SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter 2, verses 1 through 11 is where we'll be this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Let me read them for us.
SPEAKER_00: 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?
SPEAKER_00: For we saw his star when it rose, and have come to worship him.
SPEAKER_00: When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him, and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
SPEAKER_00: And they told him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet.
SPEAKER_00: And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for you shall from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.
SPEAKER_00: When Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared, he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search diligently for the child.
SPEAKER_00: When you have found him, bring me word, so that I too may come and worship him.
SPEAKER_00: And after listening to the king, they went on their own way.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
SPEAKER_00: And going into the house they saw the child with Mary, his mother.
SPEAKER_00: They fell down and worshipped him.
SPEAKER_00: Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
SPEAKER_00: This Sunday marks our first Sunday of the celebration of Advent.
SPEAKER_00: Advent is the time leading up to Christmas where we structure our worship around the coming person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: His second coming, we look forward to that, but we also look backwards as we go through the story of his first appearance on earth with the anticipation that the early believers had, the anticipation of meeting the Savior who was to be born.
SPEAKER_00: There was so much anticipation wrapped up in Advent because there are so many prophecies in the Old Testament pointing forward to the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: A faithful Jew in the Old Testament era would have longed for the Savior, would have longed for the seed of Abraham who would finally crush the head of the serpent, would have longed for the seed of David to reign over the world through Israel.
SPEAKER_00: They would have longed for the suffering servant of Isaiah who would come and take their sins upon himself.
SPEAKER_00: That was the hope in every believer's heart.
SPEAKER_00: And so there was an eager anticipation in which Christ entered into when he came.
SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, that anticipation was not shared by most of the world.
SPEAKER_00: Most of the world had closed hearts.
SPEAKER_00: They were either ignorant of the coming Savior or their hearts were closed to them, as we will see this morning.
SPEAKER_00: But for those who had faith in God and in his word, their faith was ultimately residing in the advent of a Savior who would take away their sins.
SPEAKER_00: Because this is the overarching and thorough testimony of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: So many prophecies in the Old Testament point forward to the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus fulfilled all of them.
SPEAKER_00: And so as we read in Matthew chapter 1 from last year at Christmas, we went through many of the prophecies that were fulfilled there.
SPEAKER_00: There are even more in chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to draw your attention to three of them.
SPEAKER_00: There's so many we could look at in the passage we just read, but I want to draw your attention to three of them this morning before we make our way through the passage as a whole.
SPEAKER_00: There's three particular prophecies in this passage that uh should be drawn out in your minds as we study the words in Matthew chapter two.
SPEAKER_00: The first is a prophecy that was given specifically for the Jews, that the Savior would come and be born in Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: This is the prophecy described in Micah chapter 5, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: But you, O Bethlehem, of Ephratha, you who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth, from me, one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days.
SPEAKER_00: That's Micah chapter 5, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: What Micah 5 is highlighting is that the Savior will be born in Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: Bethlehem is not its own tribe.
SPEAKER_00: It's, you know, today it's a suburb of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: It's a suburb that is under control of the Palestinian Authority.
SPEAKER_00: You have to go through a checkpoint and behind the wall, and you're in Palestinian-controlled territory.
SPEAKER_00: There's a big warning sign that says no, no Hebrew or no Israeli can go here.
SPEAKER_00: You risk being shot on site.
SPEAKER_00: This big massive sign you walk through.
SPEAKER_00: It's right next to Jerusalem, though.
SPEAKER_00: Jerusalem has pretty much grown around Bethlehem, just separated by the big wall there.
SPEAKER_00: It is only a few miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: At the modern, uh, the brand new American embassy in Jerusalem that just opened a few years ago.
SPEAKER_00: You can stand on the front steps of that, and you can look left and you can see the temple mount, and you can look right and you can see the hills of Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: You could walk it very easily.
SPEAKER_00: That's Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: It's right outside of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: It is not a substantial city.
SPEAKER_00: It's the outskirts, it's a place where in the Old Testament shepherds dwelt.
SPEAKER_00: And shepherds dwelt there because there were hills for the sheep and there was water there, but also because you can't bring a flock of sheep into Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: You can't, you know, some of you won't drive a big pickup truck through D.C.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine trying to navigate a bunch of sheep through the streets of Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: It is not very manageable.
SPEAKER_00: And so the shepherds and their sheep would stay in Bethlehem, and uh, and that's just what it was known for.
SPEAKER_00: David, of course, was born in Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: King David was from there.
SPEAKER_00: That is its claim to fame, so to speak, is its connection to Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: Ruth is going to end up settling there, marrying somebody from that area.
SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, these are in the line of the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: And so Micah chapter 5, verse 2 tells you the Savior will be born in Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: It is so small and it is so tiny.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, the Savior's coming there.
SPEAKER_00: Now, the prophecy, as Matthew records it in Matthew 2, verse 6, just kind of stops in the middle of Matthew 5, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: But I think it is important.
SPEAKER_00: This just to draw your eyes towards the rest of Micah 5, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: It's on the screen for you.
SPEAKER_00: The Savior will be born in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: He'll be the ruler, he'll be born in Bethlehem, and his coming forth is from of old, from ancient of days.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, it's drawing attention to the fact that he will be born, he'll have a beginning in Bethlehem, but that's not his real beginning.
SPEAKER_00: Even the Old Testament understood in these prophecies in a veiled way, understood the eternality of the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: For you, your story began when you were born.
SPEAKER_00: Your story began in your mother's womb.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not where Jesus' story began.
SPEAKER_00: His human nature begins in his mother's womb, but his coming forth is of eternity.
SPEAKER_00: It says of ancient days in Micah 5, verse 2, perhaps a reference to Daniel's terminology for the Savior, who will be the ancient of days.
SPEAKER_00: It's a way of highlighting the eternality of the second person of God, the second person eternity, the eternal Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: He is the eternal image of God.
SPEAKER_00: And his coming forth, and in the New Testament, it just uses the word begotten for that.
SPEAKER_00: His begottenness is from eternity past.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus uses the same phrase to describe himself.
SPEAKER_00: In John chapter 3, verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son.
SPEAKER_00: The begottenness of Jesus is eternal.
SPEAKER_00: He is the Son without a beginning, because the Father is eternal.
SPEAKER_00: This is in the very prophecy of the birth of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So understand, when the Old Testament speaks of the birth of the Savior, it does so without compromising or minimizing that the Savior will also be God.
SPEAKER_00: Now the Old Testament saints, I don't think, understood how those two lined up.
SPEAKER_00: How could the Savior be David's descendant and David's Lord?
SPEAKER_00: How could the Savior be born in Bethlehem, but also be from eternity?
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, the Old Testament teaches them both, and they're wrapped up here in this very scripture prophecy that is fulfilled in Matthew chapter 2, verse 6, from Micah 5, verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: Well, this is a prophecy given specifically to the Jews who would know about Bethlehem and know how significant it is that he is going to be born, the Savior will be born in the very same place that David was born.
SPEAKER_00: But that's not the only prophecy in Matthew 2.
SPEAKER_00: The second one comes from 2 Samuel chapter 5, 2 Samuel chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want you to turn all the way over there to 2 Samuel 5.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to put on the screen.
SPEAKER_00: I'll have you flip back in your Bibles to 2 Samuel 5, going all the way back.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're not familiar with 2 Samuel 5, Saul, who is the king, the first king of Israel, has died.
SPEAKER_00: Saul reigned over the 12 tribes, but it was a complicated and convoluted relationship.
SPEAKER_00: Saul has died and has been replaced with David.
SPEAKER_00: But David did not reign over the 12 tribes initially.
SPEAKER_00: Initially, David only reigned over Judah and Benjamin.
SPEAKER_00: Judah, which is where Jerusalem and Bethlehem are and Benjamin from that area who sought refuge and protection from the tribe of Judah.
SPEAKER_00: The other ten tribes did not acknowledge David initially.
SPEAKER_00: They were looking for an heir from Saul.
SPEAKER_00: However, by 2 Samuel 5, those other ten tribes had come to their senses and had recognized the Davidic authority that David would be on the throne over all twelve tribes.
SPEAKER_00: You see this in 2 Samuel 5, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and that's where David used to reign before Jerusalem, and said, Behold, we are your bone and flesh.
SPEAKER_00: So they're highlighting the unity of the twelve tribes, which is unusual.
SPEAKER_00: Until this point, they'd been highlighting their diversity, their separateness.
SPEAKER_00: But now in their speech to David, they're recognizing that David will bind them together.
SPEAKER_00: They are all from his same family.
SPEAKER_00: They're all Israelites.
SPEAKER_00: In times past, when Saul was king over us, and this is the words of the 12 tribes, they're talking here as one voice.
SPEAKER_00: It's the tribes, these other ten specifically, that are talking about this.
SPEAKER_00: When Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, David was the main soldier even under Saul's kingship.
SPEAKER_00: It was David that protected Israel, not Saul, and they recognized that.
SPEAKER_00: And then Yahweh said to you in the middle of verse 2, you shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And when all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them before Yahweh, they anointed David king over Israel.
SPEAKER_00: You can flip back to Matthew chapter 2 now.
SPEAKER_00: That prophecy, 2 Samuel 5, verse 2, says that in that day they all united behind David, and David would be a shepherd of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Now notice in Matthew 2, verse 6, that the scribes and the Pharisees, the ones who are citing this in verse 6, are saying that this is fulfilled with the birth of the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: They treated this as a prophecy of the coming Savior.
SPEAKER_00: So they knew from Micah 5, the Savior will be born in Bethlehem, and they explained why that was, because the Savior would be a shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: They knew that.
SPEAKER_00: It would be a bit embarrassing to explain that your Savior is going to be born in some, you know, remote, insignificant place.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of the significance where you were in society came from where you were born.
SPEAKER_00: And so for the Jews to explain that their Savior was born in some nowhere place like Bethlehem, it required an explanation.
SPEAKER_00: And the explanation is, of course, he would be born in Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: He is going to be a shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the Savior is born in Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: He'll be a shepherd, of course.
SPEAKER_00: So if Micah 5 was a prophecy to the Jews, 2 Samuel 5, verse 2 is a prophecy in many ways to the church that we recognize that our Savior, Jesus Christ, is the shepherd of our souls.
SPEAKER_00: He cares for us.
SPEAKER_00: He's not merely a religious figure.
SPEAKER_00: He's not merely a teacher.
SPEAKER_00: He's, in a sense, more than all that.
SPEAKER_00: He is all that, but he is also our shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: He cares for us.
SPEAKER_00: And this was a prophecy from the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: The third prophecy that's wrapped up here in Matthew chapter 2 is that of the stars.
SPEAKER_00: And to understand this one, you have to remember who Balaam was.
SPEAKER_00: Remember Balaam, he was the false prophet back in the wilderness wanderings of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Israel was out wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.
SPEAKER_00: They tangled with the nations around them.
SPEAKER_00: Balak, who's one of the kings of the nations around them, wanted to hire a false prophet to prophesy doom against Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Just notice the irony of false religion right here.
SPEAKER_00: You're looking at a group of people that are being led to deliverance because of their God, and you say, their God is too strong for us, so let me hire a false prophet to prophesy doom, and that'll be their downfall.
SPEAKER_00: Balaam goes out to prophesy doom against Israel.
SPEAKER_00: But if you remember the story, he gets up on the hill and he looks at Israel and he feels in his bones and his heart of hearts that God is actually blessing Israel.
SPEAKER_00: So instead of cursing Israel, Balaam turns around and blesses them and pockets his money.
SPEAKER_00: Well, the people who were paying for this prophecy were not cool with that.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, they said, We paid you to curse them, and you turn around and bless them.
SPEAKER_00: And Balaam says, Well, it's because of the angle I have up here on this hill.
SPEAKER_00: They look like a blessed people.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe if I went to a different hill, I would see them in a different light, and then I could curse them.
SPEAKER_00: So pay me again and take me to a different hill.
SPEAKER_00: And they did.
SPEAKER_00: And he blesses them a second time.
SPEAKER_00: He's like, let's try one more side then.
SPEAKER_00: And they pay him three times.
SPEAKER_00: And you think, how in the world did they pay him three times?
SPEAKER_00: And then you remember that's the nature of false religion.
SPEAKER_00: False religion is very good at getting your money.
SPEAKER_00: And so he goes to a third side.
SPEAKER_00: And he stands up on the hill on the third side and he goes to prophesy their doom and destruction, and he opens his mouth, and out comes a prophecy about the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Let me put it on the screen for you.
SPEAKER_00: It's Numbers 24, verse 17.
SPEAKER_00: I see him, Balaam says, speaking of the Savior, but not now.
SPEAKER_00: So Balaam's looking at the masses of the Israelites in the wilderness, and he says, I see the Savior, only he's not there yet.
SPEAKER_00: I behold him, but he's not near.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we still got time for him.
SPEAKER_00: You'll know he gets there when Balaam says, A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: It shall crush the forehead of Moab.
SPEAKER_00: It shall break down all the sons of Shef.
SPEAKER_00: Edom shall be dispossessed.
SPEAKER_00: This is the prophecy that Balaam gives.
SPEAKER_00: That you'll know the Savior is near.
SPEAKER_00: You know he's in Israel when the star appears out of Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: That will be the identifying mark that the Savior is there.
SPEAKER_00: And then a scepter will come and rule over the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And you'll know that will happen when Edom gets dispossessed.
SPEAKER_00: Now we're going to talk about the people we meet in Matthew chapter 2 in a second.
SPEAKER_00: But one person that you're familiar with, we read it earlier, is King Herod.
SPEAKER_00: The word king being used ironically there, Herod.
SPEAKER_00: Herod was an Edomite.
SPEAKER_00: He was the ruler of Israel under the Roman Empire, under this era of the Roman Empire, and he was from the nation or the family group of Edom.
SPEAKER_00: So Balaam's prophecy was that a star would come to Israel to indicate the arrival of the Savior, and when the star came, the Edomites would lose their power.
SPEAKER_00: They would be dispossessed as the word.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever power they had in Israel would be taken away from them.
SPEAKER_00: And of course, Herod, being an Edomite ruling over Israel, would pay particular attention to that prophecy.
SPEAKER_00: So here's three prophecies we've looked at.
SPEAKER_00: Three Old Testament prophecies.
SPEAKER_00: There's 400 years between each of these three, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: Between the star and Micah and Micah and going back to 2 Samuel's another 400 years, and between 2 Samuel and the wilderness wanderings, another 400 years.
SPEAKER_00: So you've got over 1,200 years here in this story.
SPEAKER_00: Three prophecies from three different massive time periods, all fulfilled in one event.
SPEAKER_00: This is a powerful argument for the truthfulness of scripture, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: One person can't fulfill intentionally these events.
SPEAKER_00: I've heard people say Jesus, the reason Jesus fulfilled so much scripture is he intentionally set out to fulfill scripture.
SPEAKER_00: These prophecies?
SPEAKER_00: He controlled what city he was born in?
SPEAKER_00: How?
SPEAKER_00: Unless he's God.
SPEAKER_00: Or maybe he just found out he was born in Bethlehem, so he chose to claim the mantle of Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, and that made him a shepherd of his people?
SPEAKER_00: Quoted 800 years before that?
SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00: Or even if you can explain those two away, how do you deal with the star?
SPEAKER_00: How do you contrive to have a star illuminate the place where you were born and where you live?
SPEAKER_00: These three things occurred all to fulfill scripture, all simultaneously fulfilling these three prophecies, along with many other prophecies in this passage.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to draw your attention to those three because those three are non-ambiguous.
SPEAKER_00: You can't argue with these three prophecies.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody argues that Micah was written after Christ's birth.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody argues that 2 Samuel 5 was written after Christ's birth.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's written 800 years at least beforehand.
SPEAKER_00: Nobody argues that Numbers with Balaam was written after the birth of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Of course not.
SPEAKER_00: That's before Israel even entered the promised land.
SPEAKER_00: These prophecies are so old and yet fulfilled by Christ.
SPEAKER_00: What do you do when you're confronted with that kind of Advent hope?
SPEAKER_00: What do you do when you're confronted with that kind of fulfilled prophecy which demonstrates the power of Scripture?
SPEAKER_00: Well, people respond in different ways.
SPEAKER_00: And I want to give you, as an outline this morning, some of those different responses.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to look at four of them.
SPEAKER_00: Four different responses provoked by Advent.
SPEAKER_00: Or four different responses provoked by fulfilled Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Because when you understand the Advent hope, you see how those two dove together, dovetail together.
SPEAKER_00: When you are eagerly expecting the coming Savior, you're expecting him through the lens of prophecy about his arrival.
SPEAKER_00: So when you see these kind of prophecies fulfilled, how should one respond?
SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
SPEAKER_00: And there's four different categories of responses.
SPEAKER_00: The first response is fear.
SPEAKER_00: And you see this with King Herod.
SPEAKER_00: Let's begin in verse one.
SPEAKER_00: Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, now we don't know how long between Jesus' birth and the wise men's arrival.
SPEAKER_00: It could be a few days, it could be a few weeks, a few months, could be a few years.
SPEAKER_00: We know that Herod, when he goes to put to death the infants in a passage we'll look at later, uh killed all the infants two years and younger.
SPEAKER_00: So some people deduce that it was two years between Jesus' birth and their arrival.
SPEAKER_00: I think that gives Herod more credit than he's due.
SPEAKER_00: Others assume that the star appeared at the birth of Jesus, and it would have taken at least a year or so for them to go from Babylon or Persia to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: That seems reasonable.
SPEAKER_00: You know, maybe in your major scene at home, if you have it set up, it's, you know, you're supposed to set the major scene up on the Friday after Thanksgiving, right?
SPEAKER_00: That's the federal law.
SPEAKER_00: So you you've done that now and your major scene is set up.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you should move the wise men into the other room.
SPEAKER_00: They can start navigating their way like every day.
SPEAKER_00: It can be an advent ritual.
SPEAKER_00: You move it like six inches a day.
SPEAKER_00: And then you you time it just right.
SPEAKER_00: So like on January 6th, they arrive.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
SPEAKER_00: That could be going too far.
SPEAKER_00: It's up to you.
SPEAKER_00: There's freedom in that.
SPEAKER_00: But there's some period of time.
SPEAKER_00: I remember being at one Christmas pageant where the boy Jesus, when the wise men arrived, was you know like a seven or eight year eight-year-old.
SPEAKER_00: And uh Steve Hawley leans over to me and goes, Is that kid seven?
SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it was seven years.
SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
SPEAKER_00: But some period of time takes place.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is still in Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't seven years, though.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, a wise men from the east came to Jerusalem and they came to Herod the king.
SPEAKER_00: Now Herod the King is a villain for the Jewish people.
SPEAKER_00: There's no shortage of villains in Jewish history, but Herod likely outshines them all.
SPEAKER_00: He is more evil and more wicked than perhaps anybody else in that era of Jewish history.
SPEAKER_00: He claimed to be the king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: He was not rightfully the king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: He wasn't even fully Jewish.
SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned earlier, he was an Edomite.
SPEAKER_00: He was a governor of the area.
SPEAKER_00: He was made governor by Brome, by Caesar.
SPEAKER_00: He was appointed in authority over Jerusalem and Judea.
SPEAKER_00: He extended his authority out to the Dead Sea and down towards Egypt and up towards Galilee.
SPEAKER_00: He began uniting different parcels of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: He was an incredibly wicked and brutal man.
SPEAKER_00: He had been friends with Mark Anthony back in an earlier war.
SPEAKER_00: When Mark Anthony became Caesar, he put Herod in charge of that area.
SPEAKER_00: He should have been called a governor.
SPEAKER_00: Herod had married a Jordanian princess, though.
SPEAKER_00: And when he married this princess, he announced that he was king of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: That's not how somebody becomes king, but that's what Herod declared, and nobody would cross him because he was incredibly brutal.
SPEAKER_00: He enslaved people, he slaughtered people, he abused people.
SPEAKER_00: He went on an ornate building spree.
SPEAKER_00: He built these massive cities in his own honor and fame, and in the honor and fame of Caesar, Caesarea Maritime, being one of you have been to Israel.
SPEAKER_00: This whole city he built on the coast in honor or in homage to Rome, called Caesar's maritime place or the ocean side for Caesar.
SPEAKER_00: It was Roman architecture built in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: It was a monument towards Roman occupation.
SPEAKER_00: So the Jews hated it, of course.
SPEAKER_00: It was like thumbing his nose at the Jews.
SPEAKER_00: He also built the temple in Jerusalem, the temple that Jesus would teach in.
SPEAKER_00: Herod built that.
SPEAKER_00: They had a small temple before Herod was there.
SPEAKER_00: It was run down.
SPEAKER_00: Idol had been worshipped in it.
SPEAKER_00: It was dilapidated and in disrepair.
SPEAKER_00: Herod told the Jews that he would rebuild their temple and give them a massive temple, the size of a Roman temple.
SPEAKER_00: He put Roman architecture on the outside of it.
SPEAKER_00: The thing was massive, incredibly huge.
SPEAKER_00: It appealed to the base side of the Pharisees that wanted something important and significant in Rome, in the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_00: It was a way to testify to the world that our religion is also true.
SPEAKER_00: You have your own gods and goddesses.
SPEAKER_00: We have a temple to Yahweh that is massive, bigger than even some of the Roman temples right here in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: And Herod gave it to him.
SPEAKER_00: In exchange, Herod got to appoint the high priests.
SPEAKER_00: So the priesthoods in Israel became a political appointee from Herod.
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to tell what parts of Herod's story are true and false because there's so many rumors about him.
SPEAKER_00: The story goes that he was incredibly short and incredibly fat.
SPEAKER_00: So fat that he would get stuck going in and out of doors.
SPEAKER_00: And that's the kind of thing that may or may not be true, but the fact that people would say it just to provoke him indicates that there's some truth behind it.
SPEAKER_00: And in some of his palaces that have been excavated, the doors are a little short and they are a little wide.
SPEAKER_00: So maybe he was incredibly short and incredibly fat.
SPEAKER_00: That's what stories say.
SPEAKER_00: What is true is that he did become benefactor and then president of the Olympic Games.
SPEAKER_00: Rome stopped funding the Olympic Games.
SPEAKER_00: The games that would have taken place in 12 BC had no money to go on.
SPEAKER_00: So Herod stepped in, funded them, and then appointed himself as the Olympic Games president.
SPEAKER_00: So it's even more ironic.
SPEAKER_00: You have an incredibly short, incredibly fat person who becomes the president of the Olympic Games.
SPEAKER_00: That's Herod.
SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned, he was incredibly brutal as well.
SPEAKER_00: He built his ultimate man cave, so to speak, in Masada, a palace or a fortress up on the top of a hill that was almost impossible to get up, even today.
SPEAKER_00: It's an incredible hike to get up there.
SPEAKER_00: There's a cable car to go and go through the ruins there.
SPEAKER_00: He stocked it with food and alcohol and slaves.
SPEAKER_00: It was going to be his hideout.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't end up dying there.
SPEAKER_00: He died on the road away from it.
SPEAKER_00: He built it on the backs of slave laborers, as he brutalized the Israelites who hated the fact that they had this Edomite who was acting as their king and who started calling himself king because he married some Arab princess.
SPEAKER_00: The Jews hated Herod.
SPEAKER_00: Even this today, if you go to Israel, many Tura guides won't even say Herod's name, although his footprint is all over even modern-day Israel.
SPEAKER_00: So much of it still goes back to him.
SPEAKER_00: Last time I was there, our Tura guide only referred to him as Herod the butcher of Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: And we'll look at why that is in the next few weeks.
SPEAKER_00: This is who the wise men go to in his day, in chapter 2, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: They go to Herod.
SPEAKER_00: Notice the word play here in verse 1, the king.
SPEAKER_00: But the wise men arrive there and they ask, where is he who has been born king of the Jews?
SPEAKER_00: Notice Matthew gives in and calls Herod king there.
SPEAKER_00: Herod the king, even though he was no king, he wanted to be called king.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew plays along only to get to verse 2.
SPEAKER_00: And notice that the wise men were asking, No, where's the one who was born king of the Jews?
SPEAKER_00: We're not looking for Herod because Herod was not born king of anything.
SPEAKER_00: We want to find the person who is born king of the Jews.
SPEAKER_00: This is a provocative question in a powder keg of a political environment.
SPEAKER_00: How's Herod going to respond to that question?
SPEAKER_00: Imagine going to the White House right now and ringing the doorbell and saying, hey, I'm looking for the president-elect.
SPEAKER_00: What kind of reception do you think you're going to receive?
SPEAKER_00: How do you think President Trump refers to Joe Biden?
SPEAKER_00: Think he uses the phrase president-elect?
SPEAKER_00: No way.
SPEAKER_00: I just tell you that.
SPEAKER_00: So you start to appreciate what happens when the magi roll into Jerusalem looking for the person who was born king of the Jews.
SPEAKER_00: That is a very problematic search that they are on.
SPEAKER_00: They don't don't even sometimes an outsider can say things or ask things in such a way that an insider could never get away with.
SPEAKER_00: They can play naivete here.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the magi are doing.
SPEAKER_00: They roll into Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: There would have been quite an announcement of their coming, by the way.
SPEAKER_00: It would have taken them several months, if not a year, to get there from Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: They would have crossed the Jordan River around Jericho.
SPEAKER_00: It would take a full day at least, if not a day and a half or two days, to go from Jericho to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: News of this entourage certainly would have gotten to Jerusalem before they did.
SPEAKER_00: Word travels faster than people.
SPEAKER_00: They would have been expecting them now at this point.
SPEAKER_00: The entourage, people that are dressed as Persians, with they look different, they speak a different language, they have ornate and elaborate gifts, we find out later on, are now going through the streets of Jerusalem, asking people, where is the one who is born king of the Jews?
SPEAKER_00: You can see why, verse 3, when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled.
SPEAKER_00: Also, verse 3, all of Jerusalem with him.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody was losing their minds over this.
SPEAKER_00: You can't roam.
SPEAKER_00: And where do they go?
SPEAKER_00: They go to the Herod's palace.
SPEAKER_00: They're looking for the king.
SPEAKER_00: If you're looking for a king, you go to the capital.
SPEAKER_00: They've done that.
SPEAKER_00: And now you would go to the palace.
SPEAKER_00: That's where the king should be.
SPEAKER_00: So they don't show up at the White House, they show up at Herod's palace and they ring the doorbell.
SPEAKER_00: And they ask, excuse us.
SPEAKER_00: Sorry for the interruption.
SPEAKER_00: Where is the person who is born king of the Jews?
SPEAKER_00: Herod says, Hold on one moment.
SPEAKER_00: Let me get right back to you.
SPEAKER_00: How's Herod going to respond to this?
SPEAKER_00: How's Herod going to respond?
SPEAKER_00: Well, in verse 4, he assembles all the chief priests and the scribes, the people, and he asks, where the Savior is supposed to be born.
SPEAKER_00: Notice they ask, he asks in verse 4, where is the Christ going to be born?
SPEAKER_00: What was their question?
SPEAKER_00: Their question was, where is the king born?
SPEAKER_00: And Herod can't bring himself to say the word king to the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Sanhedrin.
SPEAKER_00: He's not going to ask them, hey, where is the king supposed to be born?
SPEAKER_00: So he changes the word and he says, Where is the Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Where is the Savior supposed to be born?
SPEAKER_00: Christ just means Messiah, sent one, anointed one, savior.
SPEAKER_00: So they ask, Herod asks the Sadducees, where is the Savior supposed to be born?
SPEAKER_00: And I draw your attention to this point just so you understand, even the most hard-headed and cold-hearted Israelite back then understood the king of Israel was going to be their savior.
SPEAKER_00: Herod was hardly religious, even though he built the temple, he was hardly religious.
SPEAKER_00: And even he understood that the Old Testament king was going to be the Old Testament savior, that the person they were longingly awaiting would be both king and Messiah.
SPEAKER_00: Herod knew that.
SPEAKER_00: And he wants to know where he's supposed to be born.
SPEAKER_00: There's the people at the door.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, Jews, where is the, who are they looking for and where is he?
SPEAKER_00: Herod, verse 7, summons them, secretly ascertains when they the wise men when they first saw their star.
SPEAKER_00: And then he tells them, verse 8, go find the star.
SPEAKER_00: And go find the child in verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: When you found him, send me word so I too may come and worship him.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, he's not going to come worship him, he's going to go murder them.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to go murder the child, probably the wise men.
SPEAKER_00: He will kill all of them.
SPEAKER_00: That's what he wants to do.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to put an end to this whole messianic charade.
SPEAKER_00: Do you notice a few things about Herod's line of inquiry here?
SPEAKER_00: Herod is not interested in whether or not this is true.
SPEAKER_00: Do you notice this?
SPEAKER_00: At no point does Herod contemplate the idea if the Savior is here, perhaps I should worship him.
SPEAKER_00: If the Savior is here, let me get ahead of this curve and show him around and train him how to be a good king.
SPEAKER_00: If he's just born, he needs the steward of the throne.
SPEAKER_00: Let me train him up.
SPEAKER_00: Let me hand things off to him.
SPEAKER_00: Let me grow less and him grow more.
SPEAKER_00: This doesn't cross his mind.
SPEAKER_00: Right out the gate, Herod is out to find him and end him.
SPEAKER_00: That's his goal.
SPEAKER_00: Herod doesn't care about truth, he cares about power.
SPEAKER_00: Herod is more interested in saving his own throne than saving his own soul.
SPEAKER_00: It's all about pride.
SPEAKER_00: He won't give up what he has.
SPEAKER_00: It's less important to Herod if it's true, and more important to him how it affects how he views himself.
SPEAKER_00: He calls himself king and he's gonna get away with it until the real king shows up.
SPEAKER_00: And then the real king must be ended.
SPEAKER_00: For the powerful in this world, it is all about pride.
SPEAKER_00: It's all about holding on to what you have.
SPEAKER_00: And so I just want to pull the car over for a second and ask you all this question.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see yourself inherited all?
SPEAKER_00: I'm telling you, this is a very common, especially a very common American response to the gospel from people that don't know Christ.
SPEAKER_00: They see they're confronted with the truth of the gospel, and it's not a question to them if it's true.
SPEAKER_00: It's a question to them of what would I have to give up if this were true?
SPEAKER_00: And if that's too much, I'm out.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the gospel makes demands on your life.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says the gospel will be a sword that separates family from family.
SPEAKER_00: It'll separate friend from friend, it'll separate household from household, and you say, I'm not into that.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm out.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, unless you're willing to deny yourself and pick up your cross and follow him, you have no part with him.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel makes demands in your life.
SPEAKER_00: If you're living in an immoral, sexually immoral relationship, the gospel commands you to repent of that and leave it.
SPEAKER_00: And there are those that say, Ah, I like my relationships like they are.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna keep them.
SPEAKER_00: If you have friends that are corrupting your morals, the gospel calls you to separate from them.
SPEAKER_00: Bad company corrupts good morals, and you say, No, I like my friendships and relationships the way I have.
SPEAKER_00: For some of you that are in an immoral job, the Bible calls you to flee that, and you say, No, I can't do that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm happy with it.
SPEAKER_00: For some of you that live an immoral lifestyle, the Bible calls you to repent from that and flee from that.
SPEAKER_00: But people say, No, this is how I am.
SPEAKER_00: I want to live my life this way.
SPEAKER_00: They even blame God.
SPEAKER_00: This is the way God made me, so I'm gonna live my life like who I am.
SPEAKER_00: Notice that when you say that, you're it's not even a question of if the gospel is true anymore.
SPEAKER_00: It's just simply a question of how you view yourself and you're not willing to change.
SPEAKER_00: You're not willing to repent.
SPEAKER_00: This is a Herod style response that you are proud and you like who you are the way you are, and you're unwilling to repent of it.
SPEAKER_00: This is Herod.
SPEAKER_00: Herod's unwilling to let go of what he has to receive the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this comes across as fear.
SPEAKER_00: Herod was afraid of what was going to happen to him.
SPEAKER_00: He was afraid of a new Savior showing up on the scene.
SPEAKER_00: He was afraid of losing his throne.
SPEAKER_00: He was afraid of losing his crown.
SPEAKER_00: He was afraid of losing his power.
SPEAKER_00: But it does not, it does not terminate with fear.
SPEAKER_00: It starts with fear, but it does not end there.
SPEAKER_00: This fear will give way to anger, and this anger will give way to hatred and will eventually give way to murder.
SPEAKER_00: Herod lashes out and begins murdering people.
SPEAKER_00: We'll look at that in a few weeks.
SPEAKER_00: Begins murdering people out of his hatred for the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter if it's true or not for Herod, it just matters that he hates him.
SPEAKER_00: Reminds me of the person you ask him, Do you believe in God?
SPEAKER_00: No, I don't believe in him, but I hate him.
SPEAKER_00: That's where Herod is.
SPEAKER_00: He may not believe in God, but he hates God, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_00: And will eventually lash out at him.
SPEAKER_00: The person who says, I won't believe the gospel because I don't want to change who I am, does not stay in that position of fear.
SPEAKER_00: That fear will morph and change and grow into anger and hostility and hatred and ultimately violence.
SPEAKER_00: You see that modeled with Herod.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you, I'm afraid, know who Jesus is, but are frankly unwilling to come to terms with his demands on your life.
SPEAKER_00: And so you act in some kind of fearful way of him, afraid to get too close to the truth of God.
SPEAKER_00: It's a dangerous place to be, but it's not the only place to be.
SPEAKER_00: There's a second response we see here, not just fear, but the second response we see is that of indifference.
SPEAKER_00: Indifference.
SPEAKER_00: This we see in verse 4 with the chief priests, remember those who's only supposed to be one, but Herod multiplied the position by appointing multiple people to it, scribes.
SPEAKER_00: This is likely language that's referencing the Sanhedrin here.
SPEAKER_00: And he inquires of them, these are the religious rulers of Israel, and asks them where the Savior is supposed to be born, and now you meet them.
SPEAKER_00: They have an answer to the question in verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: They say, in Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is one of the most shocking verses in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: They have an answer ready for him.
SPEAKER_00: Herod taps them on the shoulder.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, where's the Savior supposed to be born?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: Five miles down the road, turn left, second door on the right.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find him there.
SPEAKER_00: And they get back about their daily business.
SPEAKER_00: They go back to their own life.
SPEAKER_00: What a picture of the indifference of religious people.
SPEAKER_00: In a sense, the more religious somebody is, the more indifferent they are to the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say that one more time.
SPEAKER_00: Not in every sense, but in a sense, the more religious a person is, the more indifferent they become to the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Because they have their religious system that feeds them, they have their religious system that structures their life.
SPEAKER_00: If something is true or not, it is almost irrelevant to them if it's outside of their religious system.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the Pharisees are.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees knew who the Savior was going to be, they knew where he was going to be, they know why he was going to be there.
SPEAKER_00: They just didn't care enough to go meet him.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees are the ones that connect the prophecy from 2 Samuel 5 to the one from Micah 5.
SPEAKER_00: You see that at the end of verse 6 there, he will shepherd my people Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Now, as I mentioned earlier, this was probably an apologetic for them towards Herod.
SPEAKER_00: Herod wants to know where the Savior is supposed to be born.
SPEAKER_00: They're embarrassed by the fact the answer is Bethlehem, so they explain it away by saying he's born in Bethlehem because 2 Samuel 5 says he'll be the shepherd of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: But in saying that, they're condemning themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Ezekiel 34 describes the religious leaders of the Jews as evil, wicked shepherds.
SPEAKER_00: They fleece the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: They fatten the sheep up and they take their wool for themselves and they eat them.
SPEAKER_00: They're slaughtering the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: They're not caring for the sick sheep.
SPEAKER_00: They're fattening them up and slaughtering the sheep.
SPEAKER_00: That's the religious leaders of Israel in terms of being shepherds.
SPEAKER_00: They're bad shepherds, Ezekiel 34 says.
SPEAKER_00: And so Ezekiel 34 says, God says, I will take them away from being shepherds.
SPEAKER_00: And then listen to this.
SPEAKER_00: Yahweh says, I myself will be their shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: Well, how can that be true in line up with 2 Samuel 5?
SPEAKER_00: How can 2 Samuel 5 say the Savior will be their shepherd?
SPEAKER_00: And Ezekiel 34 says Yahweh will be their shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: How can they both be true?
SPEAKER_00: So the Pharisees ignore Ezekiel 34, of course, because it condemns them, highlight 2 Samuel 5 because they think it shows how the religious leaders are shepherds, without realizing that they're condemning themselves by doing so.
SPEAKER_00: When they quote that verse to Herod, they are condemning their own faithlessness.
SPEAKER_00: Now we, of course, know how they can both be true.
SPEAKER_00: God, through David, will be the shepherd of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: The Savior will be the shepherd, and God himself will be the Savior and who will be the shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: The Pharisees don't connect the dots, they condemn themselves.
SPEAKER_00: The main point, though, and listen carefully, for religious people, it's all about their system.
SPEAKER_00: It's less about the truth, it's more about their system.
SPEAKER_00: They almost don't want to know the truth of the gospel because they don't want it to mess up their carefully crafted religious system.
SPEAKER_00: They have been taught by their parents or taught by their friends, they've got a hold on it, and they don't want to let go.
SPEAKER_00: I lived for a year in Mexico, and I'll tell you, this was the most common Mexican response to the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Sharing the gospel with somebody in Mexico can lay out very clearly that Jesus Christ is God in human flesh, that he led a sinless life, that he died on the cross for our sins, rose from the grave on the third day.
SPEAKER_00: When you believe that he bore all of your guilt, he bore all the penalty for that on the cross, you can approach God with boldness because your sins are forgiven.
SPEAKER_00: You can approach God with confidence through Jesus Christ and faith in him.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to work to have your sins taken away.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to trust sacraments to have your sins taken away.
SPEAKER_00: You don't have to go through intermediaries or intercessors, you don't have to go through saints, you don't have to go through Mary.
SPEAKER_00: You can go directly to Jesus who hears you because of your faith in his finished work on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: And the most common answer that I got when I was there was that's all good and well, but you don't understand, I'm Catholic.
SPEAKER_00: I don't need to believe that.
SPEAKER_00: I'm Catholic.
SPEAKER_00: They recognize that that answer is not Catholicism, and they are Catholic, and so this conversation is over.
SPEAKER_00: So I would try to go, it's like, well, do you recognize that what I said is what the Bible teaches?
SPEAKER_00: I have verses for all of those things.
SPEAKER_00: We can go to all of them.
SPEAKER_00: We can know the Catholics believe the Bible?
SPEAKER_00: Well, let's open the book and read what it says, and you'll see how it doesn't match what you believe.
SPEAKER_00: They're not interested in that.
SPEAKER_00: It's not a question of the truth for them.
SPEAKER_00: At least that was my limited experience.
SPEAKER_00: Your mileage may vary on this.
SPEAKER_00: That was my experience there.
SPEAKER_00: It was not a question of the truth.
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't, well, the Bible's not true.
SPEAKER_00: Or it wasn't what you're saying is not what the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: The conversation didn't even get that far.
SPEAKER_00: It was, I'm Mexican.
SPEAKER_00: I'm Catholic.
SPEAKER_00: This is what we believe.
SPEAKER_00: So stop talking.
SPEAKER_00: This is where the Pharisees are.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see that?
SPEAKER_00: The Savior could be down there.
SPEAKER_00: Who cares?
SPEAKER_00: As long as he doesn't mess with our system, we're fine.
SPEAKER_00: They don't want to argue with Micah chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: They don't want to argue with Ezekiel 34.
SPEAKER_00: They don't want to argue with 2 Samuel 5.
SPEAKER_00: Put those over there.
SPEAKER_00: Let us hold on.
SPEAKER_00: Herod gave them a massive temple.
SPEAKER_00: Let us hold on to that.
SPEAKER_00: This is going to be what undoes Jesus at the end of his life.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus messes with their temple.
SPEAKER_00: He clears out their temple in Passover week, the busiest week of the year.
SPEAKER_00: He clears it out, shuts them down.
SPEAKER_00: That's too far.
SPEAKER_00: That's too far, they think.
SPEAKER_00: And they end up putting him to death.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see how both of these responses bracket Jesus' life?
SPEAKER_00: He's born.
SPEAKER_00: Before he even speaks a word, he's dividing nation against nation.
SPEAKER_00: Gentile against Jew.
SPEAKER_00: Herod against the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin.
SPEAKER_00: He's becoming a sword, dividing even Gentile nations.
SPEAKER_00: And before he even says a word here, you see the indifference of the religious leaders of Israel who only care about their own power.
SPEAKER_00: The end of his life, you'll see the same thing.
SPEAKER_00: As Jesus is brought before Herod at the end of his life, it's not the same Herod as Matthew 2.
SPEAKER_00: It's he's brought before Pilate, who's the governor, takes Herod's spot in some sense, the governor of Jerusalem, who hands him over to Herod, who's ruling over Galilee, a different Herod.
SPEAKER_00: Neither of them find anything wrong with him.
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_00: The religious leaders have determined he must die because he was messing with the temple that Herod the Great had given them.
SPEAKER_00: For the religious people, it's all about their system.
SPEAKER_00: It's all about holding on to their system.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here today and that's you, I pray you would see the deception of your system.
SPEAKER_00: The deception that is in relying on sacraments, the deception that is relying on intercessors or intermediaries or mediators between God and man.
SPEAKER_00: There is only one mediator, the man Jesus Christ, who was born to a virgin, who lived a sinless life, who died on the cross to bear the penalty for sin.
SPEAKER_00: And when you put your faith in him, you do not need to go through other works or other activities or other actions or other persons to get to God.
SPEAKER_00: It's the freedom that comes from worshiping Christ and believing the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: It's a freedom that's only for those that can look through their religious system and to the person of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Those are two responses.
SPEAKER_00: Let's look at the third one.
SPEAKER_00: Fear, indifference, and finally, or thirdly, worship.
SPEAKER_00: Thirdly, worship.
SPEAKER_00: You see this in the wise men, you see them all the way up in verse one.
SPEAKER_00: They traveled from Persia or Babylon, likely with Daniel's 70 weeks, Daniel's prophecy of 70 weeks, which would have given the time frame for when to come.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's likely because you wouldn't see a new star in the sky and deduce from that that a savior is born in Israel, right?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, there's a new star.
SPEAKER_00: The Savior must be born in Israel.
SPEAKER_00: You need a little bit more information.
SPEAKER_00: They would have had Daniel's prophecy written back when Daniel was in Babylon about the timing of the coming of the Savior, perhaps, I think, likely.
SPEAKER_00: And so that would have cued them in.
SPEAKER_00: They were waiting for the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: They see a sign that he has come into Israel.
SPEAKER_00: They journey there.
SPEAKER_00: It would have taken a significant amount of time to get there.
SPEAKER_00: They were willing to risk their own lives.
SPEAKER_00: Life and safety to travel across the known world to go worship the Savior whom they had not even met.
SPEAKER_00: You know their motive because they say in verse 2, we have come, the end of verse 2, to worship him.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine their disappointment when the person in the king's palace is not the one they're looking for.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, they get sent to Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: So they pack up and they go.
SPEAKER_00: They get the star back again.
SPEAKER_00: The star guides them again.
SPEAKER_00: In verse 9, the star rose and went before them until it came to rest over the very place the child was.
SPEAKER_00: The star leads him right to the house.
SPEAKER_00: And in verse 10, I love, I just love verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
SPEAKER_00: You should pay attention when the Bible repeats words unnecessarily.
SPEAKER_00: Like, they rejoiced.
SPEAKER_00: That would be sufficient, right?
SPEAKER_00: They saw Jesus and rejoiced, but no, they rejoiced exceedingly.
SPEAKER_00: And not even, that's not even good enough.
SPEAKER_00: They rejoiced exceedingly with joy.
SPEAKER_00: That's not even good enough.
SPEAKER_00: He needed a fourth one.
SPEAKER_00: They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
SPEAKER_00: The California Living Translation says they were super stoked.
SPEAKER_00: Not just stoked, not just stoked.
SPEAKER_00: They were super stoked.
SPEAKER_00: They go into the house with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him.
SPEAKER_00: They opened their treasures.
SPEAKER_00: They brought so much stuff for him.
SPEAKER_00: Notice that this is the right response to Jesus, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: And they had to be imported from Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: This whole structure, the way Matthew designs this all, is meant to condemn the religion of Judaism as existed in Jesus' birth.
SPEAKER_00: It totally condemns them.
SPEAKER_00: The right response is seen from astrologers from Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: They come in and they offer him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
SPEAKER_00: Some deduce that there were three Magi.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say that, but there were three gifts, certainly.
SPEAKER_00: In the Greek Orthodox tradition, it numbers them three and gives them names even.
SPEAKER_00: But I think it's fine just to say there were a group of them, but there were certainly three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
SPEAKER_00: Each of them speaks to the different office of the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: The Savior will be king.
SPEAKER_00: Gold is a gift fit for a king.
SPEAKER_00: The Savior will be the king.
SPEAKER_00: They identified him as the king.
SPEAKER_00: He will be honored as king.
SPEAKER_00: Frankincense is a spice used in worship.
SPEAKER_00: It's a gift you could give to a poor family that needed to worship it or make a sacrifice at the temple.
SPEAKER_00: They are bringing Mary, who is certainly poor frankincense.
SPEAKER_00: This allows her to worship in the temple in their own in the Jewish religion.
SPEAKER_00: It's identifying that Jesus will be the high priest of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: He's not appointed by Herod, but he will be the high priest.
SPEAKER_00: He's given a gift that goes with worship.
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, myrrh.
SPEAKER_00: Myrrh is a spice that is used in burial.
SPEAKER_00: People debate about whether the wise men knew that the Savior would die.
SPEAKER_00: I tend to think that they likely did, but who knows?
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say.
SPEAKER_00: But they do providentially present him with a gift that is used as burial spices.
SPEAKER_00: When Jesus does die, he's buried with 70 pounds of myrrh on him.
SPEAKER_00: No idea if it's the same myrrh that was given by the magi, but they give it to him.
SPEAKER_00: Gold to recognize he's a king, frankincense a priest, myrrh to recognize that he is the Savior who will bear the wrath of God towards the sins of mankind in his own body.
SPEAKER_00: He will die a real death.
SPEAKER_00: He will be really buried, wrapped in real spices, put in a real grave with a real stone in front of it, sealed his grave, with soldiers guarding his grave.
SPEAKER_00: All of that is wrapped up in this.
SPEAKER_00: He is a real king, he is a real high priest, and he is going to die a very real death.
SPEAKER_00: And the Magi know that and they worship him for all of it.
SPEAKER_00: For all of it.
SPEAKER_00: This is Phil, Psalm 72, verse 10, which says, Kings will bring their gifts to the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Well, those are three responses.
SPEAKER_00: And I hope of those three, your heart is drawn towards worship, but they're not the only three.
SPEAKER_00: I want to highlight a fourth response to this, a fourth response to this.
SPEAKER_00: The fourth response is evangelism.
SPEAKER_00: Evangelism.
SPEAKER_00: You've seen fear, you've seen indifference, you've seen worship, and now evangelism.
SPEAKER_00: Evangelism is the one actor in this drama that we have not talked about yet.
SPEAKER_00: The real star of the show.
SPEAKER_00: I want to draw your attention to him.
SPEAKER_00: The real star of the show.
SPEAKER_00: That'll be funny to you one day.
SPEAKER_00: I want to look at the star right now.
SPEAKER_00: He's the real star of the show.
SPEAKER_00: It'll get funny if I keep saying it.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
SPEAKER_00: The real star.
SPEAKER_00: This star here functions in a way that should be convicting to you.
SPEAKER_00: The star does not draw attention to himself, but the star draws attention to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't lead people to himself, he leads people to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: The star himself fulfills Scripture, but the star more than that highlights the fulfilling nature of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: It highlights that these prophecies about the Messiah are being fulfilled right before their eyes.
SPEAKER_00: The star broadcasts the news of this and brings people across the world to see the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: There's so much we don't know about the star, we don't know if it's up in a different galaxy.
SPEAKER_00: And it took the astronomers to identify the newness, and maybe other people didn't see it because of how new it was.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's how it started.
SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it was something in low Earth orbit that didn't burn up and it had some kind of cycle that directed them east.
SPEAKER_00: Seems unlikely, but okay.
SPEAKER_00: Could have been an asteroid or a meteor, but those things go so quick.
SPEAKER_00: This had some kind of staying power.
SPEAKER_00: More likely it was like the cloud that guided the Israelites through the wilderness back during the exile.
SPEAKER_00: But we don't know because the text doesn't say.
SPEAKER_00: We do know that it cued them to the birth of the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: They journeyed to get there for the birth of the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: It disappeared, it came back over Bethlehem, and that it was precise enough that it shone on the very house where Jesus was.
SPEAKER_00: They did not have to go to door, door to door.
SPEAKER_00: The star showed them where Christ was.
SPEAKER_00: I love this.
SPEAKER_00: It's such a picture of evangelism.
SPEAKER_00: The star brings people who don't know the Lord to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And then is not content to just leave them there, but pushes them through the door.
SPEAKER_00: You need a little bit more help?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll come back.
SPEAKER_00: I got you close to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's not close enough.
SPEAKER_00: Let me bring you all the way to Bethlehem.
SPEAKER_00: That's not good enough.
SPEAKER_00: Let me bring you all the way to the house.
SPEAKER_00: And then once the person finds Jesus, the star disappears, never to be seen again.
SPEAKER_00: I hope you're content to be that kind of star.
SPEAKER_00: That shines in your Christian life before others, that draws people to the Savior, that points them to Jesus Christ, circles back around again.
SPEAKER_00: Hey, have you met Jesus yet?
SPEAKER_00: Nope, let me push you the rest of the way.
SPEAKER_00: And then once the people you witness to find Christ, you're content to fade into anonymity.
SPEAKER_00: You know, as I mentioned, there's so much we don't know about the star.
SPEAKER_00: Why did other people not see the star?
SPEAKER_00: Why weren't there groups of people knocking down the door of the house?
SPEAKER_00: There's a star shining on it.
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps they were supernaturally blinded.
SPEAKER_00: That would make sense.
SPEAKER_00: After all, that's exactly how it is with the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: You share the gospel with a group of people, and many of them will be supernaturally blinded.
SPEAKER_00: They won't be able to hear it or perceive it or understand it.
SPEAKER_00: Nevertheless, when you share the gospel with a group of people, there are always those that will have their hearts opened, they will have their eyes opened, and they will see the light of the star.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here this morning and you don't know the Savior, I pray that you would see in your own heart the fear that keeps you from Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And you would repent of it.
SPEAKER_00: I pray you would see in your own heart the indifference that keeps you shackled to a religious system.
SPEAKER_00: The indifference, why I say indifference because it you have to care about what's true.
SPEAKER_00: You have to care about what the Bible actually says.
SPEAKER_00: And if you can't get there, you can't come to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And if you can get those through those two obstacles, I pray that you would respond to Christ as the magi.
SPEAKER_00: You would say, I only want to worship my king, I only want to worship my high priest, I only want to worship my Savior who will be my substitute and die on the cross for my sin.
SPEAKER_00: And once you push through all of those, I pray that you will spend this advent, this Christmas season, being an evangelist towards others, directing others towards Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we're thankful for the good news of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And I do pray for this congregation.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that you would use us to be lights in this world, that you would use us to draw other people to yourself, to shine before men.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I pray for evangelistic opportunities this Christmas season.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that you would give us boldness and courage to speak to our neighbors, our co-workers and our friends about Christ.
SPEAKER_00: That you would use us to point the people to the single Savior, who is our King, who is our high priest, who is and who bore our sins on the cross.
SPEAKER_00: Give us mercy and grace.
SPEAKER_00: Use us to reach out to us for the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray for anyone here this morning who's never given their life to you, I pray this very morning they would surrender their fear, they would surrender their indifference, they would believe the truth, and they would respond by worshiping you.
SPEAKER_00: We ask this in Jesus' name.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: And now for a parting word from Pastor Jesse Johnson.
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us today.
SPEAKER_00: If you're in the Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: area, I would love to meet you personally at Emmanuel Bible Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our service times and other church information is on our website at ibc.church.
SPEAKER_00: If you want information about the Master Seminary and their Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_00: location, go to tms.edu.
SPEAKER_00: I hope this resource has been an encouragement to you and it helps you seek the Lord daily, serve others around you, and share the gospel of Jesus Christ with boldness.
SPEAKER_00: May the Lord bless you.