Word of Salvation – Vol.06 No.51 – December 1960

 

The Wise Men’s Faith which seeks Christ

 

Sermon by Rev. D. C. Bouma on Matthew 2:1c & 2

Scripture reading: Psalm 72

Hymns: 350:1,2,3; 346:1,2,3; 349:1,2,3; 348:1,2,3,4,5

 

Congregation beloved of the Lord,

“Behold, Wise Men from the East came to Jerusalem…. SEEKING JESUS!”

As Matthew writes it, he is astonished and thrilled.  “Behold…!” he says.  Strangers, men of learning, men of wealth, Gentiles! whose hearts are filled with faith, go out to seek Jesus.  Their faith reaches across the mountains and beyond the deserts, reaches out to be filled with the personal glory of the living King!

Today our hearts of faith also go out, across the centuries and beyond the bounds of time, to be filled with the personal glory of the living Christ!

Oh how we need Jesus’ precious presence to save us, to refresh us and to strengthen us for the days ahead.  And so we seek Him, on His Today, in His house: ‘Sirs, we would see Jesus!’

This morning, the Wise Men from the East lead the way for us, and we shall follow their faith as the bright and morning Star again arises in our hearts.

We wish to speak on:
“THE WISE-MEN’S FAITH WHICH SEEKS CHRIST.”

– The FACT of it,
– The CONFESSION of it,
– The GROUND of it,
– The STEPS of it,
– The INQUIRY of it, and
– The WORSHIP of it.

The wise men came seeking Jesus because they already BELIEVE in Him.  He that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that seek Him.  And so the wise men do not ask WHETHER Christ has been born.  There is not the slightest shadow of a doubt about it.  They ask WHERE.  They know; they are convinced and sure, that out there somewhere lies the new little Prince.

What a contrast between these humble believing heathens and those who ought to know much better.  The Scribes and Pharisees KNEW too, knew MORE than the wise men.  But they moved not ONE step closer to Bethlehem.  How many there are today, even in the church!, who don’t believe that God is REAL.  Their faith is in a story, or a person who lived long ago, or in a vague promise which they hope will come true someday.  They have missed the point of Christmas-time.  Christmas shows us that God is REAL, that he is NEAR, that He is really and truly our GOD:

No, the Wise Men’s faith was not great, but strong.  What they knew they believed with all their hearts.  They knew that He was a KING, and they knew that He was “of the Jews”.  Moreover, they must have believed that this newly-born Jewish Prince ruled also their own lives, otherwise they certainly would never have gone all that way and taken all the trouble to seek and find Him.  What use would it be to worship Him, if He was only for the Jews.

No; this King of the Jews was THEIR King also, and so they must find Him.  Already, now He had complete control of their hearts, and their minds, and their bodies, With their hearts, they accepted Him as their own King.  With their minds, they could think only of finding Him.  And they could hardly wait for the moment when, after many weary miles, they would bend their knees before His presence.

If you asked them to confess their faith, they could only mention two or three words out of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in a Divine Ruler, born King of the Jews and King of my heart and life”.  Not much; but it was real and strong.  This King was THEIR KING TOO!

It’s this personal part of faith that brings these Oriental strangers to Jesus at Christmas-time.

Did you notice that the Wise Men came seeking Jesus with a confession on their LIPS.  They were not secret believers.  They were not keeping their faith to themselves for fear of offending someone else or, out of personal embarrassment.

Mind you, they had reason to be silent and to be a bit embarrassed.  They came from the East, where the Jews and the Israelites had been slaves for hundreds of years.  Should they want to bow down before the Prince of a slave-people?

They come to Jerusalem, now at this time, under Roman rule and occupation, looking for the King of the occupied people.  Should they have to bow down before the Prince of an enslaved nation?  Moreover, the King was – at this age – only a Prince… well, really a Baby!  Who goes miles and spends huge amounts to find and worship a baby???

If there ever was an embarrassing confession, it was this one.  But, risking the wrath of King Herod in Jerusalem, and risking the laughter of friends, “They come to Jerusalem SAYING…” – openly asking and unblushingly speaking out to great and small alike, their confession of faith!

They must find the new-born King for they have a confession to make.  Also to Him.  They must witness to Him, and SAY to Him and TELL Him openly: You are our King!  Those who did not confess the King, did not meet Him.  But they made their witness before men… and, along the way of that public witness, they PERSONALLY MET THE KING, FACE TO FACE!

If this is your confession, openly and clearly saying, “I need Jesus”, whether anyone joins you or not, you will find and meet Jesus!

If you want to know WHY these men were so strong in their faith, so certain of their hope and so warm in their love, they would say to you: WE SAW HIS STAR!  That is the unshakable ground of their faith.

“We have seen His star!”
O Wise Men, why are you so sure?
Ah, we have had an experience!
Something happened one day.  Something happened way out there, in the deep depths of the black night sky.  And we saw it happen!  That new Star!, HIS star shone down into our souls and we could not live the same afterward.  We HAD to come, to seek, to ask, and we are going to find!

Yes, and they WILL find Him because when “They saw His star in the east”, GOD was speaking to them!

God had taught them the words of the old Prophecy: A star shall arise out of Jacob and a sceptre shall come forth out of Israel, who will smite Moab, break down the sons of Seth, Edom and Seir.  Enemies of His will become His possession.  And out of Jacob one shall have dominion.”

God in an unknown way had preserved His Word for centuries and had planted it in these heathen hearts.  And they believed it.

Their way to the living Christ is the way of God’s living Word!  The WORD fixes their eyes on the star!  The WORD in Jerusalem in the mouths of unbelievers, points them to Bethlehem.

If it were not for the Word of God, Bethlehem would be an unknown town, Joseph and Mary unknown people, and the Christ-child just another newly born baby!

Without God and His Word we would not be able to find Jesus!  But God is rich in mercy and abundant in lovingkindness.  He stoops to our weakness and need.  He gives His Word, and also a sign to them!

Behold, His Star!  And as that star rises higher and higher in the sky, its light penetrates right down through to their hearts, And God’s Word is established and made sure for them by the light of the star.  The star says: The promise is right and true!  The star says: Go and find Him!  The star, which went before them until it stood over the place where the young child was – says: Look, He is HERE!

That’s what Christmas says.  It says to all the millions of people who bother to stop and think a moment: “Look..!  He is here!  Immanuel: God is WITH US!”

But it would be all useless for them, the Word and the Star, if they had just stayed home and talked, but did nothing about it.  James, in his New Testament epistle, is not satisfied with men who say, or men who see.  They must COME.  They must act.  James says: Show me your faith by YOUR WORKS:

They did not stand and stare.  They looked and left, left on a long, tiresome, expensive, dangerous, unseasonable journey.  “Behold…!” says Matthew.  “Behold!  Why, it’s almost unbelievable!  Wise Men from the East….!”

Some of us may have to come a long way to find Christ!  And those who found Him know all the struggle and pain and fighting which goes into those few words: “We are come… to worship Him!”  Across the deserts of doubt.  Through the heat of trial and the cold of testing.  Across the miles of separation from God.  Over the rocks of sin and shame, and next to the valleys dark with the shadows of death.

It is a spiritually long expensive road to the Christ-child!  It’s hard because along that Road I loose myself.  There is only one way to cross the miles and stand the temperature and brave the rocks and escape the bandits, and that’s to keep your mind on the KING and your eye on the star.  You will lose a lot on that road.  It will be a dear road and it will cost you precious much.  It will cost you your SELF, your WILL, your WHOLE BEING.  Everything!

But the road to Christ is worth it all, for HE is there at the end!  That’s what they want.  That’s whom they need…HIM!  “…to worship Him!”

HIM?  He was a BABY who could say nothing to them and do nothing for them!

HIM?  If He were in a cattle shed, laid in a feed-bin, poor and pitiful, wouldn’t they step back at the sight?  Wouldn’t they feel sorry for the long trip, great trouble and much expense?  IF they found Him so, would they really want to WORSHIP Him?

You might feel sorry for Him.  You might want to try to help Him.  You might pity Him.  But… WORSHIP?  Why worship HIM?  Simply because He is our KING!

Not one who rules from afar, by servants and imperial messengers and royal decrees.  But one who will SAVE us out of our bondage and misery and make us state-servants in the Kingdom of Heaven.

He is our King!

He saves by coming INTO our misery and bondage, going through it all still more fully than we went through it, and being victorious over it all…. in our place.

Our King!

We shall worship Him, for it is He Who powerfully saves and blesses us because He became ONE OF US!

Where are the Wise Men…. of the West?

Amen.