Read Matthew 2:1-12.
THIS chapter tells of something which happened sometime after the Lord Jesus was born into this world. We do not know how old He was when the “wise men” came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is He who is born King of the Jews?” but He was still quite a little helpless child, cared for by Mary, His mother.
When He was born, the shepherds, to whom the angel brought “good tidings of great joy” about the Saviour, were out in the fields, minding their sheep in the night. Just at the same time, in a far-away country, those “wise men,” of whom you have just been reading, looked up to the sky and saw a star, which they had never seen before, shining down upon them. You may think, when you look up at the sky on a clear night, that there are so many stars, glittering like little points of light, that you would never notice if a new one came. In the country where these men lived the stars shine very brightly; you never saw any starlight so beautiful as that of an Eastern night; and they were se accustomed to look at the stars that they called a great many of them by names, and watched for their shining. When they had seen this wonderful star they understood that it was the star of the Messiah, the King of the Jews. How do we know that they understood this? Read what they said when they came to Jerusalem: “Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the East, and are come to worship Him.”
We cannot tell how long these men were on the journey from their own far-off land to Jerusalem; but one day they arrived, and made their camels kneel down, that they might take off the loads which they carried, and then went about the city seeking for the King. It would not have been hard to find the palace where King Herod dwelt, but he was not the true king of the Jews; a cruel, wicked man, who had no fear of God, was then ruling over His people in Jerusalem; he was not of the family of David, but belonged to the people who had Esau for their father.
When King Herod heard what the wise men were asking, he was troubled. Now, take your Testament, and read the fourth and fifth verses. You see Herod could not answer the question; he would not like to think of the King of the Jews being born; but he had a great meeting of the priests and the scribes who were the most learned men, and asked them where the Messiah was born.
The scribes used to spend a great deal of their time in making copies of the Old Testament, and they answered that a prophet had said long before that He who should rule God’s people Israel was to be born at Bethlehem.
Bethlehem is about six miles from Jerusalem. It never was a beautiful city like Jerusalem, but only a village where humble people lived; it was known four thousand years ago, but was then called Ephrata or Ephratah; it was there that Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel died, and he set up a pillar over her grave to mark the place. Bethlehem is sometimes called the “city of David,” but we remember it most because of its being the birthplace of Christ, “great David’s greater Son.”
When Herod had heard from these learned men that Bethlehem was the place where the Messiah, the true King of the Jews was born, he sent for the strangers secretly, and asked them at what time they had first seen the star, and then he sent them on a message. Read the eighth verse.
Herod said he wanted to know where the young child was that he might worship Him too. The wise men really tried to find Him that they might worship the King of God’s people, though they could not say “Where is our King?” because they were strangers. We shall soon see why Herod wished to find Him. Now read the ninth and tenth verses.
How glad the wise men must have been to see the star again! “They rejoiced with exceeding great joy,” for the same star which had shone in the clear sky of their own country was now going before them, showing them the way, till it “came and stood over where the young child was.”
And where was that? We cannot tell in what sort of “house” they found “the young child, with Mary, His mother,” but we know that when He was born, there was not room in any house in the village of Bethlehem. He said, when He had spent a good many years in this world, “foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head,” and where He did lay His infant head was in the manger, in the place where the cattle used to feed.
Whatever the house may have been, however poor and lowly, the wise men knew at once that they had found Him whom they had come from their own far country to seek, and they “fell down and worshipped Him.”
God had said long before that the Gentiles should come from far, and should bring gifts to His King, and Matthew, who speaks so much of Christ as King of the Jews, tells us how God’s word was fulfilled by these strangers, who were not Jews, coming from their distant land with one thought and one wish. Their thought was that One was born King of the Jews, and their wish to find Him that they might bow before Him, and honor Him with gifts. We are told what those gifts were: they opened their chests and “presented unto Him gifts―gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.” Gold and incense were brought to God’s King, for frankincense and myrrh are sweet-smelling gums which are found flowing from the bark of some trees in Arabia, and were considered costly gifts as long ago as the time when Joseph was sold to the Arabian traders, who were passing by on their way to Egypt to sell the precious loads of spices and perfumes which their camels carried.
Now look at the last chapter but one of this gospel and see whether you can find any Gentiles―people not Jews―who called the Lord Jesus “King of the Jews,” not as the wise men did, but in mockery.
See, too, whether you can find where the written words, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews,” were once placed.
Dear children, we cannot now bring precious gifts, as the wise men did, to the Lord Jesus, but do not forget that God is pleased when even a little child honors His Son in his heart and in his ways.