The True King

Order of Service

• Hymn — All Glory, Laud, and Honor
• Call to Worship — Psalm 96:7-13
• Hymn — All Glory, Laud, and Honor
• Prayer of Invocation
• Prayer of Confession — from Daniel 9
• Assurance of Pardon
• Scripture Reading — Micah 5:2-5
• Hymn — God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen
• Pastoral Prayer
• Offering
• Hymn — Angels We Have Heard on High
• Sermon
• Hymn — Infant Holy, Infant Lowly
• Benediction

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Sermon Title: The True King

Scripture: Matthew 2:1-12

I. Jesus Is the True King of the Jews

A. Matthew sets up a contrast using the definite article, spotlighting "Herod the king" (vv. 1, 3) against Jesus the Messiah, framing a succession conflict

• The scribes and chief priests cite Micah 5:2 to identify Bethlehem as the birthplace of the ruler who will shepherd Israel
• Matthew's Greek also echoes 2 Samuel 5:2, where Israel declares David the true king — now fulfilled in David's greater Son

B. Not only Herod but all Jerusalem is troubled by the news, foreshadowing the nation's rejection of the one they will later crucify as "King of the Jews"

C. The star evokes Balaam's prophecy in Numbers 24:17 — a star out of Jacob, a scepter rising out of Israel

1. Balaam connects this star with the dispossession of Edom (descendants of Esau)
2. Herod is an Edomite, falling in line with Edom's long history of hostility toward Jacob
3. Herod's dynasty is eventually destroyed; the Star of David continues to reign at the Father's right hand
4. Malachi 1 opens with God's promise to judge Edom — fulfilled as the Herodian line ends in the ash heap of history

II. Jesus Is the True King of the Nations

A. The Magi are Gentile nobility who travel an estimated 900 miles to worship the King of the Jews — remarkable dedication from those with no natural obligation to do so

B. Their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh are fitting for a king, echoing the Queen of Sheba's gifts to Solomon in 1 Kings 10 and fulfilling Isaiah 60:6 and Psalm 72:10

1. Jesus himself will later declare in Matthew 12:42 that something greater than Solomon is here

C. The Magi fall prostrate and worship — not in a palace but before a baby in a humble dwelling — a supremely powerful image of proper Christmas posture

1. The posture of the Magi challenges believers: are we treating Christ as king, bowing in reverent self-sacrifice, or casually brushing our teeth in his presence?
2. True worship of the King of the Nations demands sacrifice, awe, and prostration

III. Jesus Is the True King of the Enemy

A. The Magi are identified by the Greek word Magi — learned men associated with astrology, dream interpretation, and the magical arts, most likely from Babylon

1. In the Greek Old Testament, this term is used for the Babylonian court in Daniel 1 and Daniel 2
2. Matthew's Jewish audience would have found it scandalous that all Jerusalem is troubled while Babylonian magicians rejoice exceedingly

B. This is a grand reversal: Israel's sin once drove the nation into Babylonian exile, but now Babylon comes to Israel — bowing before the Son of David

1. The prophets foretold such reversals: crooked ground made straight, swords into plowshares, the destitute seated among princes

C. The spirit of Christ is radically for the enemy — not merely for loved ones or the poor, but for tax collectors, prostitutes, Samaritans, church persecutors, and Babylonian magicians

1. The Christmas Truce of 1914, where British and German soldiers met in no man's land to celebrate together, illustrates a shadow of this reality
2. Romans 5 — while we were yet enemies, God sent his Son and reconciled us, making peace by the blood of Christ
3. Christ has come for enemies like us, so that we might cry out Abba, Father through the Spirit of his Son