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Once again, we return to the word of God to look into to see what the Spirit of God has for us this morning. This is actually part two that I began last week entitled "Debunking the Magi Myths." There's a lot that I have to say that will kind of continue what I began last week. But let me begin by just reminding you why it's so important to study the Word in an in-depth manner, rather than just skimming over the surface. Certainly, it's an opportunity to understand more of who God is, and understand how we are to respond to him, and to learn the incredible truths with respect to what he has done for us. But certainly, it's also a way of countering the wickedness in this world, that the gospel may go forth with clarity, with conviction and with precision. You stop and think about it, even tonight, I was reading that at the Ryman Auditorium they're having a drag queen Christmas. Can you imagine that? That's what has happened in our country down through the years as the Word has been mocked.

I was reading an article on Fox News, it said that "Progressive churches in Colorado and Washington are hosting drag themed Christmas events alongside more traditional services this holiday season." And then it gave one example, "Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins, Colorado hosted its third annual drag Christmas show," quote, "a drag Christmas Spectacular," and then it gives the dates and it says, "it's a 90 minute performance" advertised as a quote, "joyful, irreverent reimagining of the nativity story that celebrates queer joy, chosen family and the power of love and acceptance." End quote. I mean, folks, this is purely satanic. These are not churches; this is what Satan has done. And this is what happens to people when they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. God gives people over to a reprobate mind, a worthless mind, a depraved mind; and ultimately, he allows them to destroy themselves with their own sinfulness. And of course, these people will continue to go down the slippery slope of sin. I mean, we've seen it down through the years, even over the course of my life. I've seen how sexual immorality, especially outside of marriage was increasingly acceptable, and then it moves to more and more pornography, and then the gross perversions of the LGBTQ cult, basically. And then that opens the door up for pedophilia and the transgender insanity. And I might add that what will come next, you mark my word will be bestiality. We're already seeing that occurring. In fact, in Leviticus 18, verses 21 through 23 God gives us a list of forbidden abominations in his sight. And what you see is homosexuality is sandwiched in between child sacrifice and bestiality. We've already got homosexuality and we also have child sacrifice in terms of abortion, and this is what will happen next, because this is what sin does. It metastasizes. It never is content with just one particular sin. We read, for example, in First Corinthians 6:9-10, that those who practice these things will never enter into the kingdom. And yet it goes on to say in verse 11, "such were some of you." What a wonderful truth. And it's true even with some of you, actually with all of us, in various ways. There are those of you here within the sound of my voice that were saved out of the dominion of homosexuality, out of fornication, out of all manner of things, and by the power of the Spirit, you have been washed. You have been cleansed.

The key to all of this is the word of God. You must know the word. It's what God uses to bring us to him. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ and unless you hear the word, unless it is unleashed to you in all of its clarity, in all of its precision, and I might add, in all of its offense, you will never understand the horror of your sin and the glory of the cross and be saved. We are transformed by the renewing of our mind, we are told in Romans 12:2. There's this metamorphosis that continues to occur, that's what transformed means in the original language. It comes from the word "metamorpho," where we get the word metamorphosis. So there's this continual change where the inside, who we really are in Christ, is manifested on the outside, and he uses the Spirit of God to regenerate us. That's why we read in Titus three and verse five that we are saved by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. So before I look at this text, may I just remind all of you, especially our young people, please hear me. You simply must immerse yourself in the Word of God. You must know it. You must learn it. You must memorize it. You must meditate on it. In Psalm 119 beginning in verse nine, "How can a young man keep his way pure?" And he gives the answer,

"by keeping it according to Your word.

"With all my heart, I have sought You; do not let me wander from Your commandments.

"Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.

"Blessed are You, O LORD; teach me Your statutes,

"With my lips. I have told of all the ordinances of Your mouth.

"I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies, as much as in all riches.

"I will meditate on your precepts and regard Your ways.

"I shall delight in Your statutes. I shall not forget Your word."

I trust that will be the testimony of each of our hearts this morning.

Now, the text that we're going to examine, along with a number of others, really, is Matthew chapter two. We began here last week. Let me read this to you again, the first 12 verses, and then we will begin to look at what God tells us about the magi that is so profound theologically. Matthew chapter two, beginning in verse one.

"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 leaders of Judah;  for out of you 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."

Now, by way of review, the magi, as we have studied, were a priestly tribe, part of the priestly line of the descendants of the people associated with the ancient Medes. And they rose to power through their demonic, occultic, astrological abilities - sorcery, divination, astronomy - and they became the advisers of the kings of the east. That's why they were called "the wise men." And during the captivity of Israel, both Ezekiel would have taught them, but especially Daniel, young Daniel. You will remember, according to Daniel 2, that Daniel rose to be a statesman in Nebuchadnezzar's court. And there you have wise men. They were also called magi or Chaldeans. And remember, they were unable to interpret the king's dream, and the king was furious, and so he was going to have them killed. And in Daniel two verse 24 we read that Daniel pleaded with the king, "...do not destroy the wise men of Babylon." And he goes on to say, "I will declare the interpretation to the king." Which he did. Daniel five, verse 11, we read how Daniel interprets the dream. And then Nebuchadnezzar made him master over the magi. It says "the king appointed him chief of the magicians, conjurers, Chaldeans and diviners." So these people now owed Daniel their life, and Daniel undoubtedly would have taught them the Hebrew Scriptures, including the prophecy that is recorded in chapter nine of Daniel, the prophecy of the 70 Weeks; literally the 70 sevens or 490 years. Daniel 9:25, for example, 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." These are weeks of years. So, 69 weeks, or 483 years. And we know, according to Nehemiah chapter two, verses five and six, that King Artaxerxes, then later on, issued a decree to rebuild and restore Jerusalem, and he did that in 445 BC.

So by the time Jesus was born, the seven weeks and 62 weeks, in other words, the 69 weeks, or 483 years had elapsed. So now it's time for the Messiah, the Prince, to appear. And these wise men, these brilliant scholars of the ancient east, would have been looking for this. Also remember that the magi were so powerful that no man would become king unless two things happened. First of all, they had to master the scientific and religious practices and disciplines of the magi - astronomy, math, agriculture, architecture, natural history and astrology; and they had to be approved of and crowned by the magi. So nobody could become king unless the magi said they could become king. In fact, all the judicial and kingly offices were controlled by the magi. And we read in Scripture that the wisdom of the magi was called, quote, "The law of the Medes and Persians."

Let me pause for a second, take a breath here. Isn't it amazing that 600 years before Jesus was born, our sovereign God, through his providence, was orchestrating all of these events to prepare these ancient Gentile kingmakers to come and worship the King when he was born in Bethlehem. Now, also remember, Rome at this time, was terrified of the Eastern Parthian Empire. They had fought in 63, 55 and 40 BC; and they had always fought right there in the region of Israel, right there on the coast of the Mediterranean.

So now Herod, this little puppet King, is in Israel, and you've got to imagine this now, he's really in no man's land between two great empires that hate each other. So that's the dynamic here. And it's also interesting that at the time of Christ's birth, there was a ruling body in the in the eastern Parthian Persian empire called the "magistoni." And it was totally composed of magi; and their primary duty at this time was to make kings. And in 2 BC - a couple of years now before Jesus is born - their king, who at that time was Phraates IV, was poisoned by an Italian concubine who had borne him a son in whom she wanted to ascend the throne. And so now the people are looking for a new king for the eastern empire; and they're looking for a new king that would help them conquer Rome. My what a coincidence, right?

So now we have a very large caravan of probably over 1000 people, not just the king makers - who were always accompanied by mounted cavalry - but also hundreds of servants, because this would have been about a four-month journey for them to get to Jerusalem. You have them coming into Jerusalem, and in verse two, they're 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.'" And you also now have an insanely jealous puppet-king that the people despise, and he's reigning here in the land, and now he's terrified. We also know historically that his troops were away doing other things when these people arrived. So now he's basically defenseless. Moreover, the last thing he's going to do is attack the king makers, because what he does not want to do is, in any way, infuriate the Persian Empire and start a war. I mean, he would be ousted in no time by Rome.

So we see in verses four through eight what he does. "And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he began to inquire 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...'" He's referring to Micah chapter five and verse two. It's also interesting that in the original language, when it says in verse four, "he began to inquire,"  it indicates that there's a constant inquiry, he's constantly asking. It's like he's running around on a search and destroy mission to find out where this child was born because he doesn't want this thing to get out of control. He's terrified.

Now I've divided this section of scripture into two categories to help us grasp what the Spirit of God has for us. We will see light for the king makers and darkness for the king haters. And with all this context, let's once again examine this historical narrative that I began last week, and we will look at it with some more detail this week. First of all, under the heading light for the king makers, verse one, "after Jesus was born in Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived at 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, what is this star? And will you notice it says, "His star"? It's a possessive genitive in the original language. In other words, it's a star that belongs to the king. This is a specific star. It's not just a star, and I'll explain more of that in a moment.

Now I want you to bear with me for a moment. I want to look at some information that I know the magi would have had from the Hebrew Scriptures that would have helped them understand what they should do at this particular time, and when they saw this particular in the Greek "austere" - this blazing forth; which could be translated a "star."  But also, it could be translated as a "blazing forth of light." The magi knew about Jacob's prophecy, I would assume. In Genesis 49 and verse 10, we read, "The scepter shall 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 what we would call a cryptogram, or a secret code designating the Messiah; the One who is also called the "Lion from the tribe of Judah" in Revelation 5:5. And remember, undoubtedly, these were truths that Ezekiel, and certainly Daniel, would have taught them many, many years ago. It would be in the books.

Another Hebrew prophecy that they would have put together would probably be the one in Numbers 24 and verse 17, it says, "A star," a kôḵāḇ", a blazing forth of light, "...shall come forth from Jacob..." Now typically a blazing forth of light, or even a star in the heavens, would indicate dignity and power, a symbol of authority. But this is saying that this is going to come from the loins of Jacob, and it goes on to say, "....and a scepter shall rise from Israel," referring to the Messiah King. Now let's add a little bit more to this the context of Numbers 24; and it has, let me put it this way, this story has great implications for the Christmas story. Let me explain this. About 2 million Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land, and that's the context here of Numbers 24. After their exodus from Egypt and their wilderness wanderings, and after they defeated the Amorites, they camp on the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho (Numbers 22:1). Those of you who have been with me, you see Jericho, you can look out and you can see the Plains of Moab. So you've got, you know, 2 million Jews here coming this way. Imagine the terror. And Balak - who was the king of Moab at that time - and all the people were terrified. In Numbers 22 beginning in verse two, we read, "Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites." In other words, he's seeing them, and he knows what they've done to the Amorites.

Now, who are the Amorites? Well, the vile idolatry of the Amorites provoked God to anger for centuries; and these people had massive, fortified cities. They were a warring people, a warring culture. They were thought to be invincible; and for a nomadic people to come up out of Egypt - out of the wilderness - and destroy them, people would have thought that's utterly absurd. That could never happen. But with God's help, if you read the historical narratives on all of that, you see that that's exactly what happened; and God gave the Israelites the victories, remember, over Sihon and Og. And in fact, 500 years earlier in Genesis 15, verse 13, God said to Abraham, "Your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for 400 years." And indeed, that happened in Egypt. And then in verse 16, it says, "Then in the fourth generation they shall return here..." Why is that? He gives the answer, "...for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete." So again, the Israelites, then many years later, they come along; and with God's help, they slaughter the Amorites - an unbelievably wicked people. In fact, the text tells us they left absolutely no survivors. They took possession of the land.

And if I can pause for a moment here as well, this demonstrates God's commitment to fulfill his covenant promises to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob. God is serious about what he says, and it serves as a reminder of the importance of obedient faith in God's promises; and it also reminds us that there is no enemy that can stand against him. Now back to Numbers 22 and verse two, "Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. So, Moab," verse three, "was in great fear because of the people, for they were numerous; and Moab was in dread of the sons of Israel." So what does a pagan king do? Well, he tries to hire a pagan prophet to curse Israel. That sounds like a good plan, so that's what he does. And he hires Balaam, and God speaks through Balaam concerning his blessings for Israel, and ultimately curses any nation that curses them, which I might add, is consistent with God's promises that are recorded in the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12:3),  "...and I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed." And in Numbers 22:12, we see more of the story here, "God said to Balaam, 'Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.'" And then later, in Numbers 24:14, "'And now, behold, I'm going to my people; come, and I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the days to come.'" In other words, to Moab and all the enemies of God's people. And this is now a prediction concerning a future king of Israel who is going to have total dominion over all of the nations of the world. In fact, in that phrase "in the days to come," - or in the end of the days, the last days - we see this all pointing towards the Messiah coming.

In fact, again, a bit technical, but it's important that you see this. There are four separate prophetic sections in Numbers 22 through 24 and in all of them, they end up blessing, not cursing Israel, as Balak the king desired, which is at again, the very heart of the Abrahamic covenant. And each of these sections point to the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Numbers 23:21 regarding Israel, we read, "'The LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.'" So God's got a plan here. Balaam doesn't understand all this. Balak doesn't understand all of this. But he goes on to say, in Numbers 24:17 - because Balaam is obviously seeing a gap here in all this vision; he doesn't know what's happening - and he says, "'I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star shall come forth from Jacob, a scepter shall rise from Israel...'" Again. he's seeing something now here that God is revealing to him, the "...star shall come forth from Jacob" again, a kôḵāḇ", a shining forth of light. In Revelation 22:16 Jesus is called the "offspring of David, the bright and morning star." So in Numbers 24:17, here we have an obvious reference to a coming King, which is confirmed, I might add, by the second line of that couplet, "...a scepter shall rise out of Israel..." A scepter being part of the royal insignia. The psalmist speaks of this in Psalm 45:6, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom."

So what is this star coming forth from Jacob and what is this blazing shining forth of light with the kingly scepter that would rise out of Israel? And what was the star, this blazing forth of light, that the magi saw? And are all of these things somehow connected? Well, of course, everybody knows it's just referring to a star. I mean, haven't you seen that on television? I mean, you can see the three wise men and their camels, and they're somehow there's a star up there in the sky. Folks, have you ever tried following a star? I challenge you to do so. You realize the nearest star to our earth is the sun. It's 93 million miles away, and the outside portion of the sun is 7 million degrees Fahrenheit. You're not going to follow that star very closely. And it's intriguing that Herod, and others in Jerusalem, had not seen this star in the east. In fact, in verse seven, they had to ask the magi where it appeared. It says, "Herod secretly called the magi and ascertained from them the time the star appeared." "Phainō” - the term in the original language; it means "to flash" or "to shine forth." When did this flashing forth of light, something like lightning, when did this happen? And there's an indication here that Herod and the guys are beginning to wonder, is this something other than a celestial body up in the sky? And it's curious to me, why would the magi go west to Jerusalem when they saw this brilliant shining in the east? Why wouldn't you go north or south or somewhere? How did they know to go there? And the answer is they knew the meaning of that. They had heard undoubtedly from the Jewish people in exile and from Ezekiel and from Daniel; the blazing forth of light called the shekinah - the cloud that led the people by day and the fire that led the people by night. They were familiar with the burning bush; they were familiar with the shekinah that hovered above the Ark of the Covenant between the cherubim. And undoubtedly, they had to put this together. And it's fascinating, later in verse nine, this blazing forth of supernatural light that they see in the east suddenly reappears. The idea here is, it's gone, and now, all of a sudden, it reappears; and it leads them directly over to the house where Jesus is at. Now hardly, is this a star, as we think about it. And as a footnote, by this time, Jesus would have been between three months and two years old; and like I read earlier in our scripture reading, in verse 16 of Matthew two, Herod ascertained from the magi the child's age, and that's why he decided to kill all of the little boys two years old and younger.

I might add that this is a very different scenario than is often depicted in nativity scenes, where you have three wise men hovering over an infant in a manger, and Santa and his reindeer a few feet away, with the Grinch who stole Christmas, sneaking up behind Frosty the Snowman and waving at everyone and all that type of stuff. Dear friend, what the magi saw, in my humble opinion, was not a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity that shines due to thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen. Again, it wasn't a star like we see it in the sky. The closest star to our earth is the sun, as I mentioned, that's 93 million miles away. For the fun of it. I looked up, what's the second closest star? I don't know. I looked it up, and it said that the closest star to Earth, besides our sun, is Proxima Centauri, located about 4.24 light years, which is around 25 trillion miles away in the southern constellation Centaurus. It's a faint red dwarf part of the Alpha Centauri star system, and it's too dim to see with the naked eye. Now you tell me how something like that is going to appear, then disappear then reappear again, and then actually lead people and hover over a house and tell you where Jesus was at. And why couldn't everyone see it? Why is it just the magi seeing it? It's interesting, in Matthew two beginning in verse nine, "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."

Now obviously Herod and his henchmen didn't see this star move to lead them over to the house where Jesus was at, because if they had seen it, they would have gone there too. Beloved, this was an "astēr" - it was a blazing forth of light. It was a shining, but not any shining; again, his was "His star." It was the infant King's star that they saw. And I'm convinced that what they saw was the shekinah glory of the living God; a foretaste of the sign of the Son of Man that will appear in the sky that Jesus described in Matthew 24 when he returns again, when all of the lights of heaven are turned out at his second coming. They saw the glorious light of the divine presence that signaled to sinful men that God had arrived. The same light that led the children of Israel through the wilderness. This was the blazing forth of light. I believe that provided the symbolism of Balaam's prophecy that we just looked at in Numbers 24:17, "...a star" a "kôḵāḇ"; a blazing forth "shall come forth from Jacob and a scepter shall rise from Israel."

Now remember, as we look at Scripture, we see that God is Spirit. And whenever God would materialize himself, he would typically do it by reducing his attributes to visible light - brilliant, dazzling, ineffable light. And it was called his "shekinah," referring to the presence of his glory in light. And often, as I say, it was just this radiant, resplendent light. And beloved, this is the effulgence, I believe, of his glory, that God describes throughout Scripture. We see it in a variety of places. We saw it in the burning bush with Moses. You will recall again, at Mount Sinai, Moses begged God to show him his glory, but he hid him in the cleft of the rock and covered him. He could only see the backside of his glory. It was the shekinah, as I said earlier, that led Israel through the wilderness - a pillar of cloud by day, a pillar of fire by night. It's what hovered between the cherubim over the Ark of the Covenant, and between the Ark of the Covenant that contained the violated law in the tablets below - between that and the shekinah; between the outstretched arms of the cherubim - was the mercy seat, the place of the propitiation. The Septuagint calls it the "hilastērion," the place of propitiation; the place where there would be shedding of blood on Yom Kippur. All of which meant that, apart from the shedding of blood, man who has violated the law can never enter into the presence of a holy God. And now we see the presence of God in the infant Jesus coming to earth.

This is the same light, I believe, that appeared earlier to the shepherds when they saw the glory of the Lord, remember? And it shone around them, and they were terribly frightened. The angelic messenger announced the birth of the Lord and Savior. This was the same light that blinded Saul on his way to Damascus; Saul, who became the apostle Paul. We see the same light on the Mount of Transfiguration when the Lord Jesus peeled back his flesh in a way that we cannot imagine, and the effulgence of his glory blazed forth. The text says that "His face shone like the sun," and his garments, his clothing became white and gleaming. And I believe it will be also the sign of the Son of Man when he returns in power and great glory. It will be the lamp of the Lamb that will illuminate the New Jerusalem, as we read in Revelation 21 and verse 23. When he came the first time, only a selected few could see it, but when he returns again, the radiance of his glorious presence is going to streak across all of the skies of the Earth; the darkened heavens for every man to see. Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 242:7 "For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be." In other words, nobody is going to miss his second coming.

So the grace of God drew these Persian king makers to the Messiah, as if to say, "That's what Daniel was talking about many hundreds of years ago." And of course, this would have been utterly reprehensible to the Jews; to think that God would somehow show his mercy to Gentiles, especially these wicked pagan sorcerers; the elite rulers of Persia? And certainly, there's an indication, by virtue of the fact that they came to worship Jesus, that many of them believed in Jesus, an amazing thought. And for these magi to come to Christ is a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy in Isaiah 65 verse one, we read this, "'I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, "Here am I, here am I" to a nation which did not call on My name.'" And then he talks of Israel, but of Israel, he said, "'I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people.'" I might add, he continues to do that today, "'...who walk in the way, which is not good, following their own thoughts, a people who continually provoke Me to My face.'" And this, by the way, is a passage that the apostle Paul uses in Romans 10 verses, 20 through 21, I believe it is, to describe the rebellion of his fellow Jews.

So folks, catch this now, here, what we witness is the power of sovereign grace to pierce through the darkest of hearts with the penetrating light of truth and draw undeserving sinners unto himself to the light of His grace. "'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.'" And again, Herod now, he hears this and he's troubled, all of Jerusalem is troubled. They see this massive caravan; they understand the political dynamics of all of this. What's going on here?

Well, we've seen the light for the king makers. Let me close this morning by speaking briefly about the darkness of the King haters. Obviously, Herod knew of the promised Messiah that would one day come. He didn't know when, and he rightly feared that that day had arrived much earlier than he could have imagined. And that's why he gathers, verse four, the chief priests and the scribes; where is he going to be born? Well, he's going to be born in Bethlehem. Verse six says, "'And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.'" An amazing statement, "a Ruler who will shepherd My people, Israel.'" This is like the opposite of Herod. These were the words, I might add, that were spoken to David in Second Samuel 5:2, when David was originally enthroned over all the tribes of Israel at Hebron. In Second Samuel 5:2 we read, "Previously when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and in. And the LORD said to you," catch this now, "'...you will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be a ruler over Israel.'"

So Herod and the religious elite, now, they know something's going on here, but they refuse to worship Christ. They refuse to be obedient. Instead, verse seven, Herod secretly called the magi and ascertained from them what time the star appeared. Isn't it interesting, he did this secretly. Obviously, he didn't want people to know what he thought may be true - that there's a new king here. People would have thought, "Oh, my can you.... did you hear that we may have a new king?" Maybe that's that's why they're here. He didn't want that to get out, nor did he want anyone to know the nefarious nature of his plan to destroy his divine rival. So he's got to keep all of this under wraps; and he needed to know the exact date of when they first saw that light, so he would have an approximate idea of the age of the Christ so he could plot to kill him. My what a picture of man's high treason against God.

So Herod responds in anger and fear in verse eight, "'Go and make careful search of the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me so that I too may come and worship Him.'" Of course, this is disingenuous. He has no intention of worshiping Christ. He is self- centered. He is cruel. He is satanic to the very core; filled with pride. And Herod's plan from start to finish was to somehow circumvent the purposes of God. And I might add that this is typical of godless, totalitarian politicians. We've seen this down through the centuries. They want to control everyone. You've got to think of it my way. You've got to believe what I believe. Look at the Democratic socialists we have in our country. Look at the Islamists. Look at totalitarian kings and queens and dictators down through history. I was reading just this week about China in an article from the Cato Institute, Xi Jinping's persecution of Chinese Christians. And as you read the article, and there's other articles on this, what you see happening in China, the goal of the CCP is to advance Maoism - the Maoist tyranny - and they have to mount persecution against all other religions to get them to conform to their way of thinking, and they will only allow Christians to meet together as long as they use the Bible that China has given them, which has been reinterpreted and rewritten to somehow conform to their political ideology. In fact, I was reading how practicing believers, quote, "must endorse the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and the socialist system, thoroughly implement Xi Jinping's thoughts about socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era. They must practice core socialist values and adhere to the direction of the sinicization of religion" - that means forced assimilation. In other words, you can be religious as long as you agree with us and do everything we tell you to do. Sound familiar? It's exactly what's happening in our country. It's coming to America. Just listen to the Democratic socialists. They hate Christians because we do not bow to the state, we bow to Christ; and that's why every country has hated Christians. That's why Islamists demand the same thing. They demand an Islamic caliphate, and in order to have that, they've got to get rid of Christians.

Now back to the text here. What do godless rulers do when they reject the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, you scheme to come up with your own plan. And Herod believed that most of the people would not follow whoever this new king might be. And actually, he was right. I mean, later on in Luke 19:14 we read what they said, "'We do not want this man to reign over us.'" But what a contrast to the magi. Notice what happens sometime later in verse nine, "And having heard the king, they went their way; and lo the star which they had seen in the east..." Let me pause here. It says which they "had seen in the east," not which they followed from the east. This is something that they had seen in the east. It was a signal dear friends, it was not GPS; "which they had seen in the east went on before them until they came and stood over where the Child was." Amazing. Again, isn't it fascinating, only a selected few were allowed to see the light; those who humbled themselves, those who believed in him. But those who remained hardened in unbelief, they could not see the light, or Herod would have been there.

So once again, the light of grace reappears, and now it leads these men to the Savior; and seeing the glory of God naturally produces this inexpressible joy for all who love him. Verse 10, and "When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy." Why would they do that? Because they knew God was working on their behalf. They knew that God was up to something, bringing them to the Messiah King, that they might worship Him. In verse 11, "And they came into the house and saw the Child with Mary, His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him." By the way, will you notice it does not say that they worshiped Mary. Now, this is a bone that sticks in the craw of Roman Catholics that worship her. It says that they fell on their faces and worshiped him. In other words, they prostrated themselves in lowly worship. And this is what one would do when they approached ancient monarchs. And if I can put this real practically, the higher a man's conception of God, the more lowly his homage. Does this reflect your worship? It goes on to say, "In opening their treasures, they presented him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh." I mean, their hearts are overflowing here with gratitude. They've obviously brought this with them because they knew God was up some up to something, and they were going to see the King.

Gold is the most precious of metal. It's a symbol of nobility, of royalty. Frankincense was an extremely expensive incense with a fabulous fragrance, and it was typically stored, I might add, in the chamber of the temple, and it was sprinkled on the grain offerings. It symbolized the passionate desire of people to offer unto the Lord sacrifices that were pleasing to Him. And myrrh, of course, was a very costly perfume. Later you will recall, myrrh was mixed with an anesthetic and offered - it was mixed with wine as an anesthetic - and offered to Jesus on the cross, and it was used with other spices to prepare his body for burial.

And folks, I would ask you, what category are you in? Are you among the king makers or the king haters? And the answer depends upon how you respond to the light of the gospel of Christ. Do you see him, as he said of himself in John, 8:12, "'I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.'" The Lord Jesus has come. He is the one according to First Peter 2:10 who has "called us out of darkness into His marvelous light." Is that true of you? I trust. It is, I pray that it is. John 1:4, we read that "He is the light of men." He is the light that shines in the darkness. You go anywhere where Christ is not exalted, and you will feel the darkness, not just see it. Like the Apostle Paul and 1000s of preachers who have followed him, today, I preach to you, dear friends, the old gospel story - the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who, according to Second Corinthians 4:6, is the one who has called out of darkness into light. He says, "For God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts." Isn't it amazing? I mean, what a perfect way of putting that. He has shone in our hearts. We see his light in the hearts, in the core of our being. He is, "the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." And today, God has graciously revealed to us the saving truths of his Son, and we simply must believe in him.

So you want to ask yourself this question in closing this morning, do you worship the King? Do you long for his return? Do you pray as we've been asked to pray for "His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven?" My what a day that will be. All who truly know and love Christ will fall down before him, as these ancient king makers did. They will adore him. They will serve him, and they will ultimately manifest his character in their life because of the radical, powerful change that occurs in the miracle of regeneration. May we emulate the ancient king makers and fall down on our faces and worship him.

I am reminded of the light of his glorious return that Isaiah spoke of in Isaiah 40 and verse five, and "The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." And Isaac Watts wrote this, and with this, I close; he wrote these lyrics in 1719,

Jesus shall reign where'er the sun
does its successive journeys run,
his kingdom stretch from shore to shore,
till moons shall wax and wane no more.

Let every creature rise and bring
the highest honors to our King,
angels descend with songs again,
and earth repeat the loud amen.

Amen.

Beloved Jesus is coming again, not in obscurity but in unimaginable glory. Not in humility, but as the King of kings and Lord of lords; and not one to seek and to save, but one to judge and to reign. And how I long for that day, don't you? Oh, thank you, Lord. Let's pray together,

Father, thank you for the truths of your word that always speak to the core of who we are. And I pray that what we have examined here today will forever change our hearts with respect to our worship. May we bow down and worship the Lord our King and serve Him with utmost vigilance and humility until we are called into his presence. And I pray Lord Jesus, that that day will be soon. For it's in your name and for your sake that I pray. Amen.