The Birth of Jesus—A Revealing Response - Part 1

Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. Are you distracted by so many things this time of year? Let's take a break and find help refocusing our attention on the truly important part of this Christmas season. Now, the Christmas story is a beautiful story, but the issue is what does it mean to you? What has it said to you?

What difference has it made in your life? Well, in this passage of Scripture that I want to deal with this morning, there are three different ways you can respond. So, I want you to turn to the second chapter of Matthew, and I want us to read these first twelve verses together. And this is the account of the visit of these men from far away called the Magi. And the question is, what does it say to us?

I think it'll say more to you than you expect. So, beginning in verse one of this second chapter. Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, Magi came from the east, arrived in Jerusalem, saying, Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?

But 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 prophets, and then they told him, 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.

Not when he was born, but 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. And 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, where Christ was.

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 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 the gift 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. Now, there are three different representations here in this passage of Scripture. And the first is by people to whom Christmas, they're just indifferent.

They're indifferent about Jesus. So, let's identify who these people were. Who were these Magi, for example, who showed up at this particular time? Well, we know they came from the east, and they came probably from Babylon or in the Persian area there somewhere.

Remember when Babylon was so taken by the Persians? More than likely, these men were the descendants of the students of Daniel. Not of Daniel himself, but the students of Daniel, because that was a long time ago. And so, they were familiar with the Scriptures.

Now, you would think that the Pharisees and the Sadducees, for example, who were knowledgeable all about these things and the prophecies, they would have said, well, now wait a minute. You've come this far a thousand miles, and you're telling us that you've been guided by this star. And this star has led you here to Jerusalem, and Bethlehem is just five or six miles south of that. And so, this star has led you here, and you're looking for the King of the Jews? Wouldn't you think that they, knowing the Scriptures, because when they begin to ask, they quoted the Scripture.

This is where He's to be born. You would think surely they would have said, wait a minute, if you've come this far and you've been guided by a star, this is a very significant moment. Another reason they would have thought that is because there was in those days a great sense of expectancy of some great leader who was to come upon the scene and deliver them. Not only the Jews, but other people, because Rome absolutely controlled everything. And their control was very, very difficult for everybody.

The Jews hated them and they sort of hated the Jews. And so, naturally you would ask, wait a minute, if you're telling us that the Messiah may be born, let's find out where is this? But you know what they did? They just quoted the Scripture and said, well, this is what the Scripture says.

The magi probably already knew that, knowing the Scriptures as they did. And so, what did people do? They just went about their business. They just totally ignored the whole idea. In other words, in spite of all the signs that something was going on, they were totally indifferent to the birth of Jesus, the Pharisees and the Sadducees probably. You know, they were just going about offering their sacrifices and their incense and doing their thing and carrying out their responsibilities.

And here comes a group that say, this star has led us in fulfilling the Scripture that there's the birth of the King of the Jews. Let me ask you a question. How many of your friends, members of your family in this Christmas season have talked to you about Jesus? They've talked to you about shopping. They've talked to you about how much money they're probably going to spend.

They've said, oh, I hate to go over my limit on my credit card. They talked about their Christmas list. They talked about how many more gifts they have to buy. And they talked to you about, we got to get this shopping done. We got to get these gifts wrapped.

And I have my whole list. I want to be sure I don't miss him, her, them, they. Write down the list and you've talked about your travel and talked about the traffic and you want to get out there early. And some people stay out there till ten o'clock at night shopping.

Get up at six o'clock in the morning. Besides that, we're going to have a few days off. You know, we're going to have some holiday.

We're going to have some free time. All the things are going to people's minds. Their minds are full of stuff except Jesus. Indifferent to the very reason we have Christmas.

Totally indifferent. We're doing the same thing the people in Jerusalem and Bethlehem did. We're just ignoring the most important event. And that is this is all about the Son of God. This is all about Jesus Christ.

This is what this is all about. But if I'm indifferent to it, and if I'm indifferent to Him, then I've missed the point of it. And I want to ask you again, and it's nobody's business but yours and God, but you need to answer this question. To whom have I talked, I don't mean you've tried to witness and win them to Jesus, I hope you have, but I'm just asking you, to whom in your family among your friends have you even mentioned the name of Jesus or talked about Him?

Or have you been so caught up in what the world has produced that He's sort of in the background. You see, here's what's happened. Very slowly we have let the world show us how they want to celebrate Christmas. They don't want Jesus in it.

They just want to have a good time and pleasure and so forth. And what have we done? We've just sort of been quiet because we don't want to hurt anybody's feelings and next thing you know, we're looking like them. And this is what happened when Jesus was born. The people in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, they weren't even interested enough to go and find out if these guys came from this place and they say that they've been led by a star, then surely somebody needs to check this out.

Only the wise men checked it out. Now, that's one category of people, people who are just indifferent. Jesus is on the periphery, in the background, or totally out of the picture. Now, there's a second group of people and that's the people who respond in hatred and animosity and anger and the desire to destroy everything that is Christian. And he's represented in this passage of Scripture by Herod himself.

And so, I want us to look at two or three things here. And let's look at Herod for a moment. King Herod was called Herod the Great. And the reason he was, because he did some great things as far as Rome is concerned and the Roman emperor finally gave him rule over all of Palestine. So, what is it that motivated him?

The same thing that motivates some people today. He was absolutely driven, driven for fear that he would lose control, driven by fear that he would lose his rule in any way. This is why when you come to this passage and it says, it says in these two verses, in the third verse, when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Well, now why was all Jerusalem troubled? Here's the reason.

They knew that when Herod became upset by anything, it ended up in bloodshed. That's who he was. And notice what he said. He didn't say, how old was this child? In other words, he wasn't concerned about the age. Here's what he asked.

When did you first see the star? Because Peter said, well, how old would he be now? He could miss somebody.

Well, they must have said, well, six months ago or whatever it might be or however long it was. So, what did he do? He had all the children in Bethlehem and the surrounding area that was two years old, say he wouldn't be shooting or miss anybody.

Two years old and under had them all slaughtered. It didn't matter whose life he took. It didn't matter what the cost was.

The only thing that mattered was that he remained in absolute control and that nobody threatened his power. You say, well now, what does that have to do with today? We're talking about how people respond.

Well, let's put it this way. There are people in this country, if they had the power to do so, they'd shut down every single church. They'd shut down the proclamation of the gospel. They'd get rid of Bibles.

Well, look at what they're doing now. You see, they'll do anything they can do legally but remove everything that looks like, sounds like Jesus. What is it about that name of a person who never sinned, who never harmed anyone, who lived a perfect life, who came from God, who is the only door into eternal life and you want to get rid of it? This is why people who are followers of Jesus Christ need to say it. There's no such thing as being a secret disciple. Think about Jesus. He was crucified for us.

But we don't want to say too much. Well, Herod represents a whole segment. You've got people who are indifferent like the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the people around Bethlehem in Jerusalem. Then you've got those who want nothing to do with what we believe.

Then there's the third group. And I love this part of the passage because this group of people are those who worshiped Him. And so, I want you to look at, let's look at a couple of verses here. And if you'll notice in verse four, gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, He inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. And they said to Him, in Bethlehem of Judea, this is what has been written by the prophets. They knew exactly what He was talking about. So, here come the wise men now. And I want to mention something here. When these wise men came upon the scene, they did not come the night Jesus was born. I'm going to show you why in a moment. You say, well, what does that do to the manger scene?

It doesn't do anything. Here's what you say to your children. You simply say, they were a part of the birth of Jesus. They came a little later.

They did. I mean, all of us have been to parties and we've shown up later, right? Not that this was a party, but we've shown up later. So, they were a part of the scene, but not the night Jesus was born.

I'll show you in a moment. So, they come upon the scene and they come looking specifically for Him. And when they find Him, here's what happens. Verse ten says, when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. After coming into the house, they saw Christ 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 mercy. You say, well, that doesn't say that they didn't show up that night, but watch this. It says they came into the house, not into the barn or to the cave. And let me ask you as a mother, if you gave birth to a child in a barn with goats and sheep, how long would you want to stay there? You'd be wanting to get out of there the next day, if possible, right?

Absolutely. So, they didn't just hang around in the barn. They moved to some house. It could have been somebody who was either a friend of theirs because they, that's where their home was originally.

That's why they're back there. And so, when the wise men showed up, it doesn't make any difference really when they showed up, but a time later than the night He was born. And when seeking to know where it was, the Scripture says the star stood over that place. Now, what about that star?

You can't explain that. You say, well, how could a star do thus and so? God is in control of the stars. And you know what I love this little verse? It's just tucked away in the first chapter of Genesis when He said all the things He created. And then there's this phrase, and He made the stars also.

Well, whatever this star was, and anyway, it had led them to the very place of Bethlehem, and then over the place where the child was. I'm sure they didn't fully understand all of that. God did. He knew exactly where they needed to be.

Now, think about this. He had them on alert back in Persia and Babylon area, enough time away. He knew how long it would take them to travel by camel. To get to Bethlehem. He knew exactly when His Son was going to be born, who is God incarnate.

He had all of it figured down perfectly. So that when Jesus was born, remember the shepherds came. Because they announced to the shepherds, they said, let's go to Bethlehem.

Let's see what this is all about. He knew exactly when to have the wise men. He knew exactly when to have the wise men show up at Jesus' birth.

Everything was governed by Him. So, whatever the star was, no question whether it was or not, however it may have shown, they ended up exactly where they should be when they should be there. So now, how did they respond? What was their response to Jesus?

Well, think about what the Scripture says. Well, they believed Him. They believed who He said He was. They believed that God had led them by the star to the King of the Jews.

And this is what absolutely terrified Herod. They believed that Jesus was the King of the Jews. And so, the first thing that happens is when they saw Him, they believed without a question. He didn't have to prove anything. He didn't have to prove anything. He didn't have to prove anything.

He didn't have to prove anything. And Mary and Joseph didn't have to say, well now, this is Jesus and no explanation. The Bible says, what did they do? They fell on their face. They prostrated themselves before the Son of God. Think about this.

Can you imagine in those moments, standing, kneeling, lying, prostrate, before God incarnate? Which simply means, if you're not familiar with that term, it simply means that God took upon Himself the form of a human being, born of the Virgin Mary, grew up the Son of God, and went to the cross. That's who this was. And so, they worshiped Him. They presented their gifts. They brought gold.

Why? Because that was fit for a king. But by God's guidance and direction, they brought also frankincense, which was what the priest would oftentimes use, or most all the time they use it, sprinkling on the altar of sacrifice. It was the work of a servant. Jesus, the King. The Son of Man, He said, servant of the living God. And then myrrh. And when they mixed myrrh with some incense, it helped in healing.

But primarily it was used for the preparation of burial. So here's the King, the Lord Jesus, servant of God, who came for the purpose of dying in order to bring about salvation to mankind. Thank you for listening to The Birth of Jesus, a revealing response. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.