The phrase “long live the king” is often uttered at the death of one king (ironically), and when the society looks to the next king. Civilisations have always looked to the perpetuity of kingdoms. The writer of the book of Matthew also sought to establish how the Davidic promises still carries one. The big idea in Matthew is that the greatest descendant of David is Jesus Christ. This is the reason why Matthew opens with a genealogy. Matthew wanted his readers to know who Jesus came from because it establishes the legitimacy of His rule.

Jesus is a king with authority who makes His claims with legitimacy. He is the fulfilment of long-given promises and this is an important part of His identity because how we think about His rule and authority affects what we think of Him. Until we understand this, God will just be a TV channel that we choose to turn on and off at will. Today’s passage will show us different responses of people when they encountered this King.

(A) Chapter 1: The Star and Scriptures of Advent (Matt 2:7-11)

In Matt 2:7, we pick up the narrative by learning that the wise men were summoned “secretly” to see Herod. Herod wanted to know “what time the star had appeared” (Matt 2:7b). This is an important detail because Herod uses this time in a specific way later in the chapter. Herod wanted to piece together a timeline and time frame for the life of Jesus. He wanted to gather information to understand the profile of Jesus.

But who are these wise men? There are different schools of thought about who these wise men are but safe to say we can look at what the Bible itself says about these men. During exile, Israel were sent to civilizations with wise men who were learned about governance and also things of a spiritual nature (c.f. Dan 2:48). Many of these would also know the OT, and the prophecies of the Messiah, e.g. Num 24:15-18. These wise men were not randomly looking at stars, but they knew Scripture and came specifically to seek the King of the Jews. They came humble and contrite because they knew the authority and rule of this King of the Jews.

Herod knew some of these pieces of information too. Herod called for the chief priests and scribes and asked for the birthplace of the Christ. They looked into the OT to find the answer. Micah 5 speaks of how the ruler will come from Bethlehem.

What Matthew is doing here is showing us that God was intervening in space-time history. It shakes our categories and is also signaling to the Jews that God is involved in this supernatural occurrence with the star. Christians today know know the Great Commission that was given at the end of the book of Moses. But here, right at the beginning of the book Matthew is pointing to a God who left His Word also for those not of Israel and seeks to draw men to Himself. This is the God that we worship and this is the King that He has installed for Himself.

How did the wise men respond? “They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy” (Matt 2:10). Matthew cared enough to tell us the response of these men. Pause and put yourself in that moment. They were looking for Jesus and when they were led to find Him, and found Him, they rejoiced exceedingly. Their journey was not wasted. They had each other. And if this is God leading them, God is real. Writer C.S. Lewis describes it this way:

There comes a moment when the children who have been playing at burglars hush suddenly: was that a real footstep in the hall? There comes a moment when people who have been dabbling in religion (“Man’s search for God”!) suddenly draw back. Supposing we really found Him? We never meant it to come to that! Worse still, supposing He had found us?

Sometimes we like to think that we can dabble in religion and God and one day, what if we find Him and realise that He is far more frightening and better than we imagine! Scripture tells us again and again that when people start with religion, they become more prideful. But when they encounter the living God, every single person falls on their face in worship and awe even before they offer their gifts. They realise that religion has nothing to do with performance. Being in the presence of a real, terrible and holy God calls us to fall down on our faces in worship.

In this Advent season as we come close to this promised King, led by the Scriptures and His star, God Himself has come. His Word tells us this. What is your approach as you come to this God through His word? Do His promises excite you? Does what you know of Him spur you to want to know Him more? The Christian life is going towards God and knowing that He is a real God and His Word is life. The Christian goes to God and asks Him to help us know Him more. Last week we contrasted the attitudes of the wise men with the chief priests and scribes. This week we’re also presented with the same question: how will we respond?

(B) Chapter 2: Fleeing and Faith (Matt 2:12-15)

The account from Matthew next addresses two dreams and each dream communicates instructions (Matt 2:12-14). The Magi were told in a dream not to return to Herod (Matt 2:12). This was a direct contradiction to what Herod asked for and this sets up a clear cross-purpose. God was defying what Herod set out to do. The 3 wise men obeyed but how would they have felt? How would everything pan out? Whether they knew or not, they have experienced God in a real way and when God told them to go, they did. They obeyed regardless of what they thought and what they knew or did not know.

Joseph was also told in a dream to take Mary and the child to Egypt and remain there because Herod is seeking to destroy the child (Matt 2:13). God was kind enough to reveal the reason in this case, but we are not to expect Him to give us the reason all the time. When He does, it is out of His kindness. When He doesn’t, He is still good. Matthew doesn’t record for us Joseph’s thoughts when he received this set of instructions but we are told clearly that he obeyed.

From both these dreams we see how God is intervening in real, tangible ways. God opposed Herod and also preserved His Messiah. For these men and women to make these decisions, they had to trust God and have faith in His plans. They had to put aside their logic and plans based on what they saw, observed and knew. Verse 15 is the only hint we get about why Jesus was in Egypt – to fulfil Scripture. Faith is not obeying God based on what we know but it is because we trust God through His Word and ultimately because we trust the nature of this God who speaks. In the Advent story, faith and obedience meant fleeing, and certainly God’s instructions sometimes look counterintuitive. There will be times when obedience means staying put and appearing not to achieve anything. At other times, it might mean years of obscurity, like Jesus’ first 30 years. It could also mean laying down the sword and not defending ourselves. God’s ways sometimes don’t make sense. When we look back at our life and think back on all the times we could have written our lives in the way we wanted, sometimes it doesn’t make sense. But God doesn’t care about our sense. He is always doing what He is doing.

When God speaks, we obey. This is our relationship to the King. We allow our lives to be so shaped by His will that we keep saying no to ourselves and yes to Him! Can we say that we lived today in deference to our King? Can we say that we said no to what we wanted and trusted Him?

(C) Chapter 3: Weeping and Waiting (Matt 2:16-18)

However, that’s not the end of the story. The Magi’s obedience led to more suffering. Matt 2:16 is the dark side of the Christmas story that no one tells. The coming of the Prince of Peace, in the season when we say “peace and goodwill to all men” also led to bloodshed and pain. The Christmas season for us is often filled with excitement, celebration and joy but for some of us we have an ache and know that this is a broken world. This verse tells us that when Jesus came, not everyone was very happy about it. Herod recognized Jesus’ position and His rule threatened his. Jesus came to wreck Herod’s plan and he is no longer in control. Herod is a wonderful Christmas character because he is so real. Not everyone is happy about the coming of the king because a king comes to rule and displace other kings. This is the same reasoning that Pharaoh had in Exo 1:8-16, and perhaps Matthew also wanted to remind his readers of other events in Israel’s history. The growth of the Israelites threatened Egypt and thus, he sought to control them by killing babies. In the same way, Herod loved his own rule so much that he was willing to slaughter innocent babies.

Herod is a reminder for us that we need to make the same choice when this king comes. (c.f. Jn 3:19-20) The Christmas story is part of a much larger story of power and control that harks back to Gen 3. There is a perpetual war between the people of faith, offspring of the woman and the offspring of the serpent. It stretches all the way to the end where in Revelation it speaks of the people of the Beast and people of the Lamb.

The Christmas story reminds us that the coming of Jesus is not all joy and light. It is joy and light only if we receive Him but if we reject, there will be sadness and sorrow. Christmas may not be that great after all? But if we read Jer 31:11-17 in its entirety, we read promises given to Jews in exile. God promises great restoration and He promises to bring them home. In between the promises lie the verses about mourning. It is an amazing thought that God speaks in this way. Opposition does not mean that God is not doing anything!

Christmas is a season where we see these things coming true. The birth of Jesus shows us that God keeps His promises! There will be opposition but God’s purposes continue to press on! We get splashes of hell but His promises are true. We weep and wait in fulfilment of what is to come. But do you understand that if God’s promises came true at His first coming, our lives are to be different now as we continue to wait for His second coming? Do not forget this Christmas that light has come into darkness, but this darkness hasn’t been completely removed. We are still waiting for the fulfilment of this story! We cannot sit here expecting perfection. We are still waiting for God to come. The people of God in every generation say “Come, Lord Jesus”. We ask Him to not make us too comfortable that we forget that this place is not our home!

This passage calls us to think about this: Do you long for His coming or are you so at home that Christmas is another season or day of celebration? Are you looking forward to His real fulfilment of all things? Some of us might need to spend some time thinking about where we stand with Him. Do you have a real relationship with Him or we are quite fine without Him? Is He a King before whom we tremble and bow or is He a channel we can turn on and off at will?