Heavenly Joy: The Story of the Magi
Matthew 2:1-12
Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 2. I wondered from last week’s message about the shepherds as they go back to their sheep as the grand concert in the heavens, and coming to see the Christ-Child, and the return when they glorify and praise God. But then the next night they are back out under the night sky. It may have all seemed a bit like a dream, especially when you cannot watch the event on your laptop for the next while. In other words, when the visual was over, it was over. And so, too, for Mary and Joseph, there must have been such an anxious anticipation, possibly a confusion of what God had told them and especially of how it would all play out. For here is what Mary and Joseph knew from their two angelic visits: this Baby would save the people from their sins; that the Lord was with Mary and that she had found favour with God; that the Child would be called Jesus; and that the Child was a result of the Holy Spirit, as she was a virgin. And then I suppose the greatest piece of information they had was this statement of the angel to Mary:
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of His kingdom.”
Luke 1:32-33 (LSB)
But what would all this mean for Mary and Joseph in the daily routines of their life? And when would all this fanfare and hype really begin? No wonder the Bible tells us that Mary pondered all these things in her heart. Yet as the days and weeks go on, could Mary and Joseph have also started to believe that this was all some kind of big dream for them? Would they hold on to the appearance of these angels? Now, what may have been an assurance of this announcement to Mary and Joseph apart from each having a visit from an angel was when they went to visit Zechariah and Elizabeth who was expecting at that time, John the Baptist. And it was Zechariah who also had a visit from an angel. And of course, when Elizabeth saw Mary, the baby within her responded, and Elizabeth amazingly said:
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”
Luke 1:42b-45 (LSB)
So, Mary and Joseph would each have an angelic visit. They would also be aware of the angelic visit to Zechariah. And then these words of Elizabeth to Mary of praise regarding her Son. And then of course, after the birth, the visit of the shepherds who would have related the glorious announcement of the heavenly host. So, if you were this insignificant couple—Mary and Joseph—in the eyes of the world. And we need to understand that in that culture insignificant meant insignificant, as our culture seems to want to overemphasize and praise everything about everybody. I was thinking the other day that when someone is introduced on TV, have you ever noticed that the host may say, tell me about yourself. And all they have to say is, well, I live in Cleveland and I am a car salesman, and everyone for some reason wants to applaud that greatly. Not that there is anything wrong in living in Cleveland and working as a salesman, I’m just not sure it really deserves a thunderous applause. But it does inform us of our insecurity about ourselves. Or someone could come on and tell of many bad things that happened to them, many wrong turns they made in life. But now, I’m 43 years old and I live with my Mom and Dad in Saskatoon, I have a dog named Topsi and am living the life! Bravo, bravo, and everybody claps!
We can be a very insecure people, tying to place a significance in who I am, where I live, what I do, what I like for dessert, and what I wear. Instead of understanding that in many ways we are insignificant, for we are sinners. Mary and Joseph were insignificant, as were Anna and Simeon and the shepherds. It struck me that all the information around the Christmas story is about Christ. Have you ever noticed it speaks of Christ being from Judah, born in Bethlehem, growing up in Nazareth, He was King of the Jews. Vary little of Anna, other than she was old; Simeon, that he wanted to see Christ. And the wisemen, where are you from? the east. And the shepherds, where were you from? we are from the fields. And yet they realized that they did not need to impress anyone. And they did not need to be given a thunderous applause for being a carpenter or an old woman named Anna or being just shepherds, for they knew the truth about the Christ-Child who loved them and would die for them and would give them eternal life. See, Mary found her significance, not by the fact that her Dad maybe owned a few camels, or that she was hoping to post some house plans of their renovated home in Bethlehem. But Mary found her significance in Christ and in what Christ would do for her, listen to what she says:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has looked upon the humble state of His slave,
For behold, from this time on, all generations will count me blessed.
For the Mighty One has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
And His mercy is upon generation after generation
Toward those who fear Him.”
Luke 1:46b-50 (LSB)
Yes, Mary knew that her significance came from God. Yet as time goes on, they must have had so many questions, for surely, they must have thought, when? This announcement of a King, would all this be realized in our lifetime? I read where the average lifespan of people at this time was 35 years of age, understanding that this low number was largely due to a very high mortality rate among children. Yet apparently if you did live past 30, there would be a good chance that you might live to 50, 60, or even 70, and we know that Anna was 84 years old. We sometimes wonder what happened to Joseph in the story as we read later of Mary but not Joseph, but good chance that he died before Jesus’ ministry even started. As for the most part, these people did not plan for a long retirement—no freedom 55—as they would have many family members who died while they were still young. We even understand this to some extent not too long ago, as many who are older here would not have known their grandparents like children may know them today. Anne grew up with just one grandparent. Why? Often people just didn’t live as long. So, in God’s sovereign purposes, He has another event planned to assure Mary and Joseph, other visitors.
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, 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.’”
Matthew 2:1-2 (LSB)
These Magi see the star in the east and arrive in Jerusalem, likely around one to two years after the birth of Christ. We are not told how they specifically associated the star with the birth of this King, but they did. Yet here is what the writer Matthew clearly describes for us (vs 1-2): Jesus has been born in Bethlehem; Herod was the king; Magi came from the east, and they knew that the King of the Jews had been born; and that they had come to worship him. But, King Herod was not happy.
“And when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he was inquiring of them where the Christ was to be born.”
Matthew 2:3-4 (LSB)
Now there was no way of knowing where the Christ would be born, other than the Old Testament Scriptures which said (Micah 5):
“And 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 Leader
Who will shepherd My people Israel.”’”
Matthew 2:5-6 (LSB)
And because Herod is troubled, he devises a lie to tell the wisemen.
“Then Herod secretly called the magi and carefully determined from them the 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.’ Now after hearing the king, they went their way; and behold, the star, which they had seen in the east, was going on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.”
Matthew 2:7-10 (LSB)
This seems so strange with Herod, that he actually believes to at least some degree the guiding of the star. He also inquires of the timing, so he must put some weight in its predictive quality. So, he inquires of his counsellors regarding this Old Testament prophecy. yet it does not seem to dissuade him from trying to kill the Child. So, the Magi move on toward Bethlehem, and we might wonder as we did with the shepherds, how they found the manger, of how the star guided the Magi directly over the place where Jesus was. Yet the narrative does not give us that information, therefore in the big picture of the gospel story, it must be of little importance.
“And 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.”
Matthew 2:11 (LSB)
It is interesting here that when the story finds its way into the home of Mary and Joespeh, there is no more mention of the house. You would think that Mary may have wanted to show off the wood floors that Jospeh had crafted as a carpenter or the beautiful wallpapering job she did in the living room. I might tend to show off the rose garden or the nice trim that I had put up. Or the painted rooms or decorating that Anne had done. But no, it simply says that after coming into the house, they saw the Child. As their intent and their focus was only one thing, worship. As they came to see the Christ and they present their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And then the story of the Magi is quickly over.
“And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi departed for their own country by another way.”
Matthew 2:12 (LSB)
This is such a mysterious story, so many questions that are unanswered such as: Who are these men? We often refer to three men, all dressed up in fancy garments, when there could be many of them. We picture them riding on camels, but we have no record of that. We have them arriving at the scene at the wrong time with the shepherds. And there always seems to be two of them with some kind of crown or fancy hat on their head and the one having a pumpkin on his head. And how did they even know about a coming King to Israel? Some suggest they may have heard about a King through the ministry of Daniel years earlier in Babylon.
And what was the exact revelation of the star? That can get into an endless debate of planets emerging, but planets do not come together overnight. It is something that forms over weeks and even months. And the wisemen would know that it is not one star or one planet. And this does not explain how these planets would guide them as they move across the sky from east to west, not exactly like the stars, but very similar. There would be no way to actually follow it. The same problem if it was a comet. The best understanding would that this was a divine miracle of a supernatural star. Not sure why we feel we need to explain the mysterious star, after all, we did not try to explain the angelic host last Sunday morning.
And why the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh? As certainly, many have tried to reference this to Christ’s royalty (gold), His priesthood (frankincense), and His death (myrrh). Yet again, it does seem meaningless to try to speculate about something that the Bible chooses not to reveal. But I do notice, directly from the text that there are two opposite reactions. One is the response in the story of the Magi, while the other is the response of Herod and the people. So, let us first look at Herod’s response and that of the general public.
“And when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.”
Matthew 2:3 (LSB)
So, Herod will try to kill the child (vs 16-18). Secondly, the response of the Magi, specifically:
“And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.”
Matthew 2:10 (LSB)
It would seem that the star was a sign at the beginning to signal the birth, which would obviously direct them to Jerusalem as we assume they knew the Scriptures. And then when they arrive at Herod’s palace, they get further guidance from him. And then the star seems to take a more active role in specifically guiding them, until they come to the exact place (vs 9). So, when their journey seems to be drawing to an end (vs 10), they see the star and rejoice exceedingly with great joy. Obviously, the Holy Spirit wanted us to know that when they saw the star after their long journey, after arriving in Jerusalem, after meeting with Herod, and before they even saw the Christ-Child, they rejoiced upon the appearance of the star.
I do notice the placement of Herod’s response to all this is unique. For we have this great news (vs 1), the Magi arrive in Jerusalem (vs 2) they are looking for the King of the Jews. Why? For they had seem His star in the east, so, they had come to worship. Result (vs 3) Herod is troubled. Two very emotional responses, that are 2 very different responses. One, is the joy of the Magi when they saw the star in Bethlehem; and the other is the troubled hearts of Herod and the people in the middle of a section of joy. I mean this is not some kind of bad news: a massive weather system that’s coming in to do some damage; or some kind of prophecy of a great famine; or an enemy making their way into Jerusalem. Now, we should understand Herod’s response, he’s jealous and threatened by this King. But why are the people troubled? in fact, the narrative tells us, all of Jerusalem. Again:
“And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.”
Matthew 2:10 (LSB)
This could read, because they saw the star they rejoiced. Back in the late 90’s we took the boys to Chicago to see the BH play in Chicago. I had been there years earlier with my brother, brother-in-law and nephew, but the boys had never been there. And I remember driving along Interstate 94 and all of a sudden outside of Detroit the boys see a sign that says, “Chicago – 265 miles.” Wow! Their eyes almost popped out of their head. The Hawks were terrible back then. I did do a great job of convincing them they were good! Great parenting! You Dads that have taught your children to be Leaf fans have done a tremendous job of parenting, trying to convince them that the Leafs are good when they really are not. Yet it is good for us to be reminded of the joy of the Magi after such a long journey to see again the star, the sign, and somehow it wondrously led them to this little house. Now, in the passage we looked at last week in the story of the shepherds, we have a similar verse which points to such joy, Luke 2:10:
“But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people.’”
Luke 2:10 (LSB)
The news of the coming Messiah would bring great joy to all the people. So, there is this dividing line of those who hear of the Christ-Child, who experience, complete joy. And then there are others who hear the news of the Christ-Child, who experience, a troubled heart. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will refer to these two groups of people. He said:
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Matthew 5:13-14 (LSB)
We have the narrow gate—those who are rejoicing in Christ, and we have the wide gate—those who are troubled by Christ. We see that today, don’t we? As we rejoice in Christ and we can be puzzled that many are not merely indifferent to Christianity but actually bothered or troubled by Christianity. So, it would be needful to consider the source of this joy, for we have these lowly shepherds who are sitting at night with their sheep, and they receive this heavenly message about Christ, as there is no question that the heavens are rejoicing. And in the case of the Magi, they too receive this heavenly message, not in the form of angels, but in the form of a star. In other words, there is a message that comes to people that brings great joy. But that message, in both accounts, the story of the Magi and the story of the shepherds, comes from outside of them. For a heavenly message must come from outside of us. One, displayed through the heavenly angels; and the other, displayed through the heavenly star.
Now we know there is no deity in the angels, as they are merely God’s created instruments that He uses. And the Bible is quite clear that we do not worship angels. But the message of the angels brought great joy. And we do not place any great significance upon the star other than that it was merely a miraculous sign given to the Magi of the new King, that’s it. But certainly, it was the sign of the star which brought God’s message and therefore, gave them great joy. The message of the angels and the sign of the star brought great joy. And that joy experienced by the shepherds, and the Magi originated where? In heaven. József Nagy writes:
“The greatness and communal nature of the joy of Luke 2:10 [Matthew 2:10] is shown by the fact that it is shared in heaven and on earth.”
József Nagy, “Joy at the Birth of Christ” 444
Remember we said last week that the shepherds needed a divine calling to come to Christ. They needed a message outside of themselves or outside of their earthy surroundings. Which is the same with you and me. As we need the granting of God in heaven so that we may come to Christ. As we need the work of the divine Holy Spirit in our hearts to draw us to Christ. As we need the revelation of God’s inspired Word to reveal to us the message of Christ. See, this is not an earthly choice that we are making, this is not ground level stuff. This must be a divine, unearthly, heavenly revelation. An angelic host and a miraculous star sent from heaven. As Jesus said (John 6:63), it is the Spirit who gives life; for our flesh, our earthly flesh profits nothing. In other words, the heavenly must override the earthly. For if you know Christ as Saviour this morning, this has been divinely revealed to you from God.
True, we did not see the revelation of the angels given to the shepherds. True, we did not see the sign placed in the heavens by God to reveal Christ to the wisemen. So, how are we to acknowledge that same joy that was already in heaven? Well, simply, God has revealed to us that joy, for we have the revelation of this joy in the Word of God. And though we have not yet seen the King, we too rejoice with heaven in the message revealed to us in God’s Word, just as the wise men rejoiced when they saw the star before seeing the King. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15:
“So also it is written, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living soul.’ The last Adam [Christ] became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual.”
1 Corinthians 15:45-46 (LSB)
What Paul is teaching here is that all of us have received from Adam a human body that is earthly and dies. And what we receive from Christ is a spiritual body that is heavenly and lives. In fact, one is called the natural and the other is called the spiritual. Then (vs 47):
“The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.”
1 Corinthians 15:47-49 (LSB)
True, we have all been born in the image of the earthly, and therefore, you and I, we do rejoice in earthly things, we rejoice when we carve the turkey. We have our crew coming later this week and there is 25 of us. Now it doesn’t really matter to me how many are coming as Anne knows I like to pick out the biggest turkey. Even when it was just the six of us at home when the boys were young, I still brought home the biggest turkey I could find. One year I found a 33lb turkey and Anne said how difficult it was to get in the pan. Well, when we were out the other day, I found a 32.15lb turkey. And Anne just looked at me and knew it was not worth trying to dampen my enthusiasm. So, I will rejoice when I carve that 32lb turkey. And we too rejoice in such things as our children learning to walk. We rejoice when our gardens grow. We rejoice when we may get a raise at work, get an “A” on a paper, or purchase a new home. We rejoice in our relationship with our spouse. And our next-door neighbour likely rejoices in many of the same things.
But we also rejoice in heavenly things. Not mystical fascinations or believing in fairy tales. We do not try to make up interesting things from the Bible. But we rejoice in real truth from God’s Word, yet outside of the earthly things. We rejoice in creation, not merely because of its beauty. But we rejoice in creation because it has been made by the Creator from heaven. Likewise, we rejoice in our children. Not simply because they are ours and they are part of our family and because they are really cute because they look like us. But because they have been given to us by God, who is in heaven. We rejoice that we can come together as a church family. Not merely because we happen to like each other or that we enjoy talking and sharing together. But because we realize that the church is a divine, a heavenly institution given to us by God for His glory and for His divine purposes that extend far outside of this earthly world. And we know this because we have been told these things in God’s divine Word handed down to mankind from a heavenly and divine source, God Himself. Paul also wrote in 1 Corinthians 2:
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God, of which depths we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual depths with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually examined.
1 Corinthians 2:12-14 (LSB)
This is why we rejoice in God’s Word and the world does not. This is why the shepherds rejoiced when they heard the angels—for the angels were declaring heavenly truth to them. This is why the Magi rejoiced when they saw the star, but Herod didn’t rejoice and neither did the average person, for the star revealed to the Magi the truth that was already contained in the Word of God. And it is true; that the angels and the star are not the Word of God, but the rejoicing occurred because the angels and the star were used by God to confirm what He had already promised in the Word of God. “Come to Bethlehem and see … Him whose birth the angels sing. Come adore on bended knee, Christ the Lord, the newborn King.” “Joyful, all ye nations, rise, join the triumph of the skies; with th’angelic hosts proclaim, ‘Christ is born in Bethlehem!’” “Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices! O night divine, O night when Christ was born!” Why? Because One came down to earth from heaven, One who is God and One who is Lord of all.
Imagine if our auditorium was filled with angels this morning proclaiming, “Do not be afraid; for behold [Elim Bible Chapel], I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be for all the people.” Or if the roof was rolled back like the Rogers Centre and we witnessed the brightest star that we have ever seen and “And when we saw that star, we rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.” Now, admittedly, what a sight if we were there with the shepherds when the heavens lit up with a thunderous concert coining from the heavens. And imagine if we saw the bright, shining, mysterious star over the hilltops in the black of the night. No doubt, these would be events of a lifetime and something we would never forget. Yet, we too, have the message of the angels, and we have the message of the star. For God has revealed to us these events and the Saviour of the world Jesus Christ, through His divine Word. Because the Bible has already told us that:
“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”
Galatians 4:4-7 (LSB)
This is the message declared to us from heaven. And every bit as certain as the message received by the shepherds and the wisemen A message that is delivered in the Word of God by the Spirit of God so that we do not consider it foolish. And it is from this truth that we are given our significance in Jesus Christ. Let’s pray. Lord, we praise You for the voice of the angels. We praise You for the sign of the star, revealing to us the message from Your Word, the joy of the gospel, the Christ-Child. So, may we rejoice in Your truth. That its message would direct us, motivate us, and guide us into everlasting light. That we would be a people who would see the things which the Lord has made known unto us. So that we might also hurry to be with Christ. And that all who hear might marvel at the things which are told by us. So that we too, would always return home glorifying and praising God. And all God’s people said, amwn.