Matt

Matt. 2:1-12

2/24/2006

“Where is He Who Has Been Born King of the Jews?”

Can we blame them? These magi were looking for the newborn king of the Jews (v. 2). They saw His star when it rose and came to Israel to worship Him. They came all the way from the East because they sensed that something truly extraordinary was about to happen in Israel. They were students of astronomy--or astrology--and their study of the heavenly bodies indicated no less. But where in Israel would they go to find the newborn King? Where else would they go except to the palace? Palaces are where future kings are born. So they went to Jerusalem, to the palace of King Herod. They must have assumed that a prince was born to the king, a crown prince born in the palace, who was destined to be an extraordinary king. But they had no idea how extraordinary this King truly was!

That these magi were coming to worship Him was extraordinary enough. The Gospel according to Matthew is widely accepted as written primarily for the Jewish audience. But it is interesting that, in this gospel, the first ones to visit the newborn Jesus were these magi, who were not Jews. They were foreigners, uncircumcised Gentiles in the flesh. What did they have to do with a Jewish King? It was not as though they were some diplomatic envoys sent by their king to bring a congratulatory message. No royal commission compelled them. They came on their own. They came to pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews. Did they do the same for the crown prince of their own country? Who was this newborn King of the Jews that even foreigners felt compelled to come and worship Him?

We must remember how Jesus was introduced in Matthew: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (1:1). Why is it important to note that Jesus Christ is the Son of Abraham? Because the Lord promised to Abraham, “[I]n your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed…” (Gen. 22:18). The Christ, the Messiah, of the Jews was not just for the Jews: the Messiah of the Jews, the King of the Jews, was for all the nations of the earth. This was already attested to in His genealogy, which includes Gentile women. Now, in the coming of the magi to worship Him, we see a further fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham.

This is all the more remarkable against the background of Israel’s Babylonian captivity. This most tragic event in all of Israel’s history is not forgotten in Jesus’ genealogy (Matt. 1:11). In fact, the deportation begins the last of the three phases in Jesus’ genealogy, which is summarized this way: “and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations” (Matt. 1:17). This summary places the birth of Christ in the context of the Babylonian captivity. Although the Babylonian captivity was officially over long before Jesus’ birth, centuries prior, it was still not over in many ways: many Jews did not return to Palestine; Israel was again under the foreign occupation of the Roman Empire; and these external circumstances were only symptomatic of Israel’s dismal spiritual condition. But the summary also evokes the Messianic hope: the Messiah, the Christ, had finally come to end the captivity of God’s people and bring to fulfillment all of God’s promises.

Now consider the coming of the magi to worship Him. And do you see how this symbolizes the complete reversal of the Babylonian captivity? In Babylonian captivity the people of God were deported out of the promised land into foreign lands to live among the Gentiles. What would be the reversal of this captivity? For the exiles to return to the promised land? No! With the birth of Jesus the Christ, a greater reversal takes place! It is now the Gentiles who come to the promised land, to the city of Bethlehem in the land of Judah. The magi, these Gentiles, come to worship the Christ Child. They come to worship Christ because He is not only the King of the Jews but also the Messiah for the whole world! Though they are not Jews, they are compelled to present themselves before this Child and worship Him.

And what manner of Messiah is this newborn Babe? Not a self-made man, accomplishing great things for his nation and the world as he shapes his own fate with his extraordinary abilities. No! He is a promised Child, not a self-made man. He is a promised Child, whose coming has been foretold by the prophets of God over the ages. Matthew began this gospel with the genealogy of Jesus as the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, because His lineage has been determined from the foundation of the world. The Messiah of the world could not come from any other race than that of Abraham’s descendants. He had to come from the tribe of Judah, not of any other tribes of Israel. And He had to be the Descendant of David, not even of Moses or Joshua, as significant as these men were in Israel’s history.

Even the place of His birth had been foretold. When asked by Herod, the chief priests and the scribes were able to answer in unison where the Messiah was to be born, quoting Micah 5:2, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel’” (vv. 5, 6).

There are many extraordinary men, who have done some remarkable things in history. But they seem like nothing more than accidents in history when compared to this Christ Child, don’t they? Of course, there can be no accidents under the sovereign rule of God, who predestines and works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11). God has known each and everyone of us even before we were born, even before the foundation of the world. Each child is brought into this world according to the eternal plan of God. But how many of us have the Word of God prophesying about our births and lives hundreds and thousands of years prior? The Messiah of the world could not be a self-made, self-appointed man. He had to be appointed by God, who decreed our salvation from all eternity. And this divine appointment of the Messiah was not to be made all of a sudden: it had to be attested to by the prophetic promises in the Word of God. Thus, in this pattern of prophecy and fulfillment, God demonstrated that He is indeed the sovereign Lord of history: He is able to declare the end from the beginning because He is able to fulfill all that He has promised, because He controls all His creatures and all their actions. And this Christ Child was born according to the prophetic Word of God--in Bethlehem, as the Son of David, the Son of Abraham, to name just a few.

The mysterious star that arose at the time of Jesus’ birth was another attestation of the divine appointment of this Babe as the promised Messiah. The magi, Gentiles in the flesh, came to worship the Christ Child because they saw this star, not because they were commissioned by their kings to visit a foreign royalty. We see here that something far greater than a royal edict was at work, something much greater than the will of a mere man. What was at work here was the authority that had the power to control even the movements of the heavenly bodies! The birth of the Christ Child was not only foretold by the prophets of God but also portended by the movement of a heavenly body. Surely, the birth of this Child was an event of exceptional significance, of cosmic import!

But we do feel somewhat puzzled here, do we not? Is the appearance of the magi an affirmation of astrology? God did say on the fourth day of creation, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years…” (Gen. 1:14). The Bible also speaks of the heavenly bodies functioning as a sign of the last days: “The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes” (Joel 3:31; also, Acts 2:20 and Rev. 6:12). But surely, these are not astrological signs, which require some specialized knowledge of stellar movements and planetary conjunctions, are they? It is a sign that anybody can see and recognize!

Indeed, the Bible is consistent in condemning astrology as an abomination to God. Any form of pagan divination, which would include astrology, is strictly forbidden in the Bible (Deut. 18:5-9). Josiah’s religious reformation included cleansing the nation of astrology: “And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens” (2 Kings 23:5). The Lord said also in Jer. 10:2, “Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them….” And in Isa. 47:13 God mocks the Babylonian diviners, especially the astrologers: “You [Babylon] are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens (in LXX, avstrolo,goi, astrológoi), who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you.”

It seems unlikely that God would use the conventional astrological signs to herald the birth of Christ. There are some intriguing theories, however, attempting to identify the star according to the astronomical data. William Geating mentions one of the most intriguing theories:

“Johannes Kepler, the official astronomer in Prague, observed the alignment of Jupiter and Saturn on December 17, 1603. Kepler calculated the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn in order to determine past occurrences of planetary conjunctions. He discovered that in 7 BC there was a triple conjunction (three alignments in one year) in the constellation of Pisces, the Fish.

“All of this would have had special significance to these educated Magi, who most likely came from the Babylonian area. Jupiter was attributed by many ancient nations to be the wandering star of royalty, while Saturn, also regarded as a wandering star, was considered the protector of Israel. [Thus, the birth of a Jewish King.] In addition, the constellation of Pisces, the fish, was identified by the Hebrews as representing the nation of Israel” (“The Star of Bethlehem”, BSP 13:4, Fall 2000, p. 122).

But Geating goes on to show how unlikely this is even from the astrological point of view. But he also points out some peculiar features of this star, which make it a supernatural phenomenon rather than a natural one:

“when the Magi left Jerusalem Matthew 2:9 states, ‘the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.’ The distance from Jerusalem to Bethlehem is about 6 mi, in the direction of north to south. Yet all natural objects in the sky move from east to west due to the rotation of the earth. The scripture goes on to say that it (the star) led them to a specific house and ‘stopped.’ Again, no natural object in the sky follows these patterns.

“Finally, why was this star visible only to the Magi? Certainly there were many other trained astronomers in that day, including those in Jerusalem. Yet Matthew 2:7 states that. “Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared.” Obviously, Herod’s trained observers were unaware of it, so he sought the guidance of the Magi. The star of Bethlehem was not visible to everyone on earth” (p. 123).

And Geating concludes his article with these words:

“Why do we find this so unusual? Was not the ‘light from heaven’ that shone upon Paul in Acts 9:3 a temporary and supernatural occurrence? Was not the ‘pillar of fire by night’ in Exodus 13:22 that guided the Israelites, a temporary and supernatural occurrence? The Bible calls this Divine guiding light the Shekinah Glory” (p. 123).

No doubt, scholars will present and debate different theories about the true identity of this mysterious star. But whatever the true identity of the star, it was not a fortuitous phenomenon. The appearance of the magi reminds us of another pagan seer, who was used by God--Balaam. And interestingly it was Balaam, who said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth” (Num. 24:17). And interestingly enough, what did the magi say to Herod? “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him” (v. 2). Most of the English translations have, “We saw His star in the east” (KJV, NAS, NIV, RSV, just to name a few). But we must realize that the Greek word used here for “east” has the same root as the word “rise” because “east” is the direction of the rising sun. So the ESV translates it as “we saw his star when it rose….” Again, whatever the true identity of this star, we realize that the mysterious star, too, was the fulfillment of a biblical prophecy.

What should we make of all this? The most important point that we do not lose sight of the utterly and obviously supernatural character of Jesus’ birth. What undergirds and defines all the extraordinary features of Jesus’ birth is this supernatural character. His messianic identity is attested to by the supernatural revelation of God through the prophets. An angel of the Lord from heaven announced His coming birth, which was a supernatural event. And most importantly, this Child was supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:18). This was to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet supernaturally: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means, God with us)” (Matt. 1:23)! And who is this Child, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary? The angel told Joseph to call His name “Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). Jesus, which is the transliteration of the Hebrew name Joshua, means “YHWH saves”. At the time of Jesus, there were many who had the name Jesus. Why was this Jesus unique? He was to be named Jesus, the angels said, not because YHWH would save His people but because He, the Child, would save His people from their sins! This Child, then, was the Lord Himself, who alone could save His people from their sins. This Child was the Son of God incarnate!

The magi came all the way to Palestine because they sensed that something extraordinary was happening. They came to worship Him who was born King of the Jews, whose birth was announced by the star they saw. But they had no idea how truly extraordinary was the Child they were seeking. They came to worship Him. The Greek word for “worship” here -can mean both worshipping God and paying homage to a great man. We cannot be sure whether the magi recognized this Child as divine. But it is obvious that Matthew thinks of what they were supposed to do: to worship Him as God and Lord.

And the Christ Child who was born King of the Jews was more than just a king of Israel: He was to be the Messiah of the world, who truly deserved worship and offering even from Gentiles. He came to establish a new kingdom, a kingdom greater than what Israel ever was even in its heyday under David’s and Solomon’s reign. This kingdom would consist not only of Jews but also of Gentiles as well. And this kingdom would be a supernatural kingdom, a completely different kind of kingdom from King Herod’s kingdom. He would establish the kingdom not by the power of sword but by love, by sacrificing Himself for the salvation of His people. Thus there was no need for Herod to fear for his kingdom--his only fear needed to be for his soul, to repent of his sins and trust in this Messiah of the world come to save His people. As the King of this supernatural kingdom was conceived by the Holy Spirit, so its people must also be conceived by the Holy Spirit, born again, born of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus who is the punctuation, the end of the Jewish genealogy, begins a new supernatural genealogy for the supernatural people of God. This Christ Child, who was worthy to be worshipped, who was worthy of the most precious gifts--gold, frankincense and myrrh--is our King. But this King established His kingdom, His supernatural kingdom, by His sacrifice, by His humiliation. The One, worthy of our worship, subjected Himself to all kinds of unspeakable humiliation, even to a most humiliating death on the cross? Why? Because of the gravity of our sins. No lambs and goats and bulls and sheep would suffice to pay for our sins. No amount of sacrifice or good work would suffice. No penance, not even the most extreme acts of penance, would be enough. So great is our sin against the infinite honor of God. It required nothing less than the infinite Son of God coming into this world to bear the punishment of our sin.

This is a season of celebration. But do we realize that the magnitude of our joy depends on our understanding of the magnitude of our need, our most desperate need? What we need is not just a counselor, or an adviser, or a coach; what we need is a Savior, who has the ability to save us--apart from our help and assistance, none of which we can afford. We needed a Savior, who could save us completely and wholly through His life, death and resurrection. The Herods of the world, who put their confidence in their earthly power, prestige and wealth, in their abilities and resources, cannot rejoice at the birth of this King! Those who think that they are good enough--at least better than others--cannot rejoice in Christ. Only those who recognize their pitiful and desperate condition can truly rejoice in Him. How pitiful? This Baby saw the cross even through the first of His tears (Michael Card). But could we afford to reject the sacrifice of this Baby? We rejoice with thankfulness while this Baby, who was born to die in our place, cries on.

But He, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was also raised from the dead by the power of Holy Spirit. His story did not end at the cross but His story would continue through all eternity through His resurrection from the dead. For the kingdom He brings is a supernatural, heavenly kingdom--the kingdom of resurrection life. It is the extraordinary kingdom of an extraordinary King. And those, who belong to this extraordinary King and to this extraordinary kingdom, are extraordinary people! For they are born of the Spirit as their King was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The power of resurrection has raised them with Christ unto eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.

What is your response to the birth of this Christ Child? Indifference and rejection (like the chief priests and scribes)? Fear and antagonism (like Herod)? Or humble adoration and worship? Great is the sin of rejecting the Christ of God!

You who are in Christ Jesus, on the other hand, are extraordinary people! Not because of your own abilities or merit but because of Jesus Christ, your Savior and Lord, your extraordinary King! To be extraordinary is to be heavenly-minded! Live as extraordinary people! Do not be conformed to this age but be transformed by the renewing of your mind! Do not grow weary in being extraordinary, for the day will come, when Christ shall return in all His glory to judge both the living and the dead! And we will live forever in that most glorious kingdom, where the most extraordinary will be most ordinary, unfading in its effulgent glory!