“Revelation”
[Matthew 2:1-12]
January 7, 2018, Second Reformed
Church
In the Western Church, the first Sunday of
January is Epiphany. This is the day
that we remember that magi from the east came and gave gifts to the Baby Jesus. The word “epiphany” means an “appearance” or
“manifestation” and usually refers to a god.
We have a book titled “Revelation” in our
Bibles – and, I know, many of us respond to the mention of the book of
Revelation in fear – there are monsters and wars and plagues and horsemen and
evil and demons. We think that way
because our pastors have done a poor job of explaining the book, and popular
culture has twisted it into movie franchises.
The word, “revelation,” means a “revealing” – not far from “epiphany,”
as we consider it this morning.
Our
Scripture is likely a familiar one to most of us -- the visit of the magi. The
magi were astrologers from the area of modern day Iraq and Iran. They were
people who studied the stars to make predictions and interpret events, and they
had seen a star, which was in some way fantastic, or significant, and some
number of them -- we're not told how many -- followed the star to Israel. Now
this was some time after Jesus' birth.
The magi understood the sign of the
star to mean that a new and special king had been born, so they thought the
place to look for the king would be in the palace in Jerusalem. They met King
Herod, who was not pleased to hear that they were looking for a King of Israel
other than him. So Herod called for his priests and scribes to see what they
made of the words of the magi, and the priests and scribes thought that this
must be a sign of the birth of the Christ -- the Savior of Israel, and the
prophets said that the Christ would be born in Bethlehem.
Herod then spoke with the magi in
private and asked them when the star appeared and charged them to go and find
the Christ and then report back to him so he could go and worship Him. But we
know from the verses following this morning's reading, that Herod's actual intent
was to find the Christ and kill Him, so Herod would not lose his power as king.
So, the magi went on their way and
followed the star, and it led them to the house in which Joseph, Mary, and
Jesus were living. Now, we're not told whose house this was, but they were now
living in a house -- they were not still in the manger -- despite our beautiful
crèches, the magi came to the house they were living in some time after Jesus'
birth.
And it is at this point in our text
that we reach the point I want us to emphasize -- the point I want us to get
this morning -- and it is this: Jesus was worshiped. He is and will be worshiped.
It is a matter of His Nature and Being that He will be worshiped. Our only
right response to coming into the knowledge and the presence of Jesus is to
worship Him.
Epiphany is a fulfillment of this
prophecy: “’Behold, the virgin shall
conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’” (which means,
God with us)” (Matthew 1:23, ESV). Epiphany
is God manifesting Himself – appearing among us – in the person of Jesus.
This is the revelation that these
magi came to understood – what God, the Holy Spirit, revealed to them. The magi, these pagan astrologers, walked
into the house and saw Jesus, and what did they do? "They fell down and worshiped him."
What an amazing thing! These grown men come into the presence of a very young
Baby, and their response is to fall down and worship Him. Why? There can only
be one reason -- they recognized that this little Child is more than a mere
human Baby: He is God Himself.
One author writes, "If then they had
been seeking a king of this world and thus had found him, they would have been
more perplexed than delighted, because they would have undertaken an effort of
so great a journey for nothing. Yet because they were seeking the heavenly
king, even if they saw nothing regal in him, they were nevertheless delighted,
content with the testimony of the star. Their eyes could not see an unworthy
boy, because the spirit in their hearts was revealing him to them as an awesome
thing. If, moreover, they had sought him as a king of this world, they would
have stayed with him, as is often the case when people abandon one king and
transfer their allegiance to another. Instead they adored him and returned home
that they might have Jesus the just, heavenly king over their souls and the
king of their home country as ruler of their bodies" (ACC, NT 1a, 28).
We also see in this that Jesus is to
be worshiped by all peoples -- Jews and Gentiles. Against the idea popular
among the Pharisees, the Christ was not coming for the biological Jews alone,
but for the Israel of God which included both Jews and Gentiles -- in other
words, every type of person there is on the earth.
Luke tells us of the Jewish shepherds
"And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had
heard and seen, as it had been told them" (Luke 2:20). And he tells us of
the prophetess, Anna, "And coming up that very hour she began to give
thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of
Jerusalem" (Luke 2:38). In these verses, we see that Christ did come for
the Jews, but in verse eleven of this morning's text, we see that He also came
for the Gentiles -- for all the other nations of the world and from them He
also commands worship.
The magi gave the Baby Jesus three
types of gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And if we know what these things
are -- what strange gifts they gave to this little Baby – we can see that they
reveal Who Jesus is.
Gold we are familiar with -- this would be
the type of gift that one king or leader would give for the birth of another
king. That is not too strange -- they understood that Jesus is King.
But frankincense is the incense that God
commanded to be burned on the altar in the worship of Him: Moses writes,
"When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his
offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense
on it and bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests. And he shall take from it a
handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the
priests shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering
with a pleasing aroma to the Lord" (Leviticus 2:1-2, ESV). The only reason
they would give the Baby Jesus frankincense is that they understood that He is
God.
And then, the third gift, myrrh, is,
perhaps the most perplexing of all: myrrh was used for embalming. Why would
they give a baby materials for embalming the dead? There can only be one
reason: whether they understood it or not, God was foreshadowing the death of
Jesus in this gift to Him as an infant. For Jesus would be embalmed, as John
records: "Nicodemus, also, who earlier came to Jesus by night, came [to
bury Jesus] bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in
weight" (John 19:39).
One author writes: "For they
opened their treasure chests, and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense and
myrrh. Thus, they were fulfilling the acknowledgment of Christ on behalf of all
nations. They were signifying the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: 'All those
who are in Sheba shall come, offering gold and precious stones and spreading
the good news of the Lord; all the sheep of Kedar shall be gathered together,
and the rams of Nebaioth shall come, and they will offer pleasing incense on
your altar.' They recognized him at once. They opened their treasure chests.
They displayed their offerings, gifts in themselves fit for nations to give.
For, realizing that he was king, they offered him their elegant and costly
first fruits, fit for the Holy One. They offered him gold they had stored up
for themselves. Moreover, recognizing his divine and heavenly coming to them,
they made an offering of frankincense, a beautiful gift like the soothing
speech of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, understanding as they did that human life
is but a sepulcher, they offered myrrh" (ACC, NT 1a, 28).
So we see that Jesus is worshiped by
the magi. He is worshiped as God. He is worshiped as King. And He is worshiped
symbolically through their giving of gifts that symbolized His Kingship, His
Divinity, and the fact that God would accomplish His Work of Salvation through the
life, death, and resurrection of the Christ.
Now, Jesus is seated at the Right
Hand of the Father. He is ruling over all things and getting ready to return.
And to we who are here this morning, let the magi be an example to us: Jesus is
to be worshiped. He is to be worshiped for His Authority. He is to be worshiped
for being the Incarnate God. He is to be worshiped because He Alone has
achieved the Work of Salvation that saves His people from their sins and the
Wrath of God.
And it is not just the people who
believe in Jesus Alone for Salvation who will worship Him. No, the Scripture
tells us that Jesus will be worshiped by every human being who will ever live.
Some will worship Him in the joy of His salvation; others will worship Him in
the horror and the damnation that comes from never receiving His salvation.
Paul writes, "For we will all appear before the judgment seat of God; for
it is written, 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and ever
tongue shall confess to God.' So then each of us will give an account of
himself to God" (Romans 14:10b-12, ESV). And again, "Therefore God
has highly exalted [Jesus] and bestowed on him the name that is above every
name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth
and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of the Father" (Philippians 2:9-10, ESV).
Throughout the worship service, we
worship Jesus through many different acts. We are about to worship Jesus
through the receiving of the elements of the Lord’s Supper. We do not worship
the bread and the cup; they are merely human elements, but Jesus meets us in
those elements when we eat and drink, and He we worship. We worship Him because
He is our God and has saved us and is bringing us into holiness in His likeness.
We worship Him because He is here right now and meets with us and strengthens
us as we receive the elements. And we worship Him because He will return again,
and on that day, all will worship Him forever.
Let us pray:
Almighty and Worthy God, we come to this
place to worship because You are Worthy. Your Son Alone is God and King and
Savior. Increase our joy in worship. Lead us to tell others that there is a God
and King and Savior Who is worthy of worship. And make us ready now to commune
with Him in this supper, and may You be glorified as we celebrate. For it is in
Jesus' Name we pray, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment