The Wise Men And The Christmas Star
The wise men followed a star to a King. Herod followed the wise men with a sword — but no one sits on Christ's throne except Christ.
Who were the wise men, what was the Christmas star, and why did a king want a baby dead? In this exposition of Matthew 2:1–23, Dr. Toby Holt walks through the corners of the Christmas story the carols skip — the magi, the star, and the monster who stalks the manger. He begins with Herod the Great: an Edomite of Esau's line ruling as Rome's vassal, a builder of wonders and a murderer of his own wife and sons, so hated that he ordered noblemen executed at his own death simply to guarantee mourning. When Gentile astronomers from Persia arrive asking, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?" Herod's scribes point to Micah's prophecy — Bethlehem — and the tyrant begins to plot.
Dr. Holt untangles the folklore from the text: the visitors were wise men, not kings; Scripture never says there were three; and they arrived not at the manger but at a house, well after the birth. He weighs the theories about the star — supernova, planetary conjunction, comet — and argues from Matthew 2:9, where the star went before them and stood over where the young Child was, that this was a supernatural sign from the God who once led Israel by a pillar of fire. The gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh quietly confess the Child's kingship, His priesthood, and the death He was born to die.
From there the sermon follows the holy family to Egypt and back, presenting Christ as the greater Moses — the Deliverer who, like Moses, survived a despot's death edict in infancy — and exposing Herod's rage as the ancient war of the serpent's seed against the Seed of the woman. The takeaway is double-edged: the world has hated Christ from His first breath, and the world loses. No one sits on Christ's throne except Christ — and those who have far more light than a star are summoned to worship Him.
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Questions This Sermon Answers
The wise men, or magi, were Gentile scholars — likely astronomers — from the East, most probably Persia (modern Iran or Iraq), not kings from the Orient as the old carol imagines. Scripture never numbers them; the tradition of three arose from the three gifts. They were students of the heavens whom God summoned by a star, and they represent the firstfruits of the nations coming to Israel's Messiah. In this sermon on Matthew 2, Dr. Toby Holt notes the remarkable irony: the first worshipers of the newborn King of the Jews were outsiders to the covenant community, drawn across deserts to fall down before the Child while Jerusalem's Bible experts stayed home.
Naturalistic theories abound — a supernova, a conjunction of planets, a comet — but the text resists them: the star went before the magi and stood over where the young Child was (Matthew 2:9), behavior no ordinary celestial body exhibits. Dr. Holt argues it was a supernatural sign from the God who led Israel by a pillar of fire. This is the classic Reformed reading: John Calvin, in his commentary on the Gospel harmony, contends that it was no natural star at all but an extraordinary sign appointed by God for this purpose, as its movement and its standing still make plain. The star was heaven itself announcing the King, and Gentiles followed it to worship Him.
Herod ruled Judea as Rome's vassal and guarded his throne with pathological jealousy — he murdered his own wife, sons, and advisors on suspicion of rivalry; Caesar Augustus reportedly quipped that it was safer to be Herod's pig than his son. Though a pragmatist with little interest in spiritual things, Herod took one set of prophecies seriously: the promise of a coming Messiah, a King of the Jews whose reign would eclipse his own. When magi arrived announcing that this King had been born, Herod feigned a desire to worship while plotting murder — culminating in the slaughter of Bethlehem's infant boys. His rage was the old rage of the serpent's seed against the promised Seed of the woman.
Not by descent. Herod publicly styled himself a Jew, but his ancestry was Edomite: he descended from Esau, not Jacob, and so stood outside the patriarchal line through which God's covenant promises ran. Dr. Holt draws out the family resemblance: as Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of stew, valuing the immediate over the spiritual, so Herod was a ruthless pragmatist who cared nothing for God — except where prophecy threatened his throne. Scripture's contrast between Jacob, whom God loved, and Esau, whom God hated, frames the confrontation of Matthew 2: a false king of Esau's line raging against the true King born in Jacob's, whose reign no Edomite sword could prevent.
Scripture never interprets the gifts, and Dr. Holt is careful to say so — but they fit the Child with striking precision. Gold is the metal of royalty, fit tribute for the King of the Jews. Frankincense recalls the altar of incense and the temple's priestly service, anticipating Christ the great High Priest. Myrrh, a burial spice used to anoint the dead, points forward to the death He was born to die. In gold and frankincense the magi honored two of the offices the Westminster Shorter Catechism (Q. 23) confesses of Christ the Redeemer — king and priest — and in myrrh, the death by which His priestly work would be finished. At the very least the treasures were customary homage before royalty — and in God's providence they preached the Child's person and work.
No. Nativity scenes compress the timeline, but Matthew 2 places the visit at a house, not the manger, and calls Jesus a young Child rather than a newborn. The magi began their journey when the star appeared and traveled a great distance from the East; Herod, calculating from the star's first appearance, ordered the death of Bethlehem's boys two years old and under — a chilling clue to how much time may have passed. Dr. Holt uses the detail to make a larger point: the manger scene belongs to a longer, darker, more wonderful narrative. Christ was a hunted man from His first breath, and the Christmas story includes both the worship of the nations and the sword of a tyrant.
An angel warned Joseph in a dream that Herod would seek the young Child to destroy Him, and directed the family to Egypt (Matthew 2:13). Egypt was a practical refuge — beyond Herod's jurisdiction and home to a large community of Jewish expatriates, by some estimates a million strong. But it was also theologically charged ground: Matthew sees in the flight and return the fulfillment of the prophet's word, "Out of Egypt I called My Son." As Israel was called out of Egypt in the exodus, so God's true Son retraces and perfects Israel's story. The family remained until Herod's death, then settled in Nazareth — fulfilling the prophetic expectation that the Messiah would be called a Nazarene.
The parallels are deliberate. Both spent part of childhood in Egypt; both survived a despot's edict of infanticide — Pharaoh drowning Hebrew boys, Herod slaughtering Bethlehem's; both were deliverers of God's people; both mediated a covenant and interceded between God and man. Reformed theology calls Moses a type of Christ: a real historical man whose office and work foreshadowed the Redeemer to come. But the shadow gives way to the substance. Moses mediated the old covenant; Christ mediates the new. Moses delivered Israel from Pharaoh's bondage; Christ delivers His people from the bondage of sin and death. Moses went up the mountain to speak with God; Christ is Himself God the Son, the final Intercessor whose priesthood never ends.
When the magi failed to report back, Herod ordered every male child two years old and under in Bethlehem and its districts put to death (Matthew 2:16–18). Matthew hears in the mothers' grief Jeremiah's lament: "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." Scripture does not soften the horror; it sets it within the long war of the serpent's seed against the woman's Seed — Pharaoh, Goliath, now Herod. Dr. Holt does not offer a tidy theodicy, but he does preach the outcome: the tyrant's sword missed its target, the Child lived to go to the cross and rise again in God's appointed time, and Herod soon went to his own grave.
Dr. Holt draws two takeaways. First, Jesus wins. From the manger to the cross the world sought His destruction — Herod, the devil in the wilderness, the Pharisees, Pilate — yet He rose and reigns at the Father's right hand, and no one sits on Christ's throne except Christ. Those who fly His flag will meet opposition, but they already know how the story ends. Second, the magi followed a single star to worship Him; believers today possess far more revelation — the whole of Scripture and the gospel itself — and yet can drift into forgetfulness amid the tinsel and pageantry. The call is to follow the greater light we have been given, worship the King, and shine that light into a still-darkened world.
1. The Seed of the Serpent Wars Against the Seed of the Woman
Herod's massacre is not an isolated atrocity but the oldest conflict in Scripture surfacing again. From Genesis 3:15 onward, the serpent's seed has sought to devour the seed of the woman: Pharaoh drowning Hebrew boys to stamp out Moses, Goliath striding out to crush David, and now Herod casting a net of death over Bethlehem's infants. Dr. Holt notes the bitter irony of Herod's lineage: the king was an Edomite, descended from Esau — the brother of whom God said He had loved Jacob and hated Esau — and a pragmatist like his forefather, trading the spiritual for the immediate. Reformed theology reads redemptive history as covenantal warfare with a guaranteed outcome: the serpent bruises the heel, but the woman's Seed crushes the head. Bethlehem's grief, foretold in Jeremiah's picture of Rachel weeping for her children, is real — and yet the Child the sword was meant for escapes, because the covenant promise cannot be killed.
2. God's Providence Cannot Be Outmaneuvered
Dr. Holt presses the absurdity at the heart of Herod's scheme. The king had just heard centuries-old prophecies being fulfilled under his own watch; dignitaries stood in his throne room who had been led across deserts by a moving star. And he concluded that this God — the God who ordains history and steers the heavens — could be outwitted by one shrewd politician with a sword. Sin, Holt observes, makes a man irrational: it corrodes the very faculty of reason, which is why rebellion against God never finally makes sense even to the rebel. The Westminster Confession's doctrine of providence — that God upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and all their actions — frames the whole chapter: the star's timing, the magi's route, four warning dreams, and even Herod's death all serve God's decree. Herod thought he could win, just as Satan thinks he can win. The chapter ends with Herod in a grave and Jesus safe in Nazareth.
3. Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh Confess the Child's Person and Work
The magi's treasures were court protocol — no one approached a king empty-handed — yet Dr. Holt shows how fitting each gift was. Gold is the metal of royalty, acknowledging the newborn as the true King of the Jews. Frankincense evokes the altar of incense and the priestly service of the temple, pointing to the Child who would be not only King but great High Priest, the intercessor between God and man. Myrrh, a spice used chiefly to anoint the dead, casts the shadow of the cross across the cradle: this King was born to die. Holt is careful with the text — Scripture never explains the gifts, and commentators have spilled much ink guessing — but gold and frankincense answer to two of the offices the Westminster Shorter Catechism confesses of Christ the Redeemer, king and priest, while myrrh anticipates the death in which His priestly work would be accomplished. Before Jesus could walk, Gentile worshipers had laid at His feet emblems of His crown, His priesthood, and His atoning death.
4. Out of Egypt: Christ the Greater Moses
Why Egypt? Dr. Holt gives two answers. Practically, Egypt lay beyond Herod's reach and held a thriving community of Jewish expatriates — history suggests perhaps a million — making it a natural refuge. Theologically, Egypt makes Matthew's point: this Child recapitulates and surpasses Moses. Like Moses, Jesus spent His earliest years under a despot's death edict against infant boys. Like Moses, He was sheltered in Egypt and called out of it — Matthew cites the prophet's word, "Out of Egypt I called My Son." Like Moses, He would be a deliverer of God's people from bondage, a mediator of a covenant, and an intercessor between God and man. But where Moses mediated the old covenant and delivered Israel from Pharaoh, Christ mediates the new covenant and delivers His people from sin and death. The typology is not decoration; it is the architecture of redemptive history, in which every earlier deliverance rehearsed the great deliverance accomplished by the true and better Moses.
5. The Gentiles Come to the Light — and the Covenant Insiders Stay Home
Isaiah had promised that Gentiles would come to the light and kings to the brightness of the LORD's rising, and Dr. Holt shows the prophecy taking flesh: pagan stargazers from Persia cross deserts to fall down before Israel's Messiah. Meanwhile the scribes and chief priests — men who could recite Micah's Bethlehem prophecy from memory — do not walk the few miles to see whether it had come true. The only worshipers in the narrative grew up outside the covenant community. Holt turns the irony on his hearers: the wise men had a star; we have the completed Scriptures, the preached gospel, and the witness of the Spirit — far more revelation than a light in the sky. Yet amid the tinsel and pageantry it is possible to drift, to forget who lay in the manger and who hung on the cross. The call of the passage is to worship the King with the wise men's urgency, and then to carry His light into a still-darkened world.
About The Speaker: Dr. Toby Holt serves as the third President of New Geneva Theological Seminary (Colorado Springs, CO), founded 1993. An expository preacher with over 1.9 million sermon downloads on SermonAudio.com, Dr. Holt brings over 17 years of pastoral experience to his verse-by-verse Bible teaching. New Geneva offers fully online, Westminster Confessional theological education — M.Div., Th.M., D.Min., and other degrees.
Summary. In this exposition of Matthew 2:1–23, Dr. Toby Holt follows the Christmas story beyond the manger — the Gentile magi who tracked a God-sent star to Bethlehem, and Herod the Great, the Edomite tyrant who plotted to kill the newborn King. He untangles carol folklore from the biblical text, weighs the naturalistic theories about the star against its supernatural behavior, and reads the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh as quiet confessions of Christ's kingship, priesthood, and death. The flight to Egypt reveals Jesus as the greater Moses, and the slaughter of the innocents as the ancient war of the serpent's seed against the Seed of the woman. The sermon lands on two assurances: no one sits on Christ's throne except Christ, and those with far more light than a star are called to worship Him and shine that light into a darkened world.
The Wise Men and the Christmas Star
Once upon a time, there was an incredibly wicked pagan king. This king was incredibly wicked, he was incredibly pagan, but he was also just incredibly skilled, incredibly smart. He was incredibly gifted in so many ways, and as gifted as he was, he was equally depraved. And because he was so depraved, because he was such a bad egg, the people hated him. They could not stand this king. Now as this king grew old, and as his health began to fail him, the king observed something.
He began to realize that when he died, that the people would not be sad. He began to realize that when he died, what might happen would be just the opposite, that people would celebrate, they'd have a party, they would rejoice because he was gone. And so this king, out of the depravity of his heart, he did this. He determined that leaders and noblemen from around the region would be gathered together, and on the day that he died, on the day that his health failed him, on the day that he breathed his last, these rulers and leaders and noblemen would also be put to death in mass.
And that way, that way, although no one would miss his presence, although no one would grieve for him, there would yet still be grief. There would yet still be grieving and mourning in the region, even if it were not because of his own demise. This man, such a man, would have to be a monster. What monster are we talking about? Well, we're talking about the monster that we see in today's text, the man we know as Herod the Great.
Alternatingly, Herod the Terrible, Herod the Vile, Herod the King that we see in Matthew chapter 2. Now, a couple of additional details before we get into our text. History tells us that this Herod the Great, He was known as Herod the Great not because he was a great guy, but because he did things that were mighty and impressive. If you ever go to Israel, some of the greatest ruins that you'll see there, some of the greatest sites that you'll visit will be things, things that were crafted at the hand of King Herod.
Some of the best building projects in all of the antiquated Middle East came at the hand of this man, this Herod. He was impressive, he was skilled, he was shrewd, he was smart, he was able to do a great manner of things. Even his enemies in other parts of the world admired him for his administrative talent and the like. Now, as you're probably aware, Herod was actually a king of a vassal state.
It was the Romans who had power over Israel. So he was more of a vassal king. And as a vassal king, he would refer to himself publicly as a Jew. But here's the thing. He was not a true Jew in the sense of having his ancestry traced back to Jacob. He was not a true Jew in the sense of having come from Jacob, from the patriarchs. Rather, his lineage, his ancestry was that of an Edomite.
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The Magi Seek the King
And that meant he came from Esau. That meant he came not from Jacob, who God said, I have loved, but Esau, who God said he had hated. This was his lineage. Now, if you remember Esau, remember Esau in the Bible? Esau was the guy. He was kind of a practical guy. One day he's hungry and he traded to Jacob, his brother, his birthright in order to get a bowl of stew. He traded his birthright.
Esau was a practical, pragmatic guy who would trade something spiritual in order for a meal right now. Well, just like Esau, Herod was also a pragmatist. Herod was also practical. He didn't think too much about spiritual concerns. He didn't think too much about spiritual realities and the like, except in one area. Except in one area. Herod, as we see in today's text and as we see in history, Herod had one spiritual concern, and that was with regard to prophecies about a coming king, about a coming Messiah.
This was one area he was concerned about. Herod was concerned about the prophecies that spoke of a Messiah, a leader, a king who would come and set up rule in Jerusalem who would be known as a king of the Jews. And the reason that Herod was so concerned about this, the reason that this was such a focus for Herod was because this king was prophesied to arrive and to induct a reign and rule that would be greater than his own.
As great as Herod the Great thought he was when he looked himself in the mirror, the prophecies said one far greater was coming. And to a guy like Herod, to a guy who was vain, to a guy who was vile, this was something he wanted no part of. He did not want to see the arrival, the coming of this child. Well, in today's reading in Matthew 2, King Herod is going to hear news that's going to set his ears on fire.
He's going to hear news that the king that all of prophecy anticipated, the king that the Jews had been waiting for for centuries, He's going to hear news that just such a king, just such a child had been born. Not far from him, in the city of Bethlehem. So what did old Herod plan to do about that? Well, let's find out together now. Let's look at verses 1 through 6 of our text, and then we'll work our way through the balance of the chapter.
Let's come to understand Herod, and let's come to understand why he had such animosity towards the one we know as Jesus Christ. Verse 1. Now when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and the scribes and the people together, He inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. And so they said to him in Bethlehem, in Bethlehem of Judea.
For thus is written by the prophet, but you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not least among the rulers of Judah. For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. You know at Christmas time, growing up, we played Christmas music. My folks had records. I don't know if anyone uses them much anymore, but we had records in our house. However, we didn't have a lot of Christmas records.
I think we had like three Christmas records, and they got a lot of utility each Christmas year for years and years. With that said, one of the records, one of the three we had, was by a guy. And I'll give you his name, and those who recognize his name, you are instantly dating yourself. But the man was named Engelbert Humperdinck. I think I was attracted just to the name. I don't know what it was.
But I would play Engelbert Humperdinck back when I was a kid. I'd spit it on the old turntable. We'd listen to Engelbert Humperdinck. And my favorite of all the songs that he sung was a song we know as We Three Kings. Now, I liked the song for a lot of reasons. I thought it had a good catchy tune. Well, Inglebert really nailed that one, so I enjoyed listening to that song.
Matthew 2 and the Star
And yet, yet over the years, as the years went by, I came to realize that this song is not renowned for its theology. See, in time, I learned a few things about the three kings from Orient. First of all, I learned, and I'm sure you've learned in time as well, that these weren't actually kings. These were not actually kings. Scripture refers to them as wise men. Perhaps they were Magi, astronomers from foreign lands.
Not necessarily kings. Second of all, there was not necessarily three of them. One of the reasons we come to the conclusion of those three kings is because there was three gifts. Three gifts, three kings, that's kind of what's commonly been understood. The third problem is that these wise men, per se, they did not come from the Orient, at least as we would understand it, but they came in all likelihood from Persia, what might be known as modern-day Iran or Iraq.
This is where they came from. In any case, Matthew 2 says that at some point after Jesus was born, not necessarily the night of, but at some point after Jesus was born, that behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. And these wise men had been following a star. They'd been following a star in the sky. They'd come a great distance following a star that had led them to Jerusalem, which would ultimately lead them to Bethlehem, in order that they might worship the one known as the king of the Jews.
Now pretend you're Herod. This caravan has come in. We don't know how many people it was, but it would have been notable when there was dignitaries from foreign lands came in. So of course Herod knew, and when he heard why they were there, when he heard that they were seeking out the king of the Jews who had recently been born, well of course Herod's ears began to burn, his blood began to run hot, and he would have felt threatened in that moment and inclined to do something about it.
And so what he would do is he would ask. He would turn to his scribes and the priests and people who evidently knew the Bible a lot better than he did and he would say, all right, where is this child to be born? And the scribes would report back to him what Scripture says in the book of Micah. They would say this child is to be born in Bethlehem. In Bethlehem, out of you, though you are the least of the rulers of Judah, out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd, shepherd my people. All right, let's see what Herod decides to do with this information in verses 7 and 8. Verse 7, then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, he determined from them what time the star had appeared. And then he sent them to Bethlehem, and he said, go, search carefully for the young child, and when you've found him, bring word back to me, for I want to worship him also. I want to worship him as well.
All right. As we've said, it was in the book of Micah that prophecies were recorded as to where the Messiah would be born. Across the whole of the Old Testament, as we call it, across the whole of the Old Testament, there was prophecies that talked about the coming Messiah, who he would be, what he would do, and circumstances regarding his birth and regarding his death. The Old Testament is filled with references to Jesus Christ, and one of them said he would be born in Bethlehem.
Now, there's another prophecy, lesser known in Isaiah 60, that spoke to the star that would come. Arise, shine, for your light has come. The glory of the Lord has risen upon you. Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, deep darkness upon the people, but the Lord will rise over you. His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles, such as those coming from Persia in a caravan, the Gentiles shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. The Gentiles shall come to your light. That's exactly what happened. Centuries after these words were written, Gentiles were drawn by the light of a star. In Numbers 24, 17, it said a star shall come out of Jacob, a scepter out of Israel. There were many prophecies that suggested that the birth, the coming, the arrival of this child would be marked in some way and a star is the one that was most repeatedly pointed to now what kind of star was it what kind of star was it well there's a lot of theories about that now secular sources tend to look to secular answers they say well the christmas star that appeared all those centuries ago what it really was there was a star that went supernova and it was so bright and so amazing that the astronomers and those confused people of antiquity that they thought it was something significant, and so they went in the direction of the star. Some believe that. Others believe that the star, that Saturn, Jupiter, they line up just the right way, cast a certain light, and that's the Christmas star, that that's what the wise men saw. Others say it was a comet that they were following. Still others believe it was nothing less than a miracle, that the God who led Israel by a pillar of fire by night can also cook up a star in order to lead wise men. There's others who believe that. We'll speak to that in a moment. With that said, whatever
Herod's Fear and False Worship
the nature that the star had or didn't have, it had only recently come into view, and Herod had a question. He wanted to know when. He says, when did the star appear? Why do you think he wanted to know when? What was his intentions? What difference did that particular detail make? Well, the reason it was significant to Herod was because the star's appearance, at whatever time it appeared, at whatever time the wise men started to follow it, that would suggest the birth date of the child who has been born.
Remember, our nativity scenes tend to depict that on the very night Jesus was born, that suddenly three kings or three wise men just showed up. That's not the way it worked. It took time for them to get there. So Herod wanted to know, when did the star appear? He wanted to know when the star appeared because that would give him some idea of how long the child had been around. Now, when Herod questioned these wise men, these Magi, whatever they were, they may have asked him.
We don't know here, but they may have asked him why he was so interested in these things. It might have been on their face, kind of wondering what he was getting at or what his point was. I mean, Herod, you have to remember, he was known as, the best word I can come up with is jerk. He was known as one of the greatest jerks of antiquity. He was a villain, he was a despot, he was all these things.
And so they probably had heard rumors about this and wondered why he was so eager to know about the child. You know, there was a Caesar, Caesar Augustus at that time. And Caesar Augustus knew Herod's tendencies. Herod had killed his own wife he'd killed his own kids Herod had no problem killing anybody who was His friend let alone his enemy Caesar Augustus once said this of Herod he said it would be safer to be Herod's pig than to be Herod's son this was his reputation it'd be safer to be Herod's pig in His stall than to be his son in his house it's with that reputation in mind that the Magi having probably heard these rumors, might have wondered why he wants to know. And so he answers. He says, well, here's the thing. I want you to find the child and come back to me because, oh, oh, deary me, it's my great desire to come and to worship this child as well. Come and worship this child. You know, if you ever watched the old silent movies and the villain twirls his mustache and the like, you can picture something like that here. You can picture this villain speaking villainous words. And the wise men would have reason to wonder about his sincerity. Let's look at verses 9 through 12. Now, when they heard the king, they departed. And behold, the star which they had seen in the east went before them. And it wasn't a far distance, just so you're aware.
Went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was. This language suggests something supernatural. It suggests the origins, the transcendent origins of the star and transcendent guidance of the star, not necessarily a comet, not necessarily Jupiter. There's a suggestion here of a star that came and stood over where the young child was. Whatever the case, in verse 10, it says that when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. And when they'd come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary's mother, and they fell down, and they worshipped him. And when they'd opened their treasures, as was customary when you were coming before a king when they opened their treasures they presented gifts to him gold frankincense and myrrh and then being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod surprise, surprise, they departed for their own country by another road earlier we said that the christmas star may have been of divine origin again I think that theory is supported in verse 9 which says that the star went before them and stood over where the child was whatever the case is when the wise men followed the star when they got to where the child was they entered they saw Mary and the child and the child is mentioned before Mary which is significant because that's not the way you would ordinarily introduce lineage of one's family so they see the child they see Mary and the reaction upon seeing the child is to fall down and worship them you know babies we've had a number in our church family in this past year babies are something else they're wonderful and cute. Everyone loves a baby. Everyone loves to hold a baby, especially when it's not yours. You give them back. But you enjoy holding babies. You look at babies, oh, this is wonderful.
The Nations Come to Christ
But your reaction when you hold a baby, your reaction when you see a baby, if you're a brother-in-law and his wife, they have a baby and they bring it in, your reaction is not to fall down in worship. Why? Because it's just a baby. It's another flesh and blood. There's nothing divine in this one. And yet, and yet, that is not so with this baby, with this child. When the kings entered in, they were in the presence of not just a human child, they were in the presence of the divine. They were in the presence of the Word made flesh who came to dwell among us, to tabernacle among His people. The kings, the wise men, the Magi, whatever they were, they knew that this one, this one was different. And that was not a shock. The angel had told the shepherds on the hillside as much, that this one was different, that this one was the Savior.
This one was the Messiah. This one was the Son of God. And because he was, the most natural response in the world was worship. In our world this next week, there will be all sorts of Christmas celebrations. There will be all sorts of recognition, even among the secular society, of the birth of a child so long ago. But the only difference that child makes is if he is what we see here, if he was fully man and yet fully God.
If it was something more than a baby, if this truly was God's own Son. Whatever the case, the wise men got it. They fell down and worshipped. That's the first thing they did. And then they offered. They offered him gifts. There's a pattern for worship here. They come in, they worship, they give to this one, to this king. And their gifts, there was three of them. They're identified here in Scripture as gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Now what are we to make of these gifts? Why these three? There's got to have been a lot of things in that day and age that would have been good as a gift to bring in. Why these three? Well, there's been a lot of ink spilled by commentators over the centuries to try to guess or speculate to the reasons why these, to guess at the perceived symbolism of these gifts. Among the primary guesses that commentators have is that gold was given because it was the medal of royalty.
You don't go to a king and bring your best bronze. You don't go to a king and give him silver. You go to a king and you give him that which is best, that which is gold. Now, as for the frankincense, if you think of the priestly service, the altar of incense, if you think of the use of incense in the temple throughout Old Testament worship, you can see that while gold might have reflected the reign and rule of this child, that the incense would have reflected the priestly duties and responsibilities that came with it.
Remember, Jesus Christ was our king. He was also our high priest. Finally, we have the gift of myrrh, a spice that's typically used to anoint the dead. The primary use of myrrh is to anoint the dead at their time of burial. In these three gifts, you can reasonably see gifts that suggested the child's royalty, his priesthood, and his death. His royalty, his divinity, and his death. Again, we can't be sure exactly why these gifts were given, but they do seem appropriate to his person and work in the time yet to come.
In any case, after having given these gifts to Christ's earthly parents, the wise men then had an opportunity to prove just how wise they were. Specifically, they could choose at this time to go galloping back to Herod. They could have run back to Herod and tell him what they'd seen. They could have done that, or they could have slipped out of the back door of Israel and gone home another route. Well, verse 12 says that God divinely instructed them and warned them what to do.
To find one of them in a dream that they should not return to Herod, but yet depart to their own country another way. These Gentile Magi, they had a dream that was given to them by God himself. An interesting dream. Which brings us to another interesting dream in the next verses.
True Worship of the King
Let's look at verses 13 through 15. Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, arise, take the young child and his mother and flee to Egypt and stay there until I bring you word. For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. And when he arose, when Joseph arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt and was there until the death of Herod.
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, out of Egypt I called my son. You know, at face value, Herod's plan was bad. It wasn't as bad in terms of depravity. It was bad in terms of stupid. And the reason that it was stupid was because it presupposed this. Herod's plan presupposed that God in His might and His power could ordain prophecies from centuries past, have them fulfilled under Herod's watch, just as Scripture said that they would, and then God, out of His power and might, would send a star, a supernatural sight, in order to guide wise men around.
And Herod thought that this God who could fill centuries-old prophecies, who could move stars around and the like, that Herod could then derail that God's plan. That Herod could then somehow, out of his own ingenuity and prowess, He could somehow come in, intervene, kill the kid, and that would be the end of it. Herod's plan was bad, it was stupid. It doesn't work that way. Herod thought that he could win, just like Satan thinks that he can win.
Sin makes you stupid. Sin affects your ability to reason. Sin is by nature irrational, which is why sometimes it doesn't have any real excuses for why we do it. It can't make sense why you do something that's dumb and stupid and you know better, because it's not rational. Well, Herod was not being rational and thinking that he could secure his own reign in light of the manifest signs that God was on the throne and was going to do his own goodwill.
In any case, Herod may have thought he could win, but that's not what happened. In verses 13 through 15, the angel tells Joseph to take the child, go to Egypt until such time as Herod had died. Until such time as Herod had breathed his last. Now, why Egypt? I mean, that's interesting. There's got to have been corners or pockets of Israel where they could have gone, right? If you ever go to Israel, you go out to Qumran, you see the caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were.
There's got to be a lot of places you could hang out. Why Egypt? Why send them to Egypt? Why would that be God's plan? Well, you have to remember at this time in jewish history, the irony was that Egypt was known as a place of refuge for Israelites. Egypt was known as a place to go to escape the heavy hand of Herod and perhaps of Caesar. You could go down to Egypt. In fact, there was a great many expats, great many expatriates who were down in Egypt. History suggests there may have been over a million of them. There was a lot of Jews who had developed a community, a thriving community in Egypt, and that is where, that's where God tells them to take the child until such time as Herod has died.
With that said, Egypt had other significance as well. There was another man long ago, the most important man of his age, perhaps the most important man of the Old Testament, who came out of Egypt, and his name was Moses. Like Christ, Egypt would be the childhood home, at least for a period of time, for the man known as Moses. We've said on other occasions that Moses was a type of Christ. Moses was a very real man, make no mistake.
He was a real man of flesh and blood, and yet his work and the things that Moses did, they anticipated, they foreshadowed, they pointed to things that Jesus would do all those centuries later. Remember, Moses' primary work was that of a deliverer, delivering God's people from bondage, just as Christ would do from the bondage of sin and death all those years later. Moses was the mediator of what's called the Old Covenant, the Old Law.
Well, Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant. Moses was the intercessor between God and man,
Pastoral Application
the one who went up the mountain to talk with God. Well, Jesus is the great high priest, the intercessor between God and man in the New. Just like Moses, Christ would come out of Egypt as a child. Just like Moses, Christ would deliver God's people, just like Moses, Christ would intercede between God and man. And just like Moses, just like Moses, an evil ruler would attempt to kill Him when he was a child. Just like Moses. You remember Moses being sent by his mother down the river in a basket through the reeds. In the same way as Jesus Christ, Moses lived out his early days his first days under a death edict by a horrific despot a horrific ruler who sought to kill the infants there is great commonality between Moses and Jesus many reasons to see it including in today's text let's see what Herod though the villain of the Old Testament villain Moses day was Pharaoh but let's see what Herod does here in Matthew chapter 2 so Matthew 2 16 through 18 says that when Herod saw that he had been deceived by the wise men, when the wise men didn't return, when they didn't come back, Herod was exceedingly angry and he sent forth and he put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all of its districts from two years old and under, according to the time which had been determined by the wise men. Remember, He asked them when that star had appeared.
Then was fulfilled, which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, a voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation weeping, great mourning, rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted because they are no more. Herod murdered his wife and sons. Herod murdered his close advisors. It was nothing to Herod to murder all the small children in a town down the road. He wouldn't have thought twice about such a thing once Herod realized that the wise men weren't coming back he grew angry and he sought to cast as wide a net of death as he could in order to ensure that if this child had been born in Bethlehem was within the age frame that the wise men had suggested that this child wouldn't live to tell the tale this child wouldn't live past His next breath this was the intent and actions of Herod just as Pharaoh all the centuries ago it sparked a genocide and Exodus. Herod was trying to do the same thing here in Matthew in order to make sure that the Christ child would perish. The seed of the serpent. The seed of Satan has always sought to kill the seed of the woman. Goliath seeking to stomp out David. Pharaoh seeking to stomp out Moses. Herod seeking to stomp out Christ. Herod's actions in Matthew 2 brought to mind at that time Jeremiah's prophecy about the weeping and lamentation of Jewish mothers for their children, this was not the first time this sort of stuff happened. One of the sad things about Israel's history in the far past and the not so far past has been the degree to which the physical ancestors of Abraham have been persecuted almost to the point of genocide by the world around them, to the point that Rachel, who's considered a matriarch, weeps and mourns of the children who have died. Well, this is depicted in a microcosm with what happened in Bethlehem, the slaughter of the innocents. But the good news at the same time was that at least one child would escape. Let's see what happened in our final verses, verses 19 through 23. Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Arise, take the young child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel. For those who sought the young child's life are dead. And then he arose, he took the young child and his mother, and he came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And then being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene. You know, there are, in doing biblical research and studying matters of antiquity, sometimes there are certain diagnoses that people of antiquity have, and you feel compelled to research it. Well, when King Herod died, one question that we might ask is, well, how did he die? And there has been a great deal of speculation. It's written about in various books of antiquity,
Christ, Grace, and the Closing Exhortation
and a lot of scholars have attempted to understand, to deduce what happened when Herod died at some point in his late 60s. And I can tell you that having researched some of the medical opinions about what he died from, there are things you don't want to Google. There's images you don't want to see. And among those is this, that some believe that King Herod died of a disease that would have brought about kidney failure and gangrene to spread to his extremities. And for our purposes, we'll just say this, he died horribly. When Scripture says that he died, we have reason to believe he died terribly. And upon his death, upon his death, another angel came to Joseph in a dream and said that now they could return home. Now they could go back. Now initially it seems like Joseph's thought was to go back to Bethlehem, to go back to where they were when Jesus was born. Initially that seems to be his plan. It's actually easier to get to there from Egypt than many other regions in Israel. However, because that area, which was so close to Jerusalem was still under threat by Herod's extended family, Joseph was warned by another angel to go further north, to go further north into Galilee, the area we call Nazareth, which fulfilled the prophetic tradition of the time that he would be called a Nazarene. And so that's what Joseph did. In the night, acting immediately, Joseph and Mary, they took the child, they went to Nazareth, where they settled down. They settled down and they raised their child.
With our remaining moments, let me offer just a couple of final observations from our text. In this morning's text here in Matthew 2, we've seen the story of what happened after a child's birth. At Christmas time, sometimes we get myopic. We only see the manger scene. We only think about the manger scene. And yet the manger scene is part of a greater narrative, which has wondrous parts and terrible fearful parts devils and dangers pursued Christ all of his days they didn't wait until he started his public ministry but right from his birth right from his birth this Jesus had a bullseye on his back right from his birth he was under danger whether it was Herod whether it was the devil coming at him in the wilderness whether it was the forked tongue of the Pharisees who regularly poked and prodded him in the temple and elsewhere whether it was the cross and pilot in the Romans. There's all manner of wickedness and depravity that came against his door that ultimately sought his destruction. From his first breath in the manger, so to speak, to his last breath, he was a wanted man, but not for the right reasons. But the good news that we have at Christmas and at Easter is this, that the world doesn't win. Yes, the world would hate Jesus, and yes, it would prove it from Herod to Pilate and everyone in between. Yes, the world would come against Jesus, and yet Jesus would be victorious. Ultimately, he would be nailed to a cross, and yet when he was put in the tomb, he didn't stay there. Three days later, he would arise. He sits even now at the right hand of God the Father. The world has always thought, there's always been villains that would think they could come against Christ or his church. There's another pastor who put it this way, all the enemies and all the opposition in the world is like a gnat pounding its head against a mountain of granite. That's a picture of what it's like when the world with all of its enemies in opposition, attempts to overthrow this one, this Christ. King Herod, who we've read about, much like Satan before him, thought that Christ's throne could become his own.
No one sits on Christ's throne except Christ. So whatever the next year brings, whatever the future brings, nothing has changed. The world hated Jesus then, it hates Jesus now. If we run up the flag of King Jesus on our own flagpole, as individuals or as a church, we will engender opposition. And yet we know how the story ends. So that's one takeaway that we can look at this text is that Jesus wins. Second takeaway is this, the wise men, the wise men who grew up outside of the covenant community, they were given a sign by God. They were given a star and they followed it to Christ himself. you and I and the world around us has so much more than a star.
you and I have so much more revelation of Jesus Christ than a star in the sky. And yet, despite all the revelation that should lead us right now into the manger but to the throne, we can be inclined to drift and forget what we knew. The irony is when the wise men came to Israel, when they came and when the scribes and the Pharisees started to look at their holy books, the only ones that we see that came to worship Jesus were not those in his covenant community per se, but the wise men, the Gentiles.
Sometimes you and I, in the midst of all the Christmas pageantry and the lights and the tinsel and the trees and all that, we can forget. We can forget who it was in the manger, who it was on the cross. We can drift in our attitudes and our affections to Jesus Christ our Lord. This morning, you have followed something far greater than a star. This morning, the Spirit speaks to us and calls us not simply to follow the light towards Jesus, but to live as Jesus has lived and to shine that light into a still darkened world around us.
This Christmas, this week is the opportunity to shine that light. My encouragement would be to do so. Let's pray.
More in The Gospel Of Luke
Continue the verse-by-verse series.
