Matthew 1:18-25

[00:00:00] You are listening to the Through The Bible's Studio series with Pastor Nate Holdridge. Join us as we continue our study through the new Testament book of Matthew. Here's Nate. Well, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus is presented as the king that Israel has been waiting for.

[00:00:23] This anticipation that there would be a Savior, that there would be a Messiah, but there would be a figure who came in the line and likeness of King David to set up his kingdom, his rule, his reign, and his authority.

[00:00:41] That anticipation was deep inside of the hearts of the people in Israel at the time of Christ. And so Matthew presents Jesus as the king who is a fulfillment of all of these old Testament prophecies that promise that that day is coming.

[00:01:04] Now, as Matthew will demonstrate, the coming of Christ was different than they had anticipated. They expected and locked in on the more glamorous portions of the prophecies concerning the coming of Christ. They thought about his kingdom, they thought about his ruling the nations with a rod of iron.

[00:01:33] They longed to be in prominence once again from a nationalistic perspective. And of course, in his first coming, that really wasn't the priority of Jesus. He was redeeming and purchasing a people for himself as he consumed the sin of the world, the wrath of God,

[00:01:58] and the curse that mankind was under in his own body on the cross, and thereby became the king of a new kingdom. That's what Matthew wants to demonstrate through and in this gospel that he is the king that Israel was waiting for.

[00:02:18] But that his kingdom looks different than they perhaps had previously anticipated, although a day is coming where I believe quite literally the promises that were found in the Old Testament concerning this coming king and coming ruler will be literally fulfilled

[00:02:39] and visible and seen when Jesus returns in his second coming. And so by looking at it through that particular grid, you see a purpose in the first coming of Christ but a different purpose in the second coming of Christ.

[00:02:57] And both of them put together fulfill all of the promises and prophecies concerning Jesus found in the Old Testament. Now it says in Matthew chapter 2, verse 1.

[00:03:09] This of course, after all of the events in Matthew chapter 1 where we saw the genealogy of Jesus connecting him to Joseph through David and on back to Abraham.

[00:03:25] And as we saw the birth of Christ at the end of Matthew chapter 1 where Joseph was determined to put away Mary secretly and privately so it's not to shame her publicly when the angel came to him in a dream and said,

[00:03:41] this baby inside of Mary's womb is of the Holy Spirit, take her to be your wife, name this boy Jesus. He will save his people from their sins. So Jesus has now been born.

[00:03:57] Now in Matthew 2, verse 1 it says, now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king. Behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews?

[00:04:13] For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. So an interesting little set of circumstances here in the first couple of verses of Matthew chapter 2.

[00:04:27] First of all, we see this group of wise men traveling from the east all the way to Jerusalem following some star in order to see Jesus who they call the king of the Jews.

[00:04:41] Now we'll see in a moment that that phrase really gets under the skin of King Herod who wants the preeminence and prominence in Israel. And certainly doesn't want competition from a king of the Jews.

[00:04:55] But first of all, the question I think that would be asked is, well where did these wise men come from? Well we note of course as an aside that the number of wise men is not given even though our popular nativity scenes include the three wise men.

[00:05:15] The number is not given. It's just a group of wise men. These would be wealthy men traveling from the east, the region of Babylon, Caldea and they come out from the east.

[00:05:27] These are wealthy men. This would have been quite a journey that they had taken to come out and to visit Jesus. And so the question would be why did these men come and when did they come?

[00:05:39] And of course we learned that they were following a star. But I think there's a chance that there was a little more going on behind the scenes than simply following a large star that they saw in the sky.

[00:05:54] If you go back to the book of Daniel and of course in the Old Testament you discover that the people of Israel were carried away captive for a period of 70 years to the nation of Babylon.

[00:06:10] And during that time Daniel who was a Jew became a very significant figure within the nation of Babylon.

[00:06:22] He went there as a young man and would not defile himself with the King's delicacies and quickly rose to prominence because of his ability that God had given to him to interpret dreams and visions

[00:06:38] and the miraculous was done through him. He was a wonderful consecrated man but he was raised up into a position of prominence over the fortune tellers and astrologers and tradesmen of that time.

[00:06:57] And era Daniel was placed in a position of authority and prominence over all of them. And we would assume then that Daniel would teach them and that Daniel would speak to them and that Daniel would evangelize and share with them his faith.

[00:07:14] And when Daniel wrote the ninth chapter of Daniel he received this prophecy from the Lord who sent his angel to speak with Daniel and Daniel received a prophecy about a 490 year period of time.

[00:07:30] And the prophecy developed the first 483 years. That from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem there would be 483 years that passed until the time that Christ was revealed.

[00:07:51] And a personally I believe that the commander of restore and rebuild Jerusalem was found in Nehemiah chapter 2 when King art exerxes spoke to Nehemiah and gave him the command to go and restore and rebuild not the temple but the city.

[00:08:07] To rebuild the walls to rebuild Jerusalem and 483 years later it seems as you do the math and figures it appears that this was the moment that Jesus entered on to the scene in Jerusalem either in his public ministry or more specifically at his triumphal entry a week before he went to the cross.

[00:08:34] And so it's very possible at least all I'm saying very possible at least in my mind that these wise men had some kind of historical connection with the ancient teaching of Daniel.

[00:08:48] And as time had gone on and as they had continued in their astrology there was this waiting for this figure that Daniel had prophesied of.

[00:08:59] And this anointed one and somehow even though God would not sanction a astrology per se that somehow through their learning they had come to a place where when this star was seen it was enough to cause them to travel all of these miles to go and see this baby boy that had been born.

[00:09:24] So they come to Jerusalem and they say we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.

[00:09:32] Now I don't know if this was just to them just another star that somehow stood out to them that these wise men when they saw it there was a significance to it and God used that to draw them out to Bethlehem and to Jerusalem.

[00:09:52] Or if this was a supernatural star that's what I tend to believe just a supernatural star a guiding light that brought them. And I believe in the God who created the heavens and the earth and the stars and the sky and the sand on the sea shore.

[00:10:05] I believe in a God who was able to raise from the grave and so it's no problem for me to believe that God would be able at the very least to do this for these wise men.

[00:10:16] And when Harid back in Matthew 2, the king heard this he was troubled in all Jerusalem with him and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

[00:10:34] Now Harid, he hears this news and he's troubled and whenever Harid is troubled everyone else will be troubled with him because he was a volatile man. This particular Harid he was a wicked and paranoid ruler.

[00:10:50] A few of the highlights from his life or at one point in his life he put his favorite wife to death with her sons and after he did it he then mourned their death. Another son, five days before Harid died himself he put to death.

[00:11:12] He arrested at different moments the leading men of Jerusalem and gathered them together and ordered that when he died personally they would then kill all of these leading men in Jerusalem.

[00:11:29] Which of course the people actually didn't do once he was dead and off of his little false throne. They saw no need to obey his dictates any longer and they released these leading men in Jerusalem. He was just a bad man.

[00:11:46] And so it was had news to tell Harid that the king of the Jews or that the Messiah had been born. And so he gathers together the chief priests and the scribes.

[00:11:58] You've got these religious leaders, these would be people who would potentially and supposedly understand the Old Testament and he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

[00:12:12] They told him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet and you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. Or from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

[00:12:34] And so they immediately in true style of Matthew's gospel, they immediately go to the Old Testament and they go to the Old Testament book of Micah chapter 5 verse 2,

[00:12:49] where you have this prophecy concerning Bethlehem that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the land of Judah and that as he says there, for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

[00:13:05] And God had promised that he would actually personally shepherd Israel in rejection of the false shepherds and false religious leaders over Israel,

[00:13:16] and he was coming to do the job himself. And this of course is a prophecy concerning the Messiah, so their answer in short is Bethlehem, he'll be born in Bethlehem.

[00:13:26] Now the fascinating thing here is that when you go back to Micah chapter 5 verse 2, one thing you discover is this beautiful little line in describing this character who would be born in Bethlehem, this ruler who will shepherd my people Israel, the description goes like this. It says,

[00:13:49] whose goings forth are from old, from everlasting. And so this is another one of those beautiful little passages that demonstrates the eternal nature of Christ,

[00:14:03] that he has no beginning and that he has no end, that he is God who became man. And so Micah 5 verse 2, Jesus would come and be born in Bethlehem,

[00:14:17] and that his goings forth were from old, from everlasting. The eternal son of God. Now response to this, here it, summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem saying,

[00:14:38] go and search diligently for the child. And when you have found him bring me word that I too may come and worship him.

[00:14:47] And so he puts on this pretense of worship, you know, hey, go find out where the Messiah is, where this king is, I want to come and worship him.

[00:14:56] But that's obviously as we'll see in a moment not what was in the heart of Herod. After listening to the king, they went on their way and behold,

[00:15:05] the star, verse 9, that they had seen when it rose, went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.

[00:15:12] And so again, as I mentioned, this appears to be none other than a supernatural star, a supernatural shining light that at the very least these wise men were able to see. When they saw the star, verse 10, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

[00:15:32] And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and murder.

[00:15:47] And being warned and dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. And so they arrived at the house. Now I know as I mentioned earlier, our popular nativity scenes show this in a little bit different of a light.

[00:16:04] So usually see the wise men showing up at the barn or the cave that Jesus was born in. There's Jesus lying in a manger of feeding trough and there are the wise men giving their gifts to Jesus, the gold, the frankincense and the murder.

[00:16:23] But this event actually took place a little bit after the birth of Christ. You remember that when Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem where Jesus was eventually born. The reason that they went was because there had been a demand by the Caesar to take a census.

[00:16:45] And so they had to go to their hometowns or the place of their lineage and because Joseph was related to David who was from Bethlehem. They had to go to Bethlehem to there be numbered in this census.

[00:16:59] And when they arrived, you know, so full, so packed in the city because of all of these people coming to be numbered in the census,

[00:17:07] that there was no room for them in any of the hotels or in and so they were eventually ushered to a little barn with animals where they spent the night and Jesus was born.

[00:17:21] But of course after the census is over, the crowds would begin to thin and before Jesus was old enough to travel and Mary was in recovery process.

[00:17:34] They found a house in Bethlehem and there they lived for a period of time, perhaps a year or two that they lived there in Bethlehem. And so these wise men come and they lay down their gifts and they worship Jesus. And just imagine this.

[00:17:52] These dignified, wealthy, sophisticated men climbing down on their knees on their faces before this little baby. This would have been a wonder to Mary and to Joseph. And they worship Him.

[00:18:12] And this worship is not reviewed, it's not corrected, it's allowed, it's received, it is permissible because it is right to worship this child. He is the son of God and God the Son worthy of worship.

[00:18:32] Now I love this as well because as they worship, notice that they gave their worship cost them something. And this of course is a wonderful model when David in 2 Samuel 24 went to the Threshing Floor of Arna and said,

[00:18:52] I would like to purchase this Threshing Floor in order to sacrifice to the Lord here. Arna said, you can have it, you can have oxen, you can have everything you need to do.

[00:19:04] The sacrifice to will cost you nothing and David said, no, I'll pay for it because I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing.

[00:19:15] And here you see with these wise men, they give these great gifts to the Lord and their worship had a cost attached to it. And I think this is important for us to observe in our own lives as well.

[00:19:32] You know, it's important to be a financial giver onto the Lord. It really is. I consider this one of the first marks of real maturity and one of the first real evidence is that Jesus has become Lord of your life.

[00:19:49] The willingness to give to the work of ministry in your local church, the willingness to be a tithre to give 10% of your income onto the Lord. Not that we are under any kind of law, but that's a good starting place.

[00:20:05] When you read the New Testament it appears that we should probably end up overall being more generous than the 10% number. But that's a great place to start and I think a great indicator of where our hearts are at.

[00:20:20] Do we trust in the Lord and will our worship be sacrificial in nature? Of course our worship is sacrificial in nature in other ways as well, giving up our time and our energy to serving the Lord. And so for these men they obviously gave their time.

[00:20:37] They went on this long journey to worship Jesus and they gave their treasure as well. And to think of what this gold and frankincense and myrrh would do to help out Jesus and his family.

[00:20:49] They had a long trip coming up that they'd need to be able to pay for. And so these men with their gifts provided wonderfully for the work of Christ and ultimately the work of the gospel.

[00:21:04] And they give the gold and they give frankincense and myrrh which others have pointed to and given different connections there with each one of these gifts to being a part of who Jesus is, the gold, you know his kingly role and responsibility.

[00:21:22] But in the frankincense and the myrrh the incense and the priestly side of his ministry. But also that these spices in one sense would be used for the burial process.

[00:21:36] And so in one sense these were predictive gifts talking about his coming kingdom, talking about his future high priestly ministry, but also talking about his death.

[00:21:47] And so after all of this occurred they were worn in a dream not to return to herred and they departed to their own country by another way. Now verse 13 when they had departed behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.

[00:22:03] Notice this once again, Joseph receiving direction from the Lord and said, rise, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you for herred is about to search for the child to destroy him.

[00:22:21] And he arose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remain there until the death of herred. This was to fulfill with the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt I called my son.

[00:22:35] So Joseph is warned in a dream, by an angel of the Lord because of herred and because he is going to try to kill Jesus to arise in the night with Jesus and his mother and flee down to Egypt.

[00:22:49] And of course the gold frankness and and myr would help pay for this adventure down to Egypt.

[00:22:57] And so he takes the child by night and goes down to Egypt, stayed there until the death of herred and then notice that math you includes this little phrase that this was done to fulfill with the Lord had spoken by the prophet out of Egypt.

[00:23:12] I called my son. Now this prophecy is found in Jose 11 verse 1 that the Messiah would come from an out of Egypt. Now here at verse 16, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, you know they never returned to report.

[00:23:30] He came furious and he sat and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years older under according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

[00:23:42] And then was fulfilled, was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah. So once again we're getting this fulfilled prophecy. A voice was heard in Rama weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children. She refused to be comforted because they are no more.

[00:24:02] And so this prophecy came from Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 18, and Matthew is faithful to a doodably recorded for his readers to see again another fulfilled prophecy through the time in the life of Christ.

[00:24:18] And you have to remember that much of the energy of the early church would have been spent looking into prophecies like this. Their old testament was their scripture originally and initially.

[00:24:32] It is still our scripture today but now we have the entire new testament, but in those days they would look into the Old Testament and find Jesus. And here was another portion that indicated the life of Christ.

[00:24:45] But when her adied verse 19, behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and Egypt saying, rise, take the child in his mother and go to the land of Israel for those who sought the child's life are dead.

[00:25:02] So notice again the dream in the night the angel speaking to Joseph. I wonder if Joseph every night when he went to bed wondered if he'd receive a dream that night.

[00:25:14] But once again you see the leadership of God over Joseph's life and his obedience to follow the Lord. And so he rose verse 21 and took the child in his mother and went to the land of Egypt.

[00:25:25] But when he heard that Arca Les was raining over Judea in place of his father, hear it. He was afraid to go there.

[00:25:33] He didn't want to go back into Judea and so being worn in a dream once again he withdrew to the district of Galilee, a little quieter, a little more below the radar there. And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, a little nothing of a town.

[00:25:51] And that was spoken by the prophets who said he shall be called a Nazarene. Now this is an interesting prophecy perhaps from Judges 13 verse 5. But basically what you see in Matthew is Matthew says, hey listen the Messiah had to be from Bethlehem.

[00:26:14] He had to be from Egypt and also had to be from Nazareth. And of course as you look at the odds of being from all three places, their rather meniscus.

[00:26:27] But Jesus himself he was born in Bethlehem. He spent a major portion of his childhood in Egypt and then his younger years after Bethlehem in Egypt in the city of Nazareth.

[00:26:40] He was from all three places. And these fulfilled prophecies bolster, the faith of those who followed the Lord, fulfilled prophecy is one of the greatest evidences we have that the Bible that we hold in our hands is true. The wonderful word of God.

[00:27:00] And so let's follow after the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. God bless you and amen.