A Journey to Jesus

the following message by Alistair beg is made available by truth for life for more information visit us online at truthfortheworld.org we read once again from this time from the New Testament and Matthew chapter 2 reading from verse 1 to verse 12 Matthew 2 verse 1 now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King behold wise men from the east came to Jerusalem saying where is he who has been born King of the Jews for we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship Him when Herod the King heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born they told him in Bethlehem of Judea for so it is written by the prophet and you O Bethlehem in the land of Judah by no means least among the rulers of judah for from you shall come a ruler who will Shepherd my people Israel then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared and he sent them to Bethlehem saying go and search diligently for the child and when you have found him bring me word that I too may come and worship him after listening to the king they went on their way and behold the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was where they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy and going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshiped him then opening their treasures they offered him gifts gold and frankincense and myrrh and being warned in a dream not to return to Herod they departed to their own country by another way amen and as we turn to the Bible we read the call it or the prayer for today Oh God who revealed your only Son to the Gentiles by the leading of a star mercifully granted we who know you now by faith may after this life enjoy the splendor of your glorious Godhead through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well I gave a title to our study this morning simply a journey to Jesus a journey to Jesus here we have the record as given to us by Matthew of the arrival of the Magi the Magi a word that is translated variously here in our text the wise men and it is the record of how they had made a journey to seek out the one who was born the King of the Jews and found themselves face-to-face with the Lord Jesus now the whole purpose of God is to bring men and women face to face with his dearly beloved son so that we then may come to know him as a savior Lord and friend and that's why in the Bible we read consistently of those whose journey to Jesus was life-changing whether short or long so for example if you had occasion to bump into Peter the Apostle and say how did that come about in your life what was your what was the journey that brought you to Jesus Peter would have said quite straightforwardly well actually my brother brought me if we had asked Paul he would have said while I was on my way to Damascus when I met Jesus if we'd asked the jailer in Philippi he would have said well it was on that evening when Paul and Silas were singing those songs and praying and then that dramatic earthquake that was when I met Jesus Zacchaeus how about you well he said I didn't really need to go very far in fact I met Jesus I was up a tree and the Samaritan woman how about you and she said while I was at the well as I routinely found myself and when I got there Jesus was sitting there it was almost as if he had been waiting for me and she might have gone on to say and what struck me so forcibly was the fact that he said that God the Father was seeking worshipers and then he went on to explain that we cannot in our natural state worship God that we need the Holy Spirit's power to be able to know God and to see Jesus and to worship Him and that the father is seeking those worshipers throughout the whole world now that may help us to understand just why it was that's so far away from these events in Jerusalem something was brewing if you like in the hearts and minds of these people they are they where the three kings as the as Hopkins gives them to us in his in his Christmas carol was a wonderful Christmas Carol but full of a lot of things that we can't be confident about for example we have no way of knowing whether they were kings and there's no way of knowing that there were actually three the fact that there were three gifts they could have all brought the same gifts there could have been twelve of them all bringing the same gift we don't know that either we don't know what their names were and yet of course we've been given the names on expensive Christmas cards with very nice very nice pictures I think James Taylor in his little song going home by another way helps us a little more he begins his song those magic men the Magi some people call them wise or oriental even Kings well anyway these guys I like they're these guys who were these guys there's so much mystery that surrounds it and yeah there is so much clarity that is given to us which takes us you know into the of conjecture for example even in the Carroll that we have just sung we have these men buying at a manger bed when clearly as the text makes clear they were there were some distance now from the manger and it's highly unlikely that this little boy who was close to two years of age would have actually been snuggled up in a kind of a kind of manger scene anyway I don't want to disavow you of all your happy thoughts and feelings about them and you're feeling bad now because you gave one of those dreadful Christmas cards to people with with with the Kings on the front but that's okay you can fix it next year I want to I this year is over I want to just make three simple observations I'm not going to delve into this text in the way that we've done before I want just to consider with you what I'm going to refer to as an unexplained compulsion and then an unexpected destination and then what we might refer to as an unrestrained reaction an unexplained compulsion we're not told what compelled these individuals to make the journey that they did I'm thinking now about an inner compulsion and thinking about that which is going on inside of a person the Bible says you know who knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of a man that is in him and so it is it is difficult for us to say just exactly what it was that moved them and drove them in terms of internal conviction and compulsion what we do know is what we're told and that is that they had a fascination with the cosmos such was their background and their setting and their interest in this star as it is referred to and if I may say I take this as a miraculous phenomenon provided by God for a specific context involving these individuals I know what is written about the it could have been this and it could have been that and it could have been the next thing so very interesting but it doesn't anything at least for me for my simple mind to the story I see it much along the lines of the shining light that was brighter than the noonday Sun - which saul of tarsus refers that it was a light shone on me that that was just made a radical impact so you know pursue it as you wish but I'm thinking that this particular phenomenon provided by God was in order to guide them on their way we're told that who are these individuals strictly speaking they're not astrologers nor are they astronomers I think the best thing we could say about them is that they are scientists in the best kind of science they're they're scientists if you like with a theological bent with a philosophical interest they're scientists along the line of for example Sir Isaac Newton if you read of Newton you know that he was a godly man he was devout he was interested in the Bible and concerned how it would be that his own convictions regarding faith would then manifest themselves in his scientific investigations and discoveries and these particular individuals along those lines were apparently combining their interest in if you like the cosmos with a knowledge that they have received from somewhere of messianic expectations so that because of the way their minds worked they saw that the movements of the spheres were directly related to events that took place on the earth so that these cosmic manifestations governed in their minds or at least influenced human life and history now we didn't step back from that on Julie because God giving to us by way of creation a revelation of himself uses creation in order to guide and to direct her steps the Sammis tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God that the firmament shows his handiwork so here are these individuals gazing opposite we're into the skies they are putting together the pieces of the puzzle in their own mind and if the general perspective is accurate namely that these individuals hailed from in modern day geography Iraq or in ancient geography Persia or Babylonia or even possibly Babylon the city of Babylon itself then that will help us at least to get an inkling of how it might be that out of that kind of context they would have this kind of interest that this compulsion would begin to form within them because you will remember that it was to Babylon that Daniel and his friends were taken when the invasion had come and hauled away mining of the brightest and the best and put them in captivity in that environment you will remember Shadrach Meshach and Abednego along with Daniel were then Reis cooled they were reprogrammed they were reeducate 'add they were renamed and coming out of that process Daniel emerged as essentially the brightest of the group and when we read that in the Book of Daniel we realize that he was head and shoulders among above his peers in being able to interpret dreams and to explain riddles and in that great scene he explains to Nebuchadnezzar who had been destabilized by this vision that he'd had of a kind of crumbling Kingdom that was impacting him dreadfully and Daniel had explained to him that the God who created the cosmos was the God who was going to set a king on the throne that King would rule over an everlasting Kingdom and Daniel you see brought to that his own knowledge of the Bible his own knowledge of the Old Testament after all being brought up as a Jewish boy within the home and his mum and dad presumably must have wondered what in the world will have happened to him now that he's been taken away they've reacted them they've given him another name they dress him in different clothes he's no longer in the safety and the security of the world that we created for him but Daniel was able to draw on that which had been given to him in his boyhood and he knew the Oracle of Balaam which in part conveyed the fact that a star shall come out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel and so when he spoke in his day he spoke concerning these things well you say so far so good but that was a long long time before these fellows arrived on the scene because Daniel was what 600 605 BC yes but you know things have a way of lasting a long long time don't they I know that you can only we can only go so far back in this country I was a good catch there by me and but it is possible to go further by one of my Christmas gifts was a book and inside the book it says and the first owner had was given this book in 1703 and I held it in my hands and I thought of what it what a wonder that somebody for their birthday received this over 300 years of course quite remarkable well so you think about the impact of what Daniel and his friends had done and the lingering aspects and benefits of that in the kingdom I actually was allowing my imagination to wonder and it is just my imagination I was wondering whether there was actually a course being offered in the University of Babylon at the time of these Magi and that they had been part and parcel of it they were dealing in contemporary studies but they said you know we're going to offer this course once again it's called the science the sovereignty and the signs of Daniel and their contemporary relevance and perhaps they signed up and they paid attention and perhaps that was part and parcel of what triggered it for them of course they wouldn't have been in the class themselves there would have been others there it's hard to imagine that they were the only ones who understood these matters how do we come to this inner compulsion that that causes them to take the coalescing of these notions of Messianic expectation and cosmic interplanetary activity and say to one another you know what I think we should I think we should follow the star there's something about we don't know where it's going to take us yes but I think it'd be a good idea to go everybody else stayed at home what's happening here you see God is a God is a great God God is seeking worshipers God is able and willing to employ all kinds of situations circumstances signs in order to move those upon whom he has said his love in the direction of his dearly beloved son and what you really have here is God accommodating himself to these individuals scientific quests their intellectual curiosity at the same time their limited understanding you see when a journey towards Jesus begins it may begin way way way far away from Jesus as the person may begin not with a star in the sky but it may begin with a blood test report it may begin with the achievement of a great objective that held such amazing prospect and yet when taken hold of there were there was nothing actually there it was like grasping a bubble God uses all kinds of things creates within man an inner compulsion unexplained secondly in the text itself we realize that they arrived at what we can legitimately refer to as an unexpected destination an unexpected destination right up until this week I have always imagined that the wise men rolled into town as it were and and headed immediately for Herod's palace and that may well be the case but as I read it again I realized it is possibly not the case because they're not summoned until there are seven now of course they could have been present gone away and were recent of course this is not a main or a plain thing but it is equally possible that what had happened was they had arrived now in Jerusalem and their presence would have been felt and their inquiries would have been reported and the word would have reached the Royal Court that there were a group of folks here Magi and they're going around the Jerusalem and they're asking where is he who has been born King of the Jews they've got some story about a star that they've been following for quite a while response to this on the part of he who is the king King Herod who has been put in position by the Romans although he's not from the line of David he's it easy to Mian he's paranoid he's already had one of his wife's killed a couple of his children - he's not a person to be toyed with he lives in the fear that accompanies such paranoia and as a result of that when he hears this Matthew tells us he was troubled the verb actually means he was inwardly shaken and he was upset well after all if you think about it if this was to take hold if this notion was to spread if there were to be an uprising then his own position would be in jeopardy so he needs to get to the bottom of it and assembles all the chief priests and the scribes of the people versus for his his question is straightforward I need to know where the Christ was to be born he's not asking the question do you think there's going to be a messiah does anyone have any ideas about the possibility the idea of a messiah coming no no no he says I need to know where the Messiah is to be born well how do we know the answer to this well the fellow said it's straightforward Micah gives us the answer with a little piece of second Samuel thrown in there in Bethlehem of Judea this is what was anticipated by the prophets quite interesting isn't it that a star could get them so far but it couldn't get them all the way there yeah you may your whatever whatever started you off on your journey or whatever you are on your journey will you tell me you had a dream or something happened like that I'll know whether God is at work in it if and when he brings you to the Bible and brings you to his son if he doesn't bring you to the Bible and bring you to his son then it's probably more to do with pizza the night before than it is with any kind of divine intervention because the purpose of God the Spirit of God is given to God's people to draw God's world to God's son that's how it works so the star may lead them along the way as it does accommodating himself to their scientific endeavors but eventually it brings them here and the answer that is to be found is the answer that is found in the scriptures and the answer that is given by the people who know these are the theological scholars of the day these are the ones who study the law of God and they are the ones who give a definitive answer now don't let's miss the the contrast that is here here we have these fellows that were regarding as kind of theological scientists who are arrived and with a great concern to get an answer to this search and here in the precincts of the palace and we have the scholars and the scholars don't seem remotely concerned about it the scientists if you like care but they don't have the answers the scholars have the answers but they don't care the Magi travel 800 miles in search of an answer the scribes aren't interested in going six miles down the road to Bethlehem to meet the answer what does this tell us well it tells us a number of things but at least this the fundamental mistake for these individuals the the theological boys the biblical boys that the fundamental mistake lay in confusing a knowledge of the scriptures with saving faith in the one of whom the Scriptures speak okay so the fact that we know certain things about the Bible the fact that we may become Orthodox in our convictions regarding things that we may be able to answer questions by going chapter and verse to somebody who says well where was this Messiah supposed to be born all we can say with the scribes well it was a Micah chapter 5 in verse 2 in in Bethlehem of Judea for thus it was spoken and so on the people say what does that mean to you sir well nothing much oh you mean you know all the answers but you've never met the answer that's what we find here Harrod having received his answer then sends for the wise man he does it secretly as we might anticipate he wants to know when the star appeared what an interesting question isn't it can you tell me when you started with his star business now we know by reading on in the text just what he has in mind we know from verse 13 on that he has a murderous plot to deal with the supposed King of the Jews that has emerged therefore he needs to know what the window is in terms of a time frame when he executes his murderous plan to deal with these children these boys that have been born during this period of time so presumably what they were saying is what we started this project with the looking up two years ago or so and it's been a long time coming okay says well thank you that is very very helpful I appreciate that and you know if you could go and and make sure you find this child and then bring me word that I too may come and worship Him what he's doing is he's actually fulfilling the the the the the the plan of the Evil One from the very beginning to destroy to kill to murder and he spreads if you're like a hellish net out and unwittingly he includes these Magi in his plan they don't know that he's a flat-out conman and off they go God is going to intervene once again in their lives to make sure that doesn't happen because he's sovereign but they leave the palace the palace which spoke of might and wealth and stature and they arrived you will notice at the house the place where the child was verse 9 and going into the house verse 11 so from a palace which would seem a most likely place for the king to a house which seems the most unexpected place for a king there's no might here there's only frailty there's no wealth here there's only poverty there is no stature here there's only loneliness makes me think of last Sunday again when we were talking about the fact that many people turn away from the story of Jesus because it's just as an insult to their intelligence it's an offense to our pride oh come on they say all this stuff in some house in Bethlehem Joseph had obviously upgraded from the manger and time had elapsed and as is true in the gospel records what is quite striking is the absence of description verse 11 and going into the house what was it like we don't know they have three rooms two rooms a roof on the top we didn't know nothing did it have whoa coverings a fireplace was it cozy was it sparked and nothing going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother and they fell down and worshiped him didn't worship them worshiped him and they proceed accordingly now we have to be careful when we read the Bible that we don't that we don't deviate from course when considering the person of Jesus in one of two ways either thinking of Jesus and conveying the truth in a way that is insufficient in relationship to his divinity so that we have that we have a Jesus who doesn't appear to be completely divine the flipside of it is that we convey at Jesus who doesn't appear to be completely human and what we actually have here is he you in the words of the Creed's is fully God and fully man therefore as fully man he is fully boy and as fully boy if he is twenty-two months you've got an idea of what you're dealing with there was no throne there was no beatific vision there is nothing in the outward circumstances to say to anybody who shows up all look here is the king of the Jews here is the king who will rule a kingdom for ever and ever there was nothing there to say it and fight the reverse says Lensky the Lutheran commentary says their hearts must have beheld what their eyes didn't see because what they saw was a wee boy with his mother and with Joseph and their response dramatically is an unrestrained reaction unrestrained it just speaks of the spontaneity of it all and going into the house they saw they fell they worshiped they opened they left in that order now we read earlier or Dan read earlier from Isaiah 60 the nation shall come to your light and Kings to the brightness of your rising there's something of that there isn't there but what could the child understand of their prestige ins what what could the child make of their gifts I mean isn't it fair to say that Mary would have said to Jesus now Jesus are you going to say thank you to these nice men and Jesus would have occasion to say either then or later who were they why were they lying on the floor what are we going to do mom with all this stuff Joseph says while I stay it's a pretty good deal because we're making a run for it to Egypt we don't have much cash this is gonna come in handy this will be perfect I'm glad those fellas came these guys now presumably in the interchange that took place which is not recorded for us Mary and Joseph would have filled in the blanks inevitably they would have said and what is his name and they would have said Jesus and they would have said what news really happens is it is named after this or named that is their significance in the name oh yes says Joseph's their significance he says you know you tell me that you showed up here by a star that my encounter was via an angel an angel came to me and and said and his name will be called Jesus for he will save his people from their sins that that this little boy that's in here is the savior of the world that this little boy here is the savior of the world this is Christianity dear folks this is what you believe if you're a believer you believe that in this encounter in this house in this Bethlehem scene with those who had set off on an inexplicable mission they are now confronted with the savior of the world and what is Matthew doing well he's making it clear making it clear that the plan of God from all of eternity to put together a people that are his very own is unfolding here right in the very very beginning of things that all the nations will come here you have the Gentile kings he came to his own his own did not receive him the scribe said the answer the question but weren't interested in him the Magi came 800 miles because they longed for something if you're if you're interested in the Bible is just academic dispute ation arguing about this and that the next thing coming up with in creating intriguing notions of things and ideas bits and pieces to fiddle with I feel badly for you you cannot see the wood for the trees the main things are the plain things Matthew begins here into what the nations of the world are beginning to come matthew ends his gospel in the words of this little boy now in his manhood what does he say all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me who who in all of humanity can make such a statement save the Christ the Messiah of God the one who finally in the book of Revelation is to preside over a multitude that nobody can count the light for all of the nations the kings of all of the earth they awareness that one day at the name of Jesus every knee will bow every tongue confess that there is one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus yet this doesn't play today does it I mean I I can I can I can here I can I know the thoughts of some of my friends and I'm saying this to them they're going you you are totally out of your mind back I mean what why would why would they have to come from Persia they got good gods in Persia bigger spirituality in Persia they got a way to make sense of their existence in Babylon why would they need ours because there is only one name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved only one that's the significance there is no other name can I end by asking you because I don't know this congregation in detail but how about you how have you started on this journey it's God been using something recently in your life an event and occurrence something that just kind of knocked you a little sideways or left you wondering somebody said to you you ever read the Bible he said no you've started you haven't quite found your way all the way through the story into Bethlehem do you know what the Prophet says seek the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near you will seek me and you will find me when you search for me with all your heart you see this is really the whole story of the unfolding drama of Christmas seeking finding trusting worshiping have you come to Jesus be opened up your treasures you given him your life you said you know this is where I am this is who I am this is the gift you've given me this is my intellect this is lated my this is me you ever fallen down and worshiped him what can I give him poor as I am if I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb if I were a wise man I would do my part yeah what I can I give him give him my heart final-final lord's day of 2018 perhaps someone on this journey has reached the destination and suddenly dawns on you the reason I have begun to seek him is because he had previously begun to seek me I met him as well and it was almost as though he was sitting there waiting for me he was he waits he will not wait indefinitely that's why the Bible always says today is the day of salvation father God for your word we give you our humble praise we thank you that it is a story of Amazing Grace that although humanity mankind we despite all that you made known of yourself turned our backs to you choosing to worship substitute gods to fill our minds and our lives with things that do not that cannot satisfy when you had every legitimate right to be done with us yet again in your mercy you forbear so that it is your loving kindness which leads us to repentance God grant that this day we might meet you at the place where you keep all of your appointments at the cross of your dearly beloved son in whose name we pray this message was brought to you from truth for life where the learning is for living to learn more about truth for life with Alistair beg visit us online at truth for

Channel: Alistair Begg

Views: 10,805

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Keywords: Truth For Life, Alistair Begg, Christ's Birth, Christmas, Creation, Gospel, Jesus Christ, The Nativity, Worship

Id: FODov83_ytk

Length: 39min 15sec (2355 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 10 2019