Seeking The King

You're very welcome to today's Triumph Church podcast.

We pray that you enjoy the message.

The The Christmas Story is an absolutely amazing story.

Sometimes we, we read in Matthew and Luke and some of the parts

of the Christmas story and we just kind of read through it and

don't really, don't really read it with the amazement.

I think that we really should because it's one of the most

miraculous, amazing stories that you'll ever come in contact

with. It's the story of, of Jesus

stepping down from heaven and being born into humanity as a

little baby. And there's nothing more

vulnerable than a little baby. And what's amazing it is that

Jesus stepped down from heaven, stepped down from from

everything that that made him divine, made him deity, and

stepped into the race of humanity.

And why did he do that? He did that for the purpose of

saving us from what would have been just really the punishment

against our sin, right? We serve an amazing, loving,

miraculous God. So this morning I I want to read

some of the Christmas story in Matthew chapter 2.

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

We're going to read through Matthew 2 verses one through 12

and this is a story of the wise men.

You know the wise men in in Scripture, right And in verse

one it says Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the

reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men

from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking in verse 2,

Where is the newborn king of the Jews?

We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him in

verse 3. King Herod was deeply disturbed

when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem, and he

called a meeting with the leading priest and teachers of

religious law and asked, where is the Messiah supposed to be

born? In verse 5, in Bethlehem in

Judea, they said, For this is what the prophet wrote, And you,

O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the

ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you, who

will be the shepherd for my people Israel.

And in verse 7 it says, then Herod called for a private

meeting with the wise men and learned from them the time when

the star first appeared. Then he told them, go to

Bethlehem and search carefully for the Child, and when you find

him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him

too. And then in verse 9, after the

interview, the wise men went their way, and the star they had

seen in the East guided them to Bethlehem.

And it went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the

Child was. And when they saw the star, they

were filled with joy, and they entered the house and saw the

child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped

him. And then they opened their

treasure chest and gave him gifts of gold and frankincense

and myrrh. Verse 12.

And when it was time to leave, they returned to their own

country by another route. For God had warned them in a

dream not to return to Herod. Isn't that an amazing part of

the Christmas story? And really, there's so much in

here. When Jesus entered the the

world, heaven actually announced him.

You know that. Do you realize that?

But not to the kings, not to the priests, not to the religious

elite. And make no mistake, the birth

of Jesus is a miraculous and amazing event.

In Luke chapter 2 it says that the angels filled the sky

Luke 2 · chapter mention

singing, announcing Jesus birth to shepherds, didn't he?

And then here in Matthew it records that in another part of

the world, wise men from the East followed a supernatural

star. Isn't that amazing?

Followed a star? How do you follow a star?

Like, you can see a star in the sky, right?

And you can try to, you know, walk in its direction or travel

in its direction. But it says here that they

followed the star. And it actually says that it

stopped at one point, right? So this was a moving star, I

guess. It's miraculous.

It's an amazing story, but it wasn't who you expect would seek

this newborn king like you think.

It would have been like the religious elite in Israel.

They knew the scripture, didn't they?

Right. But it was shepherds, normal

people tending their flock in the field, and it was wise men

who travelled a long distance seeking that little baby.

The Lord reveals Himself to everyone who seeks him in

Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse 13.

Jeremiah 29 · chapter mention

God gives us this promise to all of us, says if you look for me

wholeheartedly, you will find me.

And on this special Christmas Sunday, we're going to look at

the story of the wise men and the story of the birth of Jesus

and what these wise men did because they sacrificed a lot to

search for Jesus. They risked a lot to search for

Jesus to come and worship him. So there's several things that

we can learn from these wise men.

The first thing is that they sought him.

The second thing is they were willing to sacrifice.

And then the third thing is they honoured him.

But who were these wise men? You know, they're called Magi,

Magi from the east. And what little that we know is

found here in the 2nd chapter of Matthew.

But we can also examine the the magi in the book of Daniel.

And then there's historical accounts helping us piece

together their story too. But these wise men were much

more than just simple travellers.

And what's so interesting is that many biblical scholars

actually believe that they were descendants of men who would

have learned and studied under the prophet Daniel.

You remember the story of Daniel in the the lion's den, right?

Well, the Lord had positioned Daniel to become the head of all

wise men in two major ancient kingdoms.

You have the Babylonians under King Nebuchadnezzar and then the

Persian Empire under King Cyrus. And these wise men were very

influential and had great power in the King's court and his

empire, both empires. And God had used Daniel mightily

in accurately prophesying different future events.

He also used Daniel in a number of occasions to interpret the

dreams of those rulers of those kings.

But one thing that that Daniel prophesied and what's really

interesting is, is the exact time frame, the exact timeline

for the coming Messiah. And we find that written in

Chapter 9 and verses 24 through 26 in the book of Daniel.

And so using Daniel's prophecy, the Magi had an accurate time

frame of the exact year that the Jewish king was to be born.

I don't know if you find that as interesting as I find it

interesting. I'm kind of a nerd about these

kind of things, but it's so cool how God actually gave the exact

time frame and you think all of Israel would be like having like

a year long festival. This is the year, right, That

the this long sought after Messiah that we've been talking

about, that we've been dreaming about, that we've been reading

about in Scripture. This is the year that Scripture

says that he's supposed to come and yet it was quiet.

Isn't that interesting? I would figure there would be

massive festivals happening, but there wasn't.

When the time had come, the magi's heart seemed to be

stirred in anticipation. Because did you notice in verse

2 what they had said? They said to King Herod that we

saw his star as it rose. Not just we saw a star, right?

They said we saw his star as it rose.

They knew what this star represented.

They knew something miraculous, something supernatural was

happening. At the time of Jesus birth,

these Magi lived in a large dominant Eastern Kingdom known

as the Parthian Empire. And that empire was Rome's major

rival at that time. Just to the east of Rome.

These Magi were those who approved the the King's

ascending to a throne. They had a lot of power.

And so naturally when they visited Israel and they were

talking with King Herod, all of Jerusalem became nervous.

This was a a major rival. And here you have these wise men

asking the question, where is the king of the Jews being born?

These are people that that were the ones that that would crown

kings approve of them. So this wasn't something that

Herod didn't take notice of. This was a big event, you know,

and of course, in, in we have like in all the, the major

scenes and, and a lot of the films, the cartoons and things,

you have, you know, three wise men, you know, that are pictured

in that right. But the Bible doesn't specify

really the number. And it probably wasn't these

three wise men just travelling on their own.

It was it was like a A2 year long journey from where they

were across deserts, across like it.

Back in those days you didn't travel just by yourself, you'd

be setting yourself up to be robbed, right?

It was dangerous to travel by yourself.

So they probably travelled in a large caravan and they, we don't

actually know like how many it was that came to find Jesus.

It could be 3 perhaps, but likely not.

It was probably a large caravan, right?

But they were coming asking where the newborn king of the of

the Jews was. Well, let's look at three things

that we can take away from this Christmas story.

And the first is that these wise men sought Jesus.

And ironically, like I said, all of Israel had the Scripture.

They had the prophecies of the coming Messiah, the same

prophecies that that these Magi would have had, the same

scriptures that these Magi would have had.

But but these men outside of the covenant that God made with

Israel, they recognized something.

But the Israelites didn't. No priest, no religious leader,

no Sadducee, no Pharisee. Only the wise men came in search

of Jesus. For all the talk and

anticipation of the promise Deliverer, the coming Messiah,

you would have thought that more than shepherds, more than these

wise men would have come in search for someone who was so

important in Jewish culture. And yet it was quiet.

These Magi, their their ancestors had lived through

Israel's exile and they would have known about the prophecies

taught by Daniel who once served over their order.

They would have had exposure and access to Jewish scripture, the

writings from Daniel. And so when this brilliant,

unusual star appeared, they recognized it not just as a

star, they recognized it as his star in Numbers chapter 24 and

Numbers 24 · chapter mention

verse 17 as a prophecy that says this says I see him, but not

now. I behold him, but not near.

A star shall come out of Jacob. A scepter shall rise out of

Israel. They followed this revelation

from this prophecy and interpreted it accurately.

And they travelled all the way from the east to Jerusalem, a

really long journey that would take almost two years to make.

You know, back then they may have traveled, I don't know,

like 2550 kilometers in a day. Like, it took a long time to

travel the thousands of kilometers from where they were

to Jerusalem. It was a big deal.

Herod, hearing that they were looking for the newborn king,

interviewed these wise men. And after immediately he

summoned the chief priests and scribes demanding where to know

this young king was born. And he wasn't really wanting to

know to honor him. His intentions weren't pure.

They weren't right like the wise men's.

His intentions were, you know, back in those days, if if there

was a king that was born another family or something like a lot

of times they would put to death the members, not just of someone

that they were going to be ruling over, you know, who would

try to take power from them, but they would put their whole

family to death as well. So King Herod was probably

greatly terrified. Here you have these magi, these

these wise men who are the anointers of, of king in the

Persian Empire there, right? And they're coming asking about

this Jewish king. So they're probably, he's

probably freaking out a little bit wondering what in the world

is going on. So he interviews these wise men

trying to find out what's going on for his own preservation, not

to actually honor. And when he would talked with

those Jewish priests afterwards, they quoted Micah chapter 5 and

Micah 5 · chapter mention

verse 2 without hesitation, which reads But you Bethlehem,

Bethlehem, Ephratha, just another name for Bethlehem.

And though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out

of you shall come forth to me the one to be the ruler in

Israel, whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting.

And although these priests knew that prophecy, they didn't move.

Herod heard this prophecy, but he didn't move either.

Only the wise men took this revelation seriously enough and

decided to follow it. Matthew records this in 92

Matthew 92. After this interview, the wise

men went their way and the star they had seen in the East guided

them to Bethlehem. And it went ahead of them and

stopped over the place where the child was.

And again, like, this is a miraculous thing here.

Like this is a moving star. Have you ever seen a comet in

the sky? Like it's really cool.

Well, this is different than that.

This is actually a star that's supernaturally moving, leading

them directly A2 year journey across deserts, across to all

sorts of terrain that they followed to where this newborn

king was to be born. It's amazing, isn't it?

They didn't have GPS, they didn't have a map.

God gave them a * like how many of us would follow a star,

right? Like it's a two year journey,

The preparations that our family have to make in order to just go

on holiday for a week, right? Like that's a lot, you're

travelling with a, a big group of people, you know, we're just

a, a family of five, but it takes a lot of preparation for

that. But then you have, you know, a

big caravan. What kind of preparations, what

kind of money, what kind of time would go into preparing for this

journey? And these wise men were sold,

right? They see the star and they

recognize what it is. And so they start this process

and they're invested in it. A two year journey.

Such a cool story. The story tells that this

revelation isn't just information, but really

revelation is an invitation. How have we responded to the

revelation that we have of Jesus in our lives?

Do we take it for granted? Are we willing to to seek after

Jesus like these wise men did, sacrificing a lot to follow so

that they could worship Him, so that they could honor him?

The second thing that we can learn from the wise men is that

they were willing to sacrifice. The journey from the east, like

I said, to Israel, was a long and dangerous journey.

And they travelled far, thousands of kilometers.

This wasn't just a weekend trip, right, where they're just

packing an overnight bag. They're loading up animals,

livestock with food and everything else they need with

water for crossing the desert. This is a big, massive endeavor.

And this is another thing when, when, when, when Jerusalem saw

this big caravan coming. Who are these people, right?

And word spread around really quickly and they find found out

exactly who they were. But these were the wise men.

These were Magi from the East. This is a big deal to us.

We just read this story and we don't think of it as much.

You know, there's simple songs about 3 wise men, right?

But there's so much more to the story.

These wise men didn't come to investigate.

They didn't come to be impressed, but they actually

came to honor a king. Matthew notes that the the wise

men's response when the stars stopped in Matthew chapter 2 and

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

verse 9 and 10, it says and the star they had seen in the East

guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and

stopped over the place where the child was and that amazing.

But then it says when they saw the star, they were filled with

joy. Why is that?

It's because they had reached. The destination.

Imagine travelling on a journey like that for over 2 years,

thousands of kilometers and finally the star stops and it

rests over this house. And they were filled with joy

because they had arrived at the place knowing exactly what it

was that they were going to see and what they were going to

experience because they were following Scripture.

They entered the house where Joseph, Mary and that young

child were staying. No palace like you'd expect from

a newborn king. No throne, no royal fanfare.

Just a humble home with a humble family.

But the moment that they saw him, everything in their hearts

recognized who he truly was. Not just a baby being born, but

the King of Kings and the climax of the story isn't the star as

amazing and fascinating as that is?

If you were astronomer like, that would be a very interesting

thing to study, wouldn't it? It's not even the journey, as

amazing and difficult as that would be.

And it's not even the gifts that they brought.

It's the third thing that we can learn from these wise men, that

they honored Jesus. What they brought, the most

amazing gift, I think that they brought the King of kings, the

Lord of Lords, Emmanuel, which means God with us.

They brought honor. They came to honor Him, to

worship him. In Matthew 211, it says they

entered the house and saw the child with his mother Mary, and

they bowed down and worshipped him.

And then they opened their treasure chests and they gave

him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, like treasure chest.

What do you picture of when you see like treasure chest?

You know, I kind of picture like the, the pirates treasure, you

know, like this, this big, this big chest full of gold to blooms

and whatever, whatever else, you know, like they didn't just like

pull out their wallet and, you know, count out a couple quid.

You know, here's a here's a fiver, right?

No, they have these treasure chest, right?

And they're probably heavy. One full of gold, one full of

frankincense, one full of myrrh. These weren't only symbolic

items. These were actually treasures

from the East. These things were all worth a

lot of money. But it wasn't just that that

they were bringing him gold is something usually only royalty

would have. You wouldn't have a common

person walk around and, and pull a, a gold coin out of their

pocket. You know, that thing, that kind

of stuff. Kings would have Gold was a

symbol of, of like royalty. You go into, you know, a palace

and there's gold all around. You go into a normal person's

home and there's a dirt floor, right?

There's no gold anywhere, but they bring gold fit for royalty.

Frankincense was used for worship back then in temples and

different places. They would burn frankincense to

worship their gods or whatever. Do you see what these men, these

wise men, were bringing? Gold fit for royalty,

frankincense for worship, and then myrrh was used for

anointing. These are kingmakers, aren't

they? These were intentional gifts.

They knew whom they were bringing these gifts to, and

these were gifts of honor. God had supernaturally LED them

to Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords.

And these gifts that they brought declared what heaven had

already declared, that this child is king.

These kingmakers then bowed before the King of kings, and

these are men who were accustomed to standing before

earthly rulers. They worked and operated and

advised kings right there used to being in the presence of

those kind of individuals. But here they walk into this

humble home, right? And before this, this child,

this small child, and they prostate themselves before him,

bowing and worshipping him. Like I said, back then, floors

were made of dirt a lot of times.

So they're getting down like what kind of clothes these are.

These are men who were bringing gold, a chest of gold, right?

A chest of frankincense, a chest of myrrh.

They probably had really nice clothes.

And yet they're just prostrating themselves on this dirty floor,

not giving a care, humbling themselves before this little

child. Isn't that amazing?

These wise men sought and found Jesus.

We've all sought Jesus as well. We've all found Jesus, haven't

we? But are we willing to humble

ourselves and prostate ourselves on the ground and worship Him

and bow before Him? It's amazing what He's done.

So I'm going to close with the reading of this last scripture

here in Matthew chapter 2 and verse 12.

Matthew 2 · chapter mention

It says when it was time to leave, they returned to their

own country by another route for God had warned them in a dream

not to return to Herod. Listen, my hope this Christmas

is that none of us would approach these coming

celebrations that we may be having the same way that those

who aren't seeking the King of kings are celebrating.

It's wonderful to have all these celebrations.

You know, I, I went to, we went to choice here in Klain and I'm

looking at the Christmas decorations that they had there,

you know, and the only thing that I saw that had any

reference of this amazing story at all was a little greeting

card on an end cap. Everything else had nothing to

do with the King of Kings, with the Lord of Lords.

This world is seeking something different with the celebration

than we are. And I just wanted to kind of

bring the story a little bit to light to you because what what

we're celebrating is different. We're celebrating the King of

kings who came and sacrificed everything, sacrificed all for

each and every one of us. And so that I hope that that our

perspective will be a little different than those who aren't

seeking Jesus. Let us be the ones who are

seeking him this Christmas season.

Seek him like the the wise men who came to honor him and

worship him. So it is whatever it is that

you're doing this holiday season.

And we have this upcoming youth Christmas party for the Youth of

Triumph Church. Part of that is going to be

worshipping and honoring the King of Kings, right?

We're doing carols in the barn next Sunday, singing Christmas

carols. That's, that's us coming

together as a, as a church and it's going to be a fun event.

But that's worshipping and honoring Jesus Christ, the Lord

of Lords, right? So that I, I hope that that our

whole perspective will just be different this year and that

we'll be able to share that with other people.

Listen, just like those wise men when that star stopped and they

were full of joy, like this should be a season that we're

full of joy. I know it's busy.

I know there's a lot going on, you know, but it's not about the

presents, right? It's not about the parties.

It's not about the celebrations. It's not about any of those

things. All those, those things are

great and those things are fun. I like to receive a present just

as much as anyone, right? But it's about Jesus, the

greatest gift. And so if whether you have a

little or whether you have a lot, all right, it's not about

those things, it's about what Christ has done for you.

And we can stand in that joy knowing that we're seeking him,

seeking to honor him, and seeking to worship him.

Amen. Let's close our eyes and let's,

let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we're so

thankful. We're so thankful in this season

that you came down from heaven to humble yourself and become a

man so that you could sacrifice yourself.

A righteous and holy sacrifice taking our place so that we

could be made right, be free from these sins that have dogged

us, our lives. Lord, You've covered us with

your shed blood and made us righteous through what Jesus did

upon the cross, Lord, and we just thank you for that and we

just celebrate you. It's Christmas season, we honor

you and we worship you Lord, and I thank you that we can be

filled with joy in this season. In Jesus name, Amen.

Thank you for listening to the Triumph Church podcast this

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Church, you can visit us at www.triumphchurch.ie.