Who He Is: Ruler Of The Nations

If you would, take your Bibles this morning and turn to Matthew chapter 2. Matthew chapter 2. We're looking to God's Word and let's just ask God to use this time speaking to us. Father once more we come to the point in our worship where we open your word and hear your voice would you give us ears to hear Father help us to examine ourselves in light of Jesus not just to celebrate the Lord Jesus coming but why he came as we look at him how that ought to change us and what we ought to think and what we ought to believe.

So help us now in these minutes that we have to understand this story. Not just understand the story of something that happened long ago and far away, but understand it in light of the fact that you put it here for us to respond to. Help us now, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Who are the wise men? Who are the wise men?

As a kid, I thought they came from a mysterious land called Orientar. You know the song, We Three Kings of Orientar. And that's what I thought. I thought they came from this weird country named Orientar. And if we're going to be honest, they weren't kings. They weren't. that might have come from some Old Testament references, but Matthew doesn't indicate that they were royalty.

And three? You know, nowhere in the Scriptures tells us there were three of them. Could have been ten. Maybe six. Who knows? Well, we know.

Right? Well, why is that? It's because, well, they brought three gifts, but really, were there only three? Nobody knows. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 2. Matthew chapter 2.

You're there. I want to read the first 12 verses. You follow as I read. Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men, or if you have a marginal note, magi is the word used, 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 in 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, are 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. When 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 worshipped 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.

Here we come to Matthew's story, Matthew's history of the Lord Jesus, the gospel concerning Jesus. Now Matthew's no disinterested observer. He was a tax collector whose life had been gloriously transformed by the coming of this Jesus. And when Matthew writes, he has a purpose in mind. He has a purpose in recording these facts concerning Jesus. As you read the book of Matthew, it is to show that Jesus is the promised Messiah who has come in fulfillment of all the scriptures.

He's not merely a Jewish Messiah, and as you read through the book, it becomes clearer and clearer and clearer. He's not merely a Jewish Messiah, but he's come to establish his reign over all the nations. Now that sounds a whole lot like the person that we just read about in Psalm 2. And the book ends with Jesus claiming universal authority and sending out his disciples to extend his reign over all the nations.

He's come to fulfill the scriptures. For Matthew, Jesus' person and ministry is the fulfillment of all that was said in the Old Testament scriptures. and even at his birth Matthew wants to tell you something it's this even at the birth of this king there's evidence of his universal kingship in fulfillment of those scriptures and in this chapter you find hostility and apathy towards this new king well let's look at it shall we The story begins with these Magi arriving in Jerusalem from the east. Now the term Magi loosely covered a group of men men interested in dreams in astrology in magic by the way magic comes from the term magi interested in all those things and even in books that they thought contained mysterious references to the future They were not kings, but wise men of that time, the ones who possessed a great deal of knowledge and wisdom. but what's the connection between these mysterious eastern wise men and a jewish messiah well evidently they were involved in astrological speculations because they connected this heavenly phenomenon this star with um with the messiah the possibility exists and and you remember most of the jewish people didn't live in that part of the world like today most jewish people lived scattered all over the world they'd gone into exile you remember and king nebuchadnezzar had destroyed the nation and deported all the people and so there was a significant population of jewish people living in babylon and so probably maybe that large and influential jewish population had an effect on these particular magi no doubt they'd been exposed to the jewish scriptures in their synagogues, writings that contained reference to a future coming, magnificent, powerful king.

Of course, where did they go? They went to the city of Jerusalem, the royal city of the Jewish people, the place where David had started his rule over the people of Israel. And they had come to worship, that is, to pay homage to this king. Now coming to Jerusalem and inquiring about a king will certainly cause a stir because a king already reigns and he hears about their mission.

His name is Herod. He's called Herod the Great. He is one of the three Herods that are mentioned in the New Testament. He's the most famous of them. Now, although he ruled over the Jews, Herod was no Jew. He was an Edomite.

But when he was 33, the Roman Senate decided to make him the king of Judea. Now, so he was just a client king. He was someone who served at the whim of the Roman Empire. And it took him three years and using Roman forces before he crushed all the Jewish opposition to his rule. And as you can imagine, the Jews hated him. Herod ruled over this people who hated him for 34 years, which says something about his abilities.

He was known as a gifted administrator. His famine relief during his reign was superb. He was a brilliant general. He was a ruthless fighter. He was subtle and intelligent. He could also be extraordinarily charming and he built this incredible glorious temple for the jews trying to win them over but the temple that we read about in jesus day was this magnificent edifice that he had built however herod had one particular quality that set him apart he absolutely loved power he loved power and he used all of his abilities to hang to keep to keep it he even went so far as to kill his wife and his two sons in order that no one would challenge his authority he even had made arrangements to have to have hundreds of Jewish leaders killed on the day he died and his cruelty comes out obviously in this chapter as you later read how he just determines to kill all the babies in Jerusalem two years and younger that's the kind of man he was.

And here we find him in the last year of his reign, stricken with illness, worried about his throne. Now Herod, hearing reports the arrival of these impressive wise men, is disturbed and agitated. Why? Because a usurper has been born, someone who's going to challenge his rule and unlike the magi he's not eager to prostrate himself before this king who wants to eliminate him now the people are also disturbed they're also agitated not because they're allied with herod or they like herod but they're disturbed because these sorts of questions can bring about a fresh outbreak of cruelty from this one that they hated so much and so herod summons the chief priests and the scribes of Jerusalem for consultation and they respond by telling him this promised king is supposed to be born in Bethlehem according to the prophet Micah and then of course he has a secret meeting with the magi in the inner rooms of the palace he fakes humility and he pumps them for information in order to understand more about where this this king might be and he already has a scheme in mind he wants to kill the baby so he sends them to bethlehem on the way to the village that supernatural heavenly phenomenon whatever it was confirmed their direction and they're overjoyed they find the child they approach him with their gifts in the ancient east wherever you come to a superior you bring gifts so they recognized him as superior they recognized him as a king and they opened their gifts before him however warned by a dream they go back a different way they go back a different way they don't go back to herod as he asked but god warns them in a dream and they go back home another way now the question to ask whenever we come to a text of scripture the most basic you've heard me say this the most basic the most important question to ask whenever you're interpreting scripture is this question why is this text here why is this here why did Matthew record these events while leaving out others Right Why did he record these events and leave out other events Here's why.

You need to see the King coming to the nations. You need to see the King coming to the nations. even at this point at the birth of the king gentiles are drawn to him gentiles are drawn to him now note matthew leaves out the whole bit about the shepherds luke doesn't include the wise men why is that why are they doing that there's the question Why is this here? Well, remember Luke's point.

Luke's point is that this Messiah has been sent to reach the lowest. Remember, the shepherds are the lowest strata of society, the very lowest. And this Messiah has come to reach the lowest. Matthew's point is to tell us the Messiah has been sent to reach even the farthest. You see? Luke Messiah has come to reach the lowest Matthew Messiah has come to reach the farthest see they both have a different point that doesn't mean they fabricate things it doesn't mean they twist it it means this is why Jesus came and you can tell when you look at even the events of his birth and so Matthew from the very beginning Matthew makes the point that this Messiah is not merely a Jewish Messiah.

But this is the one who has come to rule the nations. He is a Messiah for all the nations, not just a Jewish Messiah. And so this king, coming for all the nations, fulfills the scriptures. Look at verses 5 and 6. Where the scribes and the Pharisees, the scribes and the chief priests, respond with, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so is written by the prophet, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah.

For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. So the promised Messiah does come through Israel to shepherd Israel. But the Old Testament scriptures also provide a wider vista. they also have a universal scope it isn't just Israel as Micah says but you find this universal rule that this Messiah is coming that this mysterious figure of the Old Testament is going to come look for example at Psalm 72 Psalm 72 Alright?

I want you to follow as I read verses 8 through 11. Alright, now this is probably, alright? This is probably a coronation hymn. What is that? It was a hymn sung by the people when a king was crowned. And it's supposed to describe what the king is like.

Alright? And when you read this, it's like, wow, no king ever even came close. No king of Judah or Israel ever came close to this. And that's true. It's like the Bible describes a coming king that fills these robes and no king ever filled those robes. And so they were looking for a king who would be like this.

And so even within the nation of Israel, even within their worship was built this anticipation for someone who would meet the description of their king like this one. And so this is what they're looking for. Verses 8 through 11. may he have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth may desert tribes bow down before him and his enemies lick the dust may the kings of tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute may the kings of shabbat and sabah bring gifts may all kings fall down before him all nations serve him drop down to verse 17 may his name endure forever his fame continue as long as the sun may people be blessed in him all the nations call him blessed so here is the the song of a king who is supposed to rule the nations whose whose rule is supposed to extend such such that nations bring tribute to him that kings will come to him all right look at isaiah 60 isaiah 60 verses 1 through 6 arise shine for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you for behold darkness shall cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples but the Lord will arise upon you and his glory will be seen upon you and nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.

This probably is where the idea of kings coming in the song originated in this prophecy. All right? Let's continue. Lift up your eyes all around and see. They all gather together. They come to you.

Your son shall come from afar and your daughter shall be carried on the hip. And you shall see and be radiant. your heart shall thrill and exalt because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you the wealth of the nations shall come to you a multitude of camels shall cover you the young camels of Midian and Ephah all those from Sheba will come they shall bring gold and frankincense and shall bring good news the praises of the Lord you see what he saying here he saying the nations are going to come and what are they going to do they going to bring wealth Gentiles are going to come and they going to bring wealth to this king Verse 11 your gates shall be open continually day and night they shall not be shut that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations and their kings led in procession. So we see these universal kinds of things saying and Gentiles being a part of this.

We read in Psalm 2, remember? Psalm 2, You ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. Now, therefore, O kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way.

For his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. And so there's this view of Gentiles coming, and coming to this king, coming to him with wealth. And what do we see here? We see Gentiles come and bow. We see the first fruits of all the nations bringing their wealth.

We see the very beginning of it at the very birth of this king. That's why Matthew puts it here. He wants you to see, even at his birth, this Jesus is fulfilling all of these prophecies. it's beginning to be fulfilled they're beginning to worship him now the king who came then commissions us to extend his reign okay consider this Matthew starts here and as you go through the book for example in chapter 8 he tells the the people there's going to be people not part of us they're going to come and feast at that table that's promised in in the scriptures people from afar so all the way through Matthew builds the case that this Messiah is the one for all the nations until you come to the very last verses Matthew 28 let's turn there Matthew 28 verse 18 and Jesus came and said to his disciples all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me you get that? you see what he's saying there?

I've got all the authority in heaven and earth alright go therefore on the basis of that make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I am with you always to the end of the age so here is this king alright and he commissions us to extend his kingdom the king came Gentiles kneeled before him now since the king has inaugurated his kingdom more of the nations must be gathered in. And the gospel goes out, and it tells of this righteous king. And it tells that you come to him, and you find forgiveness, and righteousness extends.

And there's a holy people that are brought out of all the nations, the very first fruits of his rule over all the nations. And it's begun there, at his birth. It continues now in the preaching of the gospel of this king, to which you bow your knee in submission, by which you find salvation. Right? and it extends and his kingdom is not just this guy's ruling over us it's a kingdom of righteousness until when he finally comes and it's all fulfilled so that as it says in isaiah 11 and the righteousness of the lord will fill the earth like the water will cover the earth like the waters like the waters of the oceans all of that is a fulfillment of this old testament um scriptures until finally those prophecies find ultimate fulfillment when Jesus comes again and finally brings it all to what's the word I want brings it all to an end brings it to its full fruition revelation 21 we saw that just a little few minutes ago I want you to turn there again and here's why because when you read revelation 21 you should hear the echoes of Isaiah 60 revelation 21 if you remember what is what does isaiah 60 say talks about the rulers bringing their wealth to to to jesus to the to the messiah listen to what it says verse 23 and the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it for the glory of god gives its light and its lamp is the lamb by its light will the nations walk and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it and its gates will never be shut by day and there will be no night there.

All right? As you read Isaiah 60, they will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. It echoes Isaiah 60. It's saying this is what's going to happen then. This lamb, this Jesus, is going to receive all the wealth and the honors of all the nations. The king has come and inaugurated his reign, receiving the adoration of the nations, even at his birth. you see the first fruits of it and now that kingdom his rule is extended through the earth through the gospel and in one day he'll return and complete the fulfillment of all those prophecies but what Matthew wants you to see is it started even at the beginning even at the beginning with Jesus in that house right there is the king who will draw the nations to the light that's what he wants you to see.

From the very beginning that was true of him. Now, that's not the end of the story as we read it in Matthew 2. All right, what happens when the king does arrive? You've got to see that this king always arouses opposition. He always arouses opposition. Look at Herod.

He's trembling for his throne in the last year of his life. He's obsessed with clinging to the power, the riches, the comforts, and the pleasures of this life. Things have not changed, have they? People would rather cling to the power and the comforts and the pleasures and the riches of this life rather than the riches of this life. salvation in Jesus.

It's still the same. Now look, if I could sing this I would, but I can't, but I heard this song by the OJs. Any of you remember the OJs? Yeah, see you've got to be pretty old to remember the old OJs. They're from the 70s. The Philadelphia Sound it was called.

And the OJs had a song called Living for the Weekend. And I can't do it justice by quoting it. Please bear with me. But I want you to hear what they had to say. Going to have a real, real, real good time. Living for the weekend.

Going to party hard, hard. Come on, y'all. Let's go downtown. Come on, y'all. Let's groove. Hey, hey.

This sounds better with music, I know. Monday to Thursday, I'm dead on my feet. Most of the time, too tired to eat. Too tired to eat. When I try to read the paper, I fall fast asleep. But as soon as Friday rolls around, I lay all my weekly burdens down.

I put on my glad rags and paint the town. Friday night, alive, living for the weekend. Said I'm living for the weekend. Don't stop when I party down. Party hard, party down, party hard, party down. There it is.

There it all is. Right? Some will cling to the pleasures of drunkenness and partying, rather than repenting of those sins, casting themselves on Christ for forgiveness and finding incredible joy in walking and following Jesus. The joy that's found there. And I want to say to some of you who are sitting here today, man, you love the parties. You love the life of just living for yourself and what you're finding, I hope you're finding, I can't help but think you're finding, that it's kind of empty.

It's empty. Right? When the weekend's over, what? you got to drag yourself to work again and then what live for the weekend wow there's real purpose in life in that right live like that and what happens you're miserable but there's joy in the fact that Jesus comes to change you and that you find joy in something entirely different what you find is you love the things instead of hating the things that God's that God loves and loving the things that God hates You find just the opposite and you find joy in that You find pleasure in that Look at the residents of Jerusalem They also agitated They're afraid of more cruelty.

Today, more people are interested in the status quo. They dread a change, which introduces, in their view, greater calamities. Sure, life is hard, they'll say, but following Christ is going to be harder. And you know what? you're right it will be harder but it's a different kind of hard it's a heart of abundant life and let's face it submitting to Jesus means upsetting everything Jesus isn't interested in just becoming an addition to your life it's not it he doesn't want to be an addition you know in the 70's which was just yesterday in the 70s coca-cola had a campaign that said try coke you'll like it simple right well some you know some brilliant christians got a hold of that and so they started this campaign bumper stickers and everything that said try jesus you'll like him Jesus didn't come for you to try him Jesus came to demolish everything and build on a whole new foundation look at Matthew 16 for a moment look at Matthew 16 alright verse 24 then Jesus told his disciples if anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Wow, right? Jesus demands absolute total surrender. Don't just add him on but absolute total surrender he demands all of you all right but guess what it's a better life it a better life some of you here today can talk about how standing for Jesus has cost you something how doing what Jesus says is not popular And yet what you find is that there purpose in it that there joy in it that there even some satisfaction in following Jesus, even if it costs you everything.

Look at the priests and the teachers. They're apathetic. They're not excited at all. They knew exactly where to look in the Bible to answer Herod's question. But it didn't make any impression. Now the chief priests were the Sadducees.

The Sadducean party held the chief priest position. The Sadducees were the theological liberals of the day. They did not believe in anything supernatural. Right? They didn't believe in anything supernatural. They were the theological liberals.

The religious liberals. they knew the scriptures but they didn't believe them they knew them but they didn't believe them you know I could take you to my office and pull commentaries off of my shelf written by people who don't believe the bible but they study it as ancient literature and they have all these things to say about it it's interesting to see that yeah they know the bible there are scholars. University of North Carolina right now is a hotbed of theological study. I'm sorry, Duke University.

How could I get those two mixed up? Duke is. And there's lots of theological teaching going on, but a lot of those professors don't believe it. That's the chief priest. And then the scribes or the Pharisees, the religious legalists of the day. They're interested in the words and the grammar and fascinating and their own reputations.

They're more than the God who spoke the prophecy. Now some of you may be in those camps. Some of you may be here. You've heard it all. In fact, you may have been here for years. Your mom and dad made you come here.

And you've heard it all, but you don't believe any of it. You don't believe any of it. Maybe you believe it's true. Maybe you believe it's true, but you're like, I don't want to. you know if I respond to that then things are going to change and that's not for me right but in this text that Matthew gives us God presents Christ to you for your belief and your trust And lastly when the king appears he appears for worship For worship.

The scripture reveals Jesus, the one who came so that you might find salvation in him. And having found that, you worship him. That's why this text is here. So let me ask you, have you seen the king today? here God presents his son the Lord Jesus Christ he tells you the adoration of the wise man so that you adore him so that you worship him have you come to him in repentance for your rebellion and sin against his rightful rule that's the question are you a part of the rebellion that declares about God and his king let us break their chains and throw off their shackles have you instead kissed the son have you found refuge in him in that refuge you're going to find forgiveness and in submission to him you'll find joy and a better life than you ever imagined jesus is the ruler of the nations and that rule begins when he rules your hearts Father we're thankful for your word thankful for the Lord Jesus who came as the king and Lord even now he conquers people's hearts and he extends his kingdom Lord we thank you for his rule and his reign and we anticipate when he will come again and all of it will be fulfilled and peace and righteousness will reign the world over.

And then, then Lord, we'll have the peace that we so long for this time of the year. Help us to see Jesus not merely as a baby, but help us to see him as a king who draws even those outside of his people to himself. That because of that he has drawn us. God help us to see this Jesus. And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.