Matthew 2 : 1-12

We'll be looking, Lord willing, at the first 12 verses of chapter 2.

Now, if you would, out of respect for the reading of the Word of God, would you stand

as we look at the text this morning?

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 a star in the east and have come to worship him. Now when Herod

the King heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. And when he gathered all

the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ

was to be born. So they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet,

That you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judea, are not the least among the rulers of Judea,

for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod, when

he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. And

he sent them to Bethlehem and said, Go and search carefully for the young child, and

when you have found him, bring back word to me that I may come and worship him also. Now

when they heard the King, they departed, and behold, the star which they had seen in the

east went before them until it came and stood over where the young child was. And when they

saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the

house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshiped him.

And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him, gold, frankincense,

and myrrh. Then, being divinely warned in the dream that they should not return to Herod,

they departed for their own country another way. Let us pray. And again, I'm going to

ask you to take a moment of silence and ask God to speak to your heart from the sacred

word this morning before I pray. So let's bow.

Father, it is good to be still before you, to be still, to be quiet, to know not only

that you are God, but Lord, that you desire to speak to your people. But Lord, there are

many things that vie for our attention, our affection. Lord, many things that come in

and choke out faith. So Father, this morning, Lord, I would ask for a holy ha-she-rapped

attention, Lord, that we might hear from heaven, we might hear the word of God. Lord, we don't

need to hear from me, Lord, we need to hear from heaven. We need to hear you, Lord. I

pray that the Spirit of God would use these words to strengthen and encourage and nourish

faith in the lives of your people. Oh, Father, I beg of you, Lord God, that you might wake

up the deaf and the blind and the dead, Lord, to the reality and glory of Christ. Lord,

help us to worship you right. And we need you, God, help us, Lord, we beg of you, we

beg for your presence and for your Spirit. Lord, let us be desperate for you to behold

the glory of Christ, Lord, your divine Son, the Savior of the world. God, let us worship

him this morning, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Many, if not most,

and I believe probably all people, at some point in your life, you have experienced what

it's like to be rejected. Everyone does. Rejection is painful. But it's even more painful when

it comes from family or close friends. It feels treacherous. The worst type of rejection,

though, is to be rejected by those who are supposed to love you. I've talked to a few

people on different occasions going through a divorce, counseling them, and they have

said that it would have been easier for them emotionally had their spouse died than to

reject them, that divorce was that hard. But today we're going to see that our Lord also

understands rejection all too well. Isaiah wrote of him in verse 3, said, He is despised,

rejected by men. He is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We hid as it were our

faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him. And friends, that would be,

that would almost be acceptable for talking about a man. If you were saying, if Ryan McKee

were the subject of that, okay, that's not so terrible. But the one who is despised,

the one who is rejected, the one who is not esteemed, is the preeminent, the divine Son

of God Himself. One of the saddest verses in all scriptures and found in John 1-11,

He came to His own. He wanted to, He came to them and yet His own did not receive Him.

He came to the house of Israel. Israel rejects Him, resolutely rejected Him. The Lord Himself

said a prophet basically has honor everywhere except in his own country, among his own relatives,

and even in his own house. And that's where exactly the Lord was rejected. So from the

very beginning, from the outset of the life of Christ, we see a foreshadowing somehow

that insiders, those closest to Him in proximity, will reject Him and outsiders and foreigners

will receive Him. See, Israel as a nation saw Him as an imposter, yet miraculously many

Gentiles saw Him as the Messiah. This division was prophesied even shortly after His birth.

I mean, this was not to be unexpected. When we read over in Luke 2, which is a companion

passage here, we read about Simeon, this devout man who had a prophecy that was absolutely

astounding in its implication. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was

Simeon, just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before

he had seen the Lord's Christ. We'll skip down to verse 34. Then Simeon blessed them,

blessed Joseph and Mary and the child, and said to Mary his mother, behold, this child

is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken

against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also so that the thoughts of

many hearts may be revealed. Simeon saying, this child, he's talking to Mary, this child

that you have born is a sign. A sign that many is going to speak against, many is going

to blaspheme it. And he warned, he said, many will fall with this child and many will rise

with this child. What does that mean? Simeon is saying that your response to this child

will determine your destiny. As you recall, Matthew's purpose in writing this gospel,

this is a letter, he's wanting to write with a purpose in mind, and it was to strengthen

the faith of Jewish believers, but it was also to convince Jewish unbelievers that this

child, that Jesus, is the Christ. Now he started in chapter one, we looked at that a few weeks

ago, with the Ancestry showing that this child is both the son of Abraham and the son of

David. Meaning he is the fulfillment of all the sweeping promises made to both Abraham

and David in their respective covenants. Matthew also detailed that extraordinary virgin conception

and subsequently virgin birth, which was a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of chapter

seven, verse 14. But as we turn the page in our Bibles, we come to chapter two. Again,

there are no chapter divisions in the original autographs, but we see that our Lord has just

been born and up to this time, there's not, up to this point, he has not uttered a word,

he has not done one single act, he has not performed any miracles at all yet, and yet

in this passage we see that his birth provoked foreigners to come worship him, and it provoked

a Jewish king into a maniacal, murderous rage. Indeed, this is a sign. So let's look at verses

one and two again. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Judah, in the days of Herod the

king, that's important, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is

he who's been born king of the Jews? We have seen a star in the east and have come to worship

him, proskeneo, true worship there. So chapter one ends with our Lord's birth, but we have

not been given any further details. We don't even know where the child was born. We have

not yet been told. But chapter two opens and says, no, the child was born in Bethlehem,

and you and I know the story and that sounds so familiar, oh little town of Bethlehem.

But why Bethlehem? Joseph and Mary did not live in Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary lived in

Nazareth. So why were they in Bethlehem at the time for Mary to give birth? Because normally

at the end of a pregnancy you don't travel too far from home, and yet they did. So why,

why were they in Bethlehem? Luke two tells us, and it came to pass in those days that

a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. There's

a census taking place. This census first took place while Carinius was governing Syria.

So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee

out of the city of Nazareth, that's where he lived with Mary, into Judea to the city

of David, which is called Bethlehem. Why? Well, he was of the house and lineage of David,

that's chapter one, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.

Joseph was a descendant of David. So now he had to return to his ancestral city. He had

to go back up to Bethlehem, the city of David, in this case to be registered in this Roman

census. That's why he was there. So while he was there, we know that she gave birth.

Now Bethlehem, the name Bethlehem actually means house of bread. It's interesting isn't

that the bread of life is born into the house of bread. But even more importantly than that

suggestion, we have the prophecy of Micah, which is actually given here in Matthew chapter

two, Micah five two. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands

of Judah, because Judah was going to bring the Messiah, yet out of you shall come forth

to me the one to be ruler in Israel, who's going forth are from old, from everlasting.

The Messiah had to be born in Bethlehem because it was foretold by the prophet Micah, but

Jesus wasn't from Bethlehem. He was from Nazareth. What do you find here? I love this. God moved

a pagan king, Julia Caesar here, Caesar Augustus, God moved in the life and heart of a pagan

king to take a census over in Israel that would require Mary and Joseph to go back to

Bethlehem at just the precise time that she was to give birth to this child. He is moving

what you see here, what looked like a simple government act, a census, proved to be the

tool the Lord used to have prophecy fulfilled. God himself was moving heaven and earth to

providentially fulfill his will concerning the arrival of his son. He wants the nations

to know about the birth of this child, and he's doing everything there. So we see God

from the very beginning, he's in control. He is always in control, and he is moving

history along just as he has decreed. There was no way, friend, that that child would

not be born in Bethlehem. Whatever it took, when Mary had to deliver, it would take place

in Bethlehem. Now Matthew's Jewish readers would not, no doubt, they would understand

the import and significance of that town because if you're Jewish, you know the prophecies.

If you're a Gentile, that probably doesn't mean a whole lot to you because you don't

understand why Bethlehem, why is that so needed? And yet what seems to be an insignificant

detail being born in Bethlehem, it is further confirmation, it is further proof that this

child born to Mary, born to Joseph, is the Lord's Christ. He is the Savior sent from

God. And that's the point that Matthew's driving at. He wants the whole world to know,

especially Jewish readers, that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah sent from God to be the Savior

of mankind. Now Mary and Joseph, if you looked at them, they probably looked like any ordinary

couple, but this was no ordinary child. The child that she had just given birth to was

the king of the Jews. And to everyone's surprise, a group of wise men, Magi, showed up from

the Orient, from the East, seeking to find this child. It is surprising that the first

people showing any interest in this child are not Jews. They're Gentiles. No doubt

the time the Magi arrived, that Jesus had already been probably one to two years old,

or at least several months old. Why? Because the distance that the Magi traveled would

have been slow, and it would have been dangerous. Who were they? Foreign astronomers, astrologers,

a priestly class. Now we don't know exactly where they were from, and we don't know how

many there were. We know there are three wise men, well there are three gifts. But we know

they were from the East, and many believe from the land of Babylon. That's Persian Empire,

that's today Iran or Iraq. Now the Magi, you need to understand this, were some of the

highest ranking officials in Babylon. They were skilled in math, they were skilled in

science, they were particularly skilled in astrology. They dabbled though in the occult.

They were known for their ability to interpret dreams, and you also saw that in the book

of Daniel. But remember there's this one time that none of the wise men could interpret

a dream of the king, King Nebuchadnezzar. And so what did he say? You're all going to

die. And at that point, Daniel rose, interpreted the dream, and saved many of their lives.

Well because of this act, Daniel was promoted. He came to be well respected, well known in

the Babylonian Empire, especially among the Magi. Now for this reason, many scholars believe

that the Magi learned about the one true God from Daniel, who would have wielded incredible

influence in that time. He also would have told them about this coming king, this messiah,

and he would have given them some prophecies surrounding the child. Now we know later,

once they had 70 years had expired, the Jews were actually free to go back to the land

of Israel. But many desired to stay in Babylon, and they intermarried. So the Jewish influence

stayed strong, and no doubt messianic expectations would have remained strong. And now we're

talking about five, six hundred years later. So what happens? You have these wise men,

you have these Magi. Where do they go? They go to Jerusalem, not to Bethlehem. Why? Well

think about it. If you assume that the king had been born, you naturally assume he must

have been born in Jerusalem, the capital city. So they arrive in Jerusalem, they begin asking

questions. Where is this child who had been born king of the Jews? Do you find it interesting

that no one in Israel was asking that question? No one was asking where is the king of the

Jews. Instead you have a nation that should have known was oblivious to the birth of this

king. So the first people, again see the foreshadowing, the first people who had come to worship

him were outsiders, Gentiles. Insiders seemed to be indifferent. So now King Herod's going

to react to this arrival. Look at verses three through eight. When Herod heard the king heard

this, he was troubled. All the Jews went with him. Now that's an understatement. So he gathered

chief priests, scribes, he wanted to know where the Christ would be born and they told

him. Verse seven he says, okay now tell me exactly when did the star appear? And verse

eight he says very infamously, will you all go find that child and let me know where he

is so that just like you I will come and pay homage to him. I will also come and worship

him. So Matthew introduces to another king figure. Here's King Herod. Now this Herod

is not Herod Antipas when Jesus was crucified. That would be this Herod, it's his father.

This is Herod the Great. He's not great in any sense of the word. They called him Herod

the Great because he had expansive renovation projects and building projects all over Israel

and Palestine. In fact the temple, he rebuilt the temple and so the temple at the time of

Jesus was called Herod's temple, later destroyed by the Romans. So he's half Jewish. He was

not ethnically a Jew, he was ethnically an Edomite. Remember the Edomites, the descendants

of Esau. So he's not ethnically Jewish so that's one of the reasons the Jews despise

this guy but they had much reason to despise him. His father was a politician, had been

appointed by Julius Caesar and so when this Herod, Herod the Great, he goes over to Rome

in around 40 BC and he meets Octavian who would later become Caesar Augustus. So Octavian

likes him, Mark Anthony likes him and they declared him and conferred on him this title,

get this, King of the Jews. Herod was a shrewd but paranoid politician. He was known for

his cruelty and merciless behavior. He's paranoid, he's always on the lookout for insurrection

and those who might be seeking his throne. He had 10 wives, many different children and

he was suspicious and paranoid of them. His favorite wife Miriam, he had killed. He also

had at least three and possibly four of his sons executed. It was either Caesar or Antonin,

I can't remember which now as I was reading about this, one of them made this quote, it

had better, it would have been better to be the swine of Herod than the son of Herod.

So Herod was ruthless. He had his brother-in-law who was a high priest killed by drowning.

He then had his mother-in-law executed. He was so evil that shortly before his death

he took the most illustrious, respectable citizens of Jerusalem, he arrested them and

imprisoned them. Now why did he do that? He knew that no one was going to mourn his death.

So he gave orders that when he died, these upstanding citizens whom he had imprisoned

were to be executed so that he could guarantee there would be mourning in Jerusalem when

he died. This is this Herod. Now you're going to see later, not today, Lord willing next

week, it's the same evil man who ordered all the male children in Bethlehem, two years

and younger, to be murdered. That's this man. He's despicable. He's a ruthless man. He's

seeking to maintain power and position as king of the Jews at all costs. I think it's

interesting. You have a man seeking to maintain power while the all-powerful one is lying

in weakness and human frailty. You see political power at its worst and divine power at its

best. So you can start to see his surprise, his fear, his paranoia. You have a caravan

of Eastern magi stroll into Jerusalem and they're looking for a child who was born

and they claimed he was king of the Jews. Now what was Herod's title? He was king of

the Jews. Again, foreshadowing, foreigners seeking this child, Israel and Herod himself

seem perplexed and have known nothing about it. Now verse three tells us that Herod and

all Jerusalem were troubled, Greek is terrazo and that means stirred, agitated. They're

anxious. Herod is a paranoid person by nature. The rival of these Eastern men only exacerbated

his problem so no doubt his anxiety and his paranoia were through the roof right now.

One commentator said this, the magi were important and powerful in the East so they probably

arrived with a large caravan of servants and soldiers which made their presence even more

unsettling to Herod. Do you see what Matthew is doing? He's setting up a contrast between

the humanly appointed king of the Jews who is a life taker. Contrast that with the divinely

appointed king of the Jews who is a life giver and who will allow his own life to be taken.

Do you see the kingdom of man, the kingdom of God? Are you starting to see what Matthew

is doing? See Herod now, he knew that this child that these wise men were seeking still

had to be very young so he called all the leading religious officials in Jerusalem to

him and said, now where is this messiah feigning interest? Where is he going to be born? And

of course they know how to answer correctly. They tell him it's Bethlehem. Why? Well that's

the birthplace that Micah had prophesied 700 years earlier. Now Herod decided I'm going

to do a little reconnaissance mission of mine. I'm going to start seeking. Verse 7, he secretly

calls the Magi by again and he says, now when did this star appear? Now we are told that

earlier the Magi informed Herod they had seen his star in the east. Now let's just clear

up some confusion about the Christian story. The text at that point does not say that the

star moved and guided them to Jerusalem. They were in the east and they said they saw his

star. Now they saw this star and they somehow connected it to messianic prophecy and they

decided we need to head to Jerusalem to find this child. We're not given a lot of information

about that. So Herod, he's desperate. He wants to know more about the timing of this birth.

How old would this child be? Well he's wondering does this child already pose a threat to his

position? So that's why later you will learn just in case he's just going to wipe out a

group of young boys. Herod says, now tell me the whereabouts. When you find him, you

go find him, you let me know where he is because I also want to come and worship him. He pretends

he's feigning this. Now verse 9 through 12, these Magi, they find Jesus. When they heard

the king, they knew the prophecy, they departed. Now notice the text, and behold the star which

they had seen in the east. Now it goes before them till it came and stood over where the

young child was. Now they were surprised as when they saw the star, they rejoiced with

exceedingly great joy. Then they come into the house and pay homage, they worship. So

now immediately when they find out that Jesus is not in Jerusalem but in Bethlehem, they

leave. Bethlehem is only five miles outside of Jerusalem. It's not a long way. But how

would they know which house the Lord was in? He was not still in a manger, guys. This is

months ago. They were in a house at this point. How would they know which house was his? Now

at this point, the text tells us the star that they had earlier seen reappeared and

would now guide them to where the Christ was. Now there has been much debate on what this

star was. Probably more debate on the passage about the star than anything else. Some say

what was the comet or a meteor? Some say because they know that there's an alignment of two

planets, Saturn and Jupiter, that took place around that time and that would have made

a great sign in the sky. Others say no, it was just a supernatural star. Others say it

was the Shekinah glory of God. Now here's where we can be dogmatic. We don't know.

Whatever it was, it had been providentially directed by God to lead these magi to the

Messiah. Now I think a case can be made, now hear me out here, that it was the Shekinah

glory of God that was leading them. We read, and there's many reasons, I've tried to put

this in more succinct fashion. First of all, do you remember where was the Shekinah glory?

It was over the temple. It filled the temple. Who's this child to be born? He's the temple.

He's the true temple, the place where God and man meet. But anyways, in Luke 2, 9, you

know the Christmas story, behold an angel of the Lord stood before them, that's shepherds,

and the glory of the Lord shone around them, the glory of the Lord shone around them, and

they were greatly afraid. If you go back to the Old Testament, God's glory was manifested

by light, blazing light, ineffable light. Do you remember when Saul, when he meets the

risen Christ on the road to Damascus, that light was so bright, it blinded Saul. In fact,

we are told in Acts chapter 9, it was brighter than the sun. In Matthew 17, when our Lord

Acts 9 · chapter mention

is transfigured before Peter, James, and John, we are told that Christ's face shone like

the sun, and his garments became white as light. In Revelation, the book of Revelation,

the final New Jerusalem, that eternal dwelling place, we are told there will not be a need

for the sun or the moon. Why? Because the glory of God will be the light. But here's

what I think is most convincing to me. This is what made me really think this is reading

through this in St. Corinthians 4. Paul writing, he says, it is the God who commanded light

to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge,

now notice, of the glory of God, where? In the face of Jesus Christ. The glory of God

resides in this child. I believe it is very reasonable, I would even say probable, that

the star or the light that the Magi had seen was the Shekinah glory of God leading them

to Christ. And you're like, well, wouldn't everyone have seen it? Do you remember back

when Israel was being led out of Egypt? The light to them was light, and to Egypt it was

darkness. What was light to the people of God was darkness to the opponents of God.

Because God must reveal the sun. I think it's the same thing of the glory of God in the

face of Jesus Christ. Some people see him and desire him as this glorious one because

God has revealed it to them. He shows them light. So I think that's exactly what it was.

Now I do know it's not any ordinary star. Why? Because notice the text. These Magi,

they are professional astronomers, and they were amazed and rejoiced exceedingly when

they saw the star reappear. If this is just some star they're tracking, stars are very

consistent. They are exceedingly rejoicing. Like, wow, there it is again. We see it once

more. So they're rejoicing, and it says exceedingly. So what happens? Now they finally find the

house with the child. They go in. The Magi find the Christ, and here's what's interesting.

They fall prostrate before the child, worshiping him, proskoneo again, giving him gifts. These

powerful, influential, Eastern dignitaries, they humble themselves before a child. No

more than two, perhaps one years old. Why? Because this child was God in the flesh. He

was the Messiah sent from God to save his people from their sin. The fact that they

worshiped him and they were not rebuked testifies to the deity of this child. They are not rebuked

for falling down. That's exactly what they should have done. Now Charles Wesley in the

Christmas hymn wrote it so poignantly. Do you remember that line that says, veiled in

flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity, pleased as man with men to dwell,

Jesus our Emmanuel. Now this doesn't stop there. This worship, this adoration continues.

Now this Magi, they bring gifts to our Lord. Yes, they were very expensive, which some

people say that's probably how that Mary and Joseph funded their trip to back out of Egypt,

because you're going to see they have to flee. But they were gifts befitting the birth of

a king. Gold, anytime a royal family member was born, a royal figure was born, one of

the gifts that would be given by dignitaries would be gold, just common. You have frankincense,

a very expensive spice as well, but this was primarily used in priestly worship. So you

have a king, you have priestly worship, still expensive but not as expensive as frankincense.

But this was used in ancient times as an ointment to bury the dead. If these gifts are signs,

I believe they are, Matthew takes the time to write about them, then what you see is

a priestly king who would die. Matthew is once again proving to anyone who's going

to read this gospel, the child born to these humble parents in Bethlehem is the king of

the Jews who would save his people by his bloody death. And you might be saying, so

what? How do you, what's this for us? I want you to think with me about the birthplace

for just a minute as we close. I told you earlier, Bethlehem means the house of bread.

Bethlehem was also known as the place of sheep. It's a shepherding town. It's the city of

David. David was the great shepherd king, right? Now the first mention of Bethlehem

is actually in Genesis 35. It's where Rachel was actually buried. Do you know what Rachel

means? It's a U, it's a female lamb, it's a U lamb. Where was she buried? At Migdal

Eder. Okay, that's a Hebrew name and it just simply translates tower of the flock. According

to Jewish history, and I looked at several articles and I found all of them supporting

this, a lot of information from reputable sites like the Gospel Coalition and others

who say this. I found one who disapproves, but I'm one of the many that said it. According

to Jewish history, it was at Migdal Eder in Bethlehem that unblemished firstborn male

lambs were born and they would wrap them because these were going to be sacrificial lambs.

Do you remember if you're going to sacrifice a lamb at Passover, you had to sacrifice a

lamb without blemish. Passover would take place in the spring so you would have all

these lambs being born around wintertime. So they wrapped in cloths, they brought to

Jerusalem so they could sacrifice them. Micah, you know 5-2, Micah 4-8 says this, and you

know tower of the flock. In Hebrew that's Migdal Eder. That's again where Rachel would

have been born, or buried, excuse me. The stronghold of the daughter of Zion, to you

it shall come, even the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

Micah tells us that this kingdom, this king, is somehow going to come from the tower of

the flock, Migdal Eder. Where is Migdal Eder? It's in Bethlehem. When the Lord Jesus of

Pears on the scene, do you remember how that prophet John the Baptist announces his arrival?

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We do know that when he

was born he also was wrapped in cloths, we're told swaddling cloths. Later Mary and Joseph

would bring this child, this Lamb of God, in their arms and present him before the priest.

In fact they had to do so. Why? What's all this saying to us? That this child is the

true Passover Lamb who by offering himself as the final and ultimate sacrifice would

live up to his name and save his people from their sin. Do you remember Simeon I told you

just kind of in the beginning? He made that prophecy. He said many are going to fall and

many are going to rise on account of this child. Friends that is still true today. You

will fall and fall permanently and irreversibly if you reject this child. Amen. Irreversibly

you will fall. Headlong into eternal destruction. And you will rise and you will rise eternally

and irreversibly if you receive and accept him and the gracious offer of salvation that

he gives. This is the point of Matthew, this is the point of this church, this is the point

of God moving heaven and earth to announce the arrival of the Son. There is no other

one. This child, he alone is the Christ, the Messiah. He is the true King of the Jews.

He is the only and unique and exclusive Savior of the world. So that means if you are here

today, if you are to be saved, there is no other way ever possible for you to come before

God and be rescued from your sin unless you come through him in repentant faith. That's

it. And here's the appropriate response. Do you know how, how do I know if I've seen Jesus

truly? Here's the appropriate response. You're going to see him and when you see him through

the eyes of faith, just like the Magi did, you know what you're going to do? You're going

to fall down before him, prostrate, worshiping him, giving him honor just as his Magi did

because he's the worthy one. That's what Matthew is saying. Worship your King, church. Understand

what God has done for you in giving you Christ. What a blessed hope we have. We're going to

stand and we're going to sing two songs. First of all, just right now we're going to sing

one. We're going to sing a hymn that we normally do at Christmas. And that line that Charles

Wesley wrote is just too good. Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity.

We're going to stand and sing.