weeks,

six weeks,

ten weeks,

eighteen weeks,

six months,

eight months

and that bear

was still there

and never harmed anyone.

He was just always

there at eleven a.m.

And when he left

he just quietly

shook my hand

on the way out.

In the end

you wouldn't give it

any thought.

That is until you

brought your friends

to church.

And as they came

into Drake Manor

High School

they're a bit nervous

coming into church

anyway.

They enter the hall

and they grab your sleeve

and they say

what is that?

And you say

don't worry.

It's just a polar bear

eating ice cream.

Comes here all the time.

Doesn't bother us at all.

Don't give it a second thought.

Don't worry about it.

Now that is a ridiculous

illustration isn't it?

But that is the danger

sometimes with our

knowledge and our

relationship to the

Lord Jesus.

Maybe we've become

so familiar with him

that it may be

difficult to know him.

And the edge

of Jesus' word

the sharp edges

of Jesus' word

may cease to cut us

like they ought.

And we need to be

aware of that.

We can stand

in their sandals

and we need to ask

the Lord Jesus Christ

don't we

for a soft heart.

That all our

exposure to his

word would not

just cause us

to have knowledge

of him in our heads

but we would have

leased a bend

to adore him

because of the

word he gives us.

Now thirdly

this visit was important

because of the

politics involved.

Now you see those

politics in verse 3

and verse 7

and verse 8.

It's the trouble

of Herod.

So look at verse 3

it says

when Herod the king

heard this

he was troubled

and all Jerusalem

with him.

King Herod was

troubled

and all Jerusalem

was troubled

and all Jerusalem

was troubled

because Herod

was troubled.

You see this

Herod that is

mentioned here

is Herod the Great

as he's called

he began to reign

in 40 BC

and he was

almost at the

end of his reign

at this point.

He was a very

very able man

a very able king

but a very cruel king

and especially

towards the end

of his reign

he got more

and more suspicious

and paranoid.

Paranoid of any

rivals that might

be raised up to him.

In fact during

his reign

he either arranged

the murder

or had executed

three of his

brother-in-laws

and one wife

who was his

passionate favourite.

One mother-in-law

and three sons

among others.

And that prompted

Augustus to remark

that it would be

better to be

Herod's pig

than his son.

And that is why

when Herod was

troubled

all of Jerusalem

was troubled.

And Herod was

troubled because

there is another

king.

A king of the

Jews.

Herod was not

a king

of David's

life.

He was a

Roman

appointed king

but Herod

smells trouble.

And some of us

think Herod

is being irrational.

Some Christians

think

that they think

well if only I

could have

half an hour

with Herod

I'm sure I

could calm him

down.

I'm sure I

could explain

to Herod

there's no real

conflict here.

Some Christians

would want to

say if only

Herod you

understood the

sort of king

Jesus is.

And if you

just realise

the kind of

kingdom that

Jesus is trying

to bring in

if I could

just tell

Jesus

if I could

tell Herod

Jesus isn't

interested in

establishing an

earthly and a

political kingdom

but Jesus

kingdom is

spiritual and

heavenly

whatever that

is.

Jesus only

wants to

change the

hearts of

men Herod

and he's

got no plan

to undermine

your regime.

Some people

would like to

say that to

Herod.

Some Christians.

But actually I

want to argue

with you that

Herod is

right.

That Herod

has understood

something very

profound.

Some Christians

would be dying

to say to

Herod there's a

lot of truth in

what you say

but a lot of

error.

Sometimes when we

say Jesus came

to establish a

spiritual kingdom

and a heavenly

kingdom.

very often

those words

are used in

the sense that

Jesus' kingdom

doesn't really

have any

connection with

the real

world.

Where there

are despots

and tyrants

and so on

but that is

not what we

believe.

Is it?

It's not what

we pray.

It's not what

you have

prayed.

Because we

have prayed

this morning

and said

your kingdom

come.

Your will

be done.

On earth

as it is

in heaven.

And what

does it

mean for

God's

kingdom to

come?

What does

it mean for

God's

kingdom to

come in

its fullness?

It means

what the

next phrase

is, isn't

it?

Thy will be

done on

earth as

it is in

heaven.

It is that

spiritual

certainty

because it

is God's

kingdom.

Is it

spiritual?

Yes, of

course it

is.

Is it

political?

You bet

it is.

Because

eventually it

is going to

come.

God's

will is

going to

be done

on earth

as it

is in

heaven.

And that

is very

political.

And we

need to be

aware.

Because there's

a sense in

which even

reformed

Christians can

make Jesus

a religious

figure, a

very safe

religious figure.

And we

don't say

he is

political.

But he

is.

The earth

shall be

filled with

the knowledge

of the

Lord as

the waters

cover the

sea.

And if we

don't believe

that Jesus

kingdom is

political, then

we've got to

turn the

psalm to him,

we've got to

rip it out of

our Bibles.

My concern,

and my point

is that there

is a sense in

which Harold

is right on

target.

He's right on

target about

the political

situation.

What is

that going

to be?

When is

that going

to be?

The point

is that

Jesus did

not come

in his

first coming

to establish

that kingdom

to be sure

that these

are not

just figures

of speech.

When the

Bible says

kings will

bow down

before him

and pay

homage to

him,

when it

says all

nations will

serve him,

the Bible

speaks of

that as

truth.

there is

this political

aspect.

The time

will come

when Jesus'

kingdom will

come and

his reign

has to do

with real

nations and

real kings

and real

despots.

Why do you

think political

powers persecute

the church?

They know,

don't they?

They know

that the

church is a

body that

prays subversive

prayers.

we come

and meet

subversively

this morning.

We pray

prayers like

your kingdom

come,

your will

be done

on earth

as it

is in

heaven.

So I

think

Herod has

got his

words about

it.

He may

not have

realised the

whole pattern

of Jesus'

kingdom,

but he

knew that

if there

was another

king,

he himself

was not

the king.

And that

troubled him.

And that

is something

that we

must continually

remind ourselves

of.

And it's

something that

we must

remind the

world's

rulers of

when we

get the

opportunity.

Whether it's

Theresa May

or Donald

Trump,

or Kim

Yomain,

or Vladimir

Putin,

whoever it

is, they

are not

the ultimate

king.

The politics

comes home

to us.

Each of us,

doesn't it?

Each of us

has a

Herod nature

in ourselves.

none of us

like the

idea of

someone else

reigning in

our place.

And when we

hear that the

Lord Jesus

Christ is

just that,

he is

Lord,

and he

is the

king,

and that

the custom

of kings

is to

rule,

and if

Jesus is

the king,

well that

means I'm

not.

And he

will rule

my life.

And that

means I

don't have

sway anymore.

more.

And that

can make me

just as

troubled.

Herod

gets Christmas

right.

Herod

realises

someone's

got to

die.

Someone's

got to

die.

That's

another

sermon.

These are the

politics that are

involved.

And then

Matthew says

this visit is

important because

of the

providence

that's involved.

Do you see

that?

The providence

that's involved.

Look at

verse 12.

Sarat says

of his

scheme,

verse 7

and 8.

He told

those magi,

are you

sending them

to Bethlehem?

And he

says,

you fellas,

you come

back to

me.

When you

search for

this child

and you

find him,

bring him

backwards so

that I

can go

and worship

him too.

It's

pious

sounding

gobbledygook.

But that

was his

plan.

His plan

was that

these men

would do

his bidding.

He schemes,

he plots.

And when

they finally

come to

report to

him the

location

of the

child,

he would

proceed to

go and

not worship

but liquidate

his newest

rival.

A little

mole blood

never upset

Herod's

stomach.

So this

was his

plan.

I will

wait for

these weird

astrologers

from the

east to

come back

and then I

will proceed.

And it's

interesting,

verse 12,

it says,

doesn't it,

I'm being

warned in a

dream not to

return to

Herod.

They departed

to their

own country

by another

way.

And it's

interesting,

isn't it,

that the

most well

laid plans

by an

earthly

tyrant,

the most

cunning,

crafty

ways by

the rulers

of this

world are

stood on

their head

by the

God of

heaven,

by a

mere

dream.

And that

is what

happens,

God's

providence

is operating.

this

mysterious

and yet

clear manner

of his

working,

in order

to preserve

his

kingdom

and his

people.

And we

know,

don't we,

we know

that it

doesn't

guarantee

each one

of us

that we

will have

immunity

from every

distress.

But it

does say

here,

it does

imply that

no earthly

tyrant,

no matter

how powerful

he may

seem,

can proceed

to destroy

God's

king and

God's

kingdom.

It only

takes a

dream to

upset the

leaders of

the world.

Don't be led

away by the

quietness in

verse 12.

Don't be led

astray by that.

There's no

trumpet and

fanfare,

there's no

earthquake,

there's just

being warned

in a dream.

And some

of us need

to learn that

in the

providence

that God

works in

our lives,

it is very,

very often

undramatic

and unspectacular.

And so

carry this

over into

your own

life,

God's

providence.

That God

is only

present in

your life

if there

is noise

that's

rubbish.

Or if

there's

something

dramatic.

God

works out

his plans

very quietly.

And you

need to

have your

ears

turned,

tuned,

and your

eyes

strange.

Or you

might miss

the quiet

working of

the God

of heaven

working on

behalf of

his people.

It is a

most important

visit because

of the

place,

and because

of the

people,

and because

of the

politics,

and because

of the

providence

of God.

And Matthew

hopes that you

will never

forget it.

Let's pray.

of the

little

of the

people.

tell you

a

little

Let's

a

little