Matthew 2: 1-12 is one of the most familiar passages of the Christmas story. But so much of what we believe about the visit of the Magi comes from the John Henry Hopkins Jr. song We Three Kings of Orient Are. When we look at the text we see that these men were not kings, nor was there likely just three of them. Rather the Lord brings the Gentiles to search for his Son and the Jews stay at home.

But this is a passage about kings and two in particular: King Herod and King Jesus. This account in the birth story of Jesus is supposed to focus our attention as to which king we desire to follow. Herod portrays the world that worships self and wants to convince us that it can save us. Herod was all show and no substance, just like the world.

Jesus on the other hand is the true covenant king of God's people. He may not have had an earthly throne or crown, but his every word is true and he gave his life so that we can live forever. But it is one thing to know about Jesus and quite another to trust in him for salvation. Our challenge is to respond to Jesus and trust him as Saviour, worshipping him as our true king forever.

The Life of Jesus: Good News for Everyone is a teaching series from Annalong Presbyterian Church. To find out more visit http://www.annalongpc.org/podcasts.

You can watch a video of this sermon on YouTube at https://youtu.be/g7gmsCHXoO0.

I've been very aware for quite a while that a few of you like to play a little game on a Sunday.

And that is, what hymn are we going to sing next?

And you've confessed to me that I've ruined it for you because I've now told you what we're going to sing.

However, let's be honest.

How many of you thought of a perfect song From Matthew, chapter 2 and verses 1 to 12?

We 3 Kings of Orient are.

Don't worry, we're not going to be singing it.

You'll be glad to hear, because this is exactly where We Three Kings comes from.

And it's one of the songs that we sing, or indeed we hear at Christmas, that speaks to us about the visit of the wise men to Jesus.

And as much as it is a song based on this passage from Matthew's Gospel that we're looking at this morning, Hopkins also took reference from Psalm 72.

And there are two verses there that foretold of the kings of foreign lands coming to worship the messianic king.

And verses 10 and 15 of Psalm 72 say, the kings of Tarshish and of distant shores will bring tribute to him.

The kings of Sheba and Seba will present him gifts.

Then verse 15, long may he live.

May gold from Sheba be given him.

May people ever pray for him and bless him all day long.

And as we know with the Psalms, they're mainly written about the life of David and the covenant kings of Israel, but they're also Messianic or prophetic.

They point us to the true king of God's people, people who comes along.

And that's what we look at on Sunday evenings in Second Samuel, who is the true king of God's people.

And so when you consider Psalm 72 along with Matthew chapter 2 and verses 1 to 12, then you understand why Hopkins presented three kings bearing the three gifts.

And he went as far as to include the traditional names of these kings, Melchar, Caspar and Belshazzar.

Now, these names are not Jewish names, but to fulfill the prophecy of Psalm 72, they are names that come from distant lands.

Now, perhaps We Three Kings is a favorite song of yours that you enjoy singing at Christmas.

And I don't want to burst any bubbles here this morning, but the text itself that we read doesn't say that there were kings, nor does it say There were three of them.

Verses one and two tell us.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, where is the one who has been born King of the Jews?

We saw his star in the east, and we have come to worship him.

Now, even in these first verses, we actually learn quite a lot.

First, the visitors coming from the Easter called Magi.

Now, both the King James Version and the English Standard Version translate them as wise men.

The Magi were, in effect, counselors.

That is, their wisdom would be sought on particular matters, and they would advise, so they would give counsel.

They weren't kings.

And while they bore three gifts, their number, which is not recorded here, was large enough to cause a stir in Jerusalem, as we see in just a few verses.

So any notion that we have of three kings comes exclusively from Hopkins Christmas Song.

And that influences much of popular thinking regarding the visit of these Gentiles.

Now, the second thing we learn is that they are learned men.

They say that they have seen a star in the east, and they acknowledge that this has meant the birth of a new king.

And for these Gentile counselors of foreign lands or coming from foreign kings, there's a fine line between their astronomy and their astrology.

Astronomy is the study of stars and constellations, while astrology is trying to interpret what the placement of these stars mean.

Now, scripture both prohibits and it mocks astrology.

And it does that in Jeremiah chapters 8 and 19, and in Isaiah 47.

And still today, 2,000 years later, if you flick open a magazine or if you flick open a newspaper or even do a search online, you will find astrologers still trying to tell you what you should do based on the alignment of stars.

Scripture says that is nonsense.

Scripture mocks it.

But Scripture warns us not to be involved.

It is not simply good fun to read your stars or your horoscope.

These are things not of truth and light.

They're in the dark places.

And by the way, if you really do look at them, they're so general, they could fit well into anyone's life at any time.

So please be warned by Scripture not to be involved in these things, because they are dangerous and they only lead us on a path that draws us further away from the Lord because they are not from Him.

So scripture prohibits and mocks astrology, and you can find it there in Jeremiah chapters 8 and 19 and Isaiah 47.

Yet God reversed expectations, and he spoke to these stargazers in language that they understood.

And in that language of following this star, he called these Gentiles to Jesus.

And so, guided by a star, God fulfills prophecy by stating that the Gentiles would come and would worship the Messiah.

But they do cause quite a stir in the royal palace and in Jerusalem, because verse three tells us that when King Herod heard this, he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him.

Now, let's think a moment about Herod.

Herod was the puppet king of Rome.

He had no real power, nor did he have any authority.

And he was positioned on the throne as a political tactic by Rome to keep the Jews happy.

The Jews at last could have a king of their own.

His position was more like a ceremonial mayor who looked good in office, but could only rule within the confines of Roman rule.

And so, being Rome's puppet and being happy to have the position, Herod wasn't going to rock the boat and risk losing what he had.

So he certainly wasn't seen as a Jewish nationalist leader as many were looking for.

So when these wise men arrive, the throne starts to feel a bit shaky as he's confronted with news of the birth of a new king.

And in this verse, in verse three, the inclusion of the comment about Jerusalem would indicate that their entrance into the city was noticed as well as their message known.

So this was not simply three people walking in, because one or two, or even the three in fine clothes would have been interesting, but wouldn't have caused a stir, because Jerusalem was a place where the world travels through.

And so this tells us that there were more, simply three of them.

There was more than just what we think all based a song.

And as we've seen with other foreign travelers to Jerusalem in Scripture, long journeys required food, they required water and possible accommodation to be brought with them.

So these three wise men would have been of a status of that they had servants with them to service the needs of traveling the distances they traveled.

So there is most certainly more than three.

And even though Herod is the puppet king of Rome, he has Jewish religious advisors and he puts them to work to try and understand what these Gentile visitors are saying.

But what we don't notice is who these advisors are.

We're told that the chief priests and the teachers of the law are brought together.

This was unheard of because the chief priests and the teachers of the law, or scribes as they're called elsewhere, were also Pharisees, two groups who were very different in their approaches to religious practice.

The chief priests were usually Sadducees, and the teachers of the law were Pharisees.

And they never got on.

So when they do agree on something, which they do now in this text, Herod now pays attention, and in their conclusion, they go to a 700-year-old prophecy from Micah Chapter 5 to confirm what these wise men are saying.

And so Matthew records what they report from Micah 5 there in verse 6.

But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people, Israel.

What they do is they confirm that a king was foretold to come from the home of David in Bethlehem.

Now, with David being known as Israel's greatest king, any mention of Bethlehem will have certainly sounded alarm bells for the puppet king, Herod.

Where else would a good nationalist revolt begin?

Well, in the home place of the king that they want to emulate on the throne.

So Herod, with fear and trembling, gathers now the magi and tells them what his wise men have discovered.

But Herod is shrewd and he has a plan.

He wants to use these enthusiastic visitors for his own benefit.

And in verse 8 we're told he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and make a careful search for the king or for the for the child.

As soon as you find him, report to me so that I too may go and worship him.

Now, of course, Herod had absolutely no intention of worshiping the new king in Bethlehem.

But the magi trust the king and set off with the star once again leading them.

And as the Jews stay at home, as they continue to look for a messiah, the Gentiles head to Bethlehem.

And the star eventually came to rest over the place where the child was.

And to our surprise, they don't find a stable.

Our nativity scenes often show the three wise men coming to a manger, with some of them showing the shepherds there as well.

Well, time has passed and Joseph and Mary have found more appropriate accommodation in Bethlehem, following the busyness of the movement of people remember why they were there for the census at the time of Christ's birth.

But we also know that the time period is anywhere up to two years since Jesus was born, because of what later verses record with Herod's actions to try and kill Jesus.

For now the wise men are overjoyed that they have found the infant that they have been looking for.

So verse 11 is the climax of their journey and a verse that we're so familiar with.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.

Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh.

Now, we shouldn't leap to conclusions when reading that these wise men become believers in Jesus, certainly not as we know him now in his resurrected form.

But bowing down here before him signifies respect and homage at finding the One that they searched long for.

And in a few months we read these verses again and consider the gifts and their meanings.

But now it's sufficient enough to say that gift giving was essential in that culture, especially when approaching a leader whom they believed Jesus to be.

Frankincense, gold and myrrh were costly, the sort of precious thing found in one royal court and given to another.

And it is speculation, and it is only speculation that indeed, selling some of these may have funded how Mary and Joseph journeyed to Egypt.

Now again, it's speculation rather than fact.

But if there is symbolism in the gifts, it lies in the allusion to Psalm 72 and its prophecy that the nations would come to a king greater than Solomon, bringing gifts and falling before him as all nations serve him.

But there's a problem with this story because cultural norms required reciprocal gifts.

He didn't simply give a gift and go home empty handed.

Yet that's what happens here to these wise men.

The Magi, as representatives of the nations, go home empty handed.

But Jesus more than repays them in the end, as we know him to be the one to whom we look to as Savior.

The Gentile nations to the ends of the earth in Christ alone, in whom we find salvation.

But their time comes to leave, and as they do, God warns them in verse 12.

And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

Now, once Herod realizes that he has been duped in some way, he then will seek to kill Jesus by another way.

And that will lead us on to our passage for next week, which will take us through from verse 13 to verse 23.

Now, I hope I haven't ruined Christmas for you by crushing the illusions that John Henry Hopkins jr's song has for years presented to us.

But when we look at the text, we see greater significance of this account over the words that we sing.

Were there three kings?

Most likely not.

These were men, wise men from the east, who practiced astrology which the Bible speaks against.

But they are included in the text of Scripture and are the fulfillment of what was foretold.

Their significance for us today is to assure us that Jesus didn't simply come to the Jews alone, that they would exclusively receive his salvation.

Jesus came for us all so that we can come to him through his death and his resurrection and know forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.

So this passage isn't about three kings, but it is about two kings.

And these two kings stand in contrast to each other.

The question is that we're confronted with today, which of these kings do we serve?

And I hope by now you'll have realized that the two kings at the heart of this account are Herod and Jesus.

King Herod, the puppet king, represents the world.

He represents its very fragile power.

And he represents the world's desire to keep whatever power it can get.

Herod wasn't concerned about the plight of the Jewish people under Roman rule.

Nor was he concerned about Jewish nationalism.

To see a free and independent country no longer under the laws and practices and rules of Rome.

Herod was concerned about keeping the status quo, which he benefited from.

He wanted to keep his throne and uphold the delicate balance that existed to ensure there was no change in how things were run.

Was he a true king of the Jews?

No.

He wasn't even a touch on the great covenantal kings of Israel's history.

There's no sense of his appointment by prophet or priest.

Rather, it was all political to keep the whole thing running to the way Rome wanted.

It was all show and no substance.

And actually that's not a bad definition of the world around us today.

For the world is all show and no substance.

Now there is, I know, things in this world that are good, that we need to survive.

And God shows all humanity common grace each moment so that we can exist.

But the depth of this world is shallow.

And even though it presents itself as the only answer to our happiness and our salvation, it can never save us.

And Thursday was a significant day for me because I did think 100 years and you think, what has changed?

A hundred years ago there wasn't even a box on the wall that we called a telephone.

There was no televisions, there was no convenient modes of transport.

People didn't travel much beyond a couple of miles of where they were, what they could walk within a reasonable day.

And I look at us within ours, we can be far on this globe.

See, the world is a pride filled and boastful place because it thinks it has achieved.

And we benefit from these achievements.

But nothing, absolutely nothing, that the world offers can save us.

I've tried.

I've tried to see if the world can save me.

I've enjoyed its benefits.

I've wanted the next thing, because that's what everybody else had.

But it turns out it's nothing because as soon as we have the most recent bit of technology, it is already out of date.

And you know that because five years after getting a mobile phone, you're complaining it's not working.

That's why Paul writes what he does in Romans 1, verses 22 to 23.

He writes it here as a warning to us right at the beginning of his great theological piece of what salvation is.

And speaking of humanity, he says this.

Although they, I.e.

Humanity, claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

Humanity has sought to position itself as God.

Humanity worships the creation rather than the Creator.

And this is exactly what King Herod represents.

A world that promises us everything and delivers nothing in the end.

But there is a second king, and that is King Jesus.

Because in contrast to King Herod, we see the true king of God's people.

He may not have a throne, earth, nor a crown as we would expect, but he is the true covenant king that we desperately need.

And when you trace the kings of Israel, they all failed in one way or another.

But Jesus is the one who never fails.

And Scripture speaks so much of what it means to know this king and to trust King Jesus.

Acts 4, verse 12 says, Salvation is found in no one else.

For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which you we must be saved.

That name is Jesus.

And it's he who tells us in Luke chapter 19, verse 10.

For the Son of Man, that name that he was given, a very messianic, prophetic name.

The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.

He wasn't concerned about a throne in a royal palace in Jerusalem.

He's concerned about the heavenly throne where he now rules and reigns.

And he's concerned about who his kingdom will be, about lost souls coming on to salvation.

You see, Jesus is no puppet king, nor is he a self serving leader.

He is the one who rules with equity and justice.

He is the one who has done what only the true covenant king could do.

He gave his life on the cross so that the punishment our sins deserve would be taken on him rather than on us.

But there is one thing to know about Jesus and it's quite another to trust in Him.

You see, we're going to be one of two kinds of people here.

Because if I were all to ask you, going out through the door, who's Jesus?

You'll all give me an answer.

So we all have a knowledge of Jesus.

But there's a second person who goes beyond the knowledge of Jesus and trusts in Jesus.

You see, we can all have facts and figures about Jesus.

We can all know the stories and we can even say out loud that we, we know that he came to bear the punishment of our sins.

But simply because we say it doesn't save us.

I can tell you anything and you might believe it, and I can convince myself and I can convince you.

But when it comes to Jesus, words are not simply enough.

Because any of us can know about Jesus.

It's only when we place our trust in him and his salvation that we have eternal life.

And this changes our whole life.

To know about Jesus means we still live under the rule of the world.

It's just head knowledge.

Herod knew of Jesus and he still wanted to kill him.

But trusting in Jesus means we live for him, desiring to do good works, but not depending on those works as eternal currency to treat our way into heaven.

Well God, I was good enough.

Because the reality is none of us ever can be trusting in Jesus.

That hard work means we reject the priorities of the world that mislead and corrupt us and we follow his way ways.

So whose voice are you going to heed?

King Herod or King Jesus?

Maybe you'll be indifferent to Jesus.

Maybe you'll have a knowledge of him and that's enough in your mind.

It's not enough because you must trust and you must declare him as king of your life.

Maybe you'll be hostile towards Him.

Maybe you're simply here because it's the good cultural thing to do.

But coming through that door cannot save you.

And if you're hostile towards Jesus, then you desperately need to change, otherwise you will be lost forever.

I wonder, will you buy low with whatever gifts you have in hand and adoringly worship him for who he truly is?

See, I want to encourage each and every one of you, whoever you are here this morning.

Trusting in King Jesus means that you can trust him with your fears, you can trust him with your disappointments.

You can trust him with your anger, you can trust him with your guilt, you can trust him with the burden that you feel in this life.

And you can trust him to forgive you for your own self righteousness.

The question is, will you trust Him?

Will you trust him to keep you in this world and bring you home to him in heaven?

That's the very reason why he came.

And Matthew told us that right from the very beginning.

This is the Jesus, the King Jesus we must know.

And the King Herod we must reject, so that as we live for him, we can truly trust him with everything that comes our way.

That we need not fear, for he indeed will lead us home.

Have you trusted Him?

But more pointedly to us all, Will you trust him with whatever is going on in your life right now?

Because Christ is enough.

We don't need to see an earthly throne.

We don't need to see an earthly crown.

For the head that once was crowned with thorns is crowned in glory.

Now that is the throne, the much higher throne, and where that crown of righteousness sits so that we can be assured of that life eternal with him.

Trust in King Jesus and reject all of the King Herods of this world and know Christ only.

So let's pray in his name.

Our Father God, we thank you for this.

Your word, a challenging word, and maybe for some an uncomfortable word.

Because it confronts us with who we really are.

And it confronts us with a question that we may not want to answer or like to answer, but yet we must.

So may we see King Jesus for who he truly is.

May a knowledge of him translate and transmit into our hearts so that we will be his forever.

And we will know that great delight of a higher throne that is his ruling and reigning forever, where we will be with him, and we will know salvation complete.

So may we not be ignorant to the truth, and may we trust in him only, and we ask it in his name alone.

Amen.