The Annunciation of Messiah's Birth - Part 1

PDF

The Son of God, the eternal second Person of the Trinity, has often been on this earth, and He was on this earth often before Bethlehem. He was here at creation.  In fact, according to the Apostle John, He made everything that exists.  He walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, every day after He created them.  It was the Son of God who appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob.  He appeared to Moses in the burning bush and later, after they were at Mount Sinai for eighty days, with him there on the Mount.  He was with Israel, not only through the exodus, but also through the wilderness wanderings as the Pillar of Cloud by day and the Pillar of Fire by night.

Throughout Old Testament history, it is the eternal Son of God who appears as a mysterious figure called the “Angel of the Lord.”  It was His glory that overshadowed the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle, and later, in the Temple.  It was the second person of the Trinity who appeared to the prophets, and through His Spirit, gave them the words that we read.  He has always been the mediator between God and man.  So, when we read Matthew, chapter 1, verse 25, and it tells us that Mary “…gave birth to a Son; and he (Joseph) called His name Jesus,” it was not the Son's coming, it was His return.  What was different in the incarnation, what was different in Bethlehem was that He came as one of us.  He became fully human.  In fact, today, when we meet Him for the first time in Matthew, chapter 2, He is a small human Child less than two years old.  This week, we'll begin to examine this remarkable account that happened shortly after Jesus' birth.  It's familiar to everyone here if you've been a Christian or, frankly, just lived in our culture, you're familiar with this story.  And yet, like so many things that are familiar, most of us don't really understand it, and certainly don't appreciate its far-reaching implications.  So, let's read it together, Matthew, chapter 2, verses 1 to 12.  Now let me just warn you, you're going to hear me pronounce the word (‘magi’) in a way that may surprise you.  I just have to tell you that, you know, I'm a stickler for right, and I looked, in I think five different dictionaries, and this is the pronunciation.  So, “Get over it!” is what I'm going to say. 

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?  For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”  When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.  Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.  They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:  ‘AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF   JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.’”  Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared.  And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.”  After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was.  When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.  After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him.  Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.   And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

This account is obviously very important to Matthew because between chapters two and three of his Gospel, there is a gap of twenty-eight years from the time Jesus is two until He's thirty.  The other Gospels only record a couple of incidents in those years and Matthew records this one.  He could have skipped this incident altogether; none of the other Gospels mention this account, but he included it because it was crucial for his own purpose.  You see, Matthew wrote his Gospel, as I've reminded you, to prove that Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah of the Hebrew Scripture, the divine Savior and King.

Now let me set this story in its context.  The first two chapters of Matthew's Gospel record “The Messiah's Arrival,” the Messiah's arrival.  We've already seen “His Royal Ancestry” in chapter 1, verses 1 to 17.  Jesus was born into the right family, the family of David, since God had promised the Messiah would be a descendant of David.  Secondly, we've seen “His Virgin Conception and Birth” in the rest of chapter 1, verses 18 to 25.  Jesus was not only born in the right family, but he was born in the right circumstances.  Isaiah 7:14 said He would be born to a virgin, conceived by and born to a virgin.  And Jesus was born in the right circumstances. 

Today, we begin chapter 2, verses 1 to 12, the passage we just read together.  And here, we see “His Formal Annunciation,” His formal annunciation.  Over the next couple of weeks, as we study this passage, its theme is going to become very clear to you.  And here's the theme of this paragraph, “God used the magi to identify and to formally announce Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah, the only rightful King of the Jews, the only rightful King of all the earth, and the only rightful King of every person.”  In this story that has captivated Christians for 2,000 years, Matthew reveals Jesus' identity as Israel's promised Messiah, and he does so in three remarkable ways.  We're just going to look at the first today, and that is “The Surprising Annunciation of The Messiah,” the surprising annunciation of the Messiah.  Look at verses 1 and 2:

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?  For we saw His star in the east, and we have come to worship Him.”  

When you look at the Gospel records after Jesus' birth, He is affirmed to be the King, the Messiah, by several unlikely sources.  

In Luke, chapter 2, He's affirmed by an old man named Simeon, a godly old saint. In that same chapter, He's affirmed by a prophetess by the name of Anna.  But none of the witnesses of Jesus' right to be King is more unusual or frankly more mysterious than those called “The Magi,” or in some translations, “The Wise Men.”  Let's see what we learn about these magi.

First of all, we see “The Magi's Arrival,” the magi's arrival.  Verse 1 tells us when they came.  First of all, you'll notice generally, Matthew writes that it was “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea,” after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea.  Matthew actually records Jesus' birth, the actual event of His birth, in a single verse. Chapter 1, verse 25.  That's all he tells us about the birth of Jesus.  But then he tells us in verse 1 that the events we've just read in this paragraph occur after His birth.  Here we also learn where He was born.  Notice he writes, “…in Bethlehem of Judea.”  Now that was important because there were two Bethlehems in Israel.  One was north in Galilee; it wasn't that one.  This one was in Judea, about six miles south of Jerusalem.  I've had the opportunity, as some of you have with us when we traveled to Israel, to actually visit Bethlehem, to go to the Church of the Nativity, the very place where Jesus our Lord was born.  That's where He was born.  The name ‘Bethlehem’ simply means ‘house of bread.’  It's a reminder of the rich agriculture that surrounds that area.  In the first century, it was really a small, mostly insignificant town, probably less than a thousand people lived there in the time of Christ.  In other words, there were fewer people in Bethlehem when Jesus was born there than can fit in this auditorium–it was a small town.

But two significant events occurred there in the Old Testament.  First of all it's, of course, where the story of Boaz and Ruth unfolded.  And because of that came the second crucial event, and that was, it was the birthplace of King David, who came from, ultimately, Boaz and Ruth.  So, this small town, then, produced the entire Davidic dynasty that ruled the southern kingdom of Israel for more than 400 years.  That's where Jesus was born, and that becomes very important later in the story, so file that away. 

Now, Matthew adds that these events happened not only after Jesus was born, but “In the days of Herod the king.”  Now, I'll just tell you, this is Herod the Great; we'll learn more about him next time.  He reigned as the king of Judea from 40 B.C. until his death in the spring of 4 B.C.  Now, if you're paying attention, that creates a bit of a problem, because Jesus was born in the days of Herod, so he was born before Herod died, but we know Herod died in the spring of 4 B.C.  That means Jesus wasn't born at that crux between B.C. and A.D.  The man who came up with that came up with it about 500 years after the birth of Christ, and he was mostly right, but not entirely right. And so, Jesus was actually born in the years 4 or 5 B.C. because it was before Herod died. 

Thirdly, we know that the Magi's arrival was “At least 40 days after Jesus' birth,” it was at least 40 days after His birth.  Now, I hate to rain on your Christmas parade here, but it's clear the magi were not there on the night of Jesus' birth.  Now, don't feel like you have to go home and, like, tear up your nativity set; it's okay.  We can acknowledge that they did arrive eventually, and you can just know that.  But they were not there on the night of His birth. That night, the shepherds found Jesus where?  In a stable. Here, we find Jesus living in a house in Bethlehem. Look at verse 11, “After coming into the house, they saw the Child with Mary, His mother.”  If you piece together the timeline from the other Gospels, the magi arrived after forty days.  Forty days after Jesus' birth, as the law required, his parents took Him six miles north from Bethlehem to the Temple in Jerusalem.  What happened that day is recorded in Luke, chapter 2, verses 22 to 38.  Now, after the 40 days, after the presentation of Jesus at the Temple, they apparently returned to Nazareth to collect their belongings and to move to Bethlehem; because the next time we meet them, they are living in a house in Bethlehem. 

And then in the next story, when they have to flee the land of Israel, they go to Egypt; and when they're coming back into Israel, they initially intend to go back and live in Bethlehem.  But they decide not to do so because of who's reigning over that area.  So, they go north to Nazareth and to Galilee.  We'll talk about that when we get there, but it was, therefore, likely that after the forty-day presentation of Jesus at the Temple, they went to Nazareth, collected their belongings, and moved to Bethlehem because that's where the Messiah was to be, where he was to be born and where he was to be from. 

Another way we know that at least forty days passed since Jesus' birth is the travel time required for the magi.  We know the star appeared at Jesus' birth, and the main trade route from Babylon, where these men come from, to Israel was about 800 miles.  If they traveled the ancient average of about 20 miles a day, their journey would have taken about forty days.  So, putting all the evidence together, the events of Matthew 2:1-12 occur at least forty days after Jesus had been born. 

Fourthly, the magi arrive “Less than two years after Jesus' birth.”  This is clear because in verse 7, Herod investigated the exact time the star appeared.  And then in verse 16, we'll learn, he murdered the children under two years of age.  And knowing Herod, and I'll tell you more about him next time, he would have allowed a little margin to make sure he actually killed him.  So, at this point, we know that he was less than two years of age.  So, the magi arrived then somewhere between 40 days after Jesus' birth and two years after his birth.

Verse 1 adds that they arrived “In Jerusalem.”  The star appeared at the time of Jesus' birth, but there's no indication that the star led them all the way to Israel.  They didn't need that; they knew the child was to be King of the Jews.  So, they went to the city where they would expect the king of the Jews to be born, the capital city of Israel, where its current king reigned.  So that's what we know about the magi's arrival.  

Secondly, in these opening verses, we learn “The Magi's Identity,” their identity.  Who were these men who arrived in Jerusalem and unsettled an entire city?  Notice verse 1 simply describes them as “magi from the east.”  Now you understand this but let me just say this simple account has grown into a legend that is larger than life.  So, a lot of what you think you know about the magi is actually fiction; it doesn't appear in the Scriptures.  So let me just sort of disengage you from those ideas.  First of all, they weren't kings.  The idea of their being kings probably began because of Old Testament passages that say kings will worship the Messiah, and that's true, but these weren't kings.  We'll learn what they were momentarily, but they weren't kings.  Secondly, there probably weren't three; at least there's not any certainty of that.  The idea arose naturally, of course, from the fact that there are three gifts that they present to Jesus.  Thirdly, they weren't descendants of the three sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; no record of that.  Fourthly, their names weren't Gaspar, Balthazar, and Melchor, later Melchior.  There's no historical basis for believing that tradition that began near the end of the sixth century.  Number five, one of them was probably not an Ethiopian; they're likely all Persian.  And finally, it is highly unlikely that the three skulls found a thousand years later by the Bishop of Cologne, now on exhibition in the cathedral there, are authentic.  So that's all legend.  None of that is in the Biblical text.  But friends, the truth about these men is actually stranger than the fiction.  Let's see what we can learn about them, both from Biblical and secular history.  

First of all, according to Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian, the magi were originally members of a Persian priestly caste, a Persian priestly caste.  In other words, they came from what is modern Iran.  In ancient Persia, these were men of power and influence; they were actually the legal authorities of their world.  Our English word ‘magistrate’ comes from the word ‘magi.’  They were often involved in selecting a new king in their own land.  They were not kings; they were king-makers.  And that obviously factors into the story.  They were teachers as well; they were teachers of both science and religion.  In science, they studied astronomy, medicine, mathematics, and philosophy.  Actually, the magi, the ancient Persian caste, are credited with establishing the foundation for our planetary world system, the computation and tracking of time, and the establishment of the calendar.  Over time, their name came to be used of anyone in any nation that practiced these same skills and arts.  The truth is we find such men in Babylon in the book of Daniel.  Again and again in the book of Daniel, the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, uses this word family, ‘magi,’ to describe those who were practicing in Babylon.  In fact, Jeremiah 39:3 describes one of the main officials in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, the king over Babylon, and this is probably not going to catch on as a name for the next generation, “Nergal-sarezer.”  Nergal-sarezer is called “the Rab-mag,” the Rab-mag.  It's a title, and the title actually means, “The Chief of the Magi.” So, they had a huge role; they were legal experts, they taught science and studied science, but they also were into religion.  

Their religious expertise was in astrology, divination, and incantation.  In fact, our English word ‘magic’ comes from the word ‘magi,’ and that's really what these ancient men did in part.  What was their religion?  Well, beginning about the 6th century B.C., about the time of Daniel, Persia was influenced heavily by Zoroastrianism.  Now there are similarities between Judaism and the Zoroastrianism of the magi.  They were monotheists, they believed there's one god, and they offered sacrifices to that god in much the same way as in Judaism.  But their religion was in fact a Satanic counterfeit of faith in the true God.  The magi were involved in practices explicitly forbidden by God in the Old Testament, like astrology and the divination of dreams.  But remarkably, as we will see next time, God, in His mercy and grace, reached into Persia, He reveals amazing truth to these men, and I think we'll discover that these men came to genuine faith in the Messiah.  We will see them in heaven.  In the ancient world, these men then were very, very important.  In fact, they would have traveled with a large contingent, possibly even a small army, since they were entering an area under Rome's control.  And again, I hate to rain on your craze, but they probably didn't travel on camels, more likely on Persian or Arabian horses, since that was the area they were from, and that was the more common means of transportation.  

The magi also wore impressive clothes, including long cone-shaped hats, similar to what we still associate with wizards.  So, these guys didn't sneak into town; when they showed up in Jerusalem, they made a serious splash.  So, we've seen “The Magi's Arrival;” we've seen “Their Identity.” 

Thirdly, in these verses, we discover “The Magi's Purpose,” their purpose.  Why did they come? Look at verse 2, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?”  It's interesting that that is the only thing these men say in these twelve verses, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” There was no doubt in their minds that this King had already, in fact, been born.  Their question isn't “When,” but “Where?”  And it's very interesting to me, maybe it will be to you, that in that period of time, in the wider Mediterranean world, there was an anticipation of a great world ruler who would come.  Both Suetonius and Tacitus, Roman historians in the first century, write that at the time we refer to now as the change of eras from B.C. to A.D., there was a general expectation in the larger world, not just the religious world, a general expectation of a world ruler who would arise from Judea.  So, there was this anticipation, there was this sense that, “When's He coming?”  It's going to be in this time period.  How do we know exactly when?  So, the magi then weren't asking about the birth of just any Jewish king.  Look at verse 4, “Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he (Herod) began to inquire of them where the Messiah (Christos) was to be born.” 

Do you see what's happening here?  These men came to Jerusalem because they were convinced that Israel's greatest King, the Messiah, one destined to be a world ruler, had been born.  The purpose of the magi in coming was to find the Messiah and to worship Him.  But God had another purpose.  Think about this, God sent the magi; He gave them the truth about the Messiah.  Then He sends a signal to them that the Messiah has been born and they come to Israel.  Why?  God's purpose was for them to announce the birth of the Messiah to the political and religious leaders of the nation and to all of the Jewish people.  So, they come at God's bidding, for the annunciation, a surprising annunciation indeed of the birth of the Messiah. 

Fourthly, we learn of “The Magi's Sign.”  How did they know about the birth of the Messiah?  Verse 2 says, “For (because) we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”  “We saw His star in the east.”  A better translation of that expression “in the east” is “We saw His star when it rose” or “at its rising.”  Old Testament prophecy described the Messiah's birth as a star.  Balaam's prophecy in Numbers 24:17, speaking of the Messiah, he said, “I see him, but not now; (It's not going to happen right now.) I behold him, but not near.”  In other words, He's coming a long time from now.  “A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel.”  That prophecy connects a star with the Messiah.  

But what exactly was the star that the magi saw?  Now let me just admit to you that there has been a whole lot of ink and video footage spent on this question, “What exactly was the star?”  Well, some think it was the unique alignment of the planets that happened in 7 B.C., when Jupiter and Saturn aligned.  Others think it was a comet, and a comet did appear over Israel in that portion of the world in 1112 B.C., but, of course, that was too early.  Still, others believe, “No, this was a supernova, the brilliant explosion of a star.”  But it's unlikely that it's any of those things.  Why?  Look at verse 9, “The star went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the child was.”  Whatever the star was, it actually moved in front of them the six miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem and even indicated which house the Child was in.  So, they saw it originally back in the Fertile Crescent, they traveled 800 miles, they got to Jerusalem; and then as they were going from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, it appeared again and led them those six miles and stood over the house where Jesus was.  Clearly, this was a supernatural phenomenon that in some way resembled a star. 

You say, “What was it?”  Well, we're not told, we can't be certain, but personally, I think the most likely explanation is that it was the Shekinah.  It was the glory cloud, that blazing manifestation of God's presence that led the people of Israel through the desert, appearing as a Blazing Cloud by day and a Pillar of Fire by night, the blazing display of the presence of God that took up residence in the Old Testament Tabernacle and then later in the Temple.  I mean, something like this appeared to the shepherds on the night of Jesus' birth.  You remember Luke, chapter 2, verse 9, “An angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them.”  Whatever this star was, it indicated that the time had come for a unique King of the Jews to be born.  I think it was likely the Shekinah glory that showed up that heralded the birth of the Messiah. 

There's a fifth and final detail about the magi that's crucial for us to understand and that is “The Magi's Source.”  How did they know about the Messiah?  I mean, obviously the star provided them with the timing of His birth, but how did they know about this special King, the Messiah, a world Ruler who would be born in Israel?  Well, the clue comes in how they're described in verse 1.  They came “from the east,” specifically we know they came from the region of the former empire of Babylon and then the empire of Persia.  You see, 600 years before the birth of Christ, in the year 586, the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, attacked the southern kingdom of Israel, he destroyed the city of Jerusalem, and he carried all but the poorest and the oldest and the sickest captive to Babylon, the 800 miles to Babylon.  Fifty years after that, in 539 B.C., the Medes and the Persians, who eventually became known as the Persians because they were the stronger of the two peoples, the Medes and the Persians captured Babylon.  And their leader, a man named Cyrus, allowed the Jews to return from Babylon back to their home country.  But here's the key, most never did; only a small percentage of the Jewish people went back to Israel.  Many continued to live in the very land that these men would eventually come from.  For nearly 600 years, devout Jews had lived in that land and had shared their Scripture and the promise of a coming Messiah with the people among whom they lived.

But there's another even more shocking way that the magi knew about the Messiah.  It comes to us in the book of Daniel.  Daniel, chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had a dream, you remember, and he sent for the magi of Babylon, and he asked them to tell him his dream and its interpretation.  You know the story, none of them could, so he commanded them to be killed.  When they came to Daniel and his three friends, Daniel asked for time, and the Lord revealed to him the dream and its meaning.  And as a reward for what Daniel did, Nebuchadnezzar did something that's shocking.  Turn back to Daniel, chapter 2; Daniel, chapter 2, and look at verse 48, “Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon (He's second in command under Nebuchadnezzar.) and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.”  Now turn over to chapter 5; chapter 5, verse 11, this is the story of Belshazzar; this is the day that the Babylonian empire was destroyed, and the Persian empire really began.  Verse 10:

The queen (Nebuchadnezzar's wife) entered the banquet hall…and said (To Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's grandson)…There is a man in your kingdom (speaking of Daniel) in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father (that is, your grandfather,) illumination, insight, and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him.  And king Nebuchadnezzar (your grandfather)…appointed him chief of the magicians. 

And in the Septuagint, this word comes from the same family of words as our word ‘magi.’  So, think about that; under the Babylonians, Daniel is over all of the magi of Babylon.  So, what happens when Persia takes over?  Look at chapter 6; chapter 6.  “It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the entire kingdom, that they would be in charge of the whole kingdom, and over them (120 satraps) three commissioners (of whom Daniel was one).”  But “Daniel began distinguishing himself” in verse 3, and look at the end of verse 3, “…the king planned to appoint him (Daniel) over the entire kingdom.”  And then you know the story, the rest of chapter 6 is Daniel in the lion's den, the conspiracy against him.  How does that turn out?  Look at chapter 6, verse 28, “So this Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus, the Persian.”  

You see how God was setting everything up?  This is 500 years before Jesus.  But certainly, Daniel used his influence to direct those under his authority to the true God.  He would have shared the Old Testament Scripture with the wise men of Babylon.  And consider what God revealed to Daniel himself about the coming Messiah.  In chapters 2 and 7, he learned there would be a series of world empires culminating in an eternal kingdom established by God Himself.  Chapter 2, verses 44 and 45, he discovered that that final world empire would be ruled over by a divine Messiah.  How do we know He's divine?  I read it to you in Daniel, chapter 7, verses 13 and 14, just a few minutes ago.  Because He received worship, He's divine, and yet He's called “The Son of Man,” telling us he's going to be a unique person.  And we see that in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He would rule over this final worldwide empire. 

And God even told Daniel when the Messiah would come.  Look at Daniel, chapter 9, verse 24.  You have the prophecy of the 70 weeks where he lays out what's going to happen before Messiah comes. And I don't have time to fully develop it; you can go back and listen to our study of this passage in the study of Daniel.  But essentially, he says before Messiah comes, from the beginning of the decree to rebuild until Messiah comes is 483 years.  Well, guess what happens when you do the math from the decree to rebuild until, you add 483 years, and you land in the middle of the lifespan of our Lord Jesus Christ.  So, they knew when Messiah was coming.  That's why there was this anticipation, this sense of “it's going to happen, when and where!”  There's eagerness for this reality.  So apparently, all that the magi had learned from Daniel and the Jews living in Babylon continued to be passed down generation to generation. And at the birth of Christ, in 4-5 B.C., the magi were still familiar with the prophecies.  They were eager in anticipation of them being fulfilled.  And then God appeared to them in the form of the Shekinah to tell them that the Messiah had, in fact, been born.  That's why they came searching for the One who was born King of the Jews, the Messiah who would be the world ruler out of Israel.  What an amazing beginning to this story! 

So, what are the lessons that we can begin to see in this amazing account?  Let me just briefly give you three of them.  Number one, the Messiah would be rejected by His own people.  We're going to see that in this account.  But Gentiles from the nations would gladly receive Him; it was prophesied.  Isaiah 49:6, God says to the Messiah, “Is it too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”  Think about it, Matthew's Gospel begins with the first Gentiles being converted, and it ends with Jesus saying, “For the rest of church history, there are going to be disciples made to me from all the nations” (Paraphrase).

Secondly, this story anticipates the suffering that the Messiah would eventually endure.  I mean, think about it.  He's less than two years old when this story occurs, but the hostility against Him has already reached a feverish, murderous pitch.  The title that the magi used for Him here in verse 2, ”The King of the Jews,” that title doesn't occur again until chapter 27, where it occurs three times. Turn over to Matthew 27; I want you to see it in its context.  That title, it comes back, but not in the way you would expect.  Look at Matthew 27, verse 11, “Now Jesus stood (before Pilate) the governor, and the governor questioned Him, saying, ‘Are You the King of the Jews?’  And Jesus said, ‘It is as you say.’”  Look down in verse 29, “And after twisting together (weaving) a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews.’”  Look at verse 37, “And above His head they put up the charge against Him which read, ‘THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.’”  You see, friends, our King reveals His greatest glory when He suffers on a cross for us–that's our King!  If you're here this morning and you have never trusted in Jesus Christ, your only hope is the One who is your rightful King, and your rightful King came into this world to die on a cross to suffer the justice of God for the sins of everyone who would ever believe in Him, that's our King! 

Number three, the Messiah is the King of the Jews and of all people.  I mean, think about it, when God chose to announce the arrival of His Son on the night of His birth, He did so through humble Jewish shepherds, probably from Bethlehem.  And within just a couple of months, he sent some powerful, influential Gentiles from what is modern-day Iran.  What is God saying?  The lesson Matthew wants us to learn from God Himself is clear, regardless of your background, your ethnicity, your external circumstances, God, the true God, demands that you acknowledge the Child who was born in Bethlehem as your King.  The only proper response to Jesus Christ is to fall at His feet in submission and worship because He's the promised One; He's the divine Messiah; He's the only rightful King of the Jews; He's the only rightful King of the Gentiles. He's the only rightful King of every person; He's your rightful King! 

Let me ask you, and this isn't a rhetorical question; I want you to answer this question in your own heart, you individually, I want you to answer this question, “Have you ever personally acknowledged Jesus Christ's right to be your King, His right to rule your life?  Have you ever truly bowed your will to His?”  You see, the only real lesson here is that He's your rightful King, and He deserves your submission, your obedience, and your worship.  And if you fail to do so in this life, if you fail to acknowledge Him as your King, now, one day, after you die or He returns, you will stand before Him at the judgment, and you will acknowledge that He is King, but it'll be too late for you, my friend. I plead with you to acknowledge it now. 

If you already profess Christ as King, most of us here, the primary lesson for you is that you must reaffirm Jesus' right to tell you everything, to tell you how to think about everything, to tell you how to speak, to tell you how to live in your marriage, to tell you how to parent your children, to tell you how to do your job, to tell you how to choose the right entertainment, everything–He is your King!  May we live in the implications of that. 

Let's pray together.  Father, remind us that our lives are not our own, that we've been bought with a price, and help us to reaffirm today that Jesus is Lord, that He is our King.  May we live like that.  And Father, I pray for those here who don't know you, may they bow the knee even today to your Son, their only rightful King, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.