Praise the
Lord for this new year. We have had lots of snow already, but it is melting
today as it is raining. The Lord blessed us yesterday in His House in worship
and fellowship. I preached from Mathew 2. It is the account of the visit of
Jesus by the wise men. January 6, which is 12 days after Christmas, is also the
feast of Epiphany. Epiphany is a public holiday in many
countries. Epiphany is commonly known as Twelfth Night, Twelfth Day, or Three
Kings’ Day. It is the feast that celebrates the coming the
magi to worship Jesus, the new born King. The magi were pagans
who have been drawn to Jesus. Consider how little they knew. They had seen a
star and they knew a baby called “the king of the Jews” had been born. Yet,
with nothing more than that, they risked everything and left their homeland to
find the baby, bring him gifts, and worship him. This is the one of the
greatest examples of true faith in the entire Bible. They didn’t know very much
about Jesus but what they knew spurred them to
action.
When the magi reached Jerusalem, they assumed that everyone would know where the baby was. On the contrary, they were in for a great surprise as they discovered that not everyone shared their desire to find Jesus. The reaction of Herod is fascinating. Matthew 2:3 says that “when Herod heard the news, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.” The word “disturbed” really means to “shake violently.” Herod was all shook up. Herod the Great was a killer. That was his nature. He killed out of spite and he killed to stay in power. Human life meant nothing to him, but the idea that the "King of the Jews" had been born terrified him.
Herod had been given the title “King of the Jews” by the Roman Senate but he was no Jew. By birth he was an Idumean, a descendent of the ancient Edomites whose father was Esau. The Jews hated him and chafed under his brutal rule. The notion of a baby “born” king of the Jews was a direct threat to Herod’s throne. No wonder he tried to kill Jesus. In his eyes, he had no choice. It was kill or be killed, and now, in the twilight of his life, he was ready to kill anyone who threatened him, even a tiny, helpless baby.
Herod stands as a symbol of the kind of world Jesus entered. He represents the world’s welcoming committee for the Son of God. Jesus was born and the rulers tried to kill him. The Bible says, “He came to what was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:11). Herod stands for the bloodthirsty, cruel, vindictive side of the world system, a world where human life is cheap and where killing is accepted and even expected.
To this day there are those who are offended by Jesus, even by the mere mention of his name. They oppose spiritual truth and want to erase every trace of Christmas from public life. This group includes those cowardly school administrators who want even the word “Christmas” banished from the classroom and the lawyers who sue to have the manger scenes removed from city halls across America. Herod would be proud of them. Before Herod could get rid of the baby, he put on a pleasant face. He had to seem interested in helping these strange visitors find the Christ child, so he turned to the scribes and priests for advice. He asked only one question: Where is this child to be born? The scribes don’t have to look it up. They already know the answer. Seven hundred years earlier the prophet Micah had predicted the Messiah’s birth in Bethlehem.
If you add what the scribes knew to what the Wise Men figured out, you surely conclude that the signs of Jesus’ coming were clear enough for anyone to see. It is sometimes said that God always speaks loudly enough for a willing ear to hear, as happened in this instance. The Magi knew and they did something about it; the scribes knew and did nothing. So, when Herod asked, “Where is the Messiah going to be born?” they knew the answer immediately. Micah 5:2 said that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. End of story.
Bethlehem is only six miles from Jerusalem, close enough that you could walk the distance in less than two hours. Today Bethlehem is like a suburb of Jerusalem, but even then people lived in Bethlehem and went to Jerusalem to buy and sell and to go to the Temple. It was an easy journey on good roads. It was only six miles, but none of the scribes cared enough to go and check out the rumor that the long-awaited Messiah had been born. They were a mere six miles from Jesus, six miles from salvation, six miles from forgiveness, six miles from eternal life. As I read Matthew 2, one fact strikes me above all others. That is, everybody involved had the same basic information. They all knew a baby had been born in Bethlehem and they all knew who the baby was. Herod knew and tried to kill him; the scribes knew and ignored him; the Wise Men knew and worshipped him.
For all those who feel they are too busy to join the search for Jesus, C. S. Lewis wrote these words: “Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”
Jesus stands at the end of life’s road for all of us. In the end there can be no middle ground. To ignore him is the same as to hate him because you end up without him either way. Perhaps hatred is more noble than casual disinterest because when you hate, you at least must pay attention to the object of your hatred, and that very attention may lead someday to a change of heart. To ignore Jesus altogether means to live as if he doesn’t matter at all, but no one can ignore him forever. We all have an appointment with Christ sooner or later.
What will you do with Jesus? Some hate him. Some ignore him. Some seek him. The ultimate question is not how someone else responds but how we personally respond to Jesus. That’s really the only thing that matters. Are we with Herod, or with the scribes, or with the Wise Men? Are we hostile to Jesus? Are we too busy to get involved? Are we coming to worship Him as Savior and Lord?
Let us come to Jesus and live.
In Him ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/Lx35_DRIZ8g
When the magi reached Jerusalem, they assumed that everyone would know where the baby was. On the contrary, they were in for a great surprise as they discovered that not everyone shared their desire to find Jesus. The reaction of Herod is fascinating. Matthew 2:3 says that “when Herod heard the news, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.” The word “disturbed” really means to “shake violently.” Herod was all shook up. Herod the Great was a killer. That was his nature. He killed out of spite and he killed to stay in power. Human life meant nothing to him, but the idea that the "King of the Jews" had been born terrified him.
Herod had been given the title “King of the Jews” by the Roman Senate but he was no Jew. By birth he was an Idumean, a descendent of the ancient Edomites whose father was Esau. The Jews hated him and chafed under his brutal rule. The notion of a baby “born” king of the Jews was a direct threat to Herod’s throne. No wonder he tried to kill Jesus. In his eyes, he had no choice. It was kill or be killed, and now, in the twilight of his life, he was ready to kill anyone who threatened him, even a tiny, helpless baby.
Herod stands as a symbol of the kind of world Jesus entered. He represents the world’s welcoming committee for the Son of God. Jesus was born and the rulers tried to kill him. The Bible says, “He came to what was his own, but his own did not receive him” (John 1:11). Herod stands for the bloodthirsty, cruel, vindictive side of the world system, a world where human life is cheap and where killing is accepted and even expected.
To this day there are those who are offended by Jesus, even by the mere mention of his name. They oppose spiritual truth and want to erase every trace of Christmas from public life. This group includes those cowardly school administrators who want even the word “Christmas” banished from the classroom and the lawyers who sue to have the manger scenes removed from city halls across America. Herod would be proud of them. Before Herod could get rid of the baby, he put on a pleasant face. He had to seem interested in helping these strange visitors find the Christ child, so he turned to the scribes and priests for advice. He asked only one question: Where is this child to be born? The scribes don’t have to look it up. They already know the answer. Seven hundred years earlier the prophet Micah had predicted the Messiah’s birth in Bethlehem.
If you add what the scribes knew to what the Wise Men figured out, you surely conclude that the signs of Jesus’ coming were clear enough for anyone to see. It is sometimes said that God always speaks loudly enough for a willing ear to hear, as happened in this instance. The Magi knew and they did something about it; the scribes knew and did nothing. So, when Herod asked, “Where is the Messiah going to be born?” they knew the answer immediately. Micah 5:2 said that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. End of story.
Bethlehem is only six miles from Jerusalem, close enough that you could walk the distance in less than two hours. Today Bethlehem is like a suburb of Jerusalem, but even then people lived in Bethlehem and went to Jerusalem to buy and sell and to go to the Temple. It was an easy journey on good roads. It was only six miles, but none of the scribes cared enough to go and check out the rumor that the long-awaited Messiah had been born. They were a mere six miles from Jesus, six miles from salvation, six miles from forgiveness, six miles from eternal life. As I read Matthew 2, one fact strikes me above all others. That is, everybody involved had the same basic information. They all knew a baby had been born in Bethlehem and they all knew who the baby was. Herod knew and tried to kill him; the scribes knew and ignored him; the Wise Men knew and worshipped him.
For all those who feel they are too busy to join the search for Jesus, C. S. Lewis wrote these words: “Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”
Jesus stands at the end of life’s road for all of us. In the end there can be no middle ground. To ignore him is the same as to hate him because you end up without him either way. Perhaps hatred is more noble than casual disinterest because when you hate, you at least must pay attention to the object of your hatred, and that very attention may lead someday to a change of heart. To ignore Jesus altogether means to live as if he doesn’t matter at all, but no one can ignore him forever. We all have an appointment with Christ sooner or later.
What will you do with Jesus? Some hate him. Some ignore him. Some seek him. The ultimate question is not how someone else responds but how we personally respond to Jesus. That’s really the only thing that matters. Are we with Herod, or with the scribes, or with the Wise Men? Are we hostile to Jesus? Are we too busy to get involved? Are we coming to worship Him as Savior and Lord?
Let us come to Jesus and live.
In Him ,
Brown
http://youtu.be/Lx35_DRIZ8g
