**Sing with gladness, men of old,
With the guiding star behold.
As with joy they hail its light,
Leading onward, beaming bright.
So most gracious may we ever
More be led to Thee.
As with joyful steps they sped
To that holy manger bed,
There to bend the knee before
Him whom Heaven and Earth adore.
So may we, with willing feet,
Ever sing the mercy seat.
As they offered gifts most rare
At the manger rude,
And so may we, with holy joy,
Pure and free from sin's alloy,
All our costless treasures bring,
Christ to Thee, our heavenly King.
Holy Jesus, every day,
Keep us in the narrow way.
And when earthly things are past,
Bring our ransomed souls at last,
Where they need no star to guide,
Where no clouds Thy glory hide.**
Thank you. You may be seated.
The scripture reading for our message today is Matthew chapter 2. You may have picked up from that last hymn that we're probably going to have something to do with the Magi, the wise men, and that is true. We will come to that reading in Matthew 2 in just a moment.
But before we do, would you go to Luke's Gospel, chapter 2? I want us to be sure we understand the setting and the timing of this visit of the Magi. The reason for taking this little excursus and explaining that is we are in day seven of the 12 Days of Christmas. Maybe you haven't really known about that tradition of the 12 Days of Christmas. You may have thought that the 12 Days of Christmas culminated last Monday on Christmas Day. Actually, that was the first day of Christmas, and the 12th day of Christmas is supposed to be the day that the wise men came to visit the Christ child.
But I want us to see in Luke chapter 2 the actual timing. So Jesus was born on Christmas Day, let's say for the sake of argument December 25th. We'll not argue that. But anyway, Jesus was born on Christmas Day. All right, we get that. In verse 21 of Luke 2, it says, "Eight days after he was born, the days were completed for the circumcision of the child, and they called his name Jesus."
So Jesus is born on Christmas Day. Eight days after his birth, he's circumcised, and he's given the name Jesus. Now the next verse, in verse 22, speaks of the days of her purification according to the law of Moses. When those days were complete, that was 33 days later. So you have Christmas Day, eight days later is the naming of Jesus, and 33 days after that, the days of purification for Mary. This is a ritual purification prescribed in the Old Testament law. She is to take her sacrifice to the temple in Jerusalem, and that's what's going on here in verses 22 and following.
So this would be 41 days after the birth of Christ. They go to the temple in Jerusalem, they offer the sacrifice for Mary's purification, and it is there that Simeon and Anna meet the baby Jesus. Then you come to verse 38, or verse 36-38, Anna says her thing, and then in verse 39 it says, "So when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth."
Well, when we go back to Matthew chapter 2, we have this visit of the Magi, and we wonder, well, where did that fit in? Because we know that when the Magi visited the Christ child, he was in Bethlehem, and he was in a house. Verse 39 of Luke 2 says they went back to the city of Nazareth. Actually, the visit of the Magi occurs between verses 38 and 39. We don't know exactly when that was, how long it was after the birth of Jesus, but it was definitely after this visit to the temple and the ritual purification.
And you say, well, why didn't they just go back to Bethlehem after that temple purification thing? Well, it's a very simple matter of distance. It's only about five miles from Bethlehem to Jerusalem and back. By the time she had to go for the purification thing, they found a place to stay in a house. They left the house, they walked five miles for this offering of the sacrifice at the temple, and they were able to walk back home. It would have been a day's journey, a day's activity to go home. The way to Nazareth would have been a multiple-day affair.
All right, now with all that in mind, let's go back to Matthew chapter 2, and I want us to read about this visit of the Magi. In verses 1-2 it says, "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men came from the East to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him.'"
When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where Christ was to be born. So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.'"
Well then, Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search diligently for the young child, and when you have found him, bring back word to me that I may come and worship him also."
When they heard the king, they departed. Behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshiped him. When they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
Let's have a brief word of prayer. Our Father, I pray that from these wise men, these Magi, we would learn the wisdom of Christmas-inspired worship. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.
All right, so this last Lord's Day, a week ago today, we were anticipating the first day of Christmas. I'm sure that in some way or another on Christmas Day you celebrated the birth of Jesus. However you did that, I trust you reflected on the fact that on Christmas Day, Christ was born. To many people, that is the end of it. That is the culmination. That's the climax. That's it. You know, there are radio stations, for example, that play Christmas music, and they begin playing Christmas music on Thanksgiving Day, and they play it until midnight on December 25th, and then it's done. No more Christmas music.
But in reality, Christmas is day one. So I mentioned the 12 Days of Christmas. Incidentally, you're familiar with that little Christmas song, right? "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..." And we might, if we're not aware of the history of that, think that's just some little ditty that somebody wrote 75 years ago, attached a tune to it, and now it just gets worn out in the Christmas season. We get tired of hearing that crazy thing.
Sometime during the days leading up to Christmas, it seems every newspaper has an article telling you how much the items in the 12 Days of Christmas are going to cost, and so on and so forth. But then, to most people, the thinking is that Christmas Day is the 12th day of Christmas. The tradition of the 12 Days of Christmas actually goes back to the 500s, so 1500 years ago the tradition started, and it was designed to remember different aspects of the Christmas story.
So each of those gifts is figuratively symbolic of something else. So just for example, the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me—who's the true love? It is God, who loved us, and we therefore love Him. And what did He give? A partridge in a pear tree. What in the world could that be? Well, the partridge in a pear tree is supposed to be symbolic of Jesus.
Well, that seems rather odd, doesn't it? How so? Well, because the partridge is the only animal, the only bird, that will die to protect its young. And of course, Jesus died to protect and to save His children, His young, if you will.
So anyway, you can find out the symbolism of all those things as you see fit. But the point I'm wanting to get at is that Christmas Day is just the starting point. It's just the beginning, and it is to lead us to something else. The 12 Days of Christmas climaxes with the visit of the Magi.
And what do the Magi do? What is the theme? What is the emphasis of these 12 verses? What you see recurring, a word that you see recurring more than once, is the word "worship." It is worship. "Where is he that's been born King of the Jews? We've seen his star in the East. We have come to worship Him." And when they finally arrive in the house, they bow down and they worship Him.
On what basis? Christmas Day. The worshiping that takes place here in this passage by these wise men is a Christmas-inspired worship, and it is that that I want us to be challenged to on the basis or by the example of these wise men.
From their example, I see first of all the need to make a commitment to worship. We need to make a commitment to worship. This is found in these first couple of verses, isn't it? They have come a long way, committing themselves to worship. They say at the end of verse 2, "We have come to worship Him." But it is a commitment, if you'll notice, that's motivated by grace.
"We have seen His star and have come to worship." It's motivated by grace. Why are they there? If you could interview them, a man-on-the-street reporter, if you will, you interview these guys and say, "Why have you come here? Why are you here?" And they would answer you, "Well, we are here because we are recipients of God's grace."
Back in our homeland, off in the East, God came to us. We didn't go to Him. We didn't go to Him looking for some timing of the birth of the king. God came to us. This was an act of grace on His part, and in this grace of God, He has revealed Himself and His message to us.
We have seen His star in the East. There’s a great deal of ink that can be spilled over consideration of what that star is and what it signified, and so on and so forth. We don't need to go there and take the time for that. It's simply enough to know that God, in His grace, visited these men and gave them the clear understanding of what this star was communicating: that the King of the Jews has been born, and you are to go and worship Him.
They're motivated by grace. I wonder this morning, as we have come here today together, why are you here? I mean really, what motivates you to gather together on the Lord's Day at a worship service? I would encourage you to stop and think about God's grace and let that be a motivation for gathering together with God's people.
Why would you take the better part of the whole day just to be in church? So, for example, in a couple of weeks, we're going to start this afternoon service thing at 1:00, be over by 2:00. You say, "Why in the world would you be—what would motivate you to get up on Sunday morning, a day that you could otherwise sleep in because you don't have to get up and go to work, presumably? What would motivate you to get up and get yourself ready, get your family ready, and come to church and be here in time to study the Word together for 45 minutes or so, and then worship together, and then have lunch together, and then have another service? What would motivate you?"
Well, I would suggest that the most powerful motivation is realizing that you are a recipient of grace, and let that grace motivate you to worship as it did with these men.
And that commitment, that commitment motivated by grace, notice is a commitment that deals with any challenges that would stand in the way. These men faced incredible hardships to be able to get from point A to point B, to get from where they were in the East to where they are now in Jerusalem.
A great deal of hardship. This is a long journey. It was a difficult journey. It was not like you and I, you know, we hop in the car, turn on the ignition, pull out of the drive, and we just drive. You know, nothing real difficult about that, no real hardship. Well, yeah, okay, in January and February, if we get a snowstorm on Sunday morning, there may be a little bit of hardship involved in that. Got to be careful when we walk down the steps, I get that. But nothing like this.
Oh, we have it so easy in comparison. Well, they faced these hardships, and I would challenge us, you know, whatever we perceive as hardships that might stand in the way of going together to worship our God, that we face those hardships and accept whatever risks might be along the way as well.
These Magi faced the risks of highwaymen, bandits that would seek to plunder their caravan of all their goods. I'm sure that, although it's not told us in the text, given what they had and the nature of their trip and the length of their trip and the route that they had to take, they would have had some guards with them. But these were risks that they were willing to take. Why? Because they were motivated by God's grace to worship this King that has been born.
They clearly prepared accordingly for this particular trip. Again, given the nature of the journey, the gifts, and so forth, they would have gone in a caravan with guards.
Now let's stop and think about this by way of application. If you will commit yourself to worshiping the Lord, gathering with God's people to worship God, you can count on it: there will be some challenges that you face. There will be some obstacles that will be thrown up in your way.
And because you are a human being just like I am, those things can very easily become excuses. Have you noticed that in your own life? How many times have I used some perceived hardship, some perceived challenge, some difficulty? I've looked at it and said, "Oh, I just don't—I..." and I use it as an excuse.
Well, listen, let's allow ourselves to be motivated by God's grace to face the challenges, the obstacles that would stand in the way of worshiping our God, and prepare accordingly to deal with those things.
I just think about how life can be on a Sunday morning, especially if you have a family to prepare to get ready for church. Boy, it can be pretty hectic, can't it? How many times do you find yourself scurrying around at the last minute to try to get everybody in the car and get to church on time, and you feel like you're frazzled by the time you open the door to come into the church?
Well, you know, there are a lot of practical things that you can do to prepare ahead of time so that the Lord's Day morning is not quite so hectic. You can get things prepared ahead of time. You can get meals planned, you can get breakfast stuff ready, you can get clothes out, and all that kind of stuff. You can do a lot of practical things just to prepare to overcome the challenges of gathering with God's people.
But whatever the case, it is clear that these individuals show us the fact that worship needs to be a priority. This commitment to worship has made worship a priority. These guys are not dependent upon convenient circumstances. They are not conditioned. Their worshiping of this newborn King is not conditioned upon that which is comfortable or safe or easy.
They don't even allow their positions, whatever they are back in the East, to outrank this priority of worshiping this newborn King. We're not told that they had family. We're not told that they brought any family with them. It doesn't say anything about any additional people. It just says these wise men came. Did they have family they left behind so they could make this journey? Did they overcome the tug of relationships to make it?
This wasn't certainly a popular thing to do. You don't find a great crowd of people, a whole throng of people traveling from the East to come to Jerusalem to worship this King. They dealt with all of those things, and they did not allow any of them to be of higher priority than this—to worship the King, to worship Him.
I wonder, as we examine our own lives in comparison to these individuals, what is it that takes priority in our lives that will keep us from God's house? What becomes more important? Oh, we live in a world where there are all kinds of options, don't we? I mean, there is a plethora of things.
Most of you don't have young children in your home. Some of you do, and those of you who do, you like to get your kids involved in things like sports and various other extracurricular things. And you, with children, know full well that there are options out there for getting your kids involved in sports things and team activities that would require you to miss church on Sunday for the sake of that athletic event. Is that really more important?
Is it really more important? You say, "Well, my child might be the next Michael Jordan," or, "He might be the next Justin Fields." I mean, I got to start them young. Really? You really think it's more important?
You see, we need to think these things through. We need to ask ourselves, you know, we're at the beginning of a new year. This is a time to do some evaluating. This is a time to think about these things. What are my priorities? What is more important than anything else? What do I have to give up? What should I incorporate? What really are my priorities?
Think even of your participation in church. If you're not of the habit of participating in the regular services of the church and all of them and so forth, perhaps this is a good time. This is a good time to look forward to New Year's resolutions, New Year's goals, whatever. This would be a good time to stop and ask yourself, "What is one worship event that I'm not participating in that I could or should add to our calendar?"
What should we do? Get together with your spouse if you're married, pray about that, and put it down and make it a priority. That's what these guys did. That's what they did. They saw the star, they received God's grace, and they said, "You know what? There is a priority that we need to establish in our lives and not let anything stand in the way."
In his commentary, Expository Thoughts on Matthew, J.C. Ryle asked us to consider the example of the Magi by asking ourselves a series of questions. Let me just share them with you. He says, "Where is our self-denial? Have we really died to self? What pains do we take to benefit from the means of grace? What diligence do we show about following Christ? What really does our religion cost us?"
Ryle goes on to ask, "Have we unconsciously slipped into a comfortable complacency, taking no pains, accepting no difficulty, doing only the bare minimum to save our conscience, talking ourselves into a narrow, compartmentalized worship box?" These are important things for us to ponder.
The Magi serve to provide for us an example of committing ourselves to worship. As we continue in this account of the Magi and their visit, we see also that this commitment to worship compels us to ignore the anxiety of worship.
What I'm talking about is what you see in verse 3. It says, "When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." There's a great deal of anxiety about this newborn King, and this anxiety that could hinder worship can be expressed in a couple of different ways. One is that of Herod, and the other is that of the Jerusalemites.
You see, Herod's anxiety—what's he so anxious about? What's he so troubled about? Herod realizes that worshiping Christ undermines my autonomy. I mean, after all, Herod says, "I am ruthlessly determined to protect my position. I don't want anybody usurping my position over me."
But look, and I hope you understand this, I'm sure you do: to worship Christ demands that I be knocked off of my pedestal. Christ is to be my Lord and my King. Oh, Herod too is not only ruthlessly determined to protect his position; he is jealously guarding his power and authority. He doesn't want anybody encroaching on his power, on his authority.
But look, to worship Christ means I need to die to myself. Oh yes, if you're not one who is really ready and willing to die to yourself and deny yourself because you got to have your autonomous position, then the idea of worshiping Christ—well, my goodness, that will fill you with anxiety.
Well, here's all the Jerusalemites as well. The Jews in Jerusalem, they also are troubled. They're also in a great deal of anxiety hearing about this King that is going to be worshiped. Why are they so upset? Why are they so filled with anxiety? Because they realize that worshiping Christ is going to undermine their comfort.
Here's the deal: the Jews in Jerusalem have come to a sort of a comfortable coexistence with their Roman overlords, with the Roman authorities, with Herod, and so on and so forth. As long as they don't upset Rome, as long as they don't upset these Roman authorities, then life can go on in this fairly comfortable existence.
But you start talking about the King of the Jews and worshiping the King of the Jews—well, that is certainly going to upset the Roman authorities and therefore cause us no little grief. Here has now come probably the third installment of the news that the King of the Jews has been born.
Remember the night of Christ's birth? The shepherds came to see Him in the manger, and they found Him there just as the angels had told them. They had seen this spectacular thing in the night sky, and they went to the manger and they found this baby just as it was said, just as was told them, and that He's the one who's to bring salvation to us and so on and so forth.
It says when they left the stable in Bethlehem, they went and noised abroad that which had occurred. The message had come to Jerusalem: the Savior is born, the Messiah has come. Well, they weren't the only ones. As I mentioned earlier, in Luke chapter 2, Joseph and Mary went to the temple for her purification ritual.
Here's Simeon and Anna, and they both recognized that this baby is our King. He is our Savior. No doubt word got around, and now here come these travelers from another country, Gentiles—they're not even Jews—and they're coming with the news that the King has been born. They're coming to worship Him.
Oh boy, what is Rome going to do with that? What's Rome going to do to us? Oh, look, worshiping Christ can undermine your comfort. It may arouse unpleasant opposition.
Well, I think in our current climate, in our culture today, to be a known, committed worshiper of Christ can be an uncomfortable thing. I suggest, not that I'm a prophet or the son of a prophet, but I would suggest that there's a great likelihood that in the years to come, it's going to become more and more uncomfortable to be a faithful and true worshiper of Christ.
Is that anxiety going to hinder me from worship? Oh, we have to ignore the anxiety of worship.
And then we also, furthermore, just looking at this account from the Magi, we need to be sure that we overcome the opposition toward worship. Opposition toward the worshiping of Jesus as the King can come in two different forms and take two different forms. One is a more passive kind of opposition. This is represented in the part of the chief priests and the scribes.
It's the passive opposition of indifference. Here are these chief priests and scribes. They're called by Herod to come and give some indication of where the King of the Jews is supposed to be born. They know the answer. Here are individuals who are men that held positions of spiritual authority. And yet when they get the report, the idea that the Messiah is born, where is He to be born? They give the answer, but they don't really seem to do anything about it. They seem to be rather indifferent to it all.
After all, by the way, the chief priests and scribes held an even closer relationship to the Roman authorities. The last thing they want to do is cross them. So they're passive about it all. In verses 5 and 6, they know the Bible. They know the Scriptures well. They know the answer to the question, but they do nothing about it.
Regarding this, J.C. Ryle mentioned this: "It is not always those who have the most religious privileges who give Christ the most honor." Did you hear that? It is not always those who have the most religious privileges that give Christ the most honor.
You say, "Yeah, okay, I heard that. What about it?" All right, think about it. Think about yourself. Think about your life. Think about your family. Think about your children. And be aware of the danger of familiarity and long-term familiarity.
Here's my point: often times, the relatively young convert who comes to faith in Christ as an adult will more earnestly, faithfully, enthusiastically honor Christ than the one who's grown up in a Christian home and had all the privileges and the benefits of being in church from the time they were knee-high to a grasshopper.
Does that mean that you should not have your kids in church and teach them from the time they're knee-high to a grasshopper? No, not at all. Not at all. But it is to have a sensitivity to the idea that we can become so familiar that we become indifferent to the things of the Lord, take them for granted, and we can relatively easily ignore the opportunities.
Ryle also points out that there may be a knowledge of Scripture in the head while there is no grace in the heart. I've seen this from time to time through the course of the years of ministry, or some people who have their head full of biblical truth but have no real love for the God of that truth, the Christ of the gospel, and God's people.
Well, there's one form of opposition—it's a passive form. But then there's another active form of opposition, and it is the opposition of hostility on the part of Herod in verses 7 and 8.
Now, Herod's hostility—you recognize this as you know the story—it's cloaked in deception. He finds out where Jesus is to be born. Then he asks the wise men, "When did you see this star?" "Tell them a couple of years ago." Well, a couple of years ago—maybe I won't say any more about that. But nevertheless, he wants to know when was this star, when did you see this star?
And then in verse 8, he says, "Look, go to Bethlehem, find this baby, and when you found him, come and tell me, because I want to come and worship him too." Well, you know as well as I do that was just a bald-faced lie. It was just deception.
What's really going on in his heart is he is hostile toward this newborn King. You know the rest of the story after what we read earlier—that he's going to do everything he can to eliminate that King. But his heart is deceiving these Magi, and his hostility in his heart is determined, it is fixed.
They don't see it right away. That hostility is determined in time, isn't it? And I think we can understand the truth that a person's real attitude toward Christ—how you really feel about Christ—will eventually come out in word and deed.
Yeah, we can go through all the motions to appease other people, make other people happy, keep other people at bay so they don't press us too hard. But deep down, our attitude toward Christ and the things of God is really one of, "No." It's even worse than indifference. There's more of a hostility to it.
You can have the other—"As soon as I get a chance, boy, I'm going to be done with this." Nobody knows it. The heart is deceitful above all things. It's desperately wicked. It's very good at hiding for a while. But eventually, the Herod comes out. The hostility of Herod comes out.
Well, if we're going to follow this pattern—and I suggest we should—then we're going to commit ourselves to worship. We're going to ignore the anxiety that can be related to worship. We're going to overcome the opposition of worship.
And then in verses 9-12, we're going to exhibit the joy of worship. This is really the ultimate of this passage. This is the climax of it. This is the peak of it. This is the pinnacle of it—the joy of worship.
We want to ask ourselves, does this reflect my heart in worshiping God? Is it a heart of joyful worship? Do I find joy in just the opportunity? I look at verse 9, where it says, "These Magi, they heard the king, and they departed. Behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was."
Here is the opportunity that has now presented itself again. They saw this star back in the East. They got the message: you need to go find the King and worship Him. They head out. Somewhere along the way, the star was no longer there.
Again, what was that star? How did it communicate to them the message? We don't have any definitive answers on that. They used their logic and common sense. Jerusalem, the capital, former palace of the king in times past—this would be the place to find the King of the Jews. They come to Jerusalem. He's not there. He's to be born in Bethlehem.
Well, they make their way south to Bethlehem, just a few miles to go. But now, boom! There's that star again. The star provides for them the opportunity to worship the one they've come to worship. God, in His grace, has once again provided the opportunity.
Whatever this star was, whatever its nature was, there's one thing we can say absolutely for sure: it was a miraculous grace of God given to these men. It is of God's grace that this star reappeared and led them to the place where Jesus was.
Now, those who recognize the gracious provision of God providing opportunity for worship—those who are devout will truly rejoice. As in verse 10, when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. You could literally translate it this way: they rejoiced with excessive, almost violent mega joy.
You know, when I read that and I read the piling on of the adjectives to describe their joy, I was reminded of a video I saw not long ago of a high school basketball game. It's the end of the game. One team is up by a point. There is one second left on the clock or two seconds left on the clock. The team that's up by a point just scored a basket.
So the other team gets the ball, but they've got the full court to go. They've got two seconds. What can you do in two seconds? So the guy who's got to throw the ball in, he takes the ball and he sees an open man. He sees one of his players. He's open. He throws the ball to his open player.
As soon as that other player touches the ball, the clock starts. He's got two seconds. What in the world can he do with two seconds? And he's on this side of the midcourt line. What in the world could he possibly do? This is what he does. He's there to get the ball. The ball is thrown to him. He has the ball in his hands, and he just goes boom over his head backwards.
You watch that ball arc through the air and nothing but net! That team wins! And you talk about crazy! Those stands, bleachers, both sides just went nuts. Of course, the players and the fans of the winning team—they just went nuts with exuberant joy. The others went nuts with just the incredulity of the play.
But the joy on the part of the winning players and the fans from the winning team was, get this, it was excessive, almost violent mega joy. That's the picture that came to my mind. I don't know that it was quite that exuberant, but it was clearly true. These Magi were filled with great joy at the opportunity to finally get to worship this King.
Which leads me to ponder my own heart and examine my own heart. What is my emotional response to the opportunity to gather together with God's people to go to church and worship God? How do I really feel about it? Do I rejoice at the opportunity?
Well, then there is joy, of course, also in verse 11 at the act of worship. The act of worship. When they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him.
In this act of worship, notice how they joyfully present themselves to Him. They fell down. This act expresses the posture, the demeanor of worship. It is humble. They fell down and they worshiped Him. They presented to Him their hearts as they worshiped.
In their worship, they are articulating their praise of Him. This is their view of this baby expressed in what they say in their worship. And then they presented their gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
That hymn that we sang earlier in the service talked about these three gifts—the gold reflecting His royalty, the frankincense reflecting His deity, the myrrh reflecting His humanity and that would be anointing His deceased body for burial.
These gifts, sacrificially presented to the King, were practical ways of displaying their honor in worship—the display of personal sacrifice for the King that they are worshiping.
Also, we see the commitment to worship, overcoming the anxiety of worship, overcoming the opposition of worship, expressing great joy in the act of worship. Then further, I see in verse 11 this is all an expression of faith in worship.
All that these Magi have done have been acts of faith. Again, I found Ryle's description of this to be so helpful. Listen to what he says: "The wise men believed in Christ when they had never seen Him. But that was not all. They believed in Him when the scribes and the Pharisees were unbelieving. But that again was not all. They believed in Him when they saw Him, a little infant on Mary's knees, and they worshiped Him as a King.
This was the crowning point of their faith. They saw no miracles to convince them. They heard no teaching to persuade them. They beheld no signs of divinity and greatness to overawe them. They're in that house, they're in that room. They didn't see anything like this. They saw nothing but a newborn infant, helpless and weak and needing a mother's care like any one of ourselves.
And yet when they saw that infant, they believed that they saw the divine Savior of the world, and they fell down and they worshiped Him. This, Ryle remarks, is the kind of faith that God delights to honor. We see the proof of that at this very day. Wherever the Bible is read, the conduct of these wise men is known and told as a memorial of them.
Let us, he exhorts us, let us walk in the steps of their faith. Let us not be ashamed to believe in Jesus and to confess Him, though all around us remain careless and unbelieving. Have we not a thousandfold more evidences than the wise men had to make us believe that Jesus is the Christ? Beyond doubt we have. And yet, where is our faith? Oh, more, where is our worship? And even more, where is our joy in that worship?
We must express faith in our worship. And then finally, verse 12, this whole scene ends with these men leaving, but leaving again by divine revelation. It says, "Being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way."
We must, as they did, we must follow through with obedience from our worship. It is perhaps hypocritical, it is at least insincere, to pretend to gather and worship God and leave with no intention of obeying God.
Now here, God once again graciously guides His people, these wise men, these Magi, graciously guides them. True worshipers, true worshipers obediently follow. Don't go back to Herod. They departed another way.
Well, in some way or another, hopefully last Monday you recognized the birth of Jesus, His birth. But let me ask you, has God, the Son, humbling Himself to be born of a woman, to become man, to die in your place and be anointed with that myrrh—has that brought you to your knees in humble faith?
Has that compelled you, as it did these Magi, to worship Him faithfully, earnestly, even sacrificially, as your Savior and your King?
So, our Father and our God, I pray today that again, as we reflect on the past and anticipate the future year, that we would allow this example of the Magi to challenge us and get us to think about our hearts in worship—our commitment to worship, our faithfulness and our joy in worship, our obedience from worship.
Speak to us, O Lord, in these quiet moments. Father, if there's one here today who has not come to that place yet of faith in Christ, seeing Him as He truly is—not just a baby in a manger, but a Savior on a cross who died for the sins of erring, sinful people, unworthy people such as I am, such as we are—I pray that today that one would see the need of repenting, turning from sin, and calling out in faith to Christ to save him, even today.
O Lord, so work in our hearts, we pray it in Jesus' name and for His sake, amen.
You take your hymnals and turn to the first hymn in your hymnal, hymn number one, "Rejoice, the Lord is King." Let's stand, shall we?
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on Jan 04, 2024