[Machine transcription]
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
You may be seated.
In the name of Jesus, amen.
Dear saints of God, what we have tonight is, it’s maybe less like a sermon and more like
a focused Bible study.
For that reason I want you to open the bulletin to see the words of the text, page 10 and 11,
and follow along with me.
But, and while we’re there, we can’t miss this, and we’re going to talk about Matthew
3 and the visit of the wise men, but look at the top of the page, this verse from Ephesians
chapter 3, verse 10, where Paul says, you have to read this with your own eyes or else
you wouldn’t believe it.
Paul says that through the church, the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the
rulers and authorities in heavenly places.”
That rulers and authority in heavenly places, that’s talking about the demons.
In other words, St. Paul is saying that God, through the preaching of the gospel in the
church, lets the devil know what he’s up to.
In other words, to say it as clearly as I think I know how, that when the devil wants
to know what the will of God is, he comes to church to see.
He comes and He listens to the Scripture, and He listens to the preaching, and He watches
you at the altar, and there the will of God is made known to the demons.
Their triumph and destruction, and your salvation.
Now that’s just incredible.
I mean, that really has nothing to do with the sermon, but we get â I mean, that’s
an amazing verse.
Okay, now to the text.
Now if you’re looking at the bottom of page 10, you’ll see there that we have the account
of the visit of the wise men to Jesus.
And as we grind into the text, we’re going to see that it’s going to give up a few mysteries,
but it’s going to hold some, and some mysteries are going to become even more profound.
But I’d like to consider the text really under the idea of how is it that we come to
Jesus?
Or maybe we can say it this way, that in this text we see the three different possible reactions
that people have to Jesus.
There’s the reaction of the scribes in Jerusalem, and there’s the reaction of Herod also in Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, and then there is the reaction of the wise men.
The text starts like this, 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.
Now the first thing that we want to notice is simply that while we know that Joseph and
Mary and Jesus came down to Bethlehem for the census that was happening, it seems like
they stayed for a while.
They got a house.
They’re not in the manger anymore.
It’s been a few days or maybe weeks or even months that Jesus has been born and Joseph
Joseph has arranged a place for them to live.
Maybe he wants to stay close so they can be in Jerusalem.
Maybe he found a good place or a good job or something, but it seems like instead of
going back up to Nazareth, it’s Joseph’s intent to stay there in Bethlehem.
We remember also that Bethlehem was just six miles south of Jerusalem.
It’s very close, but it is in the backwater.
It’s not a fancy place.
You would neverâ¦
There’s kind of a disdain for Bethlehem.
That’s where the shepherds live.
That’s, that place smells like sheep.
That’s Bethlehem.
And the wise men came.
They came from the east, that is from Persia, and this is, wants to help us with a little
more background.
We want to always ask the question, who are these men?
But the problem is we really don’t know.
They were some sort of kings or some sort of royalty, some sort of sages.
The Greek word used to describe them is magoi, which is where we get magician from, magis,
how we just say it, I suppose, in English, and it seems like they were particularly attuned
to the stars, but they were waiting for one particular star to appear.
Now, why?
Where was that promised, and how did they know that this particular star indicated that
the King of the Jews was to be born?
We don’t know the answer to that, or at least I don’t.
If you don’t, if you do, you can tell me after church and then I’ll preach it next year.
But here’s my best guess.
They come from Persia, which is where Daniel was.
And my best guess is that the prophet Daniel established a seminary there, or a school
where the people would go and they would learn the Bible, they would learn the Scriptures,
they would learn the prophecies, and that the Lord had revealed to Daniel this particular
promise that He would indicate the birth of His Son, the birth of the Messiah, by causing
a star to appear.
here, and so for generations these men in the University of Babylon, trained by Daniel,
were waiting for this sign.
But there’s something else if you’re looking at verse 2, because these men come not to
Bethlehem but rather to Jerusalem.
Remember that the prophecy from Micah was prophesied after Daniel, so that they couldn’t
have known about Bethlehem, but this is the logical place for them to go because Jerusalem
Jerusalem was the capital.
So they go to Jerusalem and they start asking around, where is the one born King of the
Jews?
Now, a little bit more historical background on this text as well.
When Herod the Great was made king of that whole region, he was given the title by the
Romans, King of the Jews.
He wasn’t Jewish, Herod wasn’t.
He was an Edomite.
He was a descendant of Esau, one of the classic enemies of God, but the Edomites had joined
the Jews in the Maccabean Revolt, and his grandfather had fought in the war before he went over
and became loyal to the Romans.
It’s a big, long kind of backstory, but the point is that whenever Herod graduated from
whatever school he was going to in Rome, and they sent him back to Jerusalem to rule over
the whole place, they gave him the title, King of the Jews.
Now, this is especially interesting when we consider the bloody history of Herod.
I mean, anybody who would even barely threaten his own rule or reign was quickly dispatched
with.
I mean, most of his kids were killed, most of Herod’s kids were killed at his own hand.
In fact, so ruthless are the exploits of King Herod that Josephus, who’s writing about all
this stuff, doesn’t even write about the slaughter of the children at Bethlehem because it wasn’t
that big of a deal compared to all of the other wicked stuff that Herod did.
But here the wise men come to Jerusalem and they start asking about the king of the Jews.
They say, we saw his star when it rose and we have come to worship him.
And look at what it says in verse 3, when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled
and all of Jerusalem with him.
Now, why was he so troubled, and why was he worried?
Why was this even a threat?
Why didn’t Herod just wipe these guys out?
Well, this has to do with the number and the character of these wise men.
You know, there’s one of these kind of classic Christmas myths that there were three of these
wise men, and we want to notice in the text that it says nothing about three, right?
It just says, wise men came from the east.
But I, and again, this is my own personal opinion about this, I think that there were three
Maybe, because how would you like to be the fourth guy who shows up and one gives frankincense
and the other gives gold and the other gives myrrh and then you’re sitting there, you know,
checking your pockets to see what you brought.
I think there were probably three wise men who came to visit Jesus, but they didn’t come
alone.
It’s said in the prophecy from Isaiah that the whole land was covered with camels.
In other words, these three wise men, these three kings, would have been accompanied by
soldiers and servants.
They would have been guarded.
It’s a long trek to get across there, so they would have had swords and military garb.
There would have been a lot of people, so that Jerusalem would have been filled by these
people.
Now, that’s one thing, and it doesn’t help that Herod had been in a war with Persia for
20 years that had just recently settled down that now these kings come armed from Persia
to visit Jerusalem, it’s no wonder that they were troubled.
But look what Herod does, verse 4, assembling all the chief priests and the scribes of the
people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
And they told him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet, and you,
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.”
You’ll notice if you just go to compare it, if you compare the words from Matthew to the
words of Micah that they’re different, the prophecy is recounted differently.
When it was originally promised, it said this, “‘O you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Israel are the least of the rulers, but here they say are not the least of the rulers.
Now what’s the difference?
Probably the very fact that the promise came that the Messiah would come forth from Bethlehem
exalted the city from the least to the greatest, but we’re not sure.
So, then Herod, this kind of deceptive king, calls the wise men in by himself, and he secretly,
it says, ascertained from them what time the star appeared.
Then 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.
Now, we know that Herod had no intent of worshiping anybody who was claiming to be the king of
the Jews.
Herod was going to kill this kid no matter what.
He was lying to the wise men, but we want to maybe just note in passing that they believed
him.
I mean, they were going to come back and tell him where Jesus was, except the angel warned
them not to.
So, after listening to the king and to the scribes, verse 9, 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.
Now again, this is particularly interesting.
It seems like maybe the star at first simply appeared in the sky and then disappeared until
Until they heard the Word, had the promise that the child would be born in Bethlehem.
And then the star not only reappeared, but it moved.
It went before them, and they followed after it until it came to rest over the house where
Jesus was, the very place where He was, and then it stopped.
Now we want to make the spiritual point very quickly here that the Lord is pleased for
the wise men to find Jesus through the Word.
And this point stands for us, and it stands for all eternity.
If we want to find Jesus, we go to the Word.
But what happens when we read the Word is that the Holy Spirit comes, and He then enlightens
us.
He takes the scales out of our eyes, or He pulls the veil off of our face so that we
can see in the Scripture the great glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ.
You know that anybody can read the Bible.
Anybody can pick up the book and read the words that are written there, but only the
believer in Jesus who has the Holy Spirit can see in the Scriptures the light and the
joy and the peace that the Lord wants to give there, and that’s indicated by this star.
When they believe the word, the star appears, and look at what happens.
When they saw the star, this is verse 10, and we want to key in on this verse, because
I don’t know of a more emphatic verse in all of the Bible.
When you read it in the Greek, it’s almost ridiculous.
It’s just, it’s like the kids, when you say, when you say, how hungry are you?
And they say, I’m very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very hungry.
Okay.
This is how, this verse describes the joy of the wise men.
I’m very, very, very, very, very, very, very joyful.
Look at what it says.
It says in verse 10, when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
And that should be the mark of the Christian heart, looking at the Bible and seeing their
Jesus and the kindness that He has.
And going in, now verse 11, and going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his
mother and they fell down and they worshiped Him.
Then opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold for His kingdom, frankincense
for His prayers and priestly duties, and myrrh for His death.
And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country
by another way.”
So far the text.
Now we want to briefly consider what it teaches us, especially about how it is that we respond
to Jesus.
There is the response first of the scribes and the chief priests.
Now this is an amazing thing to me.
Here are these guys whose job it is to study the Bible, and they’re in Jerusalem, and here
come these wise men from the east, and they say, what’s the hometown of the Messiah?
We have some evidence that He’s been born, and they even know where it is.
Herod doesn’t know, they don’t know, the wise men don’t know, but these priests know.
No, they say it’s according to the promise it’s in Bethlehem, just down the road, six
miles from here.
What’s six miles from St. Paul?
Is it six miles from here to the river?
Six miles from here to downtown?
You can walk it in the morning.
You can get there in an afternoon.
It’s just right down the street.
They say, oh, the Messiah is supposed to be born in Bethlehem, and they say, that’s great
because we’ve come all the way from Babylon, all the way over here, and we’re going to
go down and see him.
You guys want to come?
come?”
And they say, no thanks, we got other things to do.
We don’t want to go down, we don’t want to take the stroll down to Bethel, we don’t even
want to send one of us just to see if maybe it might be true.
They’re totally indifferent to this.
Now there’s a word for this, the old word that’s used in the church is ascedia, it’s one of
the seven deadly sins, it means sloth or really spiritual indifference.
And I think, and this is an amazing thing for us to consider, but I think that this
is the state of most people, that we come with this great news, this most wonderful
announcement, that God has come down into our flesh to bear our sins and carry our sorrows
and forgive us and make a way from death to life eternal, and they say, well, whatever,
Whatever, sounds good, I hope it works for you.
Can you imagine if you went to someone and you said, I found a medicine, don’t even
say, I found a fruit, it’s a tree, grew in the backyard, and it has a fruit on it,
and when you eat this fruit, you don’t die.
You want some?
Maybe later.
Whatever.
Now, it’s astonishing to us, but this is the case, that most people are simply indifferent
indifferent to the things of God, indifferent to the things of God’s Word, indifferent to
things of life and death and the things that are most important to us, and they miss it.
I mean, Jesus was there.
He was right there.
They could have taken a three-hour walk and they could have seen with their own eyes God
in the flesh, but they simply couldn’t be bothered.
That’s the first reaction.
And then there’s the reaction of Herod.
And Herod hated Jesus.
He hated the idea of Jesus.
He hated the idea of anyone who would claim his own throne, and this also is a reaction
that we might have to Jesus and that the world has to Jesus.
Now, I don’t know, I want to be a little bit careful about this, but it occurs to me
that whenever we think, we Christians think about people who are not Christians, people
who are not believers in Christ, we simply think of them as unbelievers.
Like there’s two options.
Maybe this is the easiest way to say it.
We think that either you believe in Christ and therefore you worship Him and you’re a
Christian or you don’t believe in Christ and therefore you don’t worship Him and you’re
not a Christian.
And those, it seems to us, are the only two options.
But there is a middle ground, there is a middle place that we need to be clearly aware of,
And that is the place of Herod, and that is, he believes in Jesus and hates Him.
This is the ground that the devil lives on.
The devil believes in God, but he hates Him, and he’s living in animosity against Him.
And this is the case with a lot of our neighbors.
I think it would surprise and astonish us how many people actually believe that Jesus
is God, or that God created the world, or that there is a God and are living in open
and active rebellion against Him.
They simply hate the idea of God.
Hate the idea of having someone that they have to be accountable to.
Hate the idea of judgment.
Hate the idea of not being their own Savior.
Hate the idea of having to step off the throne so that someone else can sit on it.
Most people are trying to live their lives to build the case of their own righteousness,
their own goodness, that they are their own Savior.
Savior.
And when Jesus comes along and He says, no, I’m the Savior, they simply say, no, it can’t
be.
And you dare not get between a sinner and their idol.
You dare not get between a sinner and their own claim at their own righteousness.
It’s like coming between a bear and her baby cubs when you get between a sinner and the
argument that he’s making for his own goodness.
indifference, and there’s rage and hatred against God and against His Word.
So there’s indifference and there’s hatred, but then there is the wise men, and this is
what we’re after, because this is why the Holy Spirit has the text for us, because the
wise men rejoice with exceedingly great joy, and they find Jesus with His mother, and they
They fall down on their face, and they worship Him.
I think that Martin Luther loved preaching on this text, and there’s an image that he
uses over and over in his different sermons.
He has the idea that you are living in Bethlehem in this day, and that you are out for a walk
on this night that the wise men came to visit.
You didn’t know what’s going on.
You know there’s a new family moved in down the block, and you’re just out walking the
dog or whatever, and you walk by the house, and all of a sudden you see all these camels
out front and all these servants, and there’s guards over the door, and you’re like, what
is going on here?
And so you go and you look in the window, and there in this tiny little house are three
rich wise men who have fallen down on their face, and they’re worshiping this baby.
And Luther says, you would go up to the window and you would look at this and you would say,
what great fools these guys are.
What are they doing on their face, on their knees, worshiping this baby?
And yet, what appears to be foolish to the world is, we know, the greatest wisdom, the
height of wisdom, to know that hidden in the flesh of Jesus is the true God who is the
Creator and Redeemer of the world.
And this is for us.
I mean, this is the invitation of the text.
I mean, it’s this question, is what would you do on that night if you were brought into
the room?
And there’s Mary, and there’s Jesus, and there’s the wise men on their face.
Would you try to tell them to, hey, don’t get up, guys, it’s just a baby?
Or would you mock them or would you join them?
And dear saints, in a few minutes, we’re going to join them.
I mean, we’re going to take our turn and we’re going to walk up here and we’re going to kneel
down and we’re going to worship the same Jesus, hidden in the same flesh and blood for us.
I don’t know if anyone is going to look in the window.
I don’t know if the neighbors are going to peek in and say, what are they doing in there
kneeling down and eating a little bread and drinking a little?
What great fools those people are, but we know that in this child, in this man, in this
Jesus is our hope and our life and our peace, amen.
God.
And this peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds through the
same Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
