Matt 2:1-11
The Hearts of Christmas
It is an amazing study of the Christmas Scriptures to not the
reactions of people to Christ. Ralph Waldo Emerson expressed a
powerful truth in one of his remarks, "What you do speaks so loud
that I cannot hear what you say." Certainly, the actions of the
people to Jesus’ birth tell us much of what their hearts were saying.
I find it interesting how little the symbol for the heart is used for
Christmas.
I. \\#Matt 2:1-12\\ Let’s consider the wise men.
A. Who are they?
1. Actually, there is much about them that we do not know.
What most people do know about the wise men, they get
from the song and not from the Bible.
2. The word used for wise men is "mag-os."
a. It can be translated either wise men or sorcerer.
b. Which were they?
(1) Probably both.
(2) They were the well educated and wise men of that
day. They probably served as advisors to the
king.
(3) But they were probably sorcerers too (Pharaoh,
Nebuchadnezzar, Belteshazzar)
B. What did they do?
1. \\#1-10\\ The wisemen CAME.
a. We are not certain where they came from. The Bible
only says that they came from the East. That is a big
direction.
b. Many believe Babylon because they knew to come.
(1) The Bible says that they came following a star. We
do not know what kind of star it was, but it is
certain that it was a supernatural star for it
directed them to a specific house where Jesus was
at.
(2) The bigger question is, "How did they know what
the star meant?"
(a) Some believe it was because of an Old
Testament Bible passage.
Num 24:17 I shall see him, but not now: I shall
behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star
out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of
Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and
destroy all the children of Sheth.
(b) How would another nation know this passage?
One explanation is that it was the
Babylonians who gleaned some Old Testament
knowledge from the Jews who were carried
there.
(c) That might also explain why they did not know
Micah 5:2, which the scribes spoke of. Micah
prophesied AFTER the return of the Jews to
the land.
(3) If these men came from Babylon, they traveled
800 miles or more! That’s a long journey.
(4) But it does not prove that the wise men were
saved.
2. \\#11\\ The wise men worshipped.
a. Again, a great indication of the heart.
b. The word "worship" means to "bow and kiss." It shows
reverence, adoration, and submission.
c. However, it is used not only of our adoration of God,
but also of a similar adoration to kings.
d. Remember Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego?
(1) They were commanded to "fall down and worship"
the idol \\#Dan 3:5, 10,15\\.
(2) They refused.
(3) Why? They did not want anyone to think they were
worshipping another god.
3. They gave gifts.
a. And they were EXPENSIVE gifts too.
b. But again, all part of the custom of welcoming a new
prince.
C. What kind of heart did the wise men bring?
1. We don’t know for certain.
a. All of the actions of the wise men were good and godly
actions.
b. However, they were also politically correct actions
which were a common courtesy of that day to welcome
a new prince.
c. We like to think of the wise men as saved people who
were looking for God, but they may been nothing more
than ambassadors sent from one kingdom to another to
greet the new-born prince.
2. The best we can say is that there hearts were curious.
a. Curious is not the same as Christian but it is a lot
better than COLD.
b. I think that would be the heart of the scribes.
II. \\#Matt 2:4-6\\ Scribes and Chief Priests
A. The wise men came from far away and were determined to find
this Baby.
1. Whatever insight they had into God’s plan, the wisemen no
doubt shared with Herod who shared it with the Scribes
and priests.
2. The scribes and priests were not interested enough to
travel the five miles from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
B. Why would they not come? Probably the same reason people to
do not come today. Their hearts were COLD.
1. Perhaps they didn’t care.
2. Perhaps they cared but were too busy.
3. Perhaps they drew their conclusion without investigating.
C. I think anyone who will investigate will see who Jesus is.
1. His prophecies
a. Dozens scattered through centuries (lineage, birth
place, birth time, conception, nature, ministry, even
the type of death which would not be popularized for
several centuries.)
b. Fulfilled prophecy is the one undeniable proof that
Jesus is who He said.
c. Either that or He was the greatest conman performing
the greatest hoax of all time.
2. His life-sinless, powerful, and loving
3. His claims
a. Some say Christianity is the greatest cause of war on
earth.
b. If you will read the claims of Christ, you will see
that Jesus is the greatest pacifist the world has
ever know.
c. Much blood has been shed in the name of religion by
both Catholism and Protestants, but Christianity has
never shed a drop.
d. The first blood that Christianity will shed is
recorded in Revelation 19.
e. There Christians are not spilling blood for Christ but
Christ is spilling blood for Christians.
4. The change He makes in a life.
D. I challenge you to come and investigate the Christ of
Christmas and see for yourself who He is!
1. By the way, there is an opposite the scribes and priests.
2. It was Mary.
Lu 2:19 But Mary kept all these things, and
pondered them in her heart.
a. I think Mary was a believer. How could she not be
seeing what had happened to her.
b. But she was a thinking person. Apparently, she
liked for the pieces to fit together.
III. Let’s consider the inn keeper.
A. The only reference to the inn keeper is an indirect reference.
Luke 2:7 And she brought forth her firstborn
son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and
laid him in a manger; because there was no room
for them in the inn.
B. I believe that the inn keeper gets a raw deal.
1. There were no reservations in that day.
2. The tax had apparently brought great crowds back to
Bethlehem and everything was just full.
3. The man could not take a room away from someone else and
the Law actually required him to keep his word once he
had given it.
4. I have often thought the only option the man would have
would be to give them HIS room, but we don’t know that he
had not already given his own room out to someone else.
5. Many a traveler in that day were glad to stay in the barn!
a. There was hay for a bed and the animals.
b. There was a roof and may some walls for shelter and
privacy.
C. Yet, the inn keeper, for good or bad, serves as a type, a
picture.
1. Of whom? Of those who will not let Jesus into the main
house but keep Him out back in the barn.
2. This would picture the saved who are just too busy living
their own lives to have Jesus live with them in the main
house.
IV. \\#Matt 2:16-18\\ Herod
A. Here is a man whose actions give away his heart.
1. He attempted to trick the wise men into revealing the
Messiah so that he could kill Him.
2. When that failed, he killed every baby boy in Bethlehem.
a. That is not all of the killing he did.
b. He killed at least one of his wives and killed his
children to keep them from inheriting the throne—
just before he himself died!
B. He had a murdering, cold-hearted, God-rejecting heart.
1. Of all the hearts in the Christmas account, this is by
far the worst!
2. This man, I fear, was damned long before his death.
All of these actions display something of the person’s heart who did
them, but we still have not found the correct heart to have.
There is one.
V. Joseph had a believing heart! How do I know? Because he obeyed
the Lord!
Matt 1:19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just
man, and not willing to make her a publick
example, was minded to put her away privily.
20 But while he thought on these things, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a
dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear
not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that
which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou
shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save
his people from their sins.
22 Now all this was done, that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the
prophet, saying,
23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and
shall bring forth a son, and they shall call
his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is,
God with us.
24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as
the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took
unto him his wife:
A. The heart that obeys is the heart that believes!
B. This man, like Mary, took upon himself the role of being
ostracized, but once he knew that Mary had been true to him
lived to serve the Lord, he immediately obeyed.
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