Matthew 2:1-12
“Where Is He?”
1-2 Wise Men Still Seek Him
Vs. 3-8 Troubled By Jesus
Vs. 9-12 Worship Him
In this chapter we have the record of the fulfillment of four specific prophecies, which are:
1.) Mic. 5:2 = That He would be born in Bethlehem
2.) Hos. 11:1 = That He was to be called out of Egypt.
3.) Jer. 31:15 = That He would cause weeping in Ramah.
4.) Isa. 11:1 = That He would be called a Nazarene.
Intro
Thus, more parts of the puzzle are being put together for us by Matthew. We shall only be interested in the fulfillment of the first of these prophecies here this morning. There are also recorded four groups of people associated with the birth of Jesus, and each of them responds differently towards Him. 1.) Wise men 2.) Herod 3.) All of Jerusalem 4.) Chief priests and scribes.
With that said, I think you will find it interesting that people still respond towards Jesus the same way today. I came across this the other day concerning Jesus second coming:
It was the night before Jesus came, and all through the house, not a creature was praying, not one in the house. Their Bibles were lain on the shelf without care in hopes that Jesus would not come there. The children were dressing to crawl into bed, not once ever kneeling or bowing a head, and mom in her rocker with baby on her lap was watching the late show while I took a nap. When out of the East there arose such a clatter, I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter. Away to the window, I flew like a flash, tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash. When what to my wondering eyes should appear but angels proclaiming that Jesus was here.
With a light like the sun sending forth a bright ray, I knew in a moment this must be THE day. The light of his face made me cover my head. It was Jesus! Returning just like he said. I thought I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth, yet I cried when I saw him in spite of myself. In the book of life that he held in his hand were written the names of every saved boy, girl, woman, and man. He spoke not a word as he searched for my name when he said, “It’s not here.” My head hung in shame. The people whose names had been written with love, he gathered to take to his father above.
With those who were ready, he rose without a sound, while all the rest were left standing around. I fell to my knees, but it was too late. I had waited too long and thus sealed my fate. I stood, and I cried as they rose out of sight. Oh, if only I had been ready tonight. In the words of this poem, the meaning is clear: the coming of Jesus is drawing near. There’s only one life, and when the last call comes, we’ll find that the Bible was true after all.
Vs. 1-2 Wise Men Still Seek Him
Vs. 1 The first thing we note is the fact that Jesus was born in “Bethlehem of Judea.” Bethlehem means “House of Bread.” Now I ask you in light of Jesus’ words in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” Where else could He have been born? What is even more curious is that there are two Bethlehems in Israel, this one that lay some 6 miles outside of Jerusalem, in the region of Judea, and the second one was in the land of Zebulun, some 15 miles NW of Nazareth.
The second thing we are told by Matthew is that His birth took place in days that Herod was the appointed king. Here then is our first person who reacts to Jesus. First, a bit of background on this guy would be most helpful:
This is Herod the Great, a short little monster (a little over four feet tall). It’s significant that everything that he did was big. He was born about the year 73 BC and was a son of the desert, well adapted to the political intrigues of ambition, lust for power, and efficiency at warfare. He was not a full-blooded Jew but a descendant of Esau. His reign began as “king of Judea” in the year 40 BC. With the aid of the Romans, the territory was extended to what had been unparalleled since the reign of Solomon.
His taxation of the people to support his building activity was extensive; he virtually rebuilt every city in the land, even constructing entire cities from the ground up. He also built many palaces for himself. The then nearly four hundred-year-old Temple of Zerubbabel was pale in contrast to the magnificence of his new palaces and structures in Jerusalem. In the year 19 BC, he embarked on an extensive remodeling of the temple, which captured the imagination of the world of that day. It was frequently said that if one had not seen Herod’s Temple, he had never seen a truly beautiful building.
Yet he was also horribly cruel and paranoid. He thought that his sons and his wife, Miriam, were plotting against him, so he had them put to death. Then he began to miss Miriam, so he built a big monument to her. Caesar used to say, “It’s safer to be Herod’s pig than to be his son.” Apparently he was very insecure. In time, he realized that, as the result of his own cruelty, no one would weep when he died. Not being able to stand that, he gave orders that when he died all of his top officials were to be executed, thinking, “They won’t mourn for me, but they will for all of these popular officials.”
Fortunately, when he died, they had enough sense to disregard his orders. The officials were not executed, and thus Herod went unmorned. He died in 4 BC, at seventy years old, a man racked with ill health and mental deterioration. He had reigned for 37 years since his confirmation by the Senate and 34 years since his capture of Jerusalem.
Herod had several wills. His final one designated Archelaus to succeed him as king of Judea (Matt. 2:22), another son Antipas to be tetrarch (governor) of Galilee and Perea, and another son Philip as tetrarch of the Northeastern Districts. The Romans banished Archelaus after a ten-year rule, and the kingdom was then transformed into an Imperial Province of the Roman Empire. Antipas continued to rule Galilee and Perea and was the one who had John the Baptist put to death (Matt. 14:1–12; Mark 6:16–29; Luke 9:9). Also, Jesus appeared before him during his trial, as Pilate the procurator sent Jesus to him for a possible decision (Luke 23:6–12).
So it was during the days of Herod’s reign as King that Jesus was born, and as we are further told that the “wise men” came from the East to Jerusalem. Here then is the second group of people associated with the birth of Jesus, the Magi:
We get our word “magician” from this word. They were a priestly group of ancient Medes and Persians. You will notice two things missing in the text that most of us have in our nativity scenes:
A.) First, it does not say that there were three of them. The number three came in much later in the 7th century and was put there because of the three gifts that they brought. Why you can go to Cologne today and find the skulls of these three they have named “Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar”.
B.) Second, it does not say that they were kings. That was added by the 14th century from Armenian myths and not only had these three been named but they were also three Kings from three countries, Arabia, Persia, and India.
So with that out of the way here is what we do know of this group of men called Magi. We do not know how many of them there were , but judging upon the response of Jerusalem in verse 3 there had to be quite a few of them. It is thought that this group was started by none other than Daniel, who at one time held the title of “Rab-mag” or chief of the Magi, (Dan. 4:9) What we are certain of is that these Magi were considered experts of interpreting dreams and the study of the stars to find the future. Interestingly they were often given the role as “Magistrates” and were given the role of electing the King of the realm. They were monotheistic , in their beliefs as we are as well.
Vs.2 Now much has been made of the “star in the East” and there are several things that have been written about it. There is even an organization called the “Eastern star”, but the star was not in the East it was in the West, the text just says that they came from the East, and that is where they saw the “star”. If the star was in the East and they followed that star they would have wound up in China, not Jerusalem. Second, we are not even sure what this sign was, some say it was a conjunction of planets, others say a comet, but we need not settle with these. The fact is we are not told, but here is what we do know:
These Magi came from a region, in which Daniel came from. And 500 years prior to this Daniel wrote down a Prophecy concerning this event. In Dan. 7:13-14 13 we read that Daniel,
“..was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom is the one that shall not be destroyed.”
They had his writings; they knew this event was going to happen. Furthermore, they were from an area where there was another prophecy given by a gentile named Balaam. Now you will remember old Balaam. He was the guy that was hired by the king of the Moabites to curse Israel, and every time he went to do so, a blessing came out. Well, one of those blessings is found in Num. 24:17, where we read, ““I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob; a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of tumult.”
Is that not great? Here are a bunch of guys from the East who interpret dreams, and they go back and look at Daniel’s dream. They look at stars to tell the future and look at Balaam’s prophecy about the star of Jacob. And just at that time they see some supernatural sign in the sky and follow it. God is always trying to reach people where they are, and he uses what they are familiar with to reveal who He is. That is what Isa. 60:3 says: “The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”
Note: We are given their words as well: “Where is He?” In the first book of the O.T., in the second chapter verse 9, we have recorded a very similar question, “Where are you?” that was spoken by God to man after he had chosen to sin. Now here in the 2nd chapter of the first book of the N.T., we read the question of these wise men from the East, “Where is HE?”. Is it not interesting that at first God was looking for man, and now we have man looking for God? There never would have been a second question if there had not been the first one. I would like to suggest to you now several facts concerning the wise men’s inquiry:
- They asked where he was. They were not looking for a system, theory, or religion; no, they were looking for a person! So many people today are searching for something to govern their lives. They go to seminars, read books of philosophies, even try organized religion, and for the most part they are disappointed at what they find. May I make a suggestion to you? What is missing is a person! And I am here to tell you that the person is none other than Jesus!
- Second, they asked for one that was born. That is, they looked for a child. They looked for a child that was a king. They wanted not someone appointed but rather born to reign. The simplicity of a child king. Jesus would later say that we must be like children to enter the kingdom of heaven. We make things so complicated as adults. All the rules and regulations, but the Lord, just put all your trust in Him, and none in yourself and your in.
- Third, they looked for a king. They were looking for someone who would rule over their souls. Might I again just interject something? There is always something ruling over your soul; the only question is who?
- Lastly, they did not come to debate Him; they came to lay down their lives before Him. They had not come to get something from Him or to manipulate Him; they did not even come for what He had done for them. No! They came simply to worship Him for who He was!
May I invite you this day to come to Him, allow Him to rule over your lives, and simply worship Him?
Vs. 3-8 Troubled By Jesus
Now we move to the three other groups of people that are associated with Jesus’ birth.
First there is Herod. Now we have already seen what kind of man he was. And we note his response, “He was troubled.” This word means to agitate like boiling water. There were several things that no doubt led to this agitation.
There was the wise men’s presence. They were from Persia, and thus from the Parathion empire. And there was a constant warring between Rome and Parathions, the main buffer zone between these two countries being right here in Judea. Most of Israel would have liked better to be ruled by Parthia than Rome.
Second, he was no doubt troubled by the words of these men. Especially the words “born King of the Jews,” for as we have already noted, Herod was appointed king of the Jews by Mark Anthony, and he was an Edomite, not a Jew. Plus, he was a terribly insecure little man who killed his own children so that they would not displace him as king.
So it is to this King that these kingmakers come. Herod’s reaction was fear that produced hatred. Today there are people who don’t want to talk about anything to do with Christianity; they become agitated and angry. They worry that the things they are into will be wrong. That they can’t continue on in the lifestyles that they are into. They are clever in their attempts to rid themselves of this plague called Christianity.
The second group of people is found in the third verse as well. Simply put, it is the reaction of “all of Jerusalem.” We are told that they too were agitated. I believe they were agitated because it would upturn the apple cart. They just did not want to be bothered by any more changes. Because if some of the people began to worship this child king, then Rome might want to come down hard upon them. This group was not worried about the future; they were concerned about the here and now.
There are a great many people today that don’t want anything to do with Jesus because it would just be an inconvenience. They just don’t want anything to upset where they are now. They are the ones that say things like, “I don’t discuss religion and politics.” Why, you ask? Don’t want anything to do with it. The underlying truth is that they are concerned that the discussion may bring about some needed change in their lives, and they don’t want to do that, so they become agitated with you when you bring up Jesus.
Vs. 4-6 The third group is the “chief priests and the scribes.” First, note that Herod did not ask these men their opinion; he demanded they search for the answer. What is even more amazing to me is that they knew the answer. These religious leaders knew the prophecy of Micah 5:2, saying that the “bread of life” was to be born in the “house of bread.” These were men of learning, yet they were men of indifference. They knew, but they did not go to worship Jesus themselves. Here then is another group of people, the majority of which I believe now live in America. They know a lot about Jesus, and they are quite religious, you know. They even have Bibles; some go to church, but they are self-righteous folks who think they don’t really need Jesus.
Jesus is for sinners, and I’m a good person. They are indifferent towards him. They make no attempt to investigate personally what it means to worship Him. Instead, they are all caught up in formalism and rituals. How unfortunate it is that the majority of people who reject the claims of Christ do so because of the witness of this group! They knew Micah all right, but they did not finish the text, for if you do, you will find this: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me, The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
Might I ask you a question? “ If Jesus came right now into this church service and you knew exactly without any doubt who He was, what would you say as He came over to you and said, “It’s too far for you to go?” Would you feel uncomfortable? Would he be interrupting some bad behavior? Would you tell Him, Lord, this is not a good time right now? That is what these religious people wanted.
Vs.7-8 It is most likely that, based upon Herod’s words here, Jesus is over a year old. Verse 8 tells us that he was looking for the young child, not the baby. We also know that he orders the killing of all the male children 2 years and under, verse 16. They had traveled for months, perhaps a year, in search of Jesus, bringing their hearts of worship and gifts of adoration. Again, note the irony of it all, as Herod claims to want to worship Jesus, but what he really wants to do is kill Him.
He attempts to use deception to accomplish his plan, but of course God is in control and Jesus will not die for Herod or any other by way of accident, He would say in John 10:17-18. “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down for myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.”
Vs. 9-12 Worship Him
Vs.9-10 Here we have the fourth response of people towards Jesus, and I pray that it is yours! It seems as though this star had disappeared and now reappears as they set off to find Jesus. It did not come over to where the manger was or over to where the baby was but rather to where the young child was. Again, this star must have been some super-natural event.
Vs.11-12 I love the simplicity of what these wise men do: they come to the house where the star had led them, come into the house, and worship Jesus. Notice that it does not say that they worshiped Mary and Jesus; truly, if there was ever a time that she would have been worshiped, it would have been then, but they don’t, and neither should we. Can we see these wise men here bowing with their faces towards the ground to this little child? I have heard it said that wise men still seek Him, and this is true, but wise men do more than still seek Him; they worship Him!
Note: They present Him with gifts:
A.) Gold, because He is the King of Kings.
B.) Frankincense, which is a perfume used in the priesthood, because He is the fragrance of life.
C.) Myrrh, which is used to bury people, because He will one day die for the sins of the whole world.
In Isa. 60:6, we read that at His second coming the world will bring Him two of these three gifts: “They shall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of the LORD.” No, Myrrh, because His death was final and complete on our behalf.
Matthew 2:13-23
“From Homage to Hatred”
Vs. 13-15 Flee To Egypt
Vs. 16-18 Weeping for the Children
Vs. 19-23 Home to Nazareth
Intro
I heard of a prayer that those of us who hosted Christmas get-together could probably relate to about now. It seems that one family was in the habit of inviting a great deal of people over for dinner every year during the holidays. As all the people sat at the table, the father turned to their six-year-old child and asked if she would like to say the blessing over the food. “I don’t know what to say,” she replied. “Just say what you hear Mommy and I say,” came back the answer. So the little girl bowed her head and said, “Dear Lord, why on earth did we invite all these people to dinner?”
Last week I told you that this chapter was best divided into four sections that correspond to the fulfillment of four prophecies:
1.) Mic. 5:2 = That He would be born in Bethlehem
2.) Hos. 11:1 = That He was to be called out of Egypt.
3.) Jer. 31:15 = That He would cause weeping in Ramah.
4.) Isa. 11:1 = That He would be called a Nazarene.
Now, we have seen last week that Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem, and that was not negative. The rest of these three prophecies are negative in their fulfillment, as we shall see. Yet with that said, they all come out to the praise of His glory.
Vs. 13-15 Flee to Egypt
Vs. 13 The visit of the wise men must have occurred sometime after the presentation of Christ in the temple recorded by Luke in 2:22-24, for Jesus was already in a house, as well as the fact that they would have been able to offer a lamb instead of the minimum of two turtle doves.
So here Matthew tells us that the events that he records after this took place after the magi departed. This then is the second time Joseph has been spoken to by an angel in a dream, and he will again be spoken to twice more in dreams, though it is not said by an angel on the last occasion, verse 22. Joseph is told where he is to flee too, Egypt.
how long they are to remain there, and the reason why they are to go.
Note: Again, we are told that Jesus was a young child, most likely about a year and a few months old. It is wonderful to see their prompt obedience. Suppose they had delayed and not listened. How many things in our lives would today be different had we chosen to trust and obey?
Vs. 14 Curious that they are told to go to Egypt. Egypt is a type of world; it was a place with a history as far as Israel was concerned, a place of oppression and slavery, yet it is here that they were told to flee. It was about 60 miles from Bethlehem, and like Israel, it was a Roman province. There were many Jews there, as well as synagogues, but what is even more important is that it lay right outside of Herod the Great’s jurisdiction.
His territory went right up to the border of Egypt. This is the only time in the earthly life of Jesus that He was ever outside of Israel. The land that Israel was delivered from would be the land in which the Savior would be delivered. Just like Moses, He would lead all who trust Him out of the world of slavery and oppression. In this brief statement we have the truth of the gospel, God the Son coming to the world of sin and oppression (Egypt) to lead us out of it into the land of promise!
Vs. 15: We are not told the exact length of time that Jesus remained in Egypt, but it was not too long. Herod died some time between the second year and the fourth year of Jesus’ life. This is a prophecy of Hosea, which was written in response to the failure of the nation as she committed spiritual harlotry with other gods. In the first part of the 11th chapter is where we have recorded this prophecy.
It is there that God is telling the nation of how He loved Israel so much that He brought them out of slavery and oppression. It is this quote that Matthew records in light of Jesus. He is saying, “I loved you so much I brought you out of slavery.” This was the great Exodus, the delivering of the people out of the physical oppression of Egypt.
But what happened to the people? Well, they were out of physical slavery, but not out of spiritual slavery. Yes, they were no longer under the cruelty of Egypt, but they were still battling sin in their lives, and this was a battle that could only be won through the incarnation. The trouble with Israel was always compromise with foreign nations; even after God drove them out, they still compromised. Do not miss the beauty of this! This is the second, Exodus! Have you experienced the second exodus? You can know of this if you follow him out of Egypt!
Vs. 16-18 Weeping for the Children
Vs. 16 We are not given any outside historical help on the murder of the male children in Bethlehem. Several reasons for this:
A.) This act, as horrible as it was, is somewhat small in comparison to his other deeds.
B.) The order was most likely a secret one, not known by the other historians of the day. It was a crime committed in a small, insignificant town.
It was not that the Magi deliberately did this to mock Herod, but that they had been warned not to go back by way of Herod, verse 12. At any rate, this infuriated him. His original plan was to just kill the baby Jesus, but now that he cannot accomplish that, he puts to death all male children that are into their second year and under, most likely a year old. All told, by best guess, in a town of this size, say 2 to 3 thousand, this meant about 30 children. Herod took no chance, making a sweep of all the area of Bethlehem and its districts.
Vs. 17-18 Here Matthew tells us that this too was in fulfillment of prophecy, which we find in Jeremiah 31:15. Ramah lay some 5 miles north of Bethlehem. In Jeremiah, the prophet is speaking to a nation on the verge of being led away captive to Babylon. All the captives were gathered together at Rama; Jeremiah himself was in chains. The king was brought forward along with his sons, who were then murdered in front of him just before they put out his eyes.
Then they were marched off to slavery, leaving behind all that was dear to them. This then is what Jeremiah spoke of concerning Rachel weeping for the descendants of her children; Rama being a town of Benjamin, its name means “eminence.” The picture is of Rachel weeping over the fallen hope of the nation and the ruin of the nation because of failure.
Now don’t miss the beauty of this prophecy either. What is the ultimate failure of mankind? What is the ultimate captivity? Is it not sin and death? If you read the next two verses of Jeremiah, you will see the hope, 16-17. “Thus says the LORD: “Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.
There is hope in your future, says the LORD, that your children shall come back to their own border. “The death of these children was permanent, yet one child did not die; no, He was protected, saved, and through Him we will all.“ Refrain our voice from weeping, and our eyes from tears. ”We will come back, “from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future, says the LORD.”.
Vs. 19-23 Home to Nazareth
Vs. 19-21 Again, this was probably not all that long after the massacre of the children while the young Jesus was in Egypt.
Note: The young child Jesus is given the preeminence in the story.
Vs. 22-23 Archelaus was as evil as was his father; he reigned some 10 years being exiled after he put 3000 people to death on Passover. So this young family ends up where they started. This then fulfills the prophecy spoken by Isa. 11:1. The word Nazareth means sprout or branch. This town had the reputation of insignificance. You will remember the words of Nathaniel right after Philip found him when he said,
“We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote; Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” And Nathaniel said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
In other words, this was a word of contempt. Jesus did not come from a good city but rather from “bean town.” This town had a reputation for obscurity and lowliness. This is not the same as being called a “Nazirite,” which had to do with being separate. In Isa. 11:1, we read concerning Jesus that He would be, “There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” That is the same word as “netzer,” which means a twig that has come up out of a tree that has been cut down. Now if you go to Nazareth, you will find a little town off the beaten path at the foot of some mountains.
So how does this relate to Jesus? Well, we are told that Jesus will belong to a city that is not worth naming; he will be a man off the highways of life, knowing nothing of the great events of world life. In other words, Jesus will come up from this great tree, a little shoot, a sprout that nobody will think of value, someone that people will laugh at and make fun of. Perhaps you’re here and you’re thinking all this Jesus talk; I just don’t get it. How can this baby in manager help me? Why, I have real problems, big ones that some cute little Christmas story can’t help!
Let me tell you the rest of the words of Isa. 11:1–5. “The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the LORD. His delight is in the fear of the LORD, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist.” The sprout, this person of Jesus held in contempt and despised, is the savior! He alone is able to save to the uttermost. The Psalmist would say in 142:4 that he “looked on my right hand and saw, For there is no one who acknowledges me; Refuge has failed me; No one cares for my soul.” Yet we read in 1 Peter 5:7, “cast all our cares upon Him, for He cares for us.”