Throughout this sermon series, I interacted heavily with The Great Christ Comet by Colin Nicholl.
“1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: 6 “ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’” 7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
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Imagine showing up for work tomorrow and being told that someone else will be taking your place. You have just taken the role of Herod at Christmas.
Now I would hope that you would respond better than Herod. I hope that you will respond better than Herod because your role at Christmas is similar to Herod’s. Christmas told Herod that there was a king and it wasn’t him. Christmas tells you that there is a king and it isn’t you. Christmas tells you that a king has come, this king is not you, and that you need to turn over the throne to him. You need to let him take over.
Now when you know this king and you know yourself, you know that this transfer of power is very good news. However, it is possible that you don’t know this king. It is possible that you do not know yourself all that well. It is possible that you, like Herod, do not see Christmas as good news. The fact remain, however, that news is true whether you like it or not.
There is a king and it isn’t you. That is the truth and that is the claim of this sermon: there is a king and it isn’t you.
We will study this in two points. First: the two kings. Second: there can only be one. In verses 1-3, we consider the two kings. In verses 3-8, we recognize that there can only be one king.
First: the two kings. As we saw last week, Jesus of Nazareth was born during the reign of Herod the Great. He was born on an observable date. It likely wasn’t December 25 but it was a date on the calendar. Just as I was born when Jimmy Carter was president, so Jesus of Nazareth was born when Herod was ruling Judea. We are not dealing with a myth in either case. We are dealing with history in both cases.
History tells us a good deal about Herod. History tells us that he was a cruel and repressive ruler. He imposed heavy taxes on the people and his policies invited not only grumbling but outright resistance. He was paranoid that others were scheming for his throne. When Herod’s brother-in-law grew too popular with the people, the brother-in-law had an accident and drown in a suspiciously shallow pool. Herod had his favorite wife executed for a crime of which she was later exonerated. Herod had two of his own sons strangled because he thought they were vying for his throne. On his own deathbed, he had another one of his sons executed. Tradition has it that Caesar Augustus said that, “it was better to be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son.” Herod after all wouldn’t kill and eat his pig.
When we come to Herod’s slaughter of the innocents in Bethlehem, we will see that such atrocities were not out of character for the king of Judea. He falsely accused officials of disloyalty and had them beaten to death. He had religious men burned alive. He had nobles arrested and ordered that they be executed on the day of his own death so that he could be sure there would be some sort of mourning on the day that he died.
Herod was ruthless and paranoid. This is the man to whom the Magi said, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” Little wonder that Matthew continued “When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.”
Herod was disturbed, in part, because he was not a Jewish king of the Jews. He was Idumean. He attempted to bolster his credibility with Jews by way of his massive renovation of the temple, but he knew that the people had no great love for him. He knew they longed for the promised Messiah. If word got out that the Messiah was born, the people would grow quite restless. It is no surprised that Herod was disturbed by the arrival of the Magi.
Matthew tells us that all of Jerusalem was disturbed with him. The interests of the ruling class—the priests and scribes—were deeply allied with Herod’s political interests by this time. What was good for Herod was good for them; what was bad for Herod was bad for them. Jerusalem was also troubled because they knew Herod’s tacit response to any threat to his throne. They knew that the Magi’s questions would only invite executions and when Herod’s paranoia was piqued, there was no telling who could be killed. In short, the appointed leaders of the people of God were disturbed by news that the long-awaited Messiah was born.
The so-called king of the Jews did not want to hear that the Messiah had been born. The religious leaders did not want to hear that the Messiah had been born. By and large the people were more troubled by the potential instability than they were thrilled by the prospect that the Messiah had been born. Isaiah’s long-awaited prophecy didn’t sound like good news to their ears, “for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.”
The leaders of the people of God cared more about their own interests than they did about the plan and purposes of God. By and large, the people of God cared more about stability than they did about what God was doing. This was only the beginning of the rejection of Jesus; “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”
Perhaps you find yourself behaving the same way this morning. You have grown quite comfortable with life the way it is. You know that not everything in your life is perfect, but you prefer these imperfections to the instability that you know that Jesus would bring if you were to completely turn yourself over to him. Truly submitting to Jesus would entail exposure. Truly submitting to Jesus would entail being commanded. Truly submitting to Jesus would entail the instability of no longer being in charge. Perhaps you, like those people in the first century, prefer to say that you long for the Christ without actually wanting to bend the knee to him. In your heart of hearts, you would rather not need Jesus. You do your best to portray an air of respectability and righteousness lest anyone ever consider you a person in need of a savior.
If you resonate with what I am saying, please do what the leaders and people of Jerusalem did not do. Please repent. Please recognize that preferring the stability of your own life to the life of Christ is the road to destruction. Jesus was clear, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.”
The disturbance of Herod, the Jerusalem elite, and the people would have been exacerbated if the star that brought the Magi to Jerusalem were as visible as a comet. Please bring up slide number one.
Even though the Scriptures forbid divination like astrology, many Jews still feared what the stars foretold. Some Christians still do the same. A few years ago any number of people looked to the night sky in fear because of the blood moon prophecies popularized by John Hagee.
If the night sky looked anything like this painting, there would be a good deal of uncertainty in people’s minds. The Roman world respected astrology and even emperors feared astrological predictions. Comets were usually the sign of the death one ruler and the rise of another. Given the night sky, the Magi would have found a very receptive audience for their words, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?”
Last week we heard one plausible explanation as to how the night sky could have led the Magi to search for the Messiah. The prophecies which we studied last week were not the only prophecies of the Messiah that dealt with the night sky. God spoke about the coming Messiah and the night sky through Balaam. Balaam is most famous for his donkey through which God spoke, but God also spoke through Balaam. He said, ‘The prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of one whose eye sees clearly, the prophecy of one who hears the words of God, who has knowledge from the Most High, who sees a vision from the Almighty, who falls prostrate, and whose eyes are opened: “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.”’
Early church fathers interpreted these words as a reference to the star of Bethlehem. Origin wrote that, “the star which appeared at Jesus’ birth had been prophesied by Balaam.”
Now Balaam connected this star with a scepter. He placed the word star and scepter in parallel position. He wrote that, “A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” Jacob is simply another word for Israel and scepter is simply another word for star. You see this same poetic technique in Psalm 24; “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it; the world and all who live in it.” The Psalmist was simply repeating his idea. Isaiah did the same when about the suffering servant, he said, “he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities.” Balaam repeated himself when he said, “a star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.”
Now a comet looks a good deal like a king’s scepter in the sky. Please bring up slide two for a picture of a comet and then slide three for a picture of a scepter;
Please bring slide four for another picture of a comet and then slide five for a picture of a scepter.
Please return to our slide of the comet over the night sky.
Last week we heard about the constellation of the virgin great with child. Now we see this scepter in the sky, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” Whether or not this was exactly what led the Magi to Jerusalem, a star in the heavens did bring them because we know they asked Herod, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east.” You can take down the slide.
Herod took this omen of a new king seriously. He had good reason for doing so. Isaiah’s prophecy of this king were overtly political, “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.” Jerusalem took this portent of a new king seriously.
Jesus took himself seriously as a king. Now we tend to spiritualize this kingship. We say that he is king of our hearts. There is something true about that, but he is also king as Herod feared. He did say, “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” All authority in heaven and earth is far more than the kingship of your heart.
The message of Christmas was, in many ways, better understood by Herod than it is by the world today. Herod understood that if the king had come that meant he was no longer king. Herod understood that he would have to reckon with this king. The world does not understand that. They world thinks they can dismiss this Jesus as a mere teacher. They world thinks they can limit him to be a mere figurehead for what is good and right. Perhaps you have tried to limit him to merely a savior. Herod saw that Christmas meant there was a king with whom he must reckon. As wicked as Herod’s actions towards Jesus were at least he took Christ seriously enough to treat him seriously. We see this in our second point: there can only be one. We find two kings in our passage, but there can only be one.
The Magi had asked a question, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” Herod did not know the answer. He knew that the people longed for the Messiah, but he had no idea as to the prophecies as to where this child was to be born. Now this shouldn’t surprise us; Herod was not much of a hearer of the word and he certainly wasn’t a doer of the word.
Herod consulted with the religious leaders in private. He asked, in the words of verse 4, ‘where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.””’
As Herod heard those words of Micah, he encountered the word of God. Herod had the opportunity to obey the word of God. “When Bethlehem [was] read in his hearing, it [was] God’s oral invitation to Herod as well,” writes Fredrich Bruner. “Herod and Magi – both sinners, both aliens from God – both hear God’s word and so receive engraved invitations to the party. But Herod hears it and does not pursue it.”
This story of Herod and the wise men is familiar to many of us but don’t let its familiarity blind you to the fact that it could have been otherwise. Herod could have acknowledged that the Messiah had in fact come. He could have recognized it was his duty to say what John the Baptist said, “I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals.” He could have recognized it was his duty to do what John the Baptist did; “[Jesus] must increase; I must decrease.” Herod chose otherwise.
He called the Magi in secret and asked them when they first saw the star. He then told them to go to Bethlehem, find the child, and report back to him. As we will see next week, Herod hoped to find the child so that he might kill him and only him. He asked when the star first appeared so that if he couldn’t find the child, he would know the ages of the children he would need to kill. Herod was right to see that there could only be one king. He simply chose the wrong king.
Herod preferred his own rule to that of the Messiah and in this Bruner is right to say that, “Herod is not merely he Gospel villain; he is Everyman.” Herod saw that if Jesus was king, then Herod could not be king. You need to see what he saw. If Jesus is king, then you cannot be king. If Jesus is in charge, you cannot be in charge. There cannot be two kings; there can only be one. Now you will either make the same choice as Herod or you yield the throne to Jesus. You will either continue to live your own life as you see fit with or without a veneer of Christianity or you will recognize that you no longer have the right to your own life. You will recognize that you are now under the management of Jesus.
When Jesus’ disciples asked him to increase their faith, he responded, ‘Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.”’ Jesus told them that their faith would increase to the extent they recognized themselves to be under new management.
We like to talk about our rights. The Christian’s only right is to be commanded by his master. It is also his joy to be commanded by his master. You know that you are born again if you long to be told what to do by your Savior. “If you love me,” says Jesus, “you will keep my commandments.” That is the joy of the born-again heart. On “the day when I surrendered myself to my Savior,” wrote Spurgeon, “I gave him my body, my soul, my spirit; I have him all I had, and I all shall have for time and eternity. I gave him all my talents, my powers, my faculties, my eyes, my ears, my limbs, my emotions, my judgments, my whole manhood, and all that came of it, whatever fresh capacity or new capability I might be endowed with.” In short, Spurgeon gave himself to his king and he gave himself in order to commanded. Only you can answer as to whether you’ve done the same but be honest with your answer because the king knows whether or not you are telling the truth. Don’t say that Christ is your king if you are actually the king of your own life.
Herod would not yield his throne to Christ. Even more troublingly the religious leaders made no effort in that direction. They knew where the Messiah was to be born and yet we are not told about any who joined the Magi in their search. These leaders had devoted their lives to the teaching and keeping of the word of God and they couldn’t be bothered to see if the prophecy they were apparently waiting for was even true. Now they didn’t know anything about Herod’s plan to kill the Christ, but the next generation of religious leaders planned to kill the Christ. This generation of religious leaders couldn’t be bothered to go take the two to three-hour trip to Bethlehem to see if the Christ was born and the next generation crucified him.
Be appalled and be terrified by their response because it reveals that sometimes faith can be nothing more than show and a sham. Those religious leaders couldn’t be bothered with the God they professed, and that dereliction is not unique to their day. Great shows of religion can be a great way to hide from God. Perhaps Christianity has become your own way of hiding from God. Perhaps you have come to believe that He won’t require all of you if you give him an hour or two on Sunday. Perhaps you have come to believe that your own particular brand of service excludes you from his call to all of you. Perhaps you are hiding from God in the church.
If you recognize yourself in any of what I have said, please repent. Those leaders didn’t intend for their faith to be nothing more than a sham. They didn’t set out to be hypocrites, but when the Magi came those leaders behaved like hypocrites. There is only one way to avoid being revealed as such and it has nothing to do with hiding yourself more successfully. The only way to avoid being revealed as a hypocrite is to offer yourself to God promptly and sincerely. That was John Calvin’s life motto, “My heart I offer to you, Lord, promptly and sincerely.” That need not be your life motto, but it must true of your life otherwise the coming of Christ will reveal you as little different from those leaders.
The paranoia of Herod and the indifference of the religious leaders leaves the honest reader of Matthew’s gospel in the rather strange position of identifying with the Magi. The sensitive reader of Matthew’s gospel will not identify with the political leader of the Jews. The sensitive reader of Matthew’s gospel will not identify with the spiritual leaders of the Jews. The sensitive reader of Matthew’s gospel will identify with these Gentile astrologers who came and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”
Now the situation today is not all that different from this situation in Jerusalem. We, like they, have been told of a coming king. They were told of his first coming. We are told of his second coming. There is news of a coming king. “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”
There can only be one king. If the coming Christ is king that means that you must not be found as king of your own life when he returns. If you are the king of your own life, you like Herod, will fight to retain the throne. You will find, as Herod did, that you are fighting against God. You will find that you, like Herod, cannot stop the coming of the king.
The world can no more stop the coming king today than they could in the first century. The powers that be, both political and religious, chose their own power and comfort over the coming Christ. Now the situation may well be the same today. You, however, do not need to answer for the how the political leadership will respond to this coming king. You do not need to answer for the how the religious leadership will respond to this coming king. You need to answer for how you will respond to the coming king and you will.
You need not wonder how you would have responded if you stood in that room when the magi came. You need not wonder if you would have sought the Christ, or opposed the Christ, or ignored the Christ. You need only yourself how you are responding today, and you are giving some sort of response.
Don’t try to retain the throne. Don’t prefer the stability of the way things are to the instability you fear submission to Jesus would bring. It was a disaster for Herod and those leaders. It will be a disaster for you. You cannot oppose the coming king and if you know him, you know that you would never want to oppose him. If you know him, you know that the fact that he is king and you aren’t is very good news. Amen.