3rd Advent - Royalty

[0:00] wonderful. Thank you, ladies. What can we give to the king? If you think about it, you know, Paul said very clearly to all the philosophers in Athens, God has no need of anything or to be served by human hands. God has no need of anything. So, these wise men were bringing things to the king that he didn't need. So, why did they bring things that he didn't need? What they were actually doing, if you think about it, was they were bringing what they needed because it's very difficult to live in this world without gold, without some form of money. And there are millions of poor people who will testify to that. And incense, frankincense, they needed that because that in those days represented prayers going up towards God, and we need prayer. Prayer is something we need. And myrrh, well, myrrh is something all of us are going to need at some point in our lives, but we won't be here to feel the benefit of it because it'll be some undertaker that'll be using it upon our dead bodies. So, they were bringing him things that they needed, and they were bringing them to a king who didn't need anything. What were they saying, do you think? I think they were saying to him, we can do without these things, but we can't do without you. That's what worship is, really. That's what we're saying to the king. We can do without all these things in the world.

[1:48] We could be reduced to abject poverty, but we can't do without the king. So, brothers and sisters, this chapter today that we've got, Cal looked at part of it last week, and it's fallen to me to pick up on it today. We're thinking about Herod today, and what did Herod think of this baby? And, you know, this is a chapter that sends shivers up and down the spine once you really begin to get into it, because 6,000 years of history are actually gathered together into this one chapter. Actually, 4,000 years are gathered into just the very first word of the chapter.

[2:33] So, we'll have a look at that. Let's get into Matthew chapter 2 and see what's happening here. Now, we're actually only going to deal with the first 19 verses, 18 verses.

[2:58] 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? For we saw his star when it rose, and have come to worship him. 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. They told him, 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.

[3:45] Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly, and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, Go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him, bring me word that I too may come and worship him. After listening to the king, they went on their way, and behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. Now, when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy him. And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, Out of Egypt I called my son. Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in

[5:17] Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah.

[5:34] A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they are no more.

[5:49] Well, my brothers and sisters, what is actually happening here? That little word at the beginning of the chapter, after, now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king. That little word after. If ever a word was pregnant with meaning, it's that tiny word. Now, the word doesn't actually appear in the original Greek text because Greek has a way of saying things. It's different from English. And so, basically, if you were to do it literally, it would say, Jesus having been born, and we don't talk like that in English. So, we have to supply the little word after. But what does this mean? Does it mean you need to study Greek before you can get into the Scriptures? It doesn't mean anything of the sort.

[6:43] It just means that the scholars who translated this for us put the word after in there for a reason. They want us to pay attention to it. It's an important little word. After Jesus was born.

[6:58] Do you realize what that's actually saying? When Jesus was born, it fulfilled a 650-year-old prophecy from Micah, and indeed from Isaiah, who prophesied around the same time. They both prophesied about the birth of Jesus after Jesus after Jesus was born in Bethlehem. So, 650 years of prophecy being fulfilled there. But you know, it's even more electrifying than that because what's happening here is a prophecy that God Himself made in the Garden of Eden has just been fulfilled.

[7:47] And that was 4,000 years previously. Adam and Eve were there in the Garden when God spoke to the deceiver, to the one who had led them into rebellion. And He said to Satan on that fateful day, He said, I will put enmity between your seed and the seed of the woman. He shall crush your head and you shall bruise His heel. And the seed of the woman that God was speaking of at that point in the Garden of Eden was the seed who had just been born in Bethlehem. This is the fulfillment of what God said He would do, that the offspring of the woman. Can you imagine what it was like for Satan to be told that for the rest of history?

[8:45] God had said there would be enmity for all time between Him and the devil. And since we're still in the place of time, where time governs everything, then that still holds true. God is still at war with the devil. That's why Ephesians 6 is not a chapter you can cut out of your Bible. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. It's against principalities and powers, the rulers of this present darkness. The enmity between God and the devil is still a present-day reality. But the one who would crush his head had just been born right under Herod's nose, but also under his radar, because Herod had no idea that this amazing prophesied event had just taken place on his patch and on his watch.

[9:39] He had no idea about that. Why would that be? Why could such a significant thing happen? And the king of the Jews, which was Herod's own title for himself, why would he not know about that? Surely he made it his business to know everything that was going on in his kingdom.

[9:59] We can be absolutely sure that Herod made it his business to know everything that was going on, because historically, we know from historical records that Herod was an absolute, he was totally paranoid.

[10:10] This man was suspicious of everybody. And once he was suspicious of you, you were as good as dead. He assassinated members of his own family, including his wife, just because they looked at him the wrong way.

[10:26] So this is a man who made it his business to know what was going on. And yet he knew nothing about this. Why would that be? I want to suggest to you it's a simple reason, really.

[10:40] He was a proud man. And pride is completely and utterly blind to the presence of humility. And this is the most humble thing that ever happened in history.

[10:52] There is nothing more humble that you will ever read about than that the king of kings should leave his throne and take human flesh and come and be born in a stable in the poorest and dirtiest of conditions.

[11:10] Right into the midst of all our misery came the king of kings. And in that humility, he was invisible to everything that was proud and everything that exalted itself against the knowledge of God.

[11:27] Pride could not see such a thing. Just didn't appear on the radar. This marvelous God has done all these things.

[11:40] And, you know, it tells us that Herod, when the wise men came from the east, they were saying as they went around the place, because you can imagine, they had trekked across the desert from somewhere in the area of ancient Persia.

[11:59] And they had trekked right across for hundreds and hundreds of miles, probably about 700 or 800 miles. Now, that wouldn't have taken them a couple of days, okay? Not even with camels.

[12:10] And you need to think of something else as well here, because our Christmas cards are beautiful, and God blessed the people who designed them.

[12:22] But there weren't three kings. These wise men would have… Nobody tries to cross bandit country with just three of you.

[12:34] You're going to be easy meat. So, they would have had an entourage. They would have had a small army with them to protect them on their journey. So, when they arrived in Jerusalem, it would have made quite a stir to have all these people arrive from a distant land.

[12:50] And then suddenly, they have to replenish their supplies. They have to go to the market and buy food. They have to buy clothes. They have to get fresh water supplies. And so, they're going around the town getting what they need.

[13:02] And everywhere they go, they're saying… The Greek is present tense here. They're saying everywhere they go, Where is he that is born king of the Jews? Because we've come here to worship him.

[13:14] And people are thinking, What? These are like from Persia, wherever they've come from. And they've come here to worship our king.

[13:27] No, no. Born king of the Jews. So, it can't be Herod. So, Herod was… When this news got back to him, he's troubled by it. And the whole of Jerusalem is troubled by it.

[13:38] Because you worship a god, don't you? Not just a king. You worship a god. And the Jews only worshiped one god. So, what are these Gentiles, what are these pagans doing here?

[13:54] So, all Jerusalem is stirred up by this. It's an absolutely amazing time in history where this 4,000-year-old prophecy that God gave in the Garden of Eden has just been fulfilled.

[14:15] And the powers of darkness and the servants of darkness know nothing about it. And they're hearing about it secondhand. And they're troubled and they're worried.

[14:26] So, Herod calls a cobra meeting, doesn't he?

[14:39] When something goes viral, that's what you do these days, isn't it? You call a cobra meeting. And so, he gets all the high hedions, as it were. All the people with the influence and the power.

[14:50] And he gathers them together and he consults them. And especially the people who are experts in the prophecies. He says to them, where is this king supposed to be born?

[15:02] And just like that, they can say, yeah, well, it's supposed to happen in Bethlehem. So, then he sends for the wise men and he consults them secretly.

[15:14] He says, can you give me an indicator of when you saw this star? I mean, what was that? And they say, well, about two years ago maybe. Because you see, they've been trekking for a long time to get there to worship this new king.

[15:28] Maybe two years. And he thinks, well, if that child was born two years ago, it must be about two now. Hold that thought.

[15:43] Jesus has done an amazing thing. He has come down from heaven. He's made absolutely nothing of himself. Herod will do everything and anything to hold on to his throne.

[15:58] And the king of kings has willingly given up his throne to come here for ungrateful people, rebellious people, exactly like you and me.

[16:14] Because we don't naturally worship God. We don't naturally submit our lives to God. We have to be convinced that that's a wise thing to do.

[16:25] By default, we're rebels, every one of us. So amazing things are happening here.

[16:38] So they said, well, Bethlehem is the place where he would be born. And behold, when they left, the king, the star that they'd seen when it rose before them, came to rest over the place where the child was.

[16:55] And that star moved. The star moved. I mean, what's happening here? 4,000 years of prophecy. 650-year-old prophecy from Micah and Isaiah is being fulfilled.

[17:09] And Mary and Joseph, how did they get to be in Bethlehem? Because the baby had to be born in Bethlehem, right? So how did they get to be in Bethlehem?

[17:20] Answer, a Roman emperor took it into his head that for the sake of taxation and registration and counting heads, he wanted everybody to go back to their native town and be registered.

[17:35] And so Joseph and Mary were living in Nazareth. They couldn't be registered there. They had to trek 70 miles, mainly uphill, to get to Bethlehem.

[17:45] And it was going to take them about 70 miles to get there. But they got there, and the baby was born in Bethlehem, where the prophet had said 650 years ago the baby would be born.

[17:59] I mean, is the hair beginning to rise in the back of your neck here? Is this amazing or is this amazing? And now we've got a moving star. Now we've got something in the heavens that is actually not just staying in one place all the time.

[18:15] It's actually moving, and it's guiding, and it's directing. And God, the creator of the universe, the one who flung the stars into space, has now taken hold of a star and saying, right, now you're going to do this, and you're going to move there, and you're going to wait there, and you're going to guide.

[18:35] And he just speaks. You know, God said, let there be lights in the sky to govern, didn't he? To govern the day and the night, let there be lights in the sky.

[18:48] But four days before he said, let there be lights, he said, let there be light. When there were no lights in the sky, there was no sun, there was no moon, there was no stars. But he said, let there be light, and there was light.

[19:01] Where did the light come from? Answer, he gave himself to his creation. This is who we're talking about here. This is who has been born in the stable.

[19:13] This is who is upholding the universe by the word of his power, even while he's reaching up for his mother's breast for a drink. Isn't this astonishing?

[19:23] This is our God. This is our King. You can't exaggerate his greatness. You just can't. So they, these men, they went in, they saw the child with Mary's mother, and they fell down and worshipped him.

[19:46] They came to do exactly what they had come to do. They worshipped this child that they knew to be a king. How did the wise men know that this was a king whose star had risen?

[19:59] How did they know that this was someone worthy of worship? Now, this is a speculation, so I'm not going to say thus saith the Lord about this. But there's a very strong possibility that these men are a legacy of the prophet Daniel.

[20:17] A very strong possibility of that. Why? Because Daniel raised the holy scriptures of the living God, the Hebrew scriptures, he raised them to a place of excellence and a place of respect in ancient Babylon and then in ancient Persia because of his faithfulness to the God who wrote the scriptures.

[20:38] The wise men and the astrologers of those days were totally discredited. And Daniel and his friends were placed in places of influence and government instead of these wise men and astrologers.

[20:50] Do you think those wise men and astrologers would then be curious about the scriptures that Daniel quoted and said, this is the God I worship, this is the God I serve?

[21:03] I wouldn't be at all surprised if these wise men who are worshipping the baby Jesus are actually just a legacy of faithful Daniel and his stand for God in a dangerous place.

[21:19] Anyway, that's an aside. But let's move on. They were warned in a dream not to return to Herod. Do you get the feeling that Herod is being outflanked at every point here?

[21:34] Everywhere that Herod would turn to try and achieve his purpose against this new rival to the throne as Herod understood it. Everything is just being second-guessed all the time.

[21:49] He hasn't got a chance of being ahead of God because God has been 4,000 years ahead of Herod and the rest because our God is eternal.

[22:06] You know, if we leave here today with a very big Herod and a small God then we've definitely got it wrong and I have failed in my task because what we're looking at here is Herod the Great.

[22:22] This was the title that he relished, Herod the Great. But Herod the Great is actually really very small and the infant child is infinitely great.

[22:38] Vulnerable and victorious at the same time. It's quite astonishing. And that explains to us, brothers and sisters, why when we look at what's going on in the world and the injustice and the cruelty that's happening in the world right now, we dare not try to fight evil with the weapons of the world.

[23:02] We can't fight back in kind. We have to fight with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and the left because God fought the pride of Herod with the humility of the Savior.

[23:19] Jesus' humility was His secret weapon. Hell has no answer to humility because everything in hell is built on pride.

[23:31] It feeds on pride. pride. So, if we refuse pride and we humble ourselves before the Lord, can you hear Paul saying, I therefore boast about my weaknesses that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

[23:51] Paul saw his weakness as an asset, not something to be grieved about, but something to cherish and to embrace and to say, this is wonderful.

[24:03] I don't have to be strong because my God is mighty. And this is what the child in the manger is saying to us.

[24:14] This child, there is no way that the powers of evil were going to be able to change the course of history or change the purposes of God.

[24:27] And by the way, let's have a wee think about Joseph for a minute because Joseph tends to be an also-ran in the Christmas story, doesn't he? He tends to be a bit player.

[24:38] Nobody's that interested in Joseph. He's just kind of there. And all the focus is on Mary and the baby. But this is a man, this Joseph is a man who receives direct instructions through angels and through dreams from God.

[24:55] and he's entrusted with the protection of the child. It's an angel who appears to Joseph and says to him, don't be afraid to take Mary as your wife.

[25:10] There's nothing wrong with this girl. There's everything right with this girl. This girl's hand chosen by the living God. Just take this woman and make her your wife. And an angel appears to him and says, you need to flee because Herod's all psyched up to destroy this child.

[25:35] And he gets another dream when they're coming back from Egypt. It's amazing just what goes on here in this story. Because Herod then decides that since he's been tricked by the wise men, he's going to kill all the two-year-old children.

[25:55] He uses, as it were, a blanket policy. Let's kill all the two-year-olds and under and leave nothing to chance. But what he doesn't know is that the child he really wants to kill is already out of the way.

[26:11] And you think to yourself, my goodness, why? How? Why would this happen? Why would God not prevent this horrific slaughter?

[26:22] Why would God not warn the entire population of Bethlehem get out of the way because of what Herod's planning? That's the kind of question that our finite minds immediately launch into the air as if our blood-soaked history gives us the right to judge the judge and to make the Creator accountable to His creatures?

[26:51] But there is, as it happens, a very resounding answer to that painful question and it is a painful moment, this. We can't shirk it. We can't dodge this issue. God saved His Son and allowed the children of Bethlehem to die.

[27:08] And we can't dodge that one, so what do we do with it? There is, as it happens, a resounding cosmic answer to this question.

[27:19] Calvary. Calvary needs to be the lens through which we understand the character of God. If you have any questions about the righteousness of God and the goodness of God and the kindness of God, they're all settled at Calvary.

[27:37] You look at that, God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. I remember many years ago as a student pastor, I preached on Jesus as our substitute and my professor tore me apart limb from limb.

[27:56] You can still feel the ache of that for preaching about what he called the barbarous theology that would make an innocent man die for guilty people.

[28:08] and I remember saying to the professor at the time, I wish I had been more gracious about it, you know, but when you're young sometimes grace doesn't come naturally and it still doesn't even when you're old.

[28:23] But I asked him, I said, look, can you please tell me who was on the cross? Who was that on that, that innocent man that you feel shouldn't have died for the sins of others?

[28:34] Who was on the cross? Well, he said, it was Jesus. I said, yeah, yeah. So, and what else can we say about him? I said, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.

[28:51] And I tried to take him to other scriptures, but he was fixed into this theology and he couldn't cope with it. But this is not barbarism if it's God who's taken flesh and is on the cross.

[29:05] If it's God the Father who has sacrificed his own son for guilty sinners, where's the barbarism in that? That is love of the purest kind. And so, Calvary needs to be the lens through which we look at the slaughter of the children in Bethlehem.

[29:23] No questions about the character of God. What actually was going on here is that suffering is always involved for the people of God.

[29:46] This is really, really hard. Rachel weeping for her children. A voice was heard in Ramah. Do you know that Ramah was the staging post for the Babylonian exile?

[29:59] All the children were forcibly ripped from their parents and gathered and collected at Ramah at the time of Jeremiah and dragged off 800 miles across the desert to Babylon and never to see their parents again.

[30:14] Daniel and his three friends were among that crowd that was taken away from Ramah. That was a time of anguish that you can hardly imagine. Ramah in ancient times was the equivalent of Warsaw in the 20th century when they wheeled up the cattle trucks and herded the Jewish people on to take them to the death camps.

[30:35] The same sort of anguish. And here we are looking at this terrible anguish in Bethlehem. But these children were martyrs for the cause of Jesus.

[30:50] Do we think these children were lost for eternity? Absolutely not. Look at Calvary and then look at the character of God and think of the one who at the end of time will wipe every tear from their eyes.

[31:08] And those mothers who lost their children, he will wipe every tear from their eyes. And if you dear friends have lost someone and it touches your heart and breaks you apart at Christmas time, he will wipe every tear from your eyes.

[31:23] That day is coming because this is our God. this is the servant king and he came not to be served but to serve. And he serves us and he's serving us even now and the day is coming when by his grace and mercy we will look upon his face.

[31:44] And you know how we'll be able to do that? because he's holy. How on earth can people like us look on one who is perfectly holy? The answer to that?

[31:56] We shall be like him. That's the promise. We shall be like him. That's how we will be able to look on his face. And when we do see him, he will come to us and there will be no more sorrow or crying or pain for the former things are passed away.

[32:21] He has kept our tears in his bottle. There isn't a tear any of us has cried that isn't precious in his eyes. So, Rama, Rama's tears will be dried.

[32:36] Rachel's tears will be dried. Bethlehem's tears will be dried. Warsaw's tears will be dried. This is our God. Let's pray.

[32:52] Father, we bless you. We praise you that the Herods of this world, with all their pomp and their wealth and their influence, are no match for you.

[33:08] you have brought down the proud from their thrones and sent the rich empty away. We bless you, Lord, our God and King, that you anticipate all the works of darkness, and they can never do anything that takes you by surprise.

[33:27] So, as we live in these uncertain times, Father, and as we seek to be your servants in our day, we pray in Jesus' name that you will help us to trust you as did Mary.

[33:45] Let it be to us according to your word. Let it be to us according to your word. Whatever word you have spoken over our lives, whatever purpose you have for us, whatever road you want to take us on, however much of grief or sorrow you want us to experience, let it be to us according to your word and your will and your wish.

[34:11] For you are the King of all the kings, and you are worthy to be praised forever and ever. And we bless you in Jesus' name.

[34:23] Amen.