So we're in Matthew chapter 2,
and I want to read from verse 1. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem
of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came
wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born
king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in
the east and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had
heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And
when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of
the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be
born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem
of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou, Bethlehem,
in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of
Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule
my people Israel.' Then Herod, when he had privilege, called
the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star
appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem,
and said, Go and search diligently for the young child, and when
ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship
him also. When they had heard the king,
they departed, and lo, the star which they saw 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 exceeding great joy. And when they were come
into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother,
and fell down and worshipped him. And when they had opened
their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold and frankincense
and myrrh. And being warned of God in a
dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into
their own country another way. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. We're going to take a little
break today from the Ten Commandments and if you've been listening
in, which I trust you have, You'll know that we've been working
through some of the Ten Commandments in recent weeks. But today, because
it's Christmas Day, and because I want to turn to a little section
of the story of the Lord's Nativity that I've not really touched
upon very much in the last few weeks, I want to mention a few
things about the coming of the wise men from the East. Now, Matthew is the only gospel
writer who mentions these men at all and they've always been
mysterious and intriguing to the people who have read this
account. So there are lots of stories
about these men and even to their names and their nationalities
and the circumstances of their journey, but all we really know
about them is what is written here in Matthew's Gospel. For example, we don't know where
they came from, except that it was in the east that they saw
the star. Now, there are a lot of places
east of Jerusalem, so it could have been anywhere. We don't
know their names, we don't know their birthplaces, we don't know
their nationality. We don't even know that there
were three of them, which is very often said concerning these
wise men. They brought three gifts, but
how many there were is not said. And they're sometimes called
kings. I'm sure you've heard, we three
kings. They're sometimes called kings.
But again, there's nothing said in Matthew about their own personal
royal status. Rather, we're told that they
came to see a royal personage. They were looking for the Lord
Jesus Christ. They were looking for the one
who had been born King of the Jews. But perhaps it is the case
that these men were kings, and I'll tell you why. The idea of
them being kings comes from Isaiah chapter 60, where the prophet
writes concerning the Messiah these words. And the Gentiles
shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising. The Gentiles shall come to thy
light and kings to the brightness of thy rising. And a little later,
the same prophet says in the same chapter, they shall bring
gold and incense and they shall show forth the praises of the
Lord. So maybe they were indeed kings. What we do know is at the time
of the Lord's birth a star was seen in the east and it was noticed
by these men who somehow interpreted the event as the sign or a sign
of the birth of a king in Judea. and they were induced as a result
of that sight, that star, to travel a long way in order to
mark the event and to honour the new king. For myself, I find
this event fascinating because it shows to me that there was
a knowledge of the Messiah outside of the borders of Israel. so
that it was not only Jews who anticipated Christ's coming.
I wouldn't like to say how it was that these men from the East
had arrived at this knowledge, but it shows that there was an
expectation and an anticipation of the coming of the Messiah,
even in distant lands. And these men seemed to have
been very serious about their epic quest. Both for the distance
that they travelled and the richness and the suitableness of the gifts
that they brought. And as well for their obedience
to the promptings of God. because they set out on this
long journey and then also they didn't return to Herod with the
news of Jesus because they had been warned in a dream of Herod's
murderous intention towards the child. So what I would like to
do is just for a few moments, pick out a couple of points by
way of application, as it were, to see how we might take this
narrative, this story of these three, I've done it, these wise
men and just apply it a little bit to our own lives. First one
is this. These men were brought by God
to worship the child Jesus. They were brought on their journey
by God. They were led by a star which
was in itself very mysterious. It appeared with sufficient detail
in the East to identify Judea as the place to which these men
should travel. And then it seems to have disappeared.
Because although they knew to go to Judea, they didn't know
where to go when they got there. And they ended up going to Jerusalem
and to Herod's palace and inquiring of the people in Jerusalem. But
then it reappeared again. when they were on their way to
Bethlehem and it showed them exactly the house in which Jesus
was present. It must have been very low in
the sky to have done that. There they entered and found
Jesus and his mother. And let us just apply that a
little bit. Because what I want to say is
that anyone and everyone Whoever comes to the Lord Jesus Christ
in a lively, spiritual way must be led there by God and must
be brought, like these wise men, to the Lord Jesus Christ by God. No one ever finds the Lord Jesus
by themselves. And I know that people will say,
I found God, or I found Jesus, or I believed, and they emphasize
their coming to Christ, their journey to Christ. Sometimes
we talk about people giving their testimony, and invariably they
talk about their experience in coming to Christ. But the Bible
sees salvation from the other side. Faith comes to us, we don't
go to faith. God leads us in the way of life. David, the Psalmist David, he
says in Psalm 139, see if there be any wicked way in me and lead
me in the way everlasting. So that coming to the Lord Jesus
in a spiritual way requires spiritual life and that is a gift from
God. They shall be made alive or quickened
by the Holy Spirit says the Apostle Paul. In Ephesians he says, you
hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. So that
people who are dead don't make that spiritual journey, but people
who are made alive, then are given faith to trust in the Lord
Jesus. And Peter adds to this. Paul
says that they shall be quickened. Peter says they shall be converted. or born again, not by themselves,
but by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. So that it is in the preaching
of the Gospel, the preaching of the Word of God, that men
and women and boys and girls find the Lord Jesus Christ, are
led through the preaching of the Gospel to faith in Jesus
Christ. and they hear that gospel from
a preacher who is sent to them by God. This is one of the great
privileges of having the gospel preached to us. Paul says in
Romans chapter 10, how shall they call on him in whom they
have not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without
a preacher? If ever you are brought to trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal saviour, it will be
because the Lord has been gracious to you as he gathers his people
into the body of Christ which is the church. The Lord Jesus
says in John chapter 6 verse 37, All that the Father giveth
me shall come to me and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise
cast out. So in order to come to the Lord
Jesus, we must be led there by God. And that's what happened
with these wise men. Here's another thing about these
wise men. They were Gentiles, it seems. Well, we can't be absolutely
certain. It could be that they lived a long way east of Jerusalem,
but it appears that they were Gentiles. That's the implication
of what we have here. They were non-Jews. And this
points to the fact that the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ was
not restricted to Israel. but would in time be enlarged
to the ends of the earth. And that the Saviour who came,
the great King who is the light of the world, would call his
people into his kingdom from the ends of the earth by the
light of the glorious gospel. that they might worship him.
These Gentiles were called from a distant land to worship the
Lord Jesus, pointing to the fact that the gospel would gather
in the Lord's people from the ends of the earth. When the Lord
Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the truth is it wasn't big news Well, let me qualify that. It
was big news in heaven that the Lord Jesus had been born on earth.
But it wasn't big news on earth. No one except for a few shepherds
came to see or to welcome or to worship the Lord. And we're
told in John chapter 1 that he came to his own and his own received
him not. Jesus' own nation, for the most
part, rejected him, even to the point of crucifying him. But
a few believed, like these wise men. A few trusted his words
to bring eternal life, trusted in his sacrifice to bring them
peace with God. And here's the third thing that
I want to just mention. And I think it's an interesting
little point with which to finish our thoughts on these wise men. It's about how the Lord took
care of the infant Jesus, and how God still takes care of his
people today. When Mary and Joseph went to
Bethlehem, they were very poor. We know this, not just because
they had to stay in a stable, But because when Mary took Jesus
to the temple, which she was obliged to do after 40 days,
when Jesus was taken to the temple, Mary made an offering at the
temple. And she offered two pigeons. That was her offering. She should
have offered a lamb. But she was too poor to offer
a lamb. So she was allowed to offer two
pigeons and that's what she did. That was the bare minimum and
the poorest offering that she could bring. So that Jesus was
born to a poor family and in poor circumstances. Herod. He's called Herod the
Great. because he was quite an important
and quite an influential and a very rich man. Herod wanted
to kill this very poor infant, this Jesus who had been born
in Bethlehem. He'd learned of Jesus' birth
from the wise men and Joseph was told by an angel that he
had to flee from Herod, from Israel into Egypt. How could
he afford to do that? Where was he going to get the
money to live in Egypt as a refugee? Well, God sent these wise men
from the East with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh to honour
this child. These speak of his royalty, they
speak of his glory, they speak of his beauty. They speak of
his preserving power over his people. But at the first instance,
they met the immediate needs of the family as they traveled
into Egypt. Paul tells the Philippians, my
God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory
by Christ Jesus. And all of us that are listening
here today, whether we're older or whether we're younger, we
can take this promise as our own. And trust the Lord for all
our spiritual needs, and all our practical needs, and all
our future needs, and all our family needs, and all our relationship
needs. In fact, all our needs. There
are a lot of examples in the Bible where the Lord supplies
the need of his people. God does not always give us what
we wish for or what we ask for, but he will always supply what
we need. And that is a lovely promise
for us to lay hold on. and he is a wonderful master
for us to trust. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us concerning the wise men.