WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.280 Now, we're just going to go back for a little while to the reading that we shared together 00:00:07.280 --> 00:00:09.519 from Matthew's Gospel. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:17.400 And you'll remember this is a short series titled Born, and it's looking at the birth 00:00:17.400 --> 00:00:22.120 of Jesus from the point of view of Joseph, really, because the Matthew account really 00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:28.640 deals with Joseph's side of things, and the Luke account deals with Mary's side of things, 00:00:28.640 --> 00:00:31.039 and looks at it from their point of view. 00:00:31.039 --> 00:00:36.079 So we're looking at the story today, the visit of the wise men, and looking at it really 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:39.359 from Joseph's point of view. 00:00:39.359 --> 00:00:40.640 It's a very well-known story. 00:00:40.640 --> 00:00:41.640 You know it well. 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:46.000 It's one we rehearse and repeat a lot, particularly at this time of year. 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:51.079 But I would encourage you today to look at it afresh with the eye of faith. 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:56.240 And that's always an important thing to do when we look at a well-worn story from Scripture, 00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:00.079 and we don't just kind of switch off or think, well, there's nothing really to learn from 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:06.040 this that we can see what is there and also see what is not there. 00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:10.400 And that can be significant and important for us. 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:14.960 And that's what I hope to spend a little bit of time looking at from the passage today. 00:01:14.960 --> 00:01:20.920 Now we know that the birth of a child does change everything in the life of a family. 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:25.879 A family is quite often turned upside down by the birth of a child. 00:01:25.879 --> 00:01:34.479 And however many books parents read in preparation for the birth maybe of their first child, 00:01:34.479 --> 00:01:37.840 it's never quite what you imagine it to be, is it? 00:01:37.840 --> 00:01:45.959 There's all kinds of different experiences that come through the birth of a child. 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:50.599 There's wild times, there's joyous times, and it can also be tough. 00:01:50.599 --> 00:01:56.559 It can be difficult, and there can be tough times even at these early stages. 00:01:56.559 --> 00:02:00.479 And for many families it can become all-consuming. 00:02:00.479 --> 00:02:02.359 And we know that, don't we? 00:02:02.359 --> 00:02:08.280 And I know that from my own experience that it's like this or maybe sometimes other experiences 00:02:08.280 --> 00:02:09.280 as well. 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:12.879 It's as if that no one has ever gone through what I'm going through at this time. 00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:16.120 It's unique, it's just unbelievable. 00:02:16.120 --> 00:02:20.759 And you know, we see that in families in the church, don't we? 00:02:20.759 --> 00:02:25.360 We see when young mums and dads come to church and they've got bags under their eyes and 00:02:25.360 --> 00:02:31.640 they're shevelled hair and there's exhaustion and they haven't slept for 73 days or something. 00:02:31.640 --> 00:02:39.879 And you can see that whole mixture of emotions and highs and lows that come from the birth 00:02:39.879 --> 00:02:41.759 of a child. 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:45.759 No one has ever experienced that. 00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:49.799 But actually, that was true for Joseph and Mary. 00:02:49.799 --> 00:02:52.879 No one had actually experienced what they were going through. 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:58.039 No one in the history of the world had ever experienced what they had experienced. 00:02:58.039 --> 00:03:02.680 There had never been a birth like the birth of Jesus. 00:03:02.680 --> 00:03:10.439 And it's a birth that did literally not just turn their world upside down, it turned the 00:03:10.439 --> 00:03:12.879 world upside down. 00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:17.199 And that's really all I want to talk about today is this passage in the light of that 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:18.199 truth. 00:03:18.199 --> 00:03:24.079 And I'm not really going to spend any time applying the truth except to encourage you 00:03:24.079 --> 00:03:32.879 to meditate on what we're going to go through today and ask yourself why it's so important 00:03:32.879 --> 00:03:35.479 and why it inspires worship. 00:03:35.479 --> 00:03:42.319 And I hope that's what it does today, that you are already unprepared to be inspired, 00:03:42.319 --> 00:03:49.359 not by me, but by the Word of God and by the truth of God's Word to worship Him as we come 00:03:49.359 --> 00:03:51.159 together. 00:03:51.159 --> 00:03:55.239 And what we're reminded of in this story, as we've looked at last week and this week, 00:03:55.239 --> 00:04:01.120 and as you know, as heaven is shockingly involved in this story. 00:04:01.120 --> 00:04:04.840 And that immediately takes us out of our comfort zone. 00:04:04.840 --> 00:04:10.639 And it reminds us that when we read this account, we are confronted, indeed when we read anything 00:04:10.639 --> 00:04:16.680 in the Bible, obviously, we are confronted with another world. 00:04:16.680 --> 00:04:21.240 It's a world that God says we can only see by faith. 00:04:21.240 --> 00:04:23.319 It's a spiritual world. 00:04:23.319 --> 00:04:29.639 It's a world that we can't see with our eyes, but it's as real as it is unseen. 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:34.779 And it's one of the reasons we come together to worship, to remind us and remind ourselves 00:04:34.779 --> 00:04:40.679 of that, that the material world is not all that there is, and it's easy for us to fall 00:04:40.679 --> 00:04:46.599 back into that thinking, that our day-to-day living, our health, or our illness, or our 00:04:46.599 --> 00:04:52.799 circumstances, or our lives that we physically feel and touch and know are all that there 00:04:52.799 --> 00:04:56.559 is. 00:04:56.559 --> 00:05:04.519 But as Christians, without any hint of embarrassment, as we know God in Christ, it's vital that 00:05:04.519 --> 00:05:11.799 we remember that and live in the light of that truth, that there is another unseen world 00:05:11.799 --> 00:05:16.599 that we live in and that lives around us. 00:05:16.599 --> 00:05:19.579 That perspective is crucial and important. 00:05:19.579 --> 00:05:24.959 So we will always, when we get the opportunity, and we must get the opportunity, surely at 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:32.839 this time of the year at some point, to repudiate all talk of myth or fable when we're confronted 00:05:32.839 --> 00:05:37.879 with the story of the birth of Jesus, because lots of people will just throw it out as being 00:05:37.879 --> 00:05:40.319 insignificant or myth or fable. 00:05:40.319 --> 00:05:46.279 And we have then a responsibility not to stay quiet, but to say, no, I don't believe it's 00:05:46.279 --> 00:05:47.279 myth or fable. 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:53.159 I believe in the God who created the universe by the word of His mouth, was well-abled and 00:05:53.159 --> 00:05:59.159 did and had a reason for doing what He did and entering into our world. 00:05:59.160 --> 00:06:03.120 So heaven was shockingly involved in this story. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:07.960 The terrifying angel of the Lord who comes in the dreams, don't we? 00:06:07.960 --> 00:06:15.720 Making an announcement, passing on truth that those to whom the message went would never 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:19.240 have understood or believed had it not come from an angel of the Lord. 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:24.480 Whether it was the conception when He spoke to Zechariah, when He spoke to Mary, when 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:32.480 He spoke to Joseph, when He spoke to the shepherds, followed by an army of singing angels. 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:37.759 Heaven intervened and heaven broke into our experience. 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:44.680 And of course, beyond that, God Himself, and the person of His Son, becomes flesh, becomes 00:06:44.680 --> 00:06:46.360 a human being. 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:53.000 It's the coming of heaven's king into our world. 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:55.560 Heavenly involved, heaven is. 00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:58.519 And do you want to understand heaven today? 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:01.000 Do I want to understand the spiritual world more? 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:04.040 Well, we see it when we see Jesus. 00:07:04.040 --> 00:07:08.199 And when we understand Jesus, Jesus is the king of heaven. 00:07:08.199 --> 00:07:12.680 And so we understand more of that spiritual world when we come to know and understand 00:07:12.680 --> 00:07:15.759 Jesus. 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:19.240 But also the heavenly realms are involved in this story, aren't they? 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:23.920 In verse 2, it talks about the star that the wise men were following from the east. 00:07:23.920 --> 00:07:32.680 So it's the aligning of the appearance of the star as a significant pointer towards the 00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:37.920 coming of the king of kings. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:44.960 The heavenly realm and heaven itself is involved in this account. 00:07:44.959 --> 00:07:52.879 Now, we have the Scripture, we have God's Word, we have the Word made flesh in Jesus 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:55.879 and is spoken of in the completed Scriptures. 00:07:55.879 --> 00:07:58.120 And we have that to guide us. 00:07:58.120 --> 00:08:05.560 But can I just say today, don't limit or underestimate the God of the Word, which we can sometimes 00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:06.560 do. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:10.560 We can, we want sometimes just to keep them within the front and the back of this book 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:15.639 because we can close the book and we can keep that book at a distance from our lives and 00:08:15.639 --> 00:08:21.120 we can make it simply a book and we can forget what it speaks of. 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:28.120 Now we know and we defend to the end the reality that He will primarily speak to us through 00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:29.720 His Word. 00:08:29.720 --> 00:08:34.360 And when He does speak to us, beyond that, it will never contradict what He's revealed 00:08:34.360 --> 00:08:36.960 in His Word to us. 00:08:36.960 --> 00:08:43.759 But we may sometimes, I think, in our lives and in our spirituality and be in danger of 00:08:43.759 --> 00:08:52.120 forgetting who God is, of naturalizing, as it were, our faith, intellectualizing our 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:59.120 faith and forgetting the supernatural, forgetting that God, even in His Word, is breaking in 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:01.759 from heaven into our lives. 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:04.400 That it's not just a philosophy. 00:09:04.400 --> 00:09:06.480 It's not just a way of living. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:08.920 It's not just a moral choice that we make. 00:09:08.920 --> 00:09:15.320 It is that we come into contact with the living God through His Word and through His person, 00:09:15.320 --> 00:09:18.399 Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:24.560 So when the Spirit of God convicts you in your heart and your conscience, sometimes in 00:09:24.560 --> 00:09:30.680 your dreams and through the discernment, the gift of discernment and wisdom, be sensitive 00:09:30.680 --> 00:09:31.680 to that. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:38.319 Do you have a living faith with God through His Word, or is it all just a little bit academic, 00:09:38.319 --> 00:09:42.199 a little bit philosophical, a little bit moralistic? 00:09:42.199 --> 00:09:44.239 It's easy for it to be these things. 00:09:44.239 --> 00:09:51.359 But even as we look at His Word, we take it and we ask that He will make it alive because 00:09:51.359 --> 00:09:54.759 it's a living Word and it's heaven breaking in. 00:09:54.759 --> 00:10:02.120 So we find that heaven shockingly involved and then we see Joseph's experience here in 00:10:02.120 --> 00:10:04.399 Matthew. 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:12.039 No mention is made of a census, a journey to Bethlehem, nothing about an inn or the manger 00:10:12.039 --> 00:10:14.840 or the shepherds or the visit to the temple. 00:10:14.840 --> 00:10:16.840 None of that in this account. 00:10:16.840 --> 00:10:19.600 We're not going to look at that. 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:21.080 This account is different. 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:29.320 Look, I do believe there is an unwritten assumption at least that when they did come 00:10:29.320 --> 00:10:35.800 to fulfill the requirements of the census that they relocated to Bethlehem. 00:10:35.800 --> 00:10:42.080 That would seem to be at least implied in the text that they didn't return, they didn't 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:49.520 go away and that they had a home there. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:53.840 And there's maybe a bit more of a time gap in this story than we in this story. 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:58.079 It's probably very unlikely, extremely unlikely. 00:10:58.079 --> 00:11:01.919 I would say important, no, I wouldn't say, but very unlikely that the wise men came to 00:11:01.919 --> 00:11:04.120 the manger. 00:11:04.120 --> 00:11:10.840 There does seem to be a time gap that's assumed here that I'll explain a little bit about. 00:11:10.840 --> 00:11:17.279 So Joseph and Mary had Jesus and they'd relocated and maybe things did settle for a while. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:19.240 Maybe things did become quite ordinary. 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:22.759 At least for a few weeks or months, possibly. 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:30.519 And you wonder if Joseph held Jesus in his arms, as Israel will hold daily in his arms. 00:11:30.519 --> 00:11:34.720 And just looked at him and said, who is this child? 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:38.080 What will he become? 00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:39.960 Was it all a dream? 00:11:39.960 --> 00:11:45.639 Maybe as things just got back to a bit more normality, as normal as it can for new parents. 00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:51.080 And in the kind of rather bizarre situation that they found themselves in having a child, 00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:56.919 but not sleeping together and not being in the same bedroom. 00:11:56.919 --> 00:12:00.439 Strange days, but what did he think? 00:12:00.439 --> 00:12:01.439 What would come next? 00:12:01.439 --> 00:12:04.319 And then, well, what did come next? 00:12:04.319 --> 00:12:07.480 The visite of these wise men. 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:12.279 Now, Magi, they're called in some of the other translations as well. 00:12:12.279 --> 00:12:16.159 And I know, you know, there's always someone who's ready to say, well, there wasn't three 00:12:16.159 --> 00:12:17.659 of them. 00:12:17.659 --> 00:12:19.720 We don't know how many there were. 00:12:19.720 --> 00:12:23.000 Tradition tells us there's three of them, possibly because there was three gifts. 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:25.839 But we're just told that wise men came. 00:12:25.839 --> 00:12:35.159 And as I said, very probably not to the manger, but came to Bethlehem to a home, possibly some 00:12:35.159 --> 00:12:36.159 months later. 00:12:36.159 --> 00:12:41.159 And, you know, we see a little bit of that from verse 16 where Herod, we didn't actually 00:12:41.159 --> 00:12:47.319 read this, but when Herod realized that they hadn't gone back to visite him, he sent and 00:12:47.319 --> 00:12:56.879 killed all the male children in the region according to the time that he had ascertained 00:12:56.879 --> 00:12:57.879 from the wise men. 00:12:57.879 --> 00:12:58.959 And that was up to two years. 00:12:58.959 --> 00:13:04.039 So there was obviously some length of time happening here. 00:13:04.039 --> 00:13:10.959 So they were diviners, possibly astronomers, magicians, court advisors. 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:18.600 Most probably they came from Babylonia to the east, pagan, gentile country. 00:13:18.600 --> 00:13:27.080 But they could well have learned about Old Testament Scriptures from the time of Daniel. 00:13:27.080 --> 00:13:30.400 Because in Daniel chapter 5 and verse 11, we have these words, that as a man in your 00:13:30.400 --> 00:13:34.720 kingdom who has the spirit of the Holy God, remember Daniel at this time? 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:38.000 They were the people of Israel were captive in Babylon. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:40.320 They had been thrown out of the promised land. 00:13:40.320 --> 00:13:43.120 And Daniel, we know, became very significant. 00:13:43.120 --> 00:13:47.240 In the time of your father, he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom like 00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:48.240 that of the gods. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:51.040 Your father, King Nebuchadnezzar, appointed him what? 00:13:51.040 --> 00:13:59.080 Chief of the magicians and chanters, astrologers and diviners, the Magi, the wise men. 00:13:59.080 --> 00:14:03.800 And so from that time, there would have been, as was the case in these days, the study of 00:14:03.800 --> 00:14:08.040 all the ancient texts, and they would have been interpreting them. 00:14:08.039 --> 00:14:14.399 They would have even been watching the astrological signs in creation which God used potentially 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:18.799 miraculously at this time with the star. 00:14:18.799 --> 00:14:25.439 And they would have been, as courtiers, people who would have come to visit kings that were 00:14:25.439 --> 00:14:27.439 born in other nations. 00:14:27.439 --> 00:14:30.559 It was important, it was significant. 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:36.879 They would have enjoyed and spoken of and predicted royal births and royal kings. 00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:43.200 But you know, maybe we forget here, it wasn't just these guys that came and visited as in 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:45.759 tradition, a manger in the middle of nowhere. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:48.720 I think the whole of Jerusalem knew about this. 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:50.720 Even the king knew about it, King Herod. 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:52.279 This was big news. 00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:54.879 They may well have come with an entourage. 00:14:54.879 --> 00:14:57.080 They may well have been a big group of them. 00:14:57.080 --> 00:15:04.759 It was a big deal for these people to travel from the east to Jerusalem, to Bethlehem, so 00:15:04.759 --> 00:15:13.159 much so that everyone in the city of Jerusalem was troubled by what they saw. 00:15:13.159 --> 00:15:18.519 It was something that was disturbing both to Herod and to the people. 00:15:18.519 --> 00:15:24.559 The whole idea of foreign dignitaries coming to visit the birth of a king. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:26.439 King Herod could have none of that. 00:15:26.439 --> 00:15:33.080 He didn't want someone to challenge him and his authority. 00:15:33.080 --> 00:15:37.000 Herod was a paranoid and brutal dictator. 00:15:37.000 --> 00:15:44.560 He's known to have recorded, murdered many of his own family in order to secure his own 00:15:44.560 --> 00:15:45.960 position. 00:15:45.960 --> 00:15:51.759 And he was afraid about this new king. 00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:56.360 And these magi, these wise men were told and are reminded in the story that you know so 00:15:56.360 --> 00:16:01.640 well, brought gifts to this king. 00:16:01.639 --> 00:16:07.360 Gifts that came from a foreign land, possibly pagans, possibly not. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:13.639 But they came from the land of Israel's enemies, but they come with insight and they do come 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:17.240 to worship and they come with gifts. 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:21.960 Gold would have been the gift of the kings. 00:16:21.960 --> 00:16:27.279 Frankincense, the essential oil made from a resin from trees used in offering, used 00:16:27.279 --> 00:16:40.319 in worship and myrrh, an imbamming spice used for the bodies of those who have died. 00:16:40.319 --> 00:16:46.360 Symbolic gifts, gifts symbolizing maybe what they knew themselves at this point. 00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:50.959 But what did Joseph make of all the attention? 00:16:50.959 --> 00:16:55.079 You know, when he said things, things that maybe settled down. 00:16:55.080 --> 00:17:01.600 He was just a bit of a dream and all of a sudden, the whole of the sea, are interested 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:06.600 in the birth of his son and what that meant. 00:17:06.600 --> 00:17:11.440 And all of a sudden he's the center of attention again. 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:19.000 And of course then from that we have the terror of the message that he receives in his another 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:25.240 dream in verse 13, rise, take the child and his mother flee to Egypt. 00:17:25.240 --> 00:17:28.319 It's not a holiday. 00:17:28.319 --> 00:17:33.119 And remain there until I tell you for Herod is about to search for the child to destroy 00:17:33.119 --> 00:17:34.119 him. 00:17:34.119 --> 00:17:41.880 They're newborn, the unique one born, the son of God to destroy him. 00:17:41.880 --> 00:17:45.759 Their lives again were turned upside down. 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:47.680 Reality kicks in again. 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:49.759 God was to be feared. 00:17:49.759 --> 00:17:52.320 He was known as a killer. 00:17:52.320 --> 00:17:59.080 And they are plunged again into the unknown and into great danger and to traveling to 00:17:59.080 --> 00:18:01.600 a foreign country. 00:18:01.600 --> 00:18:04.560 Maybe they use, we don't know what happened to the gifts. 00:18:04.560 --> 00:18:08.840 Maybe they sold them and used the money to finance their stay in Egypt. 00:18:08.840 --> 00:18:13.920 But it must have been grim. 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:17.519 Must have been grim. 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:30.279 As they heard in their ears the cry of the innocents as they travel out of Jerusalem. 00:18:30.279 --> 00:18:33.440 But through it we do see the mind of God unfolding, don't we? 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:38.240 And with this I finish, we see the mind of God unfolding. 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:44.079 Matthew himself, as he recounts this story, as he records it, he records it and fills 00:18:44.079 --> 00:18:49.119 it with Scripture from the Old Testament, prophetic Scripture. 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:54.519 Micah chapter 5 which speaks about the child of God being born in Bethlehem and nations 00:18:54.519 --> 00:18:56.519 coming to worship the King. 00:18:56.519 --> 00:19:01.359 Hosea 11 speaking about out of Egypt I have called my son, which is where Jesus would 00:19:01.359 --> 00:19:03.839 have come from back to Nazareth. 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:11.119 And then Jeremiah 31, that desperate, desperate prophecy of Rachel weeping for her children 00:19:11.119 --> 00:19:13.119 but cannot be comforted. 00:19:13.119 --> 00:19:16.559 I've spoken about this before here, I know. 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:26.519 It was quoted, I let death of the innocent sit dumb-blane by the reverent Ian Paisley 00:19:26.519 --> 00:19:28.399 in Parliament. 00:19:28.399 --> 00:19:29.399 Never forget that. 00:19:29.399 --> 00:19:34.639 I'll never forget that moment driving in the car, hearing him speak to the Parliament 00:19:34.639 --> 00:19:40.119 of the Nation quoting this passage about Rachel weeping for her children. 00:19:40.119 --> 00:19:47.079 And the reality of that has never left me thinking of what happened in Jerusalem and 00:19:47.079 --> 00:19:52.239 what happened to Joseph and Mary. 00:19:52.239 --> 00:19:59.039 The star also, although not spoken of in this passage, Numbers 24, I see him but not now, 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:00.239 I behold him but not nearer. 00:20:00.239 --> 00:20:05.199 A star will come out of Jacob, a sceptile will rise out of Israel. 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:11.279 Or even the gifts, an amazing passage in Isaiah 60 which could just be a commentary on Matthew 00:20:11.279 --> 00:20:12.279 chapter 1. 00:20:12.279 --> 00:20:16.000 A rise shine for your light is coming, the glory of the Lord rises upon you. 00:20:16.000 --> 00:20:19.559 See darkness covers the earth, thick darkness is over the peoples. 00:20:19.559 --> 00:20:24.279 But the Lord rises upon you and as glory appears over you, nations will come to your light, 00:20:24.279 --> 00:20:27.559 kings to the brightness of your dawn. 00:20:27.559 --> 00:20:31.559 Then you will look and be radiant, your hearts will throb and swell with joy. 00:20:31.559 --> 00:20:35.799 The wealth of the seas will be brought to you, the riches of the nations will come, 00:20:35.799 --> 00:20:40.720 herds of camels will cover the land, young camels of Midiannay and from all from Sheba 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:45.359 will come bearing gold and incense. 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:53.599 All of Scripture pointing towards God's purposes from the very beginning, God's purposes remind 00:20:53.599 --> 00:21:01.879 us that this is what is at the core of who He is, it's the value of the Old Testament 00:21:01.879 --> 00:21:07.839 to appreciate that right from the beginning there has been this purpose of God to redeem 00:21:07.839 --> 00:21:09.679 His people. 00:21:09.679 --> 00:21:15.079 And we see that spiritual battle, that unseen reality right through, if you look at the Old 00:21:15.079 --> 00:21:19.679 Testament with spiritual perspective, you see all through the Old Testament, Satan's 00:21:19.680 --> 00:21:27.840 desire to destroy the seed of the woman, to destroy the possibility of Jesus, the genealogical 00:21:27.840 --> 00:21:33.519 movement of Jesus as the promised seed. 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:38.440 And we see that unseen spiritual battle all the time through the people of Israel and 00:21:38.440 --> 00:21:40.000 what happens to them. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:46.519 Yet God's promises, God's commitment, God's determination, God's love overcomes it all 00:21:46.519 --> 00:21:48.440 on our behalf. 00:21:48.440 --> 00:21:54.240 He uses creation, He uses the nations, He uses the heavenly realms, He uses angels to 00:21:54.240 --> 00:22:00.400 announce that Jesus Christ is here for you and for me today. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:05.559 And we need to be living in the light of that spiritual realm, especially just now. 00:22:05.559 --> 00:22:12.799 And there's so many things to discourage and deepen our struggle and battle in the world. 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:19.799 God's rescue, God's plan is the only plan there is, and this chapter really speaks into 00:22:19.799 --> 00:22:21.480 that for you and for people. 00:22:21.480 --> 00:22:26.440 There isn't a plan B in God's purposes for us. 00:22:26.440 --> 00:22:32.759 So in the turmoil and in the confusion of your life today, in whom do you trust? 00:22:32.759 --> 00:22:41.599 As Joseph and Mary are an example, the explanation of your condition and mine before a holy God, 00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:50.639 sinners condemned under His wrath justly but provided with a Savior if we will believe 00:22:50.639 --> 00:22:52.319 and put our trust in Him. 00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:55.079 Is that what you hope for? 00:22:55.079 --> 00:23:02.240 The joy and gifts you have today as you've come to church, to whom do you give thanks? 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:08.039 In your failure and my failure and guilt, where do we turn for forgiveness? 00:23:08.039 --> 00:23:11.639 In our weakness, who are we looking to for strength? 00:23:11.639 --> 00:23:16.000 In our anxiety about the future, where does our hope lie? 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:25.319 Because this account is not the myth of Christmas to accompany the mince pies. 00:23:25.319 --> 00:23:29.519 It is not mince pies and myth that we celebrate at this time of year. 00:23:29.519 --> 00:23:37.519 It's the living God with His saving purposes for this lost universe of which we're apart. 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:43.639 Go to Him like the wise men and worship. 00:23:43.639 --> 00:23:48.119 Don't be like Herod who wants him dead. 00:23:48.119 --> 00:23:51.720 None of us would say that. 00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:56.240 But sometimes by our actions, we keep Him out of our lives and our hearts and we try 00:23:56.240 --> 00:23:58.960 and live in our own strength and courage. 00:23:58.960 --> 00:24:07.200 So may we learn and grow and be excited by this story all over again as we hear it through 00:24:07.200 --> 00:24:09.559 God and by God's grace. 00:24:09.559 --> 00:24:10.559 Amen. 00:24:10.559 --> 00:24:18.160 Lord God, help us, we pray, to take Your Word, to apply it to our hearts. 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:19.840 We thank You for it. 00:24:19.840 --> 00:24:21.960 We pray Your blessing on it. 00:24:21.960 --> 00:24:28.039 And we ask that today through the baptism, we will remind ourselves again of what Jesus 00:24:28.039 --> 00:24:30.039 has come to do. 00:24:30.039 --> 00:24:36.640 And tonight at the Carol service, we will seek Your protection, seek Your grace, seek 00:24:36.640 --> 00:24:41.840 Your presence, and that You will bring many tonight who don't know Jesus but who will 00:24:41.840 --> 00:24:49.440 hear the Word, respond to it and come to know Jesus for themselves and repent and believe. 00:24:49.440 --> 00:24:52.680 That is our longing and that is our desire. 00:24:52.680 --> 00:25:08.759 Amen.