The Son of God was born in Bethlehem. The eternal Son of God was born
in Bethlehem. Now, what these words mean to
us depend entirely on what we believe about this person who
was born in Bethlehem. Who is he? Who is he? That's, if he's the Son of God,
this is the most wonderful thing that's ever happened in the history
of the universe. Up to this time, this baby born in Bethlehem,
this is the greatest event in the history of the universe.
God became a man. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things
were made by Him. and the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. That's the greatest single event
in the history of the entire universe up to this time, up
to this time here. I say up to this time because
his death 33 years later is the greatest event in the history
of the universe. But then his resurrection and then his ascension And His
exaltation at the right hand of God is our forerunner and
mediator. But if He hadn't been born, He
couldn't have died. And if He hadn't died, He couldn't
have risen. And if He is not risen, we have
no Savior. We have no Redeemer. So this
birth was the beginning of the greatest events in the history
of the universe. He who thought it not robbery
to be equal with God was made of no reputation, took upon himself
the form of a servant, and was born in Bethlehem. Jesus was
born in Bethlehem. Why was he born in Bethlehem?
Why did he become a man? Well, let's see if we can find
just one verse, one or two verses. Turn to Galatians 4. Why was
Jesus Christ the Son of God? It says, under us a child is born, a son
is given, and the government is on His shoulders, and His
name is Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. Why was God's Son born in Bethlehem? Why did He become a man? Galatians
4, verse 4. But when the fullness of time
was come, when God's appointed time came, the time on the calendar, God created man in years past,
centuries, fullness of time, the appointed time came, God's
time. God sent his Son, God sent him,
God sent his Son, a body thou hast prepared made. Behold, a virgin shall conceive. This was not man and woman's
doing, this is God's doing. God sent His Son. A virgin shall
conceive and bring forth a son. You call His name Emmanuel, God
with us. God sent His Son. A body that
has thou prepared me, Christ said. Read on. God sent His Son,
made of a woman. He had to be made of a woman
to be born like we are, to become a man, to become flesh and blood
and bones. He said to his disciples, I have
flesh and bones like you. And he had to be made of a woman,
to become a man, to become one with us, to be numbered with
the transgressors, to be our representative, to be the second
Adam. He had to be made flesh, made of a woman, formed in the
womb, and brought forth after nine months, and made under the
law. You see, Adam was under the law
of God, and when God made Adam, He made him holy without fault,
without blame, holy in His image, and gave him a commandment, gave
him a law to fulfill it, to obey it. Of all the trees of the garden
you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat it." That's my law, that's my commandment.
Do not partake of that tree. I don't know what it was. But
do know this, there was an understanding that God was God and Adam was
a man. And that God was king and Adam
owed obedience to God. He was to obey God. He was to
do what God said. Adam was to obey God. That law
was given to Adam as long as it stood, unviolated. Adam is saying, God's over me. God reigns over me. God rules
me. I'm a subject of God. He's king. And however high I am and exalted
I am and blessed I am, He's still above me. But Adam broke that law. When
he died, when he sinned, he died. And when he died, we died. When
he sinned, we sinned. All who came from his loins. In Adam, all died. In Adam, we
died. By the disobedience of one, we
were made sinners. That's the first Adam. And the
second Adam is the Lord from heaven. And he was made of a
woman, and he was made Under the law, under God's law. What
is God's law? You say the Ten Commandments.
That's just some of them. God's law is God's rule, God's
reign. It's God being over us. He's
still King. We're subject to His way, His
will. His law is His will, His way. See, that was Satan's fault.
He said, I'll have my way. I will. exalt my throne. I will be like God. So this Redeemer, this man, this
man from heaven, this Son of God came down here made of a
woman, made in the likeness of sinful flesh, made flesh and
bone and blood, made under law, under His law, under God's law.
Tempted as we are in all points, tested, tried, but under that
law. You have to obey it in every
jot and tittle. If you're going to be representative
of the people. Why do you do that? Look at the
next line. To redeem them. To redeem, to buy back, to deliver,
to save them. Whom? That were under the law. That's us. We were under the
law and failed. Desperately failed, didn't we?
Man's always failed. Always fail. Always win. But
he came to obey, that he might redeem them that were under the
law, that they might be adopted, sons of God, adoption of son. That's why he came. And Jesus
was born in Bethlehem. You see, all the way through
the Old Testament, there are three things set forth over and
over again. One, God is holy. God is king,
God is sovereign, the Lord reigneth. That scripture I read at the
beginning of the service, say among the heathen, the Lord reigneth.
We don't, the Lord reigneth. We're subject to Him. He's king,
He's holy. And man's sin. And this thought
is all the way through the Old Testament. God will punish sin. God will punish sin. God will
deal with rebels. But this is all the way through
the Old Testament, God will be merciful. And it started back there when
they came out of the Garden of Eden. Let's read it in Genesis
chapter 4. God will be merciful, but God
will be merciful through a substitute, through blood, through a sacrifice,
through a lamb. In Genesis 4 verse 1, listen
to this, And Adam knew Eve his wife, And she conceived and bare
Cain. And she said, I've gotten a man
from the Lord. I've gotten the man from the
Lord. She thought she had this man, this Christ, this Messiah,
this seed of woman. No, she had a seed of man, Cain.
And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of
sheep and Cain was a tiller of ground. In the process of time
it came to pass that Cain brought her the fruit of the ground and
offered it to the Lord. He brought his works. He was proud of his
garden, as you men are of yours. You see these beans I raised?
You see this corn? You see these apples? You see these things from my
orchard? He built an altar and brought these things and put
them on the altar and said, I've worked hard. I'm a self-made man. I've worked hard. And Abel, he
brought her the first thing of the flock. He brought a lamb,
slew that lamb, shed his blood like the Passover lamb. And the
Lord had respect to Abel and to his offering. They were together.
They were one, Abel and his offering. See, God accepts the offering.
When He accepts the offering, He accepts Abel, the blood. It
pictured Christ as the Lamb of God. But under Cain and his offering,
he had no respect. Cain came in his own strength
and deeds and duties. And Cain was angry, and his countenance
fell, and the Lord said, why are you angry? Why is your countenance
falling? If you do well, you'll be accepted. If you come by the blood, if
you come by Christ, you see, there's the Lamb of God. So all
the way through the Old Testament, you have God's holy, and God
will deal with sin. But thank God, He'll deal with
sinners through the Lamb. He's merciful. And this is our
Lamb born in Bethlehem. This is our Lamb. Alright, behold,
it says here, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.
Who are these wise men? You know, I read so many things
this week about these wise men until I read a passage in Genesis
25. I was never satisfied. Genesis
25. Who are these wise men? I believe
they're sons of Abraham. Not through Isaac. Not through
Isaac. But sons of Abraham. You know,
usually when we think of Abraham, we think of Abraham, Ishmael,
cast out, and Isaac. Abraham had many sons after that.
Many sons. Abraham's sons have populated
that whole Pakistan, Persia, Arabia, Sons of Abraham. Listen to Genesis 25. Then again,
Abraham took a wife. Her name was Keturah. And she bear him, listen, Zimran. These are all men. Jokshun, Medan,
Midian, Ishbak, Shuah, and then his son Jokshun begat Sheba,
Dedan, Sons of Dedan, here's his great-great-grandson. Asherah, Asherum, Latushim, I'd
name them something else, wouldn't you? Lerumen, and the sons of
Midian. Think of these fellows. Epah,
Eprah, Hanuk, Abadah, Aldeah. All these were the children of
Keturah. That's her. He married this woman
Keturah after Sarah died and son after son after son, grandson,
great-grandson. And Abraham gave all that he
had unto Isaac but unto the sons of the concubines. There were
more of them which Abraham had. He gave gifts and sent them away
from Isaac his son while he yet lived eastward to the east country
toward Persia. All of this clan, he lived to
be 175, and these men, eastward. And when this son was born in
Bethlehem, when his star, we'll talk about that in a minute,
they came from the east country. We saw his star in the east. They were looking westward, Bethlehem's
westward from where they were. But they saw his star in their
country, where we live, in the east. That's where we saw the
star. And they came. All right, how many of them were
there? It doesn't say. Nowhere in the scriptures. There
were three preachers. Now that's what somebody said.
There were many of them, evidently. They stirred up Jerusalem, I'll
tell you that. And they didn't come to the manger.
I'll tell you why. There's several reasons. Number
one, they saw the star. That's the night he was born,
the glory of God shone around the shepherds, and the heavenly
hosts sang praises. The shepherds went to the manger.
They came and found Mary, Joseph, and the babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes, lying in a manger. But these fellows over in the
east somewhere, Do you know how long it took them to prepare,
to get ready to make that trip? Do you know how long it took
them to make that trip from whether Persia or East countries to Jerusalem? Weeks, maybe months. Some people
believe it was almost two years before they came to Jerusalem
seeking the King. A year, from anywhere from year
on. And they came after a long journey,
and they inquired of Herod where this child was born. You say they were interested?
These were sons of Abraham. These men, Abraham was their
father, their grandfather, and their great-grandfather. And
Abraham taught them. The Samaritan woman was looking
for the Messiah. You remember when the Lord Jesus
came to the world? This pagan wants Samaritan. She said the
Messiah is coming. And these children of Abraham,
Ishmael, Ishmael came back and helped bury his father. Ishmael
wasn't angry at Abraham. He and Isaac buried their daddy
when he was 175 years old. And these other men, they kept
up this, Abraham saw my day, Christ said, Abraham saw my day. He rejoiced to see the day of
my coming, and he told his sons about the coming of the Messiah.
There's a Messiah coming, a Messiah coming, a Messiah coming. And
they was handing down to their sons and their sons and their
sons and their sons, waiting on the Messiah, the King, the
King, the King, the King of Israel through Isaac. They knew that.
Abraham was a good teacher. You couldn't know Abraham without
hearing about Abraham's God. I guarantee you that, let alone
a son or grandson. And all these years had passed,
and they saw that star. God showed it to them. God showed
it to them. And they came to Jerusalem, and
it stirred up Jerusalem. They stayed there a good while,
and they met with Herod. Well, first, Herod called in
all the wise men. from Israel, not the wise men,
but the teachers. He said, where is this Christ
going to be born? They went back to Micah and they
said, in Bethlehem. And then Herod called in these
wise men and said, you go find Him. And when you find Him, you
come back and tell me. I'll come worship Him. So they came. And they didn't
come to a manger. Look at verse 11. When they would
come to the house, They came to our house. And what did they
see? A babe wrapped in swaddling clothes? No, sir. They saw a young child. A young child, probably walking.
I don't know for sure, but they saw a young child. And the mother. And one of the great writers
said Joseph was not there on purpose. God's purpose. These
wise men. These men whom their great-great-great-great-great-grandfather had instructed the Messiah was
coming, but he won't be the son of a man. God didn't bring them into this
house and have a man standing there and a woman and a child
giving the impression that this was just an ordinary child. Joseph
was out of the picture at that time, somewhere else, wherever
God had him. But these men came from the East. There was Mary, the virgin, when
she gave birth to the Son. There was the Son. There was
the Son. And their eyes beheld. And you
know, down here in verse 11, I'm going to come back to this,
but I want you to see this. When they were coming to the
house, they saw the young child with Mary's mother, and they
fell down and worshipped Him. And when they... Behold, a virgin
shall conceive. They read that scripture. They
worshipped Him. And when they had opened their
treasures, they presented him with gifts, gold, frankincense,
and myrrh. Now watch this. And being warned
of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, God was
with these men. They departed into their own
country another way, went around Jerusalem. And right immediately
after they left, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in
a dream, saying, Take the young child and his mother, flee into
Egypt. Go to another country, go to Egypt. And be there till
I bring you word, for heralds seek the young child to destroy
him. And he arose and took the young child and his mother and
departed by night into Egypt." Let me read you a couple of scriptures.
Don't turn to these. Hosea is kind of hard to find.
Let me read Hosea 11. When our Lord Jesus Christ is
His name is called Israel sometime in the scripture. He's one with
his people, true Israel. And it says here, when Israel
was a child, I loved him and called my son out of Egypt. Out of Egypt. And over here in
Exodus, this is written, talking about the Lord Jesus. my son
out of Egypt. Listen to these verses. Say to
Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord, if thou of my son, my firstborn,
the firstborn of every creature, let my son go, that he may serve
me, and if thou refuse to let him go, I'll slay your firstborn. Our Lord is identified with us
when Joseph and Mary took him down into Egypt. We're turning
that clock back to when his people were in Egypt. Israel was in
Egypt. And God, by the blood of the
Lamb, Passover Lamb, brought him out of Egypt. And here the
Lord Jesus Christ himself goes into Egypt and is brought out. But let me show you something
here. This is so interesting. Joseph was poor and Mary was
poor. There were nobodies in the world. There was the daughter and son
of David. They didn't have anything. But
they were going to leave Bethlehem and go to Egypt. They were in
a house in Bethlehem. They were going to Egypt, moving
to a foreign country to live there till Herod died. And I don't know the months.
We're not talking about catching a plane or something. We're talking
about weeks and months and places. How are they going to finance
the trip? How are they going to live? Look
back at verse 11. And when they were coming to
the house, these wise men, they saw the young child with Mary
his mother, and fell down, worshipped him, and opened their treasures,
and presented him gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And then the Lord
appeared to Joseph and said, your trip's paid for. Go down
and eat. Our Lord is so wonderful in his
mercies and provisions and grace. But these wise men, this story
is told for us. I know I've got to get something
here. And I knew when I was looking
at it, I was so interested in it, something for me and for
you. where these men at least give
us an example. But let me show you this. First
of all, in verse 1, they're called wise men. Wise men. I'll tell you why they're called
wise men. I know I read about the Magi and all this. You'll
read it in other commentaries, but don't pay a lot of attention
to it. That's just things men talk about. But I'll tell you,
these men were wise because they were seeking the Lord. That's
why they're wise. Wise men seek the Lord. There's
nobody wise who doesn't know God, so God wouldn't be calling
them. They're wise in the things of
the world, but these men were wise men. They were seeking the
Lord, seeking the Lord. These descendants of Abraham
wanted to know their King, and they were willing to make a journey to find Him. And look at the
next line. It says they came from the east
to Jerusalem. I tell you this, he'll be found
where he's revealed. These men were not sons of Isaac. These were like the Samaritan
woman. These were kind of castoffs. These were sons of Abraham by
other women, concubines and wives, Ketuvah. And they were looked
down on by the other Jews, by the Jews. But they knew where
to find the Messiah. to come where the temple and
the sacrifices and the Word of God and the priesthood is. They came to Jerusalem. And if
you and I want, if we're interested in the Messiah, we'll search
the Scriptures. We'll search the Scriptures.
Paul said to Timothy, from a child you've known the Scriptures that
are able to make you wise unto salvation. We'll search the Scriptures
about the Lamb, the sacrifices, The priesthood, the Old Testament
scripture, they came to Jerusalem. I had some friends who were Jordanians
who listened to my television program back several years ago,
and we became friends. They hated Jews. They literally,
absolutely hated Jews. And I think this caused a problem. I no longer have any contact
with any of them, but it caused a problem because I insist. Salvations
of the Jews. Christ became a Jew. And if you're
going to find the gospel, you're going to have to study God's
dealings with the Jews. You're going to have to recognize
whatever they are now, whatever they were then, whatever they've
done, whatever misfortunes and misunderstandings and wrong deeds
Nevertheless, David, he sits on David's throne. He's a son
of Abraham. He's a son of Isaac. He's from the tribe of Judah. He's the king of Israel. Now,
I know Israel is spiritual Israel, the kingdom of God. But I'm telling
you, don't let pride keep you away from Him. The messenger will come to His
temple morning. He came to Jerusalem, and He
died outside the walls of Jerusalem. So these men, whatever, they
pushed all their pride down, and they came, and they asked
the question. What is their question? Verse 2, they said, Where is
He born, King of the Jews? They weren't looking for a Reformer.
They weren't looking for a martyr. They weren't looking for a doormat.
They were looking for a King. Where is the King? We've heard,
well, Scripture talks about him being
the bright and morning star. We've seen his star. We've seen
his star. Where's the king? And another
thing, they didn't make him king, he was born king. They said,
where is he, this born king? He's king by decree. He's king
from everlasting. He's king because he's the son
of the king. King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Where is he, this born King? Of the Jews. No doubt about it. David's throne. David's throne. And then they
said this, verse 2, they said, we've seen his star. We've seen
his star. Turn to Numbers 24. I love these
prophecies, and I'd love for you to see them yourselves. In Numbers 24, verse 17, I shall see him, but not now. Numbers 24, 17, I shall behold
him, but not now. There shall come a star out of
Jacob. And a scepter shall rise out
of Israel, the Jews, and shall smite the corners of Moab and
destroy all the children of Seth." These men knew these prophecies
and they saw the star. Revelation 22 says, I am the
root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star.
They saw the star over Judea from their country in the east. And they came seeking Him. What
have we seen? Have we seen a star? No, not
with these eyes. But God's given us sign after
sign after sign back in the Old Testament. God set Him forth
in type, in picture, in parable, sign after sign. We've seen His
star. They saw the star and got directions. to where the Messiah was to be
found. I call your attention to these
signs here to give you directions to where the Messiah is to be
found. And so then they said, listen
to what they said, we've seen His star and we are come. We've
come to worship Him. We haven't come to argue. We
haven't come to debate. We haven't come to accept Him.
We've come to worship Him. We've come to bow down before
Him. That's our full intention. When
we find Him, we're going to fall down before Him. All right, let's
see what happened. Verse 9. Well, the king, you
know what he said to them, they departed. And lo, the star which
they saw in the east, that sign, that direction, went before them
till they came and stood over where the young child was. I
read a lot of debates about he went, Joseph was in Nazareth
and back to Bethlehem, back and, but anyway he was here in Bethlehem
in a house with his mother. And this star brought them right
to that place, and watch it, they came in, They rejoiced because
God had given them the directions. Verse 10, they rejoiced with
great joy. And when they were coming to
the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother.
They saw him. Simeon saw him. You know, they
didn't see the cross. Of course, Abraham didn't see
the cross. Moses didn't see the cross. They saw the lambs, the
types, the pictures, slain. They didn't see the cross. Simeon,
John the Baptist, didn't see the cross. Simeon did, but they
saw Christ. Simeon came into that temple, and Mary had brought
this young child in to do the different things that were commanded
in the law, and he took him up in his arms, and he said, Lord, now let thy servant depart
in peace according to your word. I've seen your salvation. I don't know how to word this.
I don't exactly know how to say it, but God will have to make
it right, however it comes out. Salvation is not in seeing the
cross. It's seeing Christ. Salvation is not in receiving
a doctrine. is receiving a person. And clear
back to the Old Testament, these people saw Him in picture, they
saw Him in type, they saw Him in pattern, they saw Him in promise.
And they believed Him. And Simeon saw an infant, and
he knew that this was the Messiah. This was the Messiah. There must
be death, there must be blood, they knew that. They received
the promises not having seen the fulfillment of them. But
what I'm trying to do is point people to Christ, to Him who
created the world, to Him who loved us, to Him who came into
the world as a man, represented us, who went to the cross and
died for us, who obeyed the law, who was buried and rose again,
who ascended. And right now we see Him as He is. We don't have
a nativity scene out here because He's not a baby. He's a King. And these people came in and
saw Him. They saw an infant. And they didn't go gooing at
Him. They fell down and worshipped Him. They fell down and worshipped
Him, the King. My faith and confidence is in
Him. It's in Him when He created all
things. It's in Him when He was It's in Him when He was on the
cross. It's in Him now. It's Him, Him, Him. Christ is
my Savior. And listen, and they opened the
treasures. When God opens a man's heart,
He opens his hands. When God opens a man's heart,
He opens his hands. God didn't tell them to give
Joseph and Mary some gold and frankincense and myrrh, but they
Their hearts were open, and they wanted to present something.
They wanted to present a sacrifice. They wanted to present a gift
of love and appreciation and gratitude unto Him. So they fell down and worshipped
Him, and they presented these gifts to Him. And God used it. Then right after that, the young
family packed up and moved to Egypt. all their needs met by
these men, and they went back to their country. But they went
back having seen the Lord. They went back having seen God's
salvation, just like Simeon. Simeon went on to glory, but
they went back to their country. And I imagine they did what the
Samaritan woman did. They went back and said, we found
the Messiah.