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(Audio not available)......that he will dwell with us in a much more physical way, and I long for that day. In fact, that's always the motive when I stand behind this sacred desk. In fact, I've got a little sign up here that's been here for years. It says, "We would see Jesus." "We would see Jesus." And I resent my Savior and my King being so dishonored in our culture, and I want to, once again, raise him up to his rightful place as we look into his word this morning. And we do that by looking at a very interesting topic; and I've entitled my discourse to you "Debunking the Magi Myths." This is going to be part one. I realize that there's no way I could cover this in just one sermon, and much of what I'm going to do is give you an introduction to what I will exposit next week, but it's important for you to understand the magnificent truths behind the wise men that came to visit Jesus.

Remember, Satan is the father of lies, and the way he operates is through deception. In John 12:31, Jesus said that he is the ruler of this world who "will be cast out." We know, according to Second Corinthians 4:4 that he is the "god of this world." I emphasize god with a small "g." He is the god of this world who has "blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." And we know, for example, in Second Corinthians, chapter 11, beginning in verse 14, that he disguises himself as "an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds." Paul was referring to the deceitful rivals that he encountered who have aligned themselves with the forces of darkness, some wittingly, many unwittingly; and we deal with this to this day with false teachers. They abound. But too often, these false teachers have very large platforms; and especially in our day of the internet, they are able to spread their deceptions all over the world very rapidly, and as a result, you see deception, you see strife, you see heresy, you see stupidity. And nowhere can we find any more gross distortions of what the word of God has to say than in the Christmas story, especially surrounding the quote, "three wise men." And you've all seen their pictures, right? These three dudes dressed in oriental kingly costumes and their camels standing over by the side. All you have to do is just look around at the Christmas decorations in people's yards, and you will realize the deceptions that are out there. Very seldom will you find a nativity scene. Right down the street from us there is a blow up blue and white Tennessee Titans, Santa Claus. I think the Titans need a new Santa Claus. They're like the worst team in the NFL. And you drive around and you see Santa and his sleigh, reindeer, Rudolph. I see a lot of the Grinch that stole Christmas. You see minions. You see Muppets, Frosty the snowman, nutcrackers, lights, candy canes, wreaths, Christmas trees, angels. And a lot of times you'll see a big star. And I have to say that if an alien landed here and asked 100 people, "What on earth does all this represent?" He'd probably get 300 answers. Because it's just so chaotic. It's so ridiculous. For the fun of it, I asked AI about the meaning of Christmas, and here's what AI told me, "The meaning of Christmas is the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth, marking a pivotal moment of God entering human history to bring hope salvation and love, symbolized by the manger the star and gifts. While deeply religious for Christians, it has evolved into a broader cultural holiday focused on family, giving, charity and goodwill, incorporating traditions like gift giving trees and Santa Claus often as secular expression of these values." That pretty well covers it, sadly.

But as I say, occasionally you'll see a nativity scene and you'll see these three dudes off to the side, these three wise men. And you have to ask the question, well, "Who are these guys?" Now we all know the answer is in the song, right? "We Three Kings of Orient are, bearing gifts we traverse afar; field and fountain moor and mountain following yonder star." I think I've probably told you this before, but I can't ever rehearse those lyrics without remembering getting in some pretty serious trouble with my mother, because when I was a little boy, somehow the guys came up with a different set of lyrics. "We Three Kings of Orient are, men who smoked a rubber cigar; it was loaded, it exploded, now you know where we are."

So who were these wise men from the East, from actually the Parthian Empire northeast of Babylon, and how did they know to come to Jerusalem, which would be between 900 and 1000 miles? How did they know to come there? In fact, we know in Ezra seven and verse nine, it took Ezra and the caravan he was traveling with four months to make the journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. Why was it important for them to make such a journey, to travel all that way to worship Jesus? And that's what we see in Matthew two. That's what they did. How did they have such knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures? How did they know to be looking for a sign for a Jewish king and then to know what that meant, and why did God send these Gentiles from an empire that was violently opposed to the Roman Empire. Why didn't God send the local aristocracy to Jerusalem? When you think of the caravan, I wonder how many people would have been in that type of a caravan? How big was it? How many soldiers typically accompanied the Magi. What was the star that appeared to these Magi in the East? And then when we read the text, we see that it disappears and then it appears again. What on earth is that all about?

Was this prophesied in the Old Testament? And why was it that only the Magi could see the star? As we will see, Herod couldn't see it, and the chief priests couldn't see it, other people - the scribes - couldn't see it. And how could a star reappear and stand over the place where Jesus was causing the magi to rejoice exceedingly with great joy, and what was the significance of their gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh? And most importantly, what does all of this reveal about the infant Jesus? Beloved, the answers to these questions are of enormous theological, as well as spiritual, importance, and only the Holy Spirit could provide this for us; and he didn't inspire Matthew in particular, to record these things, just to add spice to a story. Now we must remember, according to Second Timothy three and verse 16, that "all scripture is inspired, breathed out by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good thing."

Now, this week and next week, Lord willing, we will examine the Scriptures to find answers to these questions and many others that will come up. But you must realize that my purpose here is not merely academic. I am not trying to just give you insights into these things so that you can be the star of the Sunday school class, all right? That's not the point here. But my goal is deeply, it is profoundly, spiritual for your edification and for your encouragement so that ultimately, we can give glory to our Savior and to our King.

Now we're going to be examining many different passages, but in a moment, we're going to begin with Matthew two. But I want to remind you of something that many times Christians forget, or maybe in some cases, they never even knew. You must understand that that each gospel record, of the four Gospels, have a different emphasis with respect to the person and the work of Christ. Matthew primarily presents Christ as the sovereign King. Mark presents him as the suffering servant. Luke presents Him as the Son of Man, and John presents Him as the Son of God. And also, will you remember from some of our studies here recently that the first 17 verses of Matthew is a genealogical record, and Matthew details the genealogy of Christ and traces his ancestry all the way through Joseph. And since Joseph was a descendant of David, even though Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus, the legal adoption of Jesus made Jesus part of David's lineage. Thus, Jesus is the Son of David, according to Matthew 1:1. 

Luke, on the other hand, traces Mary's genealogy; Mary traced her ancestry through Nathan, while Joseph traced his through Solomon. And Matthew's desire was to give the legal claim of Jesus to the throne of David, whereas Luke addressed a broader, largely Gentile audience tracing Jesus' actual physical descendant through Mary, thus proving Jesus' physical claim to the throne of David. So Jesus' royal ancestry is confirmed in both Matthew and Luke, confirmed by both his parents' genealogies, thus proving his messianic credentials, which were never questioned by the scrupulous scribes and Pharisees, even though they had what I called J D S, Jesus derangement syndrome, like a lot of people have in our culture.

Now let me read Matthew two, the first 12 verses, to kind of set the stage for this and then over the course some this week, mostly next week, we'll look at it more closely.

"Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,

"'Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw 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.

"Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.

"They said to him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:

"'AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OFY OU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.'

"Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared.

"And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, 'Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.'

"After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was.

"When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

"After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

"And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way."

So who were these magi? Were they the Oriental kings, as the popular Christmas carol suggests, and as many Christmas cards suggest? And sadly, most people get their theology from Christmas cards. Well, Vincent, who was a Bible scholar, says quote, "Many absurd traditions and guesses respecting these visitors to our Lord's cradle have found their way into popular beliefs in Christian art. They were said to be kings and three in number. They were said to be representatives of the three families of Shem, Ham and Japheth." Goes on to say, "And therefore one of them is pictured as an Ethiopian. their names are given as Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior. And their three skulls, amazingly enough, are said to have been found. They were found in the 12th century by Bishop Reinhold of Cologne, and today they are on exhibit in a priceless casket in a great cathedral in Europe." End Quote. Well, of course, this is laughably absurd; and I'm not sure which is more astonishing, that bishop Reinhold could recognize who these three skulls after 1200 years, or people believing that that's who they represented. Now, this betrays the frightening gullibility that remains endemic in the world today.

Well, frankly, we don't know a whole lot about the specifics of these wise men mentioned in Matthew's account, but we can piece together a lot of things that give us some very insightful information, not only from the Bible, but from other ancient historical accounts. For example, the book of Daniel sheds light on the identity of the Magi, as well as other historians like Herodotus, who was a Greek historian and geographer who lived under Persian control in the fifth century BC. If we look at Matthew two and verse one, we read the words "wise men or "magi." And magi is actually an untranslatable word; it was merely a name for a certain tribe of people, and best translated magi, and they were essentially a priestly line of people from among the ancient Medes. They were very skilled, we know, in astronomy - that is the science of astronomy - and astrology, which is the superstition that Satan has given us to deceive us. And when you combine the two, you get Zoroastrianism. And that was essentially their belief in that day. It was an ancient pre-Islamic monotheistic religion of Persia, which is modern day Iran; and it was founded by a prophet by the name of Zoroaster. And it's interesting, when you study it, there's a lot of parallels with Judaism. Satan is always a master counterfeiter. They worshiped one God, Ahura Mazda, which was an uncreated creator that was filled with goodness. And they had a sacred text called the Avesta, and they had fire that was revered as the symbol of the purity and light of God. There existed, in their minds, a cosmic battle between good and evil, and Ahura Mazda was opposed by Angra Manu, who is personified as a destructive spirit and opposed to all that is good and pure. And they believed that good thoughts and good words and good deeds would help defeat evil and bring about Utopia on the earth. And they believed in a final judgment. They even believed in resurrection from the dead. And they had communal temples where they worshiped - fire temples they were called. They had perpetual flames that would burn as a symbol of divine energy, various forms of animal sacrifices, but it declined significantly after the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century ad, and then Satan poisoned the minds of the people with another false religion called Islam. And you can see the satanic effect of Zoroastrianism and other false religious systems in quote, "The 12 signs of the Zodiac." Maybe you've seen that - the horoscope, I think it's called - a practice that, by the way, is condemned by God; and it presumes to define one's personality and one's makeup and offer great insight into the future. Again, this is the sin of divination that we read about in the Old Testament. The Old Testament speaks of diviners and soothsayers, which are really fortune tellers. Deuteronomy 18 talks about how that these things are "detestable" in the eyes of God. And because the magi were skilled in the practice of divination and sorcery, the word "magi" was gradually corrupted down through history into the word "magic." And so we get "magician" from that, a synonym for sorcerer.

So in summary, the magi were a priestly line of descendants from the tribe of ancient people associated with the Medes. They were therefore a very nomadic people whose origins can be traced back all the way to Abraham and the Ur of the Chaldees, where they first lived. We read about that in Genesis 12, for example. And according to Herodotus, the Magi, again, were a hereditary priesthood tribe, very much like the Levites of Israel, all right? The Medes had their own version of that; one of the 12 tribes set apart for priestly duties. So the Medes had set apart their own people, the magi.

Now we also find the magi had great political influence, and we see this in number of passages in Scripture, in particular, especially four major world empires, the Babylonian Empire, which is now modern day Iraq; the Medo Persian Empire, which was a conglomerate empire that eventually overtook Babylon, which is Iran today; the Grecian Empire, Alexander the Great then conquered the Medo Persians, and then we also see their influence in the Roman Empire; and the Romans were terrified of these guys, very afraid.

And the magi, we know, rose to power through their demonic cultic astrological abilities; demons would help them with their sorcery, their divination, their astronomy. And what's interesting is they became the advisors of the royalty of the East, and so that's why they were called the "wise men." It's fascinating in the Old Testament we read, for example, in Jeremiah 39 verse three, as well as verse 13, about Nergal-sar-ezer, the rab mag, or the chief magi, and he was in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. They were the official advisers to the kings. Another example, you can go to Esther chapter one, beginning in verse 12, we read," but Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command delivered by the eunuchs." Remember, Queen Vashti was supposed to come and dance before all the drunken men, probably in the nude, and she refused. And then it says, "Then the king became very angry, and his wrath burned with him. Then the king said to the wise men," here they are, "who understood the times, for it was the custom of the king so to speak, before all who knew law and justice and were close to him." And he gives names of them, "Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memucan, the seven princes of Persia and Media who had access to the king's presence and who sat in the first place in the kingdom - according to the law, what is to be done with Queen Vashti." So another example; they had enormous power. They had the king's ears.

It's interesting that Satan empowered them to advise Nebuchadnezzar and his violent quest to conquer Judah. And you will recall that Ezekiel, the prophet, ministered during the Babylonian captivity, along with a 15-year-old boy that got brought over there, a man that grew up to have much dealings with the magi. His name was Daniel. He was kidnapped from a royal family in Judah, along with his three friends, deported to Babylon to be brainwashed into Babylonian culture; the same type of thing our public schools and universities do with our young people to produce godless, woke, liberal lunatics, and they were required to assist all the new Jewish prisoners in exile. You could go to Daniel two, we're not going to take time to do this, but you see how Daniel, you remember the story, he rose to be a statesman in Nebuchadnezzar's court, and he dealt with these men in verse 10 of Daniel two, they were called "the Chaldeans," which was another name for the magi. In verse 27 they were called "magicians," another name for the magi. And you will remember that they were unable to interpret the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, so he was going to have them all killed. And in chapter two and verse 24 we read how Daniel pleads with the king, and he says, "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon." And he goes on to say, "I will declare the interpretation to the king." So later on, in Daniel five and verse 11, we read how he interprets the dream for Nebuchadnezzar, and Nebuchadnezzar made him master over all the magi. It says the king "appointed him chief of the magicians, conjurers, Chaldeans and diviners." So these guys owed Daniel their life and being their new leader and lifesaver, Daniel, no doubt, began to teach them about Jehovah God, about the coming Messiah, about Old Testament prophecy. Ezekiel was in the mix as well and other godly Jewish people.

Now please notice what the Magi asked when they entered into Jerusalem in verse two of Matthew two. It says, "'Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.'" Now again, how would these guys know to come and worship Jesus unless they had been taught about him? Well, the answer would have been certainly through the influence of Daniel - explaining Daniel's dream for example. Remember how God revealed to Nebuchadnezzar the successive stages of Gentile world domination that would exist throughout history - the Babylonian, the Medo Persian, the Grecian, the Roman, the revived Roman Empire - that will be ruled by the Antichrist and so forth. And even in that same context there in Daniel two we read that "a stone was cut out without hands." It's a reference to the Messiah, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them. It goes on to say the "stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth." So all of those metals, were rendered powerless and worthless, just utterly insignificant, compared to the coming Messiah and his kingdom; and so in astounding detail, you will recall how Daniel prophesied about the coming Messiah and how he would rule and reign from his throne in Jerusalem.

In fact, in Daniel 11 alone, there are over 100 prophecies that were fulfilled, literally causing some skeptics to believe that that they were written by a later writer who merely recorded the events of his day. Moreover, the Magi would have learned from Daniel about the great prophecy in Daniel chapter nine, the prophecy of the 70 weeks, or literally, the 70 sevens, or 490 years that would have to transpire in judgment against the people of Israel; 490 years before the Messiah would establish the long-awaited kingdom for which Daniel prayed. And it's interesting in Daniel 9:25, we read, "'So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks.'" So at 69 weeks or 483 years. So they could do the math. Well, they know, we need to start looking here. And in Nehemiah two verses five and six, we read how King Artaxerxes issued the decree to rebuild and restore in Jerusalem, and that was in 445 BC. So by the time Jesus was born, the seven weeks and 60 weeks, or in other words, 69 weeks - we're still waiting for the 70th - the 69 weeks, the 483 years had elapsed. So it's time for the Messiah prince to be born. It's time for him to appear. So they would have been anticipating all of this.

Now, mind you, many of them were godless, pagan, demonic people, but we see that others were not because they came to worship Jesus. So the magi would have also been well acquainted with other Old Testament prophets. They would have been acquainted with, for example, Zachariah, who lived in Persia when Cyrus, the Persian, freed the captives from Israel and allowed them to go back to their homeland to rebuild the Jerusalem. And those prophecies are filled with promises about the Messiah, so they were clearly familiar with the Hebrew prophecies, and this would have had a profound impact upon them, even the Jewish culture; what the Jewish people believed. And so from Daniel even to Esther, whom Xerxes made Queen of Persia, they would have learned these things. And there's no ambiguity whatsoever in the Old Testament prophecy; that the Messiah is going to come as King of the Jews. He's going to establish a kingdom. It's going to be a fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise and Davidic covenants and so forth.

Now you must also understand, and we get this from history, that the magi were so powerful that no Persian was ever allowed to become king, except under two conditions. Number one, they had to master the scientific and religious practice and disciplines of the magi, which included astronomy, math, agriculture, architecture, natural history and astrology. But secondly, they had to be approved of and crowned by the magi. So nobody could become king unless the magi said they could become king. And all the judicial and kingly offices were ultimately controlled by the magi. And the wisdom of the magi was called, quote, "the law of the Medes and the Persians." You can read about this in Esther one, verse 19; Daniel six, verse 15. And, of course, they also specialized in dream interpretation.

Now I have to pause for a second here. I know I'm throwing a lot at you, but isn't it staggering to see the sovereignty of God at work in all of this? I mean, none of this is catching him by surprise. He's orchestrating the whole thing. 600 years before Jesus was born, a sovereign God who has ordained the end from the beginning, used Daniel to prepare ancient Gentile king makers to come to worship Jesus at the arrival of the King of kings.

Now, let me give you a little context here into Matthew chapter two. Because here, dear friends, the plot thickens. Rome was terrified of the eastern empire. Across that vast Arabian Desert loomed the great Parthian Empire, the land of the Medes and the Persians in Babylon; and they were violent enemies. And we know that they fought, for example, in 63, 55 and in 40 BC. And where did they fight? Along the coast of the Mediterranean, along the region of Syria, of Jordan and Palestine. So in other words, Israel was really the no man's land between two great empires. Are you visualizing this in your mind if you see the map? And the Romans especially despised and feared these sorcerers, these astrologers. In fact, Philo of Rome, a Jewish philosopher from Alexandria, said of them, quote, "They are vipers, they are scorpions and they are venomous creatures." End quote. All right? Now, at the time of Christ's birth, there was a ruling body in the eastern Parthian Persian empire called the Magistoni. And they were totally made up of magi, and their duty was to make kings. In fact, in 2 BC, their king, whose name was Phraates VI was poisoned by an Italian concubine who had borne him a son and whom she wanted to ascend to the throne. So at this time now, when Jesus is born, the magi are looking for a new king. Isn't that interesting? They were looking for a new king for the eastern empire, and they were looking for a new king that would help them conquer Rome.

So let's put all this in perspective as we marvel at the providence of God orchestrating all of these events in history. You have here now an insanely jealous puppet king named Herod that the people despise, and suddenly he discovers that Persian king makers are entering Jerusalem. Yikes. Something is going on here. Now again, these weren't just three dudes on camels. I mean, their customary mounts were white Persian steeds, and they were typically protected by a large escort of soldiers. Usually around 1000 mounted Calvary. And with this cavalry, they would also have a number of servants. So they're not going unescorted, right? They're not going into Roman territory unescorted, and you're going to have this huge caravan. It's going to take you roughly four months to get there. And so you're going to have to carry all of your food. You're going to have to carry food for your animals. You're going to have to carry tents. You're going to have to have people, servants, that will wrangle the horses as well as the camels, to set up the camp, to cook the food, to guard their supplies from robbers, to take down the camp, to repack the animals. And you got about four months of travel here. Now I know personally, having dealt a lot with pack trains in the mountains, I've been in pack trains from anywhere from five - I remember, a couple of them were up over 20 horses and mules going into the mountains. I've done that from New Mexico all the way up to the Yukon Territory. So I know a lot about packing horses; and it's a lot of work, a lot of work. Imagine if you're going to do that for four months.

And we know that, depending upon the terrain, a packed horse can carry a load of about roughly 240 pounds, and they will be able to travel about 26 miles per day, and so you do the math. Also, in any pack train, you can work an animal for five, maybe six days, and then you've got to give them a day's rest. So you've got to put all of these things into the calculations to understand not only how long it took, but the amount of people that it took to get there. And you might ask about camels - I had to look this up - camels can, because I'm not a big camel guy, I rode one once, and that's all I was I was humiliated as an old cowboy; I just couldn't handle the camels. But camels can carry up to 400 pounds, they can travel 20 to 40 miles today a day. Lighter burdened, single hump camels called the dromedary can go 80 to 100 miles in a day. Well, my point with all of this information is to just say you don't have three wise men, you know, flying into Tel Aviv and taking an Uber to Jerusalem, all right? I mean, it was an undertaking and so imagine this huge caravan coming into Jerusalem. That's why we read in verse three, "When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." We know that the even the magi, they had these pointed sorcery hats, you've kind of seen those in school plays or whatever, flowing robes. You got this large caravan with mounted Persian calvary, and with this cavalry, you've got all of the servants, and they're asking in verse two, "'Where is He who was born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.'" I mean, folks, this is humorous. You've got to see this. I mean, you've got an Eskimo rodeo going on here. I mean, nobody knows what it's like; this is crazy. And nobody knows what to do. They're trying to figure out what on earth.

And to make things even worse, Herod was very superstitious, along with all of these kings, when he hears about a star. In Greek, it's an "aster," all right? We would spell it A, S, T, A, R, it's an aster, which means a blazing forth of light. He's probably thinking a falling star or a comet, and for those people in those days, that was always an omen that predicts the downfall of a king, that he's about to be deposed, and so kings lived in constant fear. We also know historically that Herod's struggling with a terrible disease, and so he knows he's going down. Plus he's called the King of the Jews, which is laughable. And all of this adds to the humor of this passage, because the people, for the most part, they hated him. And so in verse three and again, "When Herod the king heard it, he was troubled." The word "troubled" means to "quake" or "to shake, to stir up, throw into confusion." And I believe it can be, even be translated, "tortured." I mean, you know, the adrenaline is going and he's trying to figure out what's happening here. That's what's going on with Herod and the rest of the people. So, I mean, you've got, how can I put it, you got a Joe Biden White House here, right? I mean you got the chimpanzees running the zoo. They don't know what on earth is going on, so they're terrified.

Now let me introduce the chimpanzees for you. Other than the magi, you've got four principal characters in this historical narrative. You've got Herod, you've got the chief priests, you've got the high priests, and you've got the scribes. Now, not too long ago, I talked about Herod, but I'll do it again for for the sake of the continuity here. Herod, the great, was a Roman appointed king of the Jews. He was an Edomite from the descendants of Esau. He was not a Jew. The people knew that. People despised him. He was a gifted orator, but he was a politically very ambitious, a very a total narcissist. He was in love with himself, an evil genius. In fact, according to Josephus, we read quote, "Herod was capable, crafty and cruel." But Rome admired him because he kept the Jews from rising up and causing problems. He was a great architect and builder, famous for the expansion of the second temple in Jerusalem. He was also a notorious womanizer; completely ruled by his lusts. He had 10 wives. Most famous was Mariamne I who was a Jewish woman. He needed a Jewish woman to somehow legitimize his right to be king over the Jews; and so and like all tyrants, you must understand this, he was insanely jealous. We read in Scripture, like in James 3:16, "...where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder in every evil thing." And jealousy always comes from a perverted heart. It ends up producing strife, whether it's in a family, in a business, in a church, in government or whatever. And we see this all the time in our especially in our political arena. I think of jealousy, that's why Cain killed Abel. That's why Joseph's brother sold him into slavery, right? I mean, it was jealousy that caused Saul to want to kill David. It was jealousy that caused the strife between Rachel and Leah over the children. It was jealousy that caused Aaron and Miriam to rise up against Moses. And remember, Miriam was struck with leprosy. And it was jealousy that was in selfish ambition, that was in the church at Corinth that Paul had to address. Well, Herod now is the poster boy of jealousy; so much so that he had his own soldiers slaughter innocent baby boys in an attempt to kill Jesus, a rival king. So, this is the wicked man of Proverbs six and verse 12, who goes on to say, "...who walks with a perverse mouth, with perversity in his heart continually devises evil and who spreads strife." James four speaks of you know, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source of your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious," there's the jealousy, "you cannot obtain; so you fight and you quarrel." So this is going on in Herod's little kingdom.

I'm also reminded of Proverbs six, beginning in verse 16,

"There are six things which the LORD hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him,

"Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

"a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil,

"a false witness who utters lies and one who spreads strife among brothers."

Folks, you can read that passage and see Herod's picture next to it. In fact, earlier in verse 15 of Proverbs six, it says that for this person, "...his calamity will come suddenly; instantly, he will be broken, and there will be no healing." And this is what happened, by the way, with Herod, just a few months after he slaughtered the little boys around the region of Bethlehem. Herod died in Jericho after suffering with excruciating, painful, putrefying illness that he had been dealing with for some five years that caused painful, itching and intestinal problems and literally, the rotting of the genitals. So God is very creative with his judgment against the wicked.

So Herod, he's jealous, he's cruel, he's paranoid. Here comes the king makers from the east, wondering "Where is the King of the Jews?" And history records numerous accounts of murders. He had his wife, Mariamne, and her mother, Alexandria, and Mariamne's two sons put to death. Five days before his death, in approximately 4 AD, he had another son killed. Emperor Augustus said, quote, "It's safer to be Herod's pig than Herod's son." And because he knew no one would mourn his death, he commanded that all the noble families of Jerusalem be gathered up as soon as he died and to kill them so that people would mourn. Now this didn't happen, but it demonstrates just the diabolical wickedness of this man. And so, as you think about Herod then, what do ungodly men do when things are beginning to fall apart? Well, they run to religious leaders to help them control the masses. And in this case, it's the chief priests and the scribes.

The chief priests are also part of this whole narrative. These are some more chimpanzees running the zoo, if you will. They were from the priestly line of Aaron. Most of them were Sadducees, which were essentially liberal Jews. They grossly distorted the law to help fulfill their own agendas, but they had considerable political and religious power. And then you've got the high priest, who was typically appointed by a king; a political appointment, and sometimes it was purchased. And if the ruler didn't like what the high priest was doing, he would just remove him. He presided over the Sanhedrin; the Sanhedrin consisted of 72 leaders. It would be kind of like our Senate and Supreme Court combined. And in other categories, people that perform functions, you got the Pharisees, and together they form a priestly aristocracy called the chief priests. Bottom line, you've got a bunch of corrupt religious phonies; politicians disguised as nobles and men of God, much like he would have with the mullahs of Islam.

And then, of course, you got the scribes, and that consisted of both the Sadducees and the Pharisees. They were the scholars, the lawyers. They understood the Old Testament law in their own way, and they were skilled at distorting the law for political and personal gain. So what do wicked men do when they're threatened? Well, they scheme against God and consult with the emissaries of Satan, and in this case, that's what Herod does with the chief priests and scribes. Notice verse four, "Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he began to inquire of them where the Christ was to be born. And they said to him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet:" Here he's quoting Micah chapter five and verse two. And it's interesting. In verse four, when it says "began to inquire," grammatically in the original language, it carries the idea that they're constantly asking. They're running around, "Where?" "What's going on?" "Where is he going to be born?" So they're on a search and destroy mission. Find this child before things get out of control.

Now, as I wrap it up this morning, I'm going to give you a little outline that we will look at the next time we come together. We're going to see two categories; we're going to see light for the king makers and darkness for the king haters. We're going to understand more what this says about the Messiah? Let me just begin just a little bit, and then we will wrap it up.

Look at light for the king makers. Verse one, "Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold..." could be translated, "wow," "...magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem....'Where is he who is born king of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him." Now, the magi would have known about Jacob's prophecy in Genesis 49 and verse 10, there we read that, "The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him, shall be the obedience of the peoples." Shiloh is a cryptogram, or, shall we say, a secret code for the Messiah, the one who is also called the Lion of the tribe of Judah, that we would read about in Revelation five and verse five. And remember, undoubtedly, these were truths that were taught to them by Daniel, the prophet who ruled over them.

So again, 600 years now, before Jesus' birth, in the sovereignty of God, he's preparing all of this with these magi and he's offering them the message of hope and forgiveness, and that the Messiah would one day come, Emmanuel, God with us. And obviously they would have been familiar with the Hebrew prophecies in Numbers 24 and verse 17, where it says, "a star," a "koshav" in the Hebrew, "a star shall come forth from Jacob." Now this isn't a physical star, but the term means a blazing forth of light; a symbol of splendid dignity and power that will come from the loins of Jacob that will symbolize something. And it says, "and a scepter shall rise from Israel," referring to the Messiah king. Isaiah 60 verse two and following, "...but the Lord will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising." Oh child of God, don't miss this. This is speaking of the coming Messiah that we know has now come and who has promised to come again, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is speaking of the light of the world. Jesus Himself said,"' I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright and the morning star" (Revelation 22:16).

So what was the star that the magi saw? How did they know it was a sign that the King of the Jews was going to be born? Well, I've given you a little hint about all of this. And what is the significance of all of this, historically and theologically, and what application does it have for each of one of us today? Well come back next week, and we will answer those great questions. Let's pray together,

Father, we are so thankful for your word. It gives us such hope. It is so exciting to see how you have, indeed, as you have said, ordained the end from the beginning. Lord, we find great comfort in this, especially as we reflect upon the incarnation of Christ, knowing that he came once in humility, but he's coming again in power and in great glory as King of kings and Lord of lords, and Father I would pray that if there's one here today that knows nothing of what it means to be united to a holy God through faith in Christ, to have sins forgiven, to have the hope of eternity, to have a radically changed heart and mind. Lord, I pray that today will be the day of their salvation, bring conviction, bring repentance, grant them the gift of faith, I ask. So Lord, bless us now as we celebrate the great truths of the Incarnation during this season, for it's in Christ's name and for His glory that I pray, Amen.