Matthew 1:18-2:23 - Skip Heitzig

[Music] welcome to expound our weekly worship and verse by verse study of the Bible our goal is to expand your knowledge of the truth of God by explaining the Word of God in a way that is interactive enjoyable and congregational we call this a textual community let's rejoice and learn God's Word in an interactive and enjoyable new way let's pray father we do thank you we thank you father for the gathering together of your people gathered together because we have a common interest in spiritual things we have a hunger for truth and we find that living in this world surrounded with influences and value systems that are not yours we need a frequent bath in truth we also remember what Peter said that we would grow in the Grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and so as we study his birth and his life as we grow in the knowledge of Jesus help us also to grow in the grace which is his characteristic in Jesus name Amen just waiting for the alarm to end I did ask these guys at the beginning if they had ever looked up their ancestry and I have noticed that discovering one's ancestry has become very popular in the last few years there are several websites or computer programs that allow a person to do that ancestry.com is probably the most famous their tagline is discover your story in history discover your story in history and people it seems are interested in finding out their story their family's story their family tree and especially if they are related to a famous event or a famous person and they find out that they're in the lineage of somebody who is at that event that signing that historic launch of a boat or when the Mayflower came over or a famous person who ruled all of those things seem to be very interesting to a lots of people I was interested when we went to a New York last year to Ellis Island and stood in that Great Hall where so many came from all over the world to America and came to that Harbor and what it must have been like to see the Statue of Liberty as their boats sailed in and then docked at Ellis Island and even Ellis Island provides a service on the computer that you can trace your ancestors and if they indeed came over on the boat what boat it was when it arrived and get the manifest of that ship who the captain was who the other passengers were in some of the history and where they came from we're not surprised when we open up the Gospel of Matthew to discover 42 generations Jesus is traced back 42 generations and they're listed here in three different sections of 14 generations all the way back to Abraham don't you think it's amazing that this one man who was born in a poor Jewish family from a family that comes from the northern parts of Israel in an insignificant town who later migrated to Bethlehem that that that boy born in that poor family that after 2,000 years people are still interested in his birth and all over the world once a year the birth of Jesus Christ is either celebrated or acknowledged I was shocked when I first went to Baghdad Iraq and out front of our hotel was a manger scene in a Muslim country in a country hostile toward the West at that time and there was baby Jesus in the manger Mary and Joseph the wise men the shepherds and not only in front of our hotel I thought well it's because Americans are here but all over Baghdad I saw signs Merry Christmas and manger scenes and it just it dawned on me that this poor Jewish carpenter is acknowledged after 2,000 years of history why is that well that's partly answered in chapter 1 verse 18 where we look now now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows after his mother Mary was betrothed that's that formal period of engagement to Joseph before they came together that is before they were united as husband and wife she was found with child pregnant of the Holy Spirit you can now see what Matthew was up to he has recorded forty two generations of natural birth and now he inserts a supernatural birth the virgin birth the singular event that happened to only one person historically and that is Jesus Christ born of a virgin as amazing as it is the people all over the world acknowledge or celebrate Christmas what is sad to me is that there's a number of Americans who identify themselves as Christians who will say that the birth of Jesus Christ is not the most important part of Christmas than that amaze you George Barna and his research group interviewed and assessed American belief systems of the research that they did they found 88% of the group that they researched 88% claimed to be Christians and only 37% of that group thought that the birth of Jesus was the most important part of Christmas others said it was about gifts giving and receiving family love get-togethers that kind of thing what makes it so unique and why we should be excited about the birth of Jesus in this world one of the things is the virgin birth of Christ Jesus Christ was born of a virgin predicted by Isaiah the prophet you probably already know that scripture in Isaiah 7 the Lord will give you a sign behold a virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and you will call his name Immanuel that was the prediction made by Isaiah the prophet about virgin birth now some people try to talk their way out of this and they'll say things like well you know virgin birth is even known in our physical world in the scientific world we have a thing called parthenogenesis and they'll point to the honey bee is one of their examples that the unfertilized egg of a honey bee can develop and does develop into a drone a male bee or they will say certain sea urchins or marine worms when placed in different salt solutions they those eggs begin to develop take on different forms or they'll point back to what happened in 1940 when a rabbit was developed by chemical and temperature influences placed upon the OVA that caused the development of that rabbit and I'll say see that's parthenogenesis that's not an unknown phenomena is quite common perhaps but not in the human realm the idea of a human being born in the Virgin womb of a woman was unheard of so much so that even after it happened as we will discover as we go through the Gospels Jesus was scorned Mary was scorned there was a stigma placed upon the family like yeah right a virgin birth we all believe that and so when Jesus was confronting the scribes and the Pharisees at one point they intimated about this in John chapter 8 they said we were not born of fornication we have one father and that is God intimating we were not born of fornication but probably you were the idea posited by some is that Mary probably must have had some relation with an unnamed Roman soldier in a garrison in Galilee so it wasn't a virgin birth it was an illicit birth the Bible is clear on this before they came together she was found with child by the Holy Spirit then Joseph her husband being a just or a righteous man and not wanting to make her a public example was minded to put her away secretly now Joseph since he wasn't the actual father and he didn't know who the father was he just probably thought she had some kind of sexual relations with some and I can't marry her I'm a just man I have standards that I go by and I'm not gonna lower my standards I want to serve God so I don't want to hurt Mary I do love her so perhaps I can divorce her secretly before she really starts to show and I can protect her and hide her away but he was minded to end the relationship now we know it didn't happen and Joseph and Mary did come together and they were a married couple Joseph is the adopted father of Jesus but not the actual father but he was the legal father of Jesus okay so this is where I want you to tune in for a moment if you read through the Gospels especially Matthew and Luke you discover genealogies we read one last week that's matthew's genealogy Luke also has a genealogy of Christ but it's different now we know that Matthews is the genealogy of Joseph because Joseph's father is mentioned and so we believe that Luke is showing us the genealogy of Mary because a man named heli is mentioned which was not the father of Joseph his father Yaakov is mentioned in Matthew but his father-in-law was probably Helle that's Mary's dad and her genealogical record gets traced there's also a difference in the way they're written matthew is a descending genealogy Luke is an ascending genealogy Luke descends from Abraham all the way down to Joseph Luke essence from heli the father of Joseph all the way back to David into Abraham etc but why two genealogies well if you just go back and look at verse 16 you'll notice it says jacob begat joseph so that was his father Yaakov Jacob not the one in the old test obviously a different one jacob begat joseph note notice it says the husband of mary doesn't say the father of Jesus but he shown as the husband of Mary of whom that is Mary of whom was born Jesus who is called the Christ so Joseph will show and provides his genealogy here in Matthew provides the legal authority for Jesus to be at the throne of David while Luke shows not the legal authority but the racial purity you're saying I'm a little bit lost why is that important it's absolutely important and this is why the virgin birth is so necessary to believe just go back a few verses keep following me here I'll put it all together look at verse 11 of chapter 1 we have Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time there they were carried away to Babylon and if you remember I asked you to remember that name Jeconiah Jeconiah was one of the kings of Judah but something happened to Jeconiah that poses a threat to the entire dynasty of King David the entire line of King David his bloodline gets cursed I'd like you to see that keep a marker here and go back to Jeremiah chapter 22 Jeremiah 22 in your Bibles now I've cheated because I put a ribbon marker there so I can get to it easy in advance but just turn to Jeremiah 22 and watch something here in Jeremiah 22 we have an incredibly huge problem that cannot be solved unless there is a virgin birth in verse 24 of chapter 22 of Jeremiah as I live says the Lord though Kanaya which is the short-form of jeconiah though Kanaya or Jack and the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah were the Signet on my right hand yet I would pluck you off and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life and into the hand of those face you fear the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and the hand of the Chaldeans so I will cast you out and your mother who bore you into another country where you were not born and there you shall die but to the land to which they desire to return there they shall not return is this man Kanaya a despised broken vessel or Idol a vessel in which there is no pleasure why are they cast he and his descendants and cast into a land which they do not know o earth earth earth hear the word of the Lord thus says the Lord write this man down as childless a man who shall not prosper in his days for none of his descendants shall prosper sitting on the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah right this man down as childless it doesn't mean he didn't have children he did have sons but none of them succeeded him to the throne his bloodline gets cursed here now he's the king of Judah and the way it works is there's a succession from King David all the way down all the way down all the way down until we get to Jeconiah and now this man his bloodline is cursed none of his descendants God says we'll sit upon the throne that's a problem especially since the Messiah has to be of the lineage of King David and follow that dynastic succession we have a problem the bloodline is cursed especially when we get to Jeremiah 33 where it says that not there will never be a descendant that will cease to sit upon the throne of David God promised a descendant of King David to sit upon the throne but here it says jeconiah is cursed Jack and I his sons never succeeded him his uncle succeed because of this curse that God pronounced ok so how is the Messiah the son of David gonna qualify to be the legal and pure son of David if the bloodline is cursed well that's where we come to two genealogies Matthew will show you that Jesus has the legal right to the throne of David all the way back true jeconiah to King David because it's mentioned as we read in Matthew Jack and I was mentioned but you say the bloodline is cursed exactly Jesus Christ was not the actual son of Joseph in the bloodline only the legal son of Joseph because Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit Luke shows you the purity of the bloodline but Mary's genealogy bypasses Jeconiah bypasses Solomon and goes back to King David through a different son of David named Nathan not jeconiah not Solomon so we have a pure bloodline untainted Jack and I is out of the picture with Mary Jack and I is in the picture with Joseph but that provides the legal right for Jesus to occupy the throne of David but because Jesus wasn't the actual son of Joseph he has the legal right but maintains the purity of bloodline from Mary does that help do you understand that so now we understand why there are two genealogies and why the virgin birth was so important God pronounces a curse on the bloodline then he gets around his own curse by providing a virgin born Messiah so he can keep his promise Jack and I your bloodline is cursed from here on out but I will have the son of David with a pure bloodline all the way back to King David he has the legal right through his stepfather or adopted father Joseph but the legal and the racial purity that comes through Mary so we have those two genealogies I hope that clears it up a bit verse 19 of chapter 1 of Matthew Joseph her husband being a just man not wanting to make her a public example was minded to put her away secretly but while he thought about these things behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying Joseph son of David do not be afraid to take to you marry your wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit and she will bring forth the son and you will call his name Jesus for he will save his people from their sins Jesus is the anglicized form that comes from the Greek form of the Hebrew Yeshua it's the shortened form of yahushua or joshua or jehoshua it all means the same thing it means Yahweh or God the Lord is salvation you will call his name Jesus God is salvation for he will save his people from their sins so all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the Prophet saying now we get the quote from Isaiah the prophet behold the Virgin shall be with child and bear a son and it will call his name Emmanuel which is translated God with us now the term Emmanuel is a title or a description is not a formal name it is not a personal name he will by his description be God in human flesh God with us Emmanuel so remember it's a title it's a description it's not a personal name this prophecy was given by Isaiah six hundred years before the birth of Jesus now let me if you don't mind tell you about how it happened can I tell you the story of how the prophecy came because if you go home and read it you'll go man that's oh that's pretty confusing here's how it came down the king at that time was named King Ahaz a real scoundrel wicked dude his dad was pretty cool Uzziah very righteous King reigned for 52 years in Judah but his son a has takes over a has was wicked brought idolatry back into Judah even sacrificed one of his sons burning his son to death at the altar of Molech wicked there were two kings at that time who were above him what I mean by that is geographically they were above him in the Northern Kingdom of Israel and in the country of Syria the king in Syria was named reson the king in Israel was called Pekka and Pekka and resen didn't like a hat so they thought let's depose him kick him off the throne and we'll put a king in his place that will do what we want him to do so what Ahaz does when he finds out their plan is he makes an alliance with another nation the nation of Assyria the King's name was tiglath-pileser and he asks tiglath-pileser hey let's be buddies tilith and let's make an alliance cuz these guys are trying to kick me off the throne but you're a big-gun you're Assyria you can help me we can form an alliance and you can take care and protect me so he makes an alliance when he does Isaiah the prophet comes to Ahaz and basically says shame on you Ahaz why would you trust a king rather than the Lord your king why wouldn't you trust God for protection and he rebukes him for not trusting the Lord but making a human alliance later on Isaiah the prophet comes to him a second time and he wants to assure the king that God will make sure that those two kings in the north I want to depose him won't have their way that God will protect Judah and the royal seed a house doesn't want to have anything to do with Isaiah the prophet and Isaiah said he has listened to me ask God for a sign because I'm not going to ask God for a sign so Isaiah said what God's gonna give you one anyway behold a virgin will conceive and bear a son and they will call his name Emmanuel God with us he said what kind of a sign was that to a king in Israel especially about a boy who wouldn't be born for 600 years well first of all when Isaiah said God will give you a sign that you and Hebrew is plural you it's not just you the king but you the entire nation will have a sign it's a sign for the nation not just one man and the idea was is that God is going to protect his interest in the lineage of King David he's gonna make sure that he fulfills his promise and the promise will be fulfilled in the virgin-born Emmanuel okay you're with me right around the same time another sign was given to and through Isaiah the prophet the Lord said Isaiah this is in the very next chapter in Isaiah chapter 8 you're going to have a son and you should name him this here's the name God told him to call him Mahesh a la Hache Baz your parents that are looking for biblical names thank god you're not Isaiah the prophet imagine having to get it dedicate my hair shall all Hajj bows to the Lord and here's what God said before your son is even weaned those two nations up north are going to be forsaken and true enough before that little boy mehar shall all hajj Boz was three years old those two kings that were threatening the kingdom of Judah died and the signs were the same even as Isaiah's son was the proof and the prediction that God would ensure the future of the royal seed of David the ultimate fulfillment would come 600 years later when the virgin born son of God would be the King of the Jews the of Israel the fulfilled Messiah so that that's that context of the promise in Isaiah chapter 7 because if you go and you read ago boy it's just tough to unravel tough to understand so you will call his name Emmanuel verse 23 which has translated God with us then Joseph being aroused from his sleep did as the angel of the lord commanded and he took to him his wife and did not know her until she had brought forth her firstborn son and he called his name Jesus I gotta let you in on something else those who are liberal scholars like to point out what they see is a problem with the text of Isaiah chapter 7 the text in English says behold a virgin will conceive and bear a son and the Hebrew word is alma and the liberal scholars will say well all ma doesn't necessarily mean a virgin it simply means a young lady not a virgin just a young woman now whenever I hear that might my immediate question is how would that be a sign to anyone behold a young woman will have a baby that happens like every day all the time there's no sign there the sign is a virgin having a baby now that's a sign that doesn't happen every day also when the liberal scholar says that could mean a young woman they have a huge problem because when the translators in Alexandria Egypt of the Septuagint version of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek made the translation of Alma in Isaiah 7 they chose the Greek word Parthenos behold a Parthenos will have a son and in Greek it can only mean a virgin not a young woman always a virgin they understood the meaning of alma they translated it way before Jesus was even born as a Parthenos a virgin born child so no getting around the virgin birth no skirting it it's a cardinal doctrine it's one of the Creed's the churches believed in from the beginning part of the Apostles Creed I believe that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary and so the Virgin brought forth the son Joseph was warned as told by the angel and so he named his son Jesus something else it wasn't just Isaiah that predicted the virgin birth I believe we see it predicted in Genesis chapter 3 there's a phrase do you remember it since we studied it well it wasn't that long ago right Genesis just a couple books ago in Genesis 3 there's that phrase the seed of the woman remember that the seed of the woman will crush this serpent the seed of the woman now that's a that's an oxymoron because we know something biologically as well as theologically that the seed doesn't come from the woman but from the man so when it talks about the seed of the woman we have something very unique Mary was the only woman who had within her the seed that produced a child that did not come from a man from a human being but from the Holy Spirit so the virgin birth I believe was predicted way back in Genesis chapter 3 Jesus Christ was the only person who existed before he was born he existed in eternity past as the eternal son of God he for a time was placed on this earth in the virgin womb of a young woman named Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit he was born he died he was raised from the dead now look at that last verse verse 25 he did not know her notice until she brought forth her firstborn son and he called his name Jesus Mary did not stay a virgin she was a virgin when Jesus was born but after Jesus was born Joseph and Mary had normal relationships they had sexual relationships and they produced other children I was brought up with an idea in the Catholic Church of the perpetual virginity of Mary that Mary was a virgin and stayed a virgin now that that's a doctrine that doesn't come from the Bible it doesn't really come from early church tradition it comes later on by one of the Pope's around the 600 649 Pope Martin came up with that one but if you were to turn for example to Matthew chapter 13 there's a list of his brothers and sisters Matthew 13 I'm reading verse 54 when he had come to his own country that's Nazareth he taught them in their synagogue so they were astonished and they said where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works is this not the carpenter's son is this not his mother called Mary and his brothers James Joseph Simon and Judas he had four brothers they're named here and his sisters are they not all with us where did this man get these things so Jesus had brothers and sisters but he himself was born of the Virgin so now chapter 2 of Matthew 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 have seen 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 and when he had gathered all the chief priests and the scribes of the people together he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born so they said to him in Bethlehem of Judea for thus it is written by the Prophet but you Bethlehem in the land of Judah are not the least among the rulers of judah for out of you shall come a ruler who will Shepherd my people Israel now we all know the story it's the story of the wise men and the unwise King but though we know this story and we pay tribute to it every Christmas season we really don't know who they were we don't know how many there were tradition has embellished the story in the Middle Ages names were given to the wise men and because there are three gifts gold frankincense and myrrh it is supposed that there were three wise men but it doesn't say there were three wise men just that there were three gifts there was actually a song written in the 1800s and that's where we got the idea we three kings of Orient are bearing gifts we Traverse afar field and fountain Moor and mountain you know the song you sing it but it doesn't say that there were three and even though in medieval times they were given names Caspar Balthazar and Melchior the text doesn't say that all of that stuff is made up so who were these guys well the word in Greek is m'goi we get the term Magi from it we also get the term magician from it we also get the term magistrate from it somebody who adjudicate saat law Magi magician or magic magistrate it is believed that the Magi come from Mesopotamia from Babylon and then from medo-persia that they were a priestly caste of the Medes and according to Herodotus the Greek historian they specialized in reading the dreams of people now we understand from reading The Book of Daniel that there were wise men in Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar had troubling dreams Daniel interprets the dreams Daniel is eventually placed as the chief over all of the migoi over all of the magi over the wise men of Babylon according to history the Magi were Semitic they were Semites they were related to the Jewish race they were sons of Shem they were also monotheistic they had that in their belief system it has also thought that since Daniel himself was the chief over all the Magi of Babylon that no doubt since he was there over them and there were the Jews in captivity for 70 years in many state afterwards that Daniel and others influenced the Magi in telling them about this coming ruler the Messiah Daniel received so many intricate prophecies about the Messiah and his coming so he primed the pump and got them ready to receive a future king of Israel I don't know I can't prove it but maybe he even shared that beautiful prophecy out of the Book of Numbers where it says a star will arise in Judah and a king will come from Israel and so they came to Jerusalem primed and ready following some astronomical site saying where is he who has been born the king of the Jews well it said when Herod the King verse 3 heard this he was trouble literally agitated or shaken to the core and all of Jerusalem with him now you know why that is let me tell you a little bit about Herod because you read a lot about him in the New Testament Herod was not Jewish the Jews hated him so he tried to do a lot of things to incur their favor he himself was and I do man he was from the other side of the Dead Sea in the country of Edom or Jordan he had a father named antipodean and tip attend a favor for Rome and so Julius Caesar gave to an tippet er the area of Judea to rule over as a gift I'm giving you the Jews I'm giving you Judea you can rule over them in I'll give you an army and you can call yourself by this title the King of the Jews Herod now succeeded an tip etre and Herod the Great loved the title King of the Jews he was the King of the Jews the Jews hated him but he called himself the King of the Jews cuz Julius Caesar allowed him that title and he was willing to kill anyone and put away anyone that he saw as a threat to his position as the king of the Jews ok he realizes I'm in I'm in Jewish country here man this is Judea there's Jews all around I am NOT Jewish so he marries a Jewish wife he had several wives one of them was called Miriam nay she was not only Jewish she was Hasmonean remember that term from last week judas maccabees and those ones who revolted and brought forth the temple reinstitution in Hanukkah so she came from that background she was Hashmi and she was Jewish and he did that again to incur the the favor of the Jews he also built him a temple and built them many things that they could enjoy their lives with but because he was a wicked man and a paranoid man and sought to kill anyone who might even take the kingdom from him he eventually killed his wife Mary Omni he didn't trust her he killed his two oldest sons so they couldn't take the throne he killed his brother-in-law the brother of Miriam neck because he thought he's trying to steal my kingdom so he just started killing people it got to be so crazy that one of the sayings that went about back then was this it's safer to be Herod's Pig than it is to be his own child it was so bad that when Herod was on his deathbed he knew he had no time left he ordered all of the prominent citizens of Jerusalem to be arrested imprisoned and when he died the order was as soon as I die kill all those prominent citizens of Jerusalem and here's his rationale I know that when I die nobody will weep for me so I want to make sure that there's weeping at my death kill them so now you can understand the paranoia when these Magi these kingmakers oh by the way it was thought that whatever the Magi said was considered to be the law of the merged Medes and the Persians you remember that from the Old Testament Daniel the law of the Medes and the Persians when that was put into effect it was irrevocable law so these were magistrates they lay down law for Mesopotamian rulers they identified Kings and put the seal of approval on Authority so for them to make a long journey hundreds of miles through the desert to identify the king of the Jews you can understand why this man who called himself the king of the Jews would be absolutely paranoid so he asked his chief priests in verse four and five where is this Christ to be born notice they had the answer immediately they said in Bethlehem of Judaea and then they quote the prophet do you remember Bethlehem and its significance in biblical history Bethlehem is where Jacob buries his wife Rachel Bethlehem is where Ruth meets and marries Boaz Bethlehem is where David grows up he's born in is raised in Bethlehem so much so that Bethlehem becomes known as the City of David now the word Bethlehem is from two Hebrew words Beit which means house or place of and let him which means bread it means the place of bread because it was the breadbasket of Israel the wheat was grown in those valleys around Bethlehem that's where Ruth and Boaz were out in the fields when she was gleaning so it means the house of bread the place of bread how significant that the bread of life would be born in Bethlehem the house of bread with all that rich biblical history the city of David because he was from the lineage of David and would sit on the throne of David but they said verse five in Bethlehem of Judea for thus it is written by the prophet but you bethlehem in the land of judah are not least among the rulers of judah for out of you shall come a ruler who will Shepherd my people Israel okay here's what blows my mind these were like professional clergymen these were the priests they're asked a biblical question and they can come up with the answer immediately they didn't have to say I don't know let me go onto my Lagos program on my computer and and let me just run a quick Bible search they could quote chapter and verse they could pull out of their memory the eighth century BC prophet Micah chapter 6 verse 8 but you Bethlehem they knew the verse they knew the scripture but what amazes me is they didn't even get up to check out if this could be the fulfillment of that promise Bethlehem is only a five mile walk it's the outskirts of Jerusalem it's very close here these Magi had taken a long arduous trip over the plains through the desert they've expended money they've expended energy and here's these guys just a few miles away we go Oh prophesy he's probably born in Bethlehem that's what it says so get up and check it out you think what it might say let's call it these guys see if this is right here's my point you can know a lot about the Bible you can quote chapter and verse you can have your little Bible memory verses and have it all down and you can do everything short of putting it into practice James says be doers of the word not just hearers only because when you do that you deceive yourselves these men were deceived they knew chapter and verse but they didn't want to go check it out I pray that none of us are like that I pray that we would grow in knowledge but as I pray growing grace it would change our lives that we will never become like one pundit said inoculated with a mild form of Christianity so as to be rendered immune from the real thing you know you just get a enough of the Christianity inoculated Indian you you can just kind of go to a place where you hear the truth and you are exposed to the truth but it never penetrates into the heart listen well churchgoers and Bible studies are you hungry for him not just knowledge about him but him personally pursuing him all they had to do was make a personal application and check it out they didn't do it then Herod when he had secretly called the wise men determined from them what time the star appeared and he sent them to Bethlehem and he said go and search carefully for the young child and when you have found him bring back word to me that I may come and worship Him also know we hear that we go yeah right like not gonna happen but he pretends to be a worshiper he claims to be a worshiper and not everyone who claims to be a worshiper is a worshiper when they heard the King they departed and behold the star which they had seen in the East went before them now watch this until it came and stood over where the young child was there's been so many theories and conjectures as to what this star really was I've read articles on it I've read commentaries about it some say was Jupiter the king of planets others say it was a combination of the alignment of Saturn and Jupiter in the shape of a fish which was the early symbol of Christianity others say it's a low-flying meteorite others have said it's an errant comet that showed up in the sky and the night sky others have said it's an inner vision really wasn't real just was the inner star your own personal like inner light thing you knew my like inner star and now in hearing all of those theories I don't know that I believe any of them simply because it says the star stopped it Stood Still it was apparently moving and then it stood still over where Jesus was comets typically don't do that nor do meteorites nor does Saturn or the other planets especially the inner light isn't gonna do that oh I'm feeling it the inner light inner the inner there it is right here here's a theory here's a thought let me throw this out at you perhaps this was the glory of God I'll explain the shepherds were out in the fields watching their flocks at night and an angel came to speak to them and it says the glory of the Lord shone round about them there was some visible light like manifestation it was light where they were at it shone around them we were in the book of Exodus and we remember that there was a visible manifestation of the presence of God the glory of God over the tabernacle a pillar of fire by night a sign that led them that stopped and started and stopped and started that Shekinah glory of God could be exactly what these wise men saw this sign that was put up in the sky like a star and they followed it and it would be so symbolic because just like the children of Israel were being delivered and had been delivered from the bondage of Pharaoh so here was the sign of the Messiah who had delivered the world from the bondage of sin forever and so in like manner they got this sign it stood it says over where the young child was notice that young child when they saw the star they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy when they had come into the house they saw the young child with Mary his mother and fell down and worshiped him when they had opened their treasures they presented gifts to him gold frankincense and myrrh myrrh then being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod they departed for their own country another way he's not called the baby anymore he's called a young child he's not in a manger any longer he's in a house time has passed the child has been circumcised Mary's purification 30 60 days is over with child has grown he's probably no more than six months old but probably several months old by the time that wise men came they didn't come Christmas Eve or Christmas night when the baby was born I know you see the manger scene there's the Wiseman there's the baby there's the shepherds all kind of hanging out together this is long after the shepherds they're now in their own home in Bethlehem and he's not called the baby but he's called a young child don't you find it interesting that the first group to worship the king of the Jews was not the Jews they wouldn't even go check it out it was a group of Gentiles how prophetic that the gospel would go into all the world what a what a what a prediction even of what the last words of Jesus to his disciples were going to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature these Gentiles probably primed by Daniel the prophet were the first to worship Jesus and it says and the text is very clear and wants to draw your attention to they worshiped him they did not worship Mary and him they worshiped only him he and he alone was the object of their worship when they had opened their treasures they presented gifts to him and their three gold frankincense and myrrh it was always customary to give a superior a gift when you were in his presence they recognized he was the King of the Jews they recognized he was royalty they recognized he would be Emmanuel because they worshiped him and so they bring gold gold was the king of metals in the metal fit for a king typically you'd never appear before an ancient monarch without some gift of gold I don't know how much gold but it was probably enough to fund their trip into Egypt and probably that's how Joseph paid for that long excursion into Egypt to go there and come back probably from the gifts of the wise man especially the gold next on the list is frankincense that's uh that's a gum resin that was used by the priests the priests would offer frankincense with the meal offering so Jesus gold a medal for the king of kings frankincense he is the great high priest oh by the way frankincense hardens into these little crystals and it doesn't give off its scent except one time you have to crush it when you crush it it gives off a sweet aroma remember Isaiah 53 he was pierced for our sins or iniquities he was crushed for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and by His stripes we are healed next on the list is mur mur Oh is a SAP that comes from a tree in Saudi Arabia it was used for perfume it was a spice but it was also used as an embalming fluid when Jesus died 100 pounds of spiced myrrh it says and aloes was mixed for his burial so it was typically used as an embalming fluid now of all the gifts you would want to get as a parent for your baby I doubt embalming fluid would be on your list and if somebody gave you a little package mark embalming fluid you would be terribly put out and offended talk about the gift that bombs embalming fluid would certainly be it but again this is a prediction a prophecy that he would die for the sin of the world I believe gold frankincense and myrrh now when they departed behold an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying arise take the young child and his mother again notice the word order the angel didn't say take Mary or take the mother and the young child take the young child and the mother in ancient writing this was never done the word order was always the adult first then the child but here the centrality of Christ is being highlighted so its first the child then the mother flee to Egypt and stay there until I bring you word for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him when he arose he took the young child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and was there until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the Prophet saying out of Egypt I have called my son Egypt is only 75 miles away from Israel that is bordered a border or from Bethlehem where they were to the border 75 miles but it was 150 miles from Bethlehem to the big city where they probably went Alexandria Egypt now I say they went to Alexandria because there was an enclave of Jews given protection by Alexander the Great at the city named after him a million Jews with synagogues and schools so they would have felt at home there Philo the great historian came from Alexandria the Septuagint that translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into the Greek by those 72 scholars took place at Alexandria they would have felt at home there nourished in Egypt then herod verse 16 when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men was exceedingly angry and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all of its districts from two years old and under to cover all the bases according to the time which he had determined from the wise man then it was fulfilled with what was spoken up by Jeremiah the Prophet saying a voice was heard in Ramah lamentation weeping and great more Rachel weeping for her children refusing to be comforted because they are no more and when Herod was dead behold an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt saying arise take the young child and his mother and go to the Land of Israel for those who sought the young child's life are dead and he arose took the young child and his mother and came to the Land of Israel but when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judah instead of his father Herod he was afraid to go there and being warned by God in a dream he turned aside into the region of Galilee and he came and he dwelt in a city called Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet he shall be called a Nazarene now the time's up but it's interesting too Matthew quotes a prophecy of Jeremiah up in verse 17 and 18 a voice that is heard in Ramah Rachel weeping for her children when Jeremiah gave that prediction what he was predicting was the Babylonian captivity and how the Babylonians would come in and kill people and take others of them captive and the result would be Jewish mothers under the title Rachel why Rachel as Rachel was the mother of Joseph and Benjamin the the favored wife of Jacob and she was the one who cried out saying give me children or else I die so Jewish mothers would typically identify that themselves with Rachel and the idea of Rachel weeping for her children are Jewish moms who are weeping for sons and husbands and daughters who have been killed by the Babylonians whom Jeremiah predicted what Matthew was simply saying is what happened with Babylon prefigured what would happen when Jesus was born in Bethlehem so one was a type of another you might say and then verse 23 we don't have really time to cover that we'll just touch on the next week as we get into chapter 3 and he came and he dwelt in a city called Nazareth that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of by the prophets he shall be called a Nazarene let's pray our father we love studying about the one who saved us Jesus who would take away our sin who would save his people from their sins we love studying about Immanuel God with us and so thankful that this virgin born one from heaven one who is with you from eternity past stepped into our world and being a man he could understand what we go through what we experienced as a man he could suffer what men suffer what women suffer as a man he could die the death that we die but as being God having the nature of God and the nature of man he was the sinless atonement sinless sacrifice the perfect sacrifice or we confess we don't totally understand that we don't totally get it but we marvel nonetheless and we do worship even as these men who were called wise men anyone is wise who worships Christ anyone is a fool who pretends to be like Herod a worshiper of Christ or like these religious folks who knew the Scriptures but didn't know their Lord or even get motivated enough to find out if the scripture was fulfilled Lord I pray that we as churchgoers and Bible studies would seek the Living God would seek the relationship and the communion with God that we wouldn't turn into just a church that is a school because then it wouldn't really be a body of Christ it would just be a mouth and a set of ears but as the body of Christ we're all connected to one another and to you to find out what your purpose is for us and to be a part of the process of changing lives - thank you Lord that we have a night where we can go in depth and we can study these things in Jesus name Amen

Channel: Calvary Church with Skip Heitzig

Views: 11,093

Rating: 4.7590361 out of 5

Keywords: Christmas, Nativity, Herod, genealogy, Calvary, Albuquerque, Skip, Heitzig, Sermon, Matthew, Calvary Church

Id: dGwr2DewZF0

Length: 60min 22sec (3622 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 11 2018