This sermon delves into the events surrounding the arrival of the Magi in Jerusalem, highlighting Herod's troubled reaction and the response of the chief priests and scribes who knew where the Messiah was to be born. It emphasizes the missed opportunity for the people of Jerusalem to witness the birth of the long-awaited Messiah and the faithfulness of the Magi in following the star to find Jesus. The sermon also draws lessons on the importance of seeking God's guidance diligently without making assumptions, showcasing how God leads us step by step as we remain faithful.

By devoting just six minutes each weekday for one year, you can read through the entire New Testament using David Servant's daily devotional, Heaven Word Daily. Order your copy at heavenword.tv. Okay, let's continue our chronological study through the New Testament in Matthew chapter 2. And I'd like to pick up where we left off the last time in Matthew chapter 2 and verse number 3, Herod's reaction to the arrival of the Magi from the east. 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, quote, in Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what has been written by the prophet. And now he quotes from Micah. 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. Isn't that interesting that the chief priests and the scribes of the Jews, in Jerusalem at least, had no doubts where the Messiah would be born. And then all of a sudden, here's this arrival of these Magi who say, for months or maybe years now, we've been following this star that would lead us to the king of the Jews that's led us right here, at least as of a couple of nights ago, we thought it was here, so where is he? And Herod's troubled about this for his own selfish reasons. Everybody else is troubled about this in Jerusalem. We don't know what their reasons were, but there it is. No one has any excuse. Everybody in Jerusalem at that moment who is spiritually hungry for God and who's looking for the truth, if they heard the news about the arrival of the Magi, and it seems like it did because when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. So that sounds like a lot of people in Jerusalem knew what was happening. They should have all flocked and flooded six miles north to get to see this child. Now, think about this. He's being born king of the Jews. He's the Messiah of the Jews. They've been looking for the Messiah for literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years waiting for his arrival, and here comes Gentiles who are of no connection with the Jews whatsoever, traveling hundreds of miles perhaps, traveling for months to come and not just to see him, but to gawk at him like it was a tourist attraction. They've come to worship him, and they announced that. I mean, I would find very little mercy for anybody in Jerusalem who didn't investigate this fully for myself. We are the Jews. He's the Messiah of the Jews. We're looking for him. He's going to be born in Bethlehem, and God has just sent three Gentiles who've come to worship the king of the Jews based upon divine revelation that they have received just six miles south of here in Bethlehem where our scriptures have been telling us for hundreds of years the Messiah would be born. I mean, nobody has any excuse. It leaves me speechless almost to think that anyone could have such a hard heart in Jerusalem at that time that they didn't rush down there with the magic, but there isn't any evidence that anybody did rush down there. Surely there were some. God, I hope there were some. So, in Matthew chapter two and verse number seven, then Herod secretly called the Magi, and he determined from them the exact time the star appeared. Now, based upon that fact and what he decides to do gives us some clue as to perhaps how long these Magi traveled, because he says, go ahead down to Bethlehem, verse number eight. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the child. When you have found him, report to me so that I too may come and worship him. And you know the story well enough to know what Herod was really thinking. He wasn't going to go worship him. He was going to go and find that child and kill that child because he was threatened by a baby who was destined to be a king. I mean, talk about a megalomaniac. This guy was bad news all the way around. But after he finds out he's been tricked by the Magi, he sends his soldiers down there to Bethlehem and its environs to kill every child from two years old and under. And so that gives us some idea that the Magi had been traveling a long time to get to see the king of the Jews because Herod, you know, he just said, well, just kill the newborns because it's just happened. But if they said, well, we saw the star two years ago and we started, you know, looking into this, and I don't know, again, when they started traveling on their journey. But Herod decided, based on the facts that he had, that the only way he could be sure that he was getting the child that they had come to worship was to kill every baby two years old and younger. My goodness. Okay. So again, the Magi did not visit Jesus as a newborn. There's no doubt about that. Of course, we'll see very clearly. Verse number nine, and hearing the king, they went their way and the star, which they had seen in the east, went before them. It didn't say it reappeared, you know. I think they took their eyes off of it, just like we talked about previously. And it went before them until it came and stood over the place where the child was. So talk about a great GPS. The star is directly somehow over, you know, the place where Jesus is living at this time with Mary and Joseph somewhere in a house. Verse number 11, and coming into the house. So this is not Jesus, the newborn baby. This is Jesus, the toddler, Jesus living in a house in Bethlehem with Mary and Joseph. So as I talked about previously, I think they got their eyes off the star. And the lesson for us is, you know, don't ever make assumptions as you're following God's guides. Keep on seeking him. A lot of us have followed the star in our hearts for a while, then we said, oh, I've got it figured out. And we make an assumption, and then we get off track because God hasn't revealed everything to us. He leads us one step at a time. And that is also a really valuable principle that we can learn from this story about the guidance of God. You know, God didn't say to the wise men, go to 605 Main Street in Bethlehem. No, he said, here's a star, and, you know, it's over there in the West. Start following it. You're in the East. The star is in the West. And so they got general guidance. And as they follow the general guidance, as they, you know, slowly got closer to the goal, God became more specific in his direction, leading them to the goal. What's the point here? Well, the point here is that God promotes people who are faithful. And he's always testing us to see if we'll follow him in the little steps, the preliminary steps, the initial steps, before he begins to give us the exact steps. A lot of people want to have a vision or hear the audible voice of God and so forth. God's just waiting for them to obey the Bible. He's not going to be giving them anything specific until they start doing the stuff that is just the general stuff. Okay? All right. More about this next time. Thanks so much for joining me. See you next time. Bye-bye.