Matthew 2:1-12 Worship the King

By way of introduction, entertain a few questions with me. To what end or purpose did God create all things? Why is there something and not nothing? Why such an endless expanse in the heavens above? Why man to observe it? Why the word made flesh dwelling among us? Why the atonement for sins? Why His resurrection from the dead? Why world missions? Why evangelism? Why preaching? Why holiness? The answer is for the purposes of the worship of God. Worship, said the old commentator William Temple, is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of the mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose; and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable. Worship.

And a final question: how does the Bible instruct men and women, children, to worship God? The answer: by leading them to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, the way, the truth, and the life. I want to bring you a message this morning I have entitled, as per on the screen, "Worship the King." If chapter 1 of Matthew's gospel showed us the identity of Jesus as the promised one and both the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants of old—the Saviour, King, and Christ conceived in Mary's womb by the Holy Spirit—if that was chapter 1, then chapter 2 delivers all that is due such a man: worship. And worship, as we shall see, comes from an unexpected place.

The application of this passage to all of us is, I would pray, that our affection and adoration would rise to Jesus Christ; for to worship God is to worship Christ; to know God is to know Christ; to obey God is to obey Christ. The Magi followed the light of revelation that God granted to them by His grace so that they may journey and worship the Messiah King Jesus; and what we have in scripture is for us an even more sure guiding light of revelation. And so may we not be slow to worship, which is the end of seeking Christ.

Seeking The King

So the biblical text and the first heading that I have for you to consider is verses 1 and 2: seeking the King, seeking for the King. Matthew is satisfied that his gospel needn't include the details of how Jesus came to be born in Bethlehem, as Luke's gospel tells us; and Matthew just jumps into the account of these Magi from the east arriving in Jerusalem in search of the newborn King. The nature of their quest, as the text tells us, causes immense disturbance across the nation; you'll notice there in verse 3. Why the trouble? Why not celebration for this quest that they are on? Would news of men from a distant land seeking the born Messiah King not be cause for joy and not trouble?

As the angel of the Lord said to the shepherds on the night that Christ was born, "I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people," so why the trouble? Now Matthew shows us why the trouble, I think, when he says that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, verse 1, in the days of Herod the King. You see, these were days of Roman occupation. To announce the birth of a rising Jewish power among the people was a death sentence for all involved. For what we know of Herod the King, known in the history books as Herod the Great, he was a cruel man and greedy to retain his power. But nevertheless, here the Magi are; and now is a good time to remind ourselves that Matthew wrote his gospel to a predominantly Jewish audience. This is the definitive Jerusalem account of the life of Jesus Christ for the Jews, specifically to persuade them to embrace Jesus as their long-awaited Messiah.

Matthew is reminding the Jews that while God's blessing of salvation was channelled by God through them, it was by no means to stop with them but to be spread into all the world. This son of Abraham, Jesus Christ, will bless all nations, as we even read in our reading in Acts earlier. I remember how Matthew includes the names of Gentile women in his genealogy in chapter 1, as we considered, and those of unsavoury backgrounds as well, to remind us that when the grace of the Lord Jesus appeared, He came to be a blessing to the world, no matter your heritage, race, or background. Christ is the Saviour for all men, especially His people.

And so here again, why do we find seeking to worship—sorry, who do we find but seeking to worship the child Christ but Gentiles from the East? Following on almost from chapter 1, Gentiles coming to worship. And so who are these Magi from the East? Well, this is a question of many a scholar. And also, what was the nature of this star that they followed? How did they come to recognise the sign as concerning the birth of the Jewish Messiah King? What prompted them to make the long journey to find him? Well, these questions and more puzzle us, and we don't have access to the answers for the most part. There's so much we don't know.

It's likely that they came from Persia, or modern-day Iran, or possibly Chalcedon, modern-day Turkey. Astrologers and philosophers from those parts were known by the name Magi. But we are better to remain ignorant, for the text does not tell us, nor does it even tell us how many there were. What we are better to focus on is all of that which God was doing to draw out His people, wherever they may be, to the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one in whom is found everlasting life, hope, and peace. And so the text reads, "We saw his star in the East and have come to worship him."

And as with identifying the Magi, we don't know much about this star that they followed either. All we know is that God employed His natural or general revelation of creation to draw them to Christ. The salvation the Jews awaited in the birth of the Messiah was not unknown to the rest of the ancient world. You see, their knowledge here of Jewish monotheism and ancient prophecy is apparent; and they comprehend enough to know that the child is to be the object of man's unique worship—that which no ordinary man is due. For to worship a man is to violate the first commandment if he be not God incarnate. And so they come seeking the King, led by the divine light.

Fearful Of The King Fearful Of the King

The second heading is fearful of the King, verses 3 to 8. We all know how fast sensational news travels. If anything happens in Woodlands, that buzzes around the community. Who the Magi's first point of contact was in Jerusalem, we cannot tell; but their question, along with a claim of a sign that led them to the Holy Land, shakes the nation to the core. And here, it's soon heard of it; and Herod's fear is well justified. Raised among the Jews, he was well familiar with their beliefs, even claiming at times, when politically convenient, to be of Jewish descent himself. He knew the messianic prophecies; and Herod was not a man to underestimate.

And although in all the world there was no such power as Rome to make a man a king, to give him the power of armies, wealth, prestige, honour, and subjects, this is what Rome could do to a man, such as they did to Herod. Yet even in the wicked heart of Herod was awareness, albeit truth he suppressed, that there is a higher power to ordain a king that even Rome could not contend with—that is the Creator Himself. This is what causes fear in Herod, which troubles him. Some background here is helpful. Rome first took control of the land of Israel through the invasion of Pompey in the year sixty-three BC. In the year forty-seven BC, King Herod's father became the procreator of Judea; and Herod, his son, became the patriarchal, rather the governor of Galilee. Given a small region, seven years later, the Parthians invaded the land of Palestine, and there was a civil war, and Herod fled to Rome.

Now a little bit older, Rome then appointed him king of Judea and sent him back with an army to carve out the land and secure it for the Empire. Then in thirty-seven BC, around three years of fighting, Herod triumphed; and he established his authority and power in the land, and he would never relinquish it until his death, which is recorded in Matthew 2:19. The Emperor Augustus and Rome also increased their territory so that all the original land, including modern-day Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon; and a number of Herod's descendants would share his name to become something of a dynasty. Here, Agrippa the First is referenced in Acts 12, who killed the Apostle James and imprisoned Peter. They were descendants of Herod the Great.

Herod was a cruel man; his murderous exploits are well documented. He would even have one of his wives put to death along with two of his sons. He was every bit the man that we find destroying the light that lives in this atrocity of Matthew 2:16 that we'll look at next time, as he goes and slew all the male children in Bethlehem from two years old and under. He was a wicked, wicked man. And so King Herod's fear leads to his plot. He recognises, as we see in verse 4, that he must do something. He must act; so they must find this child, this born King.

And so the first meeting he calls, therefore, is likely the entire Jewish Sanhedrin. It says there in verse 4, he collects together the chief priests and the scribes of the people. And despite his awareness of prophetic texts, he remains ignorant and forces it to search for the prophesied location of the birthplace of the man the Magi are searching for. The Old Testament text that's quoted here to answer Herod's question is from Micah 5:2. We don't need to go into that too much; but we do notice that in verse 6, it is revealed that Bethlehem was the prophesied place wherein Jesus would be born—a miraculous fulfilment of ancient promise.

We then read in verse 7 that he secretly calls a meeting with the Magi, who have caused this great disturbance. So having determined that Bethlehem is the place where this child will be born, he sends them to find him and deceives them into thinking that he too wants to worship this child. But as we know with Herod, this could not be further from the truth. And so with that, we move into our final heading, which is worship to the King, verses 9 to 12.

Worship To The King

In the Apostle Paul's sermon in Athens, he says, as recorded in Acts 17, "And he, that is God, made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us." This is why God created man—to worship. And so it's worship that we find early in the gospel of Matthew from these Gentile Magi from the East. They are seeking what is the highest privilege of man—to worship. The Lord has never once disappointed a soul who sought Him in accordance with the truth; and Matthew teaches us that to worship God, we must come to the Son of God, Jesus Christ.

It's plainly revealed there is no worship of God outside Jesus Christ. That's a contentious statement. It means when the Muslim man is praying to his Allah, he is praying to no one; for there is but one way to God through Jesus Christ. As some falsely say, there are many paths to God, but there is one God. Rather, the scripture affirms that He is accessed through Christ alone; and man does not earn acceptance with God through his works, his morality, his effort, but through God's grace bestowed on him in Christ.

And so His grace is revealed to the Magi; and as again in verse 10, we note this star leads them out. In verse 10, they see the star again; but it was the star originally that they said led them out of their own lands and drew them to Jerusalem. It again supernaturally appears in verse 10; and this will lead them on their final journey to where they will find Jesus. And why would they rejoice, as the text tells us in verse 10, but that confirmation God would satisfy that which they truly desire—to bring their gifts, to bring their praise and worship to the born Messiah King?

It says they opened their treasures; they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Far too much is said of these gifts. People read in all sorts of ideas into the giving of these gifts. Another one of the great Roman Catholic theological blunders affirms that there were three Magi because there were three gifts; and that became a commonplace that many people accept. They say there are three Magi. Well, we don't know that. The text only confirms the gift-giving, not the existence of three Magi.

Further exposing another blunder of Rome's theology is that it is only Jesus whom they worship. It is only Jesus who is to be worshipped. Mary is never to share in it. I see how Matthew fades the royal family out of the picture so that we would be focused upon her child. Matthew refers to Jesus ahead of Mary consistently in the text. In verse 11, you will note this: it says, "The child with Mary." In verse 13 as well, "Take up the child and his mother." In verse 14 again, "The child and his mother." In verse 20, we find the same: "Get up, take the child and his mother." Verse 21, "Joseph got up, took the child and his mother."

See, Christ is the focal point. He is the one, the preeminent one, the one before all things. Worship is to be directed to Christ alone, and His mother must have nothing to do with it. Jesus Himself, of course, didn't. He asked, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" The one who does the will of God. One of the early church fathers named Origen said of these gifts presented before Jesus, and perhaps we can accept this: he said he received gold fit for a king, myrrh for a mortal, and incense as to God. Such were the characteristics of these gifts.

As the Magi lay these gifts before Jesus, we can almost hear the words of Isaiah 60:3-5 coming forward. It says, "Nations will come to your light, kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes around about and see; they all gather together; they come to you. Your sons will come from afar, your daughters will be carried in the arms. Then you will see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and rejoice because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you; the wealth of the nations will come to you."

So the Gentiles from the East come to worship Christ, and with that, the Magi returned to their own lands, the angel of the Lord warning them not to return to Herod but to depart another way.

#1 To Worship And Follow Jesus Is To Move From Darkness Into Light

Let's make some application before we close. What does this text have to tell us? As you see on your supplement, the first one there is this: number one, to worship and follow Jesus is to move from darkness into light. I have been waiting a long time for this little reference that is in our text here that I will show you to come up in a sermon that I might talk about it.

Gentiles, Magi coming from the East, verse 1, notice that observation from the East that they are coming from the East to seek where the Lord is for worship. It tells us of the significance of the birth of Jesus. You see, in the language of the Old Testament, this concept of going towards the East and from the East carries deep symbolic meaning. When God expelled Adam and Eve from the garden, they went towards the East (Genesis 3:24). "So he drove the man out, and at the east of the Garden of Eden, he stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life."

And so at the eastern gate of the garden, guardians were placed to bar man from the holy place to which he had lost access and sin. And so to Cain, we then read in Genesis 4, the murderous son, he would then go to live east of Eden (Genesis 4:16). You see, moving eastward is a sign of man's estrangement and wandering from God, cut off from his Maker in darkness and despair. But the reverse is also true. Remember, God called Abraham out of the East to return in a way towards Eden once again, republished there in the land of Israel. There God would meet man and grant redemption and access to Himself once more.

And so perhaps Matthew is whispering to us from the pages of Scripture here this morning: Magi from the East. He is telling us that God in Jesus is restoring that which was lost from the beginning. And so out of the East, men come from the nations to worship the great God of Israel through Jesus Christ—access to God restored through this man. And so the application may we learn to see ourselves on that journey to worship Christ, cast out as we were in our father Adam, born with disobedience and disdain for God in our hearts. We roam without Christ in the darkness of the East, storing up for ourselves only God's wrath in the day of judgment.

But in grace, the light appeared, as it did to the Magi, leading us to the place where God can be found, where we gain access past His guardian angels to the tree of everlasting life—Christ Himself. In the language of the temple, the veil is now torn; we have access again to the Holy of Holies because of Jesus' priestly sacrifice for our sins when He died for us on the cross. Jesus was no son of Adam; He is the second Adam who, through His death on the cross for sins, grants everlasting life from God out of darkness in the East into God's marvellous light. That is what it is to come to Christ.

#2 See What Means God May Use To Draw His People To Christ

The second application is this: see what means God may use to draw His people to Christ. See what means God will use that none of His be lost. The Magi, you see, were students of the stars. God employs that which they were fascinated with to bring them to the true light—Christ Himself. And we know it was supernatural; we know it was no ordinary star, for even in verse 11, it comes and hangs low in the sky over the place where the child lay. There is nothing that is not at God's disposal to use to bring all His children to the Lord Jesus Christ. God can employ whatever means necessary, and He will even use us. He does use us, weak as it may be, as unawares of it as we may be, should it please Him.

The prompting to pray for your unsaved friends in your heart, God will use it. The small word for Christ you think would have no effect, it can in God's spiritual awakening in the new birth of the heart. Trust God to use His means; just be faithful to the gospel and allow Him to do the rest. If He can bring Magi from the East with a star, then He can do whatever He pleases to bring His people to Himself. Trust Him to this end.

The third application is this: might we learn the wisdom of the wise men? Seek with every fibre of your being to worship. Travel whatever distance you must; lose whatever sleep you must. Be diligent in the word of God to deepen your desire to worship. Be eager to fulfil that which is your highest duty, for what you were made to be truly wise in this world is to follow the Magi's lead and seek out the King to worship. And this wisdom is foolishness to the world because to be wise in God's eyes is to be self-abased. It is to be rendering to God without what others would attribute to themselves. It is to surrender your will to God, to flee from clutching self-autonomy, self-pleasure, self-living, but to fall to the ground, as in verse 11, and worship the living God made visible in Jesus Christ.

#3 What Offering Do We Bring To Christ?

The final application is this: what offering do we bring to Christ? I was challenged by these words recently. It has been said that to give to Christ is not so much a matter of how much we will give to Him but how much we will return what is already owed to Him. No amount of sacrifice of one's possessions for Jesus Christ can ever compare to what He has done for us. He has literally and really taken our sin and spared us an eternity in judgment. Seriously, nothing we can ever do for Him could be an adequate response for the eternal treasures that are laid up for us in heaven and with Christ.

The English nonconformist Philip Henry wrote these words: "He is no fool who parts with that which he cannot keep when he is sure to be recompensed with that which he cannot lose." The Magi come and they give treasure to Christ in worship, and this is the only response we have but to give of ourselves, our time, our resources—all for His kingdom—to be used of Him to this end. We too come and bring our sacrifice to Him, not out of earning our salvation, for that we cannot. We have nothing to give to Christ which could earn our way to Him; rather, out of response to His love and worship.