The Ultimate Search

Well, I want to invite you to turn in your Bibles, this morning to Matthew chapter 2. Matthew chapter 2, we are going to be looking at the portion of the Christmas narrative that is, Matthew chapter 2, verses 1. Through 11, and if you want to give a title to the message this morning, it would be the ultimate Search. The ultimate search.

studies show that we can often spend as much as one hour a day looking for things. like our car keys, our wallet, a purse, shoes, papers, or any such thing. And you add all of that up, and some say that if you live to the age of 75, you will have spent as much as 2 years of your life looking for such things. And this doesn't even count all the time that we spend searching for an item at the grocery store, or searching for a gift that we want to buy for somebody, or even the time that we spend searching for happiness, or peace and satisfaction, or searching for solutions to some problem or some need in our soul.

When you think about it, you realize that it is probably true. That most people spend most of their lives searching for something. In one sense, just about everything we do is merely a part of a quest, a search for something, be it good or bad. I read this week that the average person with a laptop or desktop computer does on average 5 Google searches a day.

And I did a Google search to find that out. Google alone processes 40,000 search requests every second. Of the day, 40,000, that's over 1 trillion a year. We are a world of searchers, and we often don't even know what it is that we are searching for.

Back in 1993, Billy Joel wrote a song and some of the lyrics go like this. In the middle of the night, he says, I go walking in my sleep through the valley of fear to a river so deep. I've been searching for something taken out of my soul, something I'd never lose, something somebody stole. He then says, I don't know why I go walking at night, but now I'm tired and I don't want to walk anymore.

I hope it doesn't take the rest of my life until I find what it is that I've been looking for. That's the anthem. Of a searcher. To use the words of CS Lewis, every person essentially is trying to rip open the inconsolable secret.

The secret which hurts so much. The secret which pierces with sweetness when found. However, in our story today, we're going to learn about some men. Who, in contrast to Billy Joel, sees something in the middle of the night, and they go for a 900 mile walk until they find what it is that they were searching for.

Who are these men? They are the magi. What are they searching for? They're searching for Jesus Christ.

The story today here in Matthew chapter 2 starts off with them asking, where is he? And it ends with the words, they saw the child. In verse 11, having found him. These men searched and they ended up finding what it was that they were searching for, and they end up flat on their faces in worship pierced with a sweetness.

That CS Lewis spoke about. Today we'll ponder their search and what they did once they completed their search and found themselves face to face with the Christ child. Before we do that, let me just give you some quick facts about the magi. who are on this quest to find Jesus.

The word that is found in the text is magi, which is the plural, for maggus. it's a word for magician. And a single magician is called a maggis, not maggot. Maggis, but plural magicians are called magi.

These men were magicians in the sense of being wise men who astounded people with their wisdom. They were not just wise, but the wisest among the wise. They were knowledgeable in the science and Sciences and in the arts, in history and in math, these men were also premier astronomers. They studied the stars, they studied the heavens, they operated off of the premise that the heavens have something to tell us about God and about ourselves and about what is happening on earth.

And so they kept a keen eye on the heavens. Always looking for signs. We learn in this passage here in Matthew 2 that these magi are from the east, which probably means that they were from Babylon, a passage or a location we studied about actually last week in our study of Genesis chapter 11. Based on what we know of the magi from history, we know that these men were not just well educated, but they were extremely powerful men from the east.

These men were not kings, but they were kingmakers in a lot of ways. It was the magi that tutored the king's sons. Preparing the king's son for the day in which he would become king. It was the magi who shaped the minds of the future kings of their empire as those future kings grew intellectually and academically.

We know from history that at least in Persia, no one could become king without the approval of the Magi. That's power. They were the electoral college, as it were, of the Persian. Empire in Babylon and in Persia, when someone would become king, they would essentially have a cabinet of advisors, just as our president does today and the sitting members of that cabinet advising the king were the magi, which gave them a position of enormous power.

We also know from our passage today, we'll see how evident it is. As we go along that these particular magi apparently knew something of the coming Messianic king of Israel. I think there's solid speculation as to how they would have known about a coming king of the Jews. We know from Daniel chapter 2 that Daniel, back in his day, hundreds of years prior, was the chief of the magi.

So he no doubt loomed long after he had died as a legendary figure, an epic figure in Babylonian lore. And these magi no doubt knew of him and the book that he wrote. We also learned from Josephus, the Jewish historian, writing in the 1st century that many Jews lived in Babylon during this very time in history. So there would have been a Jewish influence in Babylon, providing opportunity for these magi to be exposed to what we call the Old Testament scriptures.

As the story unfolds here in Matthew 2, we're left with no doubt that these magi are very familiar. With the Hebrew scriptures, which foretold of the coming of the Messiah. At the very end, just to pick up in the narrative of Matthew, at the very end of Matthew 1, we learned that Jesus was born and was given the name Jesus. And it is at this point that the magi enter the narrative and let's begin reading here in Matthew chapter 2, verse 1.

Let me read the text to you. Says 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 the scribes of the people, he, Herod, 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. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

And 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. This is the word of God and may God help us to understand His word to us today. As we work our way through the passage this morning, we're gonna be able to piece together 8 descriptions of the magi with regard to their search for the Christ child.

And along the way, we'll be learning some things about our own search, what we should be searching for, and how to go about that. 8 descriptions that we can Observe here in the text, the first description of the magi in terms of their search for the Christ child is they travel a great distance in their search for Christ. They travel a great distance in their search for Christ. The js the journey that the Magi are on is no casual journey.

These men travel a tremendous distance to find the Christ child. Look what the text says in verse one. 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 when we were in the east.

As I've already mentioned, these men being from the east were almost certainly from Babylon. And if these men are indeed coming from Babylon, and they did what most travelers did, And in their journey, they did not beat a straight path from Babylon to Jerusalem, which would take them through the desert. That's possible that they did that. That would have been a 550 mile journey.

The greater likelihood is that they followed the contour of what we call the fertile crescent and their journeys, which would make this about a 900 mile. journey. And the best guesstimate is that it would have taken them about 4 months to make this journey. And we know this because in the book of Ezra, in chapter 7, Ezra is said to have left Babylon and traveled to Jerusalem, same journey.

And the text of Ezra 7 tells us that as he traveled, the good hand of his God was upon him, meaning God prospered him in his travels, and guess how long it took him. 4 months exactly to get from Babylon to Jerusalem. And so we could suggest the great likelihood that this journey, one way for the magi would have been a 4 month journey, which means this is an 8-month journey, round trip. I doubt that most of you would have come to Cornerstone this morning if you had to travel 4 months.

To get here. I know you love Cornerstone. And the people of Cornerstone, but you would not travel 4 months. One way to get here.

This means that these men will be 8 months away from their homes, away from their society, away from their comfort zones. Imagine something being so valuable to you that you are willing to leave everything for 8 months and to make this trip. When the magi arrived in Jerusalem, they say we saw his star in the east. We're actually not totally sure what the star was that the magi saw.

Some say this was an alignment of planets of some sort. that created a sight in the heavens that was very bright. Some suggest that it was a comet that was racing through the sky, and it's possible that some of these kinds of things were involved on Some level Back in 2007, my wife and I and some others from Cornerstone, we were over in Israel, and we were in Bethlehem, and we were in a little chapel in the city of Bethlehem, listening to a lecturer tell us what he believed the star of Bethlehem was, and he was saying that he believed, based on his research that it was a particular alignment.

Of the planets that happened in 4 BC April 17th, which is my birthday.

And so I turned to my wife and I said, I like that interpretation. Because if he's right, that means Jesus and I share the same birthday. my wife last night was Googling, trying to find something impressive that happened on her birthday. But I'll tell you that's tough to match.

But even though in my heart, I would love for that to be the case, my head tells me that that man's view is either wrong or at least it's probably incomplete. Whatever the star is that the magi saw, it must have had the ability to appear and disappear and reappear. It must have had the ability to move ahead of the magi, and then stop over the house where Jesus was. Which the star is said to have done in verse 9 of our passage this morning.

So at the very least, whatever this star was, it at least included some supernatural light in the heavens that the magi saw when they were in Babylon, and they were able to put 2 and 2 together and infer. that the Messiah had been born. There's a lot of mystery here and there's a lot we don't know, but we do know that they saw something in the heavens, and they put that together with the fact that the Messiah, the king of the Jews, is born, and they're confident enough that they make this journey.

Perhaps the magic were familiar with Numbers 24:17, where it 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, one from Jacob shall have dominion. That's royal kingly dominion. This verse, From the Book of Numbers is not promising that there will be a star in the heavens at the Messiah's birth. It's actually telling us that the Messiah Himself will be the star.

of Jacob that will rise, but perhaps the magi have been studying the scriptures and passages like this, and they see this light in the heavens, and they put it together with Numbers 24:17, and they conclude that the Messiah has been born and they decide to leave and go on this journey to Jerusalem in order to see this one, to search for this one who was born king of the Jews. So they gather their belongings, they make the long 4 month trek to Jerusalem. When they arrive in Jerusalem, they continue their search, and we actually see persistence in their search for Jesus, which leads us to our second description of the magi.

In their search for Jesus, and that is we observe that they are persistent.

In their search for Jesus. It says, look at what the text says in verse one, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, And you might want to mark that word saying, it may not seem like the word saying is saying a whole lot. But in the Greek, the tense of this verb is present tense. which means that they were continuously saying, where is he who has been born king of the Jews?

They didn't just ask this question one time. This means that they asked one person and said, where is he who was born king of the Jews? And that person said, I don't know. And they go to someone else and say, where is he who has been born king of the Jews?

And that person said, I don't know. And the result is the magi went from one person. To the next, to the next, asking, where is he? And they keep asking the question because they obviously are not getting an answer to the question that they are asking, but they persist.

And they are not discouraged. In their search. They're not like some guys, some men like myself who are not very persistent in searching. Or looking for things.

The average man opens a drawer to look for something that his wife has told him is in the drawer. And if that item is not sitting in full view, On top of everything else in the drawer saying, here I am. The average guy will close the drawer and say to his wife, it's not in here. So what does the wife do?

She goes to the drawer, she opens the drawer, she performs magic and poof, the object, the search for object is in the drawer. My wife and I have lived out this scenario again and again and again over our 28 years of marriage. I don't like looking For things and it's easy to be discouraged after an attempt or two. Imagine if the magi had come all this way to Jerusalem and ask one person, where is he who's been born king of the Jews?

I don't know. The magi look around and they're like, well, I guess he's not here. And they go back home to Babylon, and their wife is like, did you find him? No, he wasn't there.

But did you look in Bethlehem is what she would say. But the magi didn't do that. They, they were persistent. This is a wonderful thing.

They didn't give up so easy. They kept asking around persistently. And the question is, why were they so persistent? And this brings us to the next description of the magi in their search for Christ.

And that is that they are confident, or you can write the word believing, they are believing. They are confident in their search for Christ. They say, where is he who has been born, King of the Jews? We saw his star in, in the east.

Notice these magi are not asking people if the king of the Jews has been born. They are saying he has been born. Our only question here is where is he? In Hebrews 11:6, the Bible tells us that without faith, It is impossible to please him.

For he who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. This passage is telling us two things. First of all, it's telling us that if you're going to please God, you must believe that he is there, that he exists. And second, you must believe that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

These two ideas totally go together. You will never be diligent in seeking God if you are not confident that he is actually there to be found. By you. And the same is true with these magi, they're diligent.

They are persistent in searching for Christ because they are absolutely confident that he, the king of the Jews, has in fact been born. These are men of faith. God had communicated to them through a star in the sky tied together with prophetic promises in the scriptures that they had no doubt read, and these magi know with certainty that this has in fact happened. And that's why they travel such a great distance and are so persistent.

You don't travel this distance. In order to find out if the king of the Jews has been born. You travel this distance and you persist only because you are certain that he has in fact been born and you just wanna know where he is. Notice something else about these magi with regard to their search for Christ, and that is they are intentional in their search.

For Christ. They are intentional in their search for Christ. They say we have come. To worship him.

These magi are very purposeful in their quest to find Jesus. They want to know where he is so that they can worship him as God. This is not only their intention, but they're public about their intention. And they don't mind the whole world knowing that they have come to offer their worship and their full allegiance to this one who has been born king of the Jews.

Where is he? They say, we have traveled all of this distance so that we can find him. And we want you to know we're here to worship him and worship him. As God.

They're not in Jerusalem to meet up with friends. They aren't there because they heard Jerusalem has a great praise band or cushioned seats. They aren't there because they might get a cool visitor gift bag with a gift card in it, as great as those things are. They're there to worship.

And they want everyone to know that. They want to worship Jesus Christ. I love the fact that these magi are not searching for Jesus, because of something that they can get from him. Actually, that would have totally been OK.

If that was their reason for searching for Christ. Many people are going to do this throughout the years of Jesus' public ministry. In the years to come, they will seek out Christ because they have an ailment, or because they have a son or a daughter back home who is dying, or who is sick. These magi could have been seeking out Christ, because their king back in Babylon was sick and dying, or perhaps because they, the magi, have a sick relative back home who is dying, and they want to find the Christ, so that they can obtain some type of blessing.

From him who that will bring healing to this person that they were concerned about. That would have been a noble thing, a wonderful thing. But however noble that would have been, these magi on this occasion, They're not seeking Jesus for this reason. They simply want to find him, so that they can fall on their face and worship Him.

The privilege of worshiping Christ in his very presence is in itself the greatest gift that these magi believe that they could ever receive from God. It's all they want. What one thing would you ask from me? God says to the magi.

Their reply, this is the one thing we ask. Let us see Christ. And let us worship Him. That is all.

That is everything. Well, when you search for Christ in the way that the magi are doing publicly and intentionally, And you're as public about it as they are, and you describe him in the way that the magi are describing him as the king of the Jews, you are bound to stir up trouble. And that's exactly what happens as the passage unfolds. And this brings us to the 5th description of the magi and their search for Jesus.

And that is they stir up trouble in their search for Christ. They stir up trouble in their search for Christ. Guys, if you make your life all about seeking Christ, You will inevitably stir up trouble. You don't have to want to stir up trouble.

You will inevitably stir up trouble. Some people like to stir up trouble. but even if you don't like to stir up trouble, and your attitude is, I just want to see Christ and everything that I do, you will inevitably at times, stir up trouble. This is exactly what happens with the magi.

Observe what the text says in verse 3. It says, when Herod, the king heard this, he was troubled. When Herod is troubled, that's really bad news, guys, for everybody. That's a terrible headline for them to read in the Jerusalem Times on the front page, Herod is troubled.

Everyone. would be very concerned about this. We know from history that Herod was an extremely paranoid and vicious king. He was always afraid for his power, and he was paranoid about anybody who might try to snatch his power away from him.

We know from history, the writings of Josephus, the Jewish historian, that there was one point where Herod grew suspicious of his wife's brother, so he had his wife's brother killed. And then at some point after that, he grew suspicious of his wife's mother. So he had his wife's mother killed. And we know from history that that hurt the marriage.

As you can imagine, when you kill your wife's brother, And your wife's mother, studies show that that's detrimental to the marriage relationship. It wasn't long after that that Herod grew suspicious of this particular wife, so he killed her. He had 9 other wives, so he didn't sweat the loss of this one. History also tells us that Herod had 2 of his sons killed.

He killed 2 of his very own flesh and blood sons. Because he grew suspicious of their intentions to dethrone him. 5 days, 5 days before he actually died, Herod grew suspicious of yet another son who might take the throne before his time, and Herod killed him. It's safe to say that Herod was paranoid about holding on to his power and his control for as long as possible.

At this stage of Herod's life, Herod is also thinking about his dynasty. He wants only the son of his choosing to assume the throne after he died, and he will tolerate no rivals. And here come the magi into Jerusalem, as naive as could be. Asking the worst question that anyone could ask.

Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? We have come to pay homage to and worship him. Herod catches wind of this, and he's troubled. By the way, we don't know how many magi there were.

Ancient church tradition tells us that there were 12. Later church tradition tells us that there were 3. We don't know the number. We do know that these men were powerful and wealthy and no doubt brought many servants and attendants with them.

They probably even had soldiers. with them as well. So this is very likely a very impressive and sizable contingent of people coming into Jerusalem, asking around for this one who has been born king of the Jews. And so the text tells us when Herod, the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem was troubled with him.

When Herod was troubled, everybody was troubled together with him. Colin Nichols. Say it this way, the people in Jerusalem were troubled because they were certain that Herod would respond with brutality to any serious threat to his dynasty. Anyway, look at what Herod does, verse 4, he's a conniver.

Says gathering together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, these are the religious experts who understand the Old Testament scriptures. He inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. Herod does not tell them what his intentions are, he simply gathers these religious scholars together and just says to them, what guys, I've been having my devotions and just reading the words, spending time in the word. And I've just been thinking a lot about the Messiah lately, and I'm just wondering, where is the Messiah supposed to be born?

And the religious experts give him this answer, verse 5, they said to him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what has been written by the prophet, and then they quote from Micah 5:2. Micah 5:2, which 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. There it is, in black and white, could not be more clear. They say to Herod, Herod, that's a great question.

And Micah 5:2 provides an answer to this question. The Messiah, whenever he is going to be born, will be born in Bethlehem. So Herod dismisses these religious experts from his presence. And then he calls the magi into his presence.

And look at verse 7, as he meets with the magi, says then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time that the star appeared. So he's asking them, you saw a star when you were in the east, when exactly? Did this star appear and they told him they were good at record keeping. We still have record, archaeological discoveries, actually in Babylon feature the record keeping of Babylonian astronomers from back in this day.

They kept very careful records and no doubt they provided him a very specific answer down to the day. As to when the star appeared. To Herod's satisfaction, until Herod's like, all right, I know exactly the time the star appeared. Now Herod is putting together a scheme.

And this is so astounding and so sad to me. Herod in these verses is demonstrating faith in the miraculous. He's not questioning the fact that a star actually appeared in the heavens announcing The birth of the Messiah. He's assuming that happened.

Herod is not a disbeliever in the miraculous. He believes everything. He believes there was a star. He believes it was the Messiah's star.

He believes that the Messianic king of Israel had truly been born in Bethlehem in fulfillment of a several 100 year old prophecy, prophesying where he would be born. Herod believes all of that. And that the king of the Jews has been born in fulfillment of prophecy. And Herod wants to kill him.

He wants to kill him so bad that he will end up slaughtering every baby boy in Bethlehem, 2 years and younger by the time all of this is over. Sometimes we think, man, if, if we could just, God, if you could just show the world a miracle. If people could just see something miraculous, they would all believe. Herod is believing in a number of miraculous things here.

And he wants to kill Christ. What a dark place his heart is in. As for the magi, they're searching for Christ in order to worship him. And God uses Micah 5:2 to help them in their search, and this leads us to the next point, which is the sixth description of the magi.

With regard to their search for Christ, and that is they receive help from Scripture in their search for Christ. As the story unfolds, Herod says to the magi, I've got some information for you, and he shares Micah chapter 5, verse 2 and that prophecy with them, and then look at what happens, verse 8. 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 and after hearing the king.

They went their way. Armed with this information, the magi began going to Bethlehem. Hence, we can say that the magi, at least to get from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, receive help from the scripture, Micah 5:2 in their quest to find Christ. They got to Jerusalem by the star, and it was probably their understanding of scriptures that helped them to understand the meaning of that star.

But then once they get to Jerusalem, it's Micah 5:2 that provides them the guidance that they need to get the rest of the way and to actually find Jesus in Bethlehem, which is 5 miles south of Jerusalem. God provided That scriptural information through King Herod. Herod, with all of his devious intent, ended up being merely a pawn. In God's plan to get the magi to Bethlehem through a passage of scripture.

Guys, if you are interested in seeking Christ and in finding him, You should know that you will only find him the way that the magi found him, and that is with the help and with the guidance of Scripture. There's scholars today who say that they're looking for the real historical Jesus, and they read the gospel accounts, which is scripture, and they say, this isn't helpful. We can't trust this. We're looking for the real historical Jesus.

Ultimately, they are looking for Jesus apart from and in contradiction to the teaching of the scripture. But the magi are not doing that. They're looking for the Christ of scripture. And they find him in Bethlehem, because the Christ of Scripture, is the real Jesus.

If you want to find God, if you want to find Christ, go to the Bible, read the Bible, and the scriptures will point you to him just as they pointed the magi to Jesus 2000 years ago. There's yet another description of the magi in their search for Christ, and that brings us to our 7th description, and that is they rejoice in their search for Christ. Say, and 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.

And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

So as the Magi began their journey from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, the star apparently reappears. A fact that indicates that apparently the star was not in their sight, the whole distance of their journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. It's a star that they saw when they were in the east, and they went to Jerusalem, but that star was not in front of them. Apparently the whole time, but now that they began to journey from Jerusalem down to Bethlehem, the star reappears, and the text tells us that the star went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the child was.

Whatever this star was, it had the ability to appear and disappear and reappear. It had the ability to move ahead of the magi as they traveled to Bethlehem. And it had the ability to stand over the place where the child was, clearly marking. The actual house where the child was.

And verse 10 tells us the reaction of the magi when the star appeared. Verse 10 says, and when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Matthew is straining at the limits of language to convey their joy. He tells us they rejoiced exceedingly.

But not only that, he tells us they rejoiced exceedingly with mega joy. These magi are beside themselves with glee. When they see this star. Now ponder that for a moment, why are they happy to see this star?

Is it because they like stars? Are they thinking, man, we love stars, look at that star, it just makes me so happy because of how beautiful it is. Are they rejoicing because they like stars? Absolutely not.

They're rejoicing with mega joy. Over that star for no other reason than the fact that it will lead them to Jesus. Mark my words, if you value Christ, you will rejoice in anything that points you to Him. That's why Christians love creation.

Because nature points us to Christ. That's why we love God's word, the scriptures, because God's word points us to Christ. If you want to know how much you love Christ, ask yourself this question, do I rejoice with great joy over those things that point me to Him? There's one final description we can quantify by way of describing the magi in their search for Christ, and that is they succeed.

In their search for Christ, they succeed in their search for Christ. They actually find him. God in His providence led them right. To Jesus Christ.

In verse 11, the text says after coming into the house, they saw the child. What a moment this must have been for them. They saw the child with Mary, his mother. Jesus was at least 4.5 months to probably 11.5, somewhere in that range at this point, and the magi come into the house and the text tells us they saw the child with Mary, his mother.

Then notice what the text says next, and they fell to the ground. And worshiped Mary. Is that what it says? And they fell to the ground and worshiped them.

Is that what it says? No, it says, and they fell to the ground and worshiped. Hi Today, there are people who would have come into this house, and they would have worshiped Mary, or they would have worshiped Mary and Jesus. But these magi enter the house, and they see Jesus and Mary, and they fall to the ground and worshiped him, and him alone.

And what? In worshiping Jesus, they were honoring Mary, because Mary also worshiped him. If you really cherish Mary and the legacy of Mary, and you really wish to honor her, then join her in the humble worship of Christ and Him alone. Nothing would make Mary happier.

than if you worshiped Christ and Him alone. Notice again the text, they fell to the ground and worshiped him. These magi did not just bow their heads or take a knee. No, they fell to the ground.

This is the bowing where you collapse to the ground and press your face and your body to the ground, getting as low as you possibly can before this one that you are worshiping. This posture is basically intended to say, I am at your mercy. Do to me as you please. I am also at your service.

Whatever you wish for me to do, Your wish is my command. I am your servant, and I completely trust and fully surrender to you. That's what this posture means. This is the posture of full surrender, which is the essence of true worship.

Worship in the truest sense. of the term is the surrender of your full self to Jesus Christ. What the magi are doing here is not just an act of respect, it's an act of surrender. And look at what we read next in verse 12, then opening their treasures, they presented to him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

This act of giving gifts to Christ. On this occasion is another indication that the magi absolutely must have been informed by the scriptures in their quest to find Jesus. In Isaiah chapter 60, you can write this reference down. God is speaking of a future day when the Messiah is reigning, and when Jerusalem and the temple will become the very center.

Of the earth and listen to some of what is said in Isaiah 60. And as I read this to you, notice the language of light. In this passage. Isaiah 60:1.

God says, arise, shine. He says to Israel, for your light has come. 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. Then you will be radiant, and your heart will thrill and rejoice because the wealth of nations will come to you.

They will bring gold and frankincense, and will bear good news. of the praises of the Lord. It turns out that this star is an early harbinger of this coming glory. And there is no doubt in my mind that the magi are aware of this passage in Isaiah, and they are intentionally seeking to behave consistently with it in coming to this light and giving these gifts to Jesus.

They understand no doubt that it will be a while before the full promise of Isaiah 60 is fulfilled, but they want to be the first of many. From the nation's. Who will bring their gifts of gold and frankincense to the Messiah. Gold and frankincense are prophesized as gifts in Isaiah 60 to be brought.

To Israel, to Jerusalem, to the Messiah. But why would the magi bring myrrh? Myrrh was used in perfumes. Back in this day, but it also had medicinal value.

It was used as a spice when preparing a body for burial. in ancient times, Egyptian soldiers were known to take myrrh into battle so that they could use it to stop their wounds from, from bleeding. Myrrh was also viewed as a painkiller, and we see in Mark chapter 15, verse 23 that they tried to give Jesus wine mixed with myrrh while he was actually on the cross for this very reason. This gift of Myrrh probably embodied some recognition on the part of the magi that this Christ child would grow up and he would suffer in some way.

Indeed, he did suffer and die on the cross to shed his blood so that all who believe in him might have their sins forgiven. All in all, these magi give 4 gifts. To Jesus. Do what the 4th is?

They gave him gold and frankincense. And myrrh, and they also gave themselves. Their posture and worship indicated that they first gave themselves to him and then they gave their gifts. So these are the magi, and this is the story of their 900 mile.

Journey to find Jesus and to worship him. Please do not read this story or hear this message and be impressed with the magi. Read the story and be impressed with the one who would inspire this seeking. And this worship from these men.

These are men who already had prestige and power. These are men who already had wisdom and wealth. They had so much of the things that people seek for today. Many would have looked at all that they had attained and said, these guys should be the most content of all people.

And yet they're on this search to find Jesus. who apparently meant more to them than any of these other things that they had attained to. And they found him. They found Jesus, and they were able by God's grace to rip open the inconsolable secret, the secret that hurts so much.

The secret that when found, pierces the soul with sweetness. Do you see? What the magi saw. In Jesus What the magi do, here is the very essence of what one must do to be saved.

Full surrender, through their worship and through their posture, they're saying to the Christ child, I am all yours, do with me and to me as you please. And what, if you bow before Jesus in full surrender and say that to him, do what it is that Jesus pleases to do for those who bow before him? He pleases to forgive. You have all of your sins.

He delights to forgive the sins of those who bow before Him. And he delights to bring them into relationship with God. He delights to exalt the lowly, and to bring healing to the brokenhearted, and to mend those whose lives are broken by sin. All those who bow before him and say, I surrender to you, Jesus.

He is pleased to do these things for those who surrender to his love. And I ask you as we close this morning, what are you searching for? Don't you realize that at the bottom of all that you are searching for, at the bottom of all of your searching is a hunger that only Jesus Christ can satisfy? Have you ever bowed before him, the way that the magi do?

You're like, oh, yeah, I believe in Jesus. Have you bowed before him? Truly in your heart of hearts, bowed before him as your sovereign King. Have you ever bowed low before the Savior King and said, Lord, Your wish is my command.

Your saving, forgiving wish is my command. I surrender to your saving and your loving purposes for my life. If you have never surrendered to the love of this one, Jesus Christ, whom the magi sought and found. I, I implore you, I plead with you today to do that, to bow before Him, to believe in him, to call upon him as your Lord and Savior.

To withdraw your trust from yourself and anyone else, and to look to Jesus, who died on the cross and shed his blood and was raised from the dead, to look at him and his righteousness and say, he's the savior I want. He's the one my soul has been seeking all these years and I didn't even know it. Believe in him, bow before him, surrender to his love, and He will forgive you and make you God's child, bring you into God's family. And he will save you for eternity.

Let's pray together. Lord, we're amazed at your goodness to us. And Your Grace. You take these magi that are hundreds and hundreds of miles away and you You lead them To the one that their souls were searching for.

All their lives. I pray that if there's any in this room this morning, Lord, that have not yet found Jesus, that you would awaken them. To their need for Christ and that you would draw them to Jesus Christ. And that you would So awaken them in their souls, Lord, that they would see the beauty of Christ, their need of him, and bow low before him and surrender to his amazing love.

For all of us who know you, Lord, thank you. Thank you for what you have done. You are our boast. We do not boast in ourselves or what we have done.

Our boast is only in you, our Lord and King and our Savior. We thank you for this opportunity, Lord, to give of our offerings to you. We pray that you would receive these funds and do much with every penny that is given for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. In His name we pray, and all God's people said, Amen.