Worship the King

Matthew 2:1-12

1 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, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. 5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ “

7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” 9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

In Matthew 2 we read the familiar story of the “wise men,” or Magi, who come to worship the Christ child. Matthew’s account is the only source we have of this event and it leaves us with several unanswered questions: Who were the magi? How many were there? Where in the east did they come from? How did they know to look for the “King of the Jews”? What was the “star” that they saw? How long after Jesus’ birth did they arrive?

Because of the mystery and the unanswered questions, great legends have grown up about them. Our traditional understanding of the Magi has been shaped almost entirely by Christmas carols and cards which are more based on imagination than revelation. What we can certainly see from Matthew 2 is that they made worshiping Jesus their number one priority. Worship is a key word in this text. It’s found in Matthew 2:2, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him”; Matthew 2:8, “… when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also”; and Matthew 2:11, “And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.” The magi came to Judea for the sole purpose of worship. Worship was why they left their homeland. Worship was why they brought their treasure. Worship was why they journeyed. Worship was at the heart of everything we see them do in this passage. They had their hearts set on coming before the Lord Jesus Christ to worship Him.

The word “worship” is προσκυνέω (proskynéō) meaning literally to kiss toward (like a dog licking his master’s hand). It expresses profound reverence and homage often by kneeling or prostrating oneself. Worship is the outward expression of respect and homage that comes from an inward submission and reverence of the heart. MacArthur give a simple definition of worship of God: “Worship is all that we are, reacting rightly to all that He is” (The Ultimate Priority [Moody Press], p. 147).

Remember the context of Matthew 2. In the first chapter of his Gospel, Matthew established the fact that Jesus Christ is of the kingly line of David and that He inherits the promise God made to Abraham. He also established the uniqueness of His virgin birth, and His divine nature as Emmanuel, “God with us.” Jesus Christ is the God-King—the Son of God and the Messiah of Israel. In his second chapter, Matthew is going to focus attention on some special events following the birth of Christ. That will conclude all that Matthew has to say about the early life of Jesus Christ. Chapter 3 presents Him as an adult and begins a consideration of His public ministry.

Three kinds of responses to Christ are demonstrated in this chapter. The Jews’ response is one of apathy and indifference. Herod’s response is one of hostility and hatred. The response of the magi is one of worship and adoration. It is on their response we want to focus today.

Frist we find that they,

1. Worship Jesus because He is the King. (Matthew 2:1-6)

Matthew 2:1 says, “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.” Matthew sets the timing for their visit “after Jesus was born in Bethlehem.” Luke gives us the story of Jesus’ birth and the circumstances of the census that brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. But Matthew confirms the location of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem. He also sets the stage by saying this happened “in the days of Herod the king.” This is Herod the Great, who ruled from 37 B.C. to 4 B.C. Herod was not Jewish. He was Idumaean–an Edomite, a descendant of Esau and not Jacob. He had tried to ingratiate himself to the Jews by marrying into the Jewish Hasmonean family that had reigned for a hundred years, and by building the temple in Jerusalem. Any study of Herod will immediately show that the man was a ruthless and paranoid tyrant. He would easily kill his own sons, or one of his wives, or the high priest, if he thought any of these were in any way conspiring against him. And so the thought of a king being born was an immediate threat. Especially if it was the promised Messiah, the king of the Jews.

Who were the wise men? Where in the east did they come from? The word “magi” was used by the Babylonians, Medes, Persians, and others, of the wise men, teachers, priests, physicians, astrologers, seers, and interpreters of dreams. We find these kind of wise men in the courts of Babylon and Persia in the book of Daniel. The question of the Magi indicates clearly whom this story is really about: “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” It’s about a newborn child destined to be King of the Jews. The magi have come seeking the King of the Jews because they say, “For we have seen His star in the East.” Again we are left wondering what the “star” was. They had observed something unusual in the heavens. God arranged this astronomical oddity in order to signal these magi to a very significant birth–the birth of a child who was born as the king of the Jews.

The purpose of their visit is clear “and have come to worship Him.” Worship should not be something that “just happens” to us; it should be something we set our hearts on. It should be something we seek. It should be something that motivates us.

Matthew 2:4 makes it clear what the magi meant by “King of the Jews.” It says, “And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.” The King of the Jews that they were looking for was the “Christ,” the promised Messiah, the long-awaited God-anointed Ruler, who would establish the kingdom of God and reign forever on the throne of David.

Their coming caused quite the stir in Jerusalem (Matt. 2:3), “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” So the chief priests and scribes bring the answer to the magi’s question by focusing on an Old Testament prophecy from the book of Micah: “So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ “”

This answered the question of where: Bethlehem of Judah. It was the ancient hometown of Jesse, King David father. The Lord says from there will come the “Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.” If they had read the whole verse in Micah 5:2 they would have seen that the Messiah is not just an ordinary human ruler but is one, “Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.” Christ did not just come into being in the womb of His mother Mary. As John writes in his Gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He is the eternal, divine Son of God.

The magi believed the scriptures. This is why they have come to worship Jesus. Because He is the promised King of the Jews, the Anointed One who is the eternal God who will not only rule over and shepherd His people Israel, but will be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As Micah 5:4 says,

And He shall stand and feed His flock
In the strength of the LORD,
In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God;
And they shall abide,
For now He shall be great
To the ends of the earth

They come to worship Jesus because He is the divine King. Second, the wise men,

2. Worship Jesus no matter what others do (Matt. 2:7-8)

Here we come to the strange part of the story. Matthew writes (Matt. 2:7-8),

Herod is scheming. He has no intention of worshiping Jesus in Bethlehem. He secretly summons the wise men in order to learn when they saw the star (Matt. 2:7). Apparently, they informed him when the star appeared in the sky since he later calculates the timing to be around two years earlier (Matt. 2:16). Matthew 2:16-18 tell how Herod murders the male babies in Bethlehem in his angry attempt to kill Jesus. Herod hates and fears Christ. There are still many who respond to Christ this way.

What is really puzzling is that the religious leaders appear to have no desire to see the Christ child. It’s less than seven miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Yet even though all Jerusalem is troubled by the arrival of the wise men, they are appallingly apathetic to Christ. I can only conclude that they did not believe the wise men. Perhaps they just thought they were foreign religious nuts. Worse that that, they did not believe the scriptures.

This is the contrast Matthew wants us to see. Gentile wise men made great sacrifices to travel a long distance in order to worship a king they knew little about. But, those with the greatest knowledge of the Old Testament, were unwilling to travel beyond their backyard in order to learn if this child was indeed the Messiah. Neither the hypocrisy of Herod or the apathy of Jerusalem kept the magi from worshiping Jesus.

The wise men worship Jesus because He is the King; they worship no matter what others do; and they,

3. Worship Jesus with joy, reverence, and giving (Matt. 2:9-12)

Matthew 2:9-10 says, “When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.“

Their worship was joyful. Now this is a quadruple way of saying they rejoiced. It would have been much to say they rejoiced. More to say they rejoiced with joy. More to say they rejoiced with great joy. And even more to say they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. They had an exuberant excitement at meeting the Christ child. There is nothing wrong with emotional worship, as long as the Spirit of God is driving that worship. After all, the Bible calls upon us to “shout” unto Him in praise, Psa. 47:1; 98:4; to “clap” our hands, Psa. 47:1; to “lift” our hands to Him in praise, Psa. 63:4; 134:2; to “rejoice”, Psa. 126:2; to give Him unashamed, visible, vocal worship!

Their worship was reverent. Matthew 2:11 says, “And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.”

They came; they saw; they fell down; they worshiped. Think about how amazing this is. The wise men “come into the house” the home in which Joseph, Mary and her baby were staying. It was evidently was a humble dwelling. Certainly there were no trappings of royalty as they had seen in the court of Herod. There was no great fanfare of nobles paying homage or servants waiting on the family. The faith of these men was amazing! They left the trappings of Herod’s royalty, and upon coming to the humble home of this baby, they fell down and worshipped Him. Falling to the ground is what you do to say to someone great: you are high and I am low. You have great dignity and I am lowly by comparison. They were unshaken in their conviction that He was the Christ, King of the Jews.

Their worship was giving. Matthew 2:11 says, “And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” They worshiped Jesus by joyfully ascribing authority and dignity to Christ with sacrificial gifts. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh were costly gifts. The latter two are aromatic resins. Frankincense was used in making incense and perfume (see Ex 30:34–35). Myrrh was used as an ingredient in anointing oil (30:23–25), as a perfume (Ps 45:8), and in burial preparations (Jn 19:39).

Much ink has been spilled over the meaning of these gifts. Did they have any symbolic significance? One commentator writes,

The significance of these gifts is beautiful. Gold speaks of Deity, as a study of the Tabernacle makes plain. Frankincense gives forth its perfume only as it is brought into contact with fire. Myrrh speaks of suffering, and is associated with the death and burial of our Lord. Thus these wise men, by the gifts they presented to Him, expressed first, their faith in His essential and eternal Deity; second, their appreciation of the fragrance of His sinless life which should ascend, as a sweet perfume, to His Father; and third, their estimation of the virtue and value of His vicarious sufferings, by which the redemption of humanity should be accomplished.

It is difficult to imagine the wise men understood all the symbolic implications that the commentators draw out. Nevertheless, the point is that this Child-King was worthy to receive the wealth of the nations. He is worthy of sacrificial, lavish worship. They came with appropriate gifts that revealed their desire to honor Him as king.

Our worship should be accompanied by its own sacrificial gifts (time, talents, treasure). We do not worship in order to earn God’s favor, but because we have been shown grace we are willing to offer Christ everything we have. Our worship should be extravagant because Christ is worthy of all we have and more.

After the magi gave their gifts, “they departed for their own country” (Matt. 2:12). They didn’t set up a shrine and charge admission. They didn’t write a book about their trip. They quietly returned home and went on with their lives. But surely, they were different men now, men who by faith had seen the King and worshiped Him. That’s what the Lord would have us do at Christmas: to respond to Christ’s coming by worshiping Jesus as our King. And, having found Him and worshiped Him, to return to our homes, our world, as different people, people who live under the sovereignty of the King.

There are three types of people in this story. There are those like Herod who hear of Jesus and are hostile toward Him. They want to eliminate Him from their lives because He threatens their running the show. Then there are those like the Jewish priests and scribes who know about Christ. They can even quote Bible references about Him. But they’re indifferent to Him. They don’t go out of their way to seek Him.

The third group were the wise men; those who worship Jesus as King. Maybe you’re not in the third group, but you’d like to be. What should you do? William Law, an 18th century devotional writer, writes how to respond:

“When the first spark of a desire after God arrives in [your] soul, cherish it with all [your] care, give all [your] heart unto it…. Follow it as gladly as the wise men of the East followed the star from heaven that appeared to them. It will do for [you] as the star did for them: it will lead [you] to the birth of Jesus, not in a stable at Bethlehem of Judea, but to the birth of Jesus in [your] own soul.”