Sermon Tone Analysis

OPENING

I am excited to kickoff a new series this week, for the month of December, titled, “The Three Gifts of Christmas.”

In the gospel of Matthew we learn that wise men from the east heard of the birth of Jesus and apparently understood something of the ancient prophecies of the coming of a Messiah King.

They traveled to Bethlehem to see and worship Jesus and offered to Him three gifts worthy of a king: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Over the next three weeks leading up to Christmas, we are going to spend some time looking at these three gifts and how they signify the person and work of Jesus Christ and how the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done impacts our lives today.

We are going to take the three gifts in the order they are given to us in the Bible.

So this morning we are going to focus on the first gift: gold.

And we are going to talk about “Jesus Our King”

But before we get into the message for today, I want to take a few minutes and read the story of the wise men and their visit to Bethlehem to see the King from Matthew 2.

SCRIPTURE

MESSAGE

Matthew’s Presentation

In his gospel account, Matthew presents Jesus as King.

And not just any king, but the King of kings.

The King of Glory.

The Supreme Ruler of the universe.

Genealogy (Chapter 1)

And he begins by introducing Jesus as King in Chapter 1 by virtue of His birthright.

Matthew traces Jesus’ lineage from Abraham and through King David to show that He was born of royal seed.

As the Son of David, Jesus had the right to rule Israel as her King.

The Wise Men (first half of Chapter 2)

Then we arrive at Chapter 2 and the passage we just read.

Again Matthew is emphasizing Jesus as King.

He does this in our passage by telling us about the visit of the wise men.

Here are these Magi, or Wise Men, from the Orient, who were the ones who officially recognized the legitimacy of kings in their culture.

No one became a king in their part of the world unless they said so.

So here are these Persian Magi coming from outside of Israel to declare to the world that Jesus is King!

Journey of the Magi

Their Gifts

And, as their custom required, they would not approach a king to worship without bringing some sort of gift.

And here we read that the Wise Men bring three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

All three very precious and valuable gifts.

And the first of the three being gold, which is a gift fit for a king.

The Significance of Gold

Gold was extremely significant in ancient cultures, just as it is today, and is found throughout the Bible.

In fact, gold is mentioned some 450 times in the Bible, often in relation to God Himself as a symbol of His rule, preciousness, eternality, and holiness.

Gold is significant because of its:

Rarity

Gold is not the most rare element on earth.

But it has the right amount of rarity so that it is both practical to use and valuable.

Beauty

Because of its color and brilliance, gold has been used to make jewelry, valuable items, and was used in items in worship of God like covering the Ark of the Covenant, making the golden lampstands, etc.

Malleability

1 ounce of gold can be formed into a thin wire 50 miles long or a sheet 100ft x 100ft.

Durability

You essentially can’t destroy it.

If you put it in the fire, it only gets purer.

A Gift Fit for a King

Because of all of these qualities, gold is truly a gift fit for a king.

And the wise men knew this.

They had perhaps been told the ancient Jewish prophecies concerning a coming king by men like Daniel, who spent time in the court of Persian king Cyrus.

And so these wise men (magi) show up at the home of Joseph and Mary to see Jesus.

We don’t know exactly when the wise men arrived, but we know it was not on the night of His birth.

It was sometime between a few weeks to less than two years after His birth.

We know this because of the timing of the meeting between the wise men and Herod and Herod’s order to kill all the male children two years and younger in order to try to kill the baby Jesus.

But we know that they eventually arrive at the home where Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus were staying in Bethlehem.

And they came to see the King.

They came to acknowledge the King.

They came to worship the King.

They came to bring gifts to the King.

Jesus Our King

I’ve got three points this morning related to Jesus Our King.

I want to talk to you about:

His Destiny,

His Kingdom, and

His Throne.

His Destiny

Jesus was born King.

There is no other king in history who has ever been born king.

There was always a time that they were not king.

Alexander the Great became king at the age of 20.

Genghis Khan began to conquer and rule at the age of 20.

Caesar Augustus became Rome’s first emperor at the age of 32.

The youngest king listed in the Bible is Jehoash, who was 7 years old when he began to reign.

But there was a time where each of these leaders were not a king and they later became king.

Not so with Jesus.

Jesus was born King.

OT Prophecies

NT Fulfillment

But Jesus did not just become King at His birth.

Jesus was King before He was born in a stable in Bethlehem.

Jesus was King before the visit of the shepherds on the night of His birth.

Jesus was King before the visit of the wise men.

Jesus has always been King.

And Jesus will always be King.

Jesus is the Eternal King of Glory.

He was King before the earth was created.

And He will still reign as King when this earth has passed away and the elements of this universe have melted with fervent heat.

His Kingdom

Every king has a kingdom.

His kingdom is the land, the territory, the resources, and the citizens or the people over which he rules.

Jesus has a Kingdom.

But His Kingdom is not of this world.

At least not yet.

One day Jesus will return at His Second Coming and establish His Kingdom on this earth and will rule from the throne of His father David in Jerusalem like the Bible says.

But for now we are in this “already but not yet.”

There is a sense in which the Kingdom of God has already come and is already here.

But there is also a sense in which the ultimate fulfilment of the Kingdom of God is not yet here.

But Jesus is already ruling and reigning as King.

And the Kingdom of God is already here in a spiritual sense in the hearts of every born-again believer in Jesus Christ.