It's been an eventful week. The Royals announced an engagement for a wedding. Last weekend we were in Queenstown for our silver wedding anniversary. Time flies! On Wednesday I delivered 41 souvenir shirts to PACT for the 10th anniversary of the Soccer Academy. On Friday my friend sent me some pictures of her sisters baby girl born on Friday 1st December named Gabrielle .Gifts, Wise Men (and Women), Royals, December, Babies and Gabrielle can only mean one thing. It’s Christmas!
Let me remind you first of all that Herod was not the true King. He was an impostor King appointed by the Romans to govern Judea. His boss was the Roman Caesar Augustus, he only pretended to serve God. You can fool the people but you cannot fool God! God knows all the hypocrites and counterfeits! Who wants a fake gift anyway?
The true gift from the Royal line of Kings is presented at the beginning of Matthew;
Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah
By the way, this is evidence of God and why the Bible is the Word of God. The book of Luke takes the genealogy back to Adam. How can anyone otherwise explain how all the different Old Testament authors would have known that what they were writing about was leading directly to King Jesus, the Saviour of the World not just Israel!
You need to look at the Bible from beginning to end to see the common thread running through it. Then you will get the message.
Notice 2 things;
- David and Jesus are the only ones with titles - David is King and Jesus is Christ the Messiah (Anointed Chosen King!)
- Of the 5 women mentioned, only Bathsheba is not named being called “his mother” instead. It’s almost as if Matthew doesn’t want to put Bathsheba on the list. Well some of the biggest rogues belong to God’s family, sometimes we need reminding of God’s Grace. Is there someone we need to forgive today?
Kings along the Mediterranean coast—the kings of Tarshish and the islands—and those from Sheba and from Seba—all will bring their gifts. Yes, kings from everywhere! All will bow before him! All will serve him! Psalm 72:10-11
And he shall live; and to him will be given the gold of Sheba, and there will be constant praise for him. His people will bless him all day long. Psalm 72:15
Was David blessing his son Solomon with his final words or was there something more going on?
David’s prophecy certainly did come true when the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon and brought him many gifts.
When the queen of Sheba heard how wonderfully the Lord had blessed Solomon with wisdom, she decided to test him with some hard questions. She arrived in Jerusalem with a long train of camels carrying spices, gold, and jewels; and she told him all her problems. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for him, for the Lord gave him the right answers every time
1 Kings 10:1-3
Someone should have told Solomon that he wasn’t supposed to solve her problems, only to listen to them 😉
Anyhow, the point is something more was going on than just gift-giving. There is a parallel world where far greater things are happening for those who love the Lord! God is writing his story in our lives beyond what we can imagine. How could David or Solomon have known that the Holy Spirit was talking in Psalm 72 about Jesus as well!
Sometimes in our most difficult times it is hard to imagine that this is true, that God is working out his plans for our good. That dark day the Romans nailed Jesus, the King to the Cross it must have felt that all their dreams of a Messiah were just delusions.
But the great men of the world have not understood it; if they had, they never would have crucified the Lord of Glory. That is what is meant by the Scriptures which say that no mere man has ever seen, heard, or even imagined what wonderful things God has ready for those who love the Lord.
1 Corinthians 2:8-9
Do you love the Lord today but are going through tough times? Keep your head up! There is a great gift coming your way 😊
Bob has just taken us through a six part series on the first six chapters of Daniel which covered Israel’s captivity of 70 years in Babylon. This was not a happy time in Israel’s history but God has stored up some real gems for us because of their suffering.
The enemy from Babylon had arrived many years before in the time of Isaiah disguising his true intentions.
(King) Hezekiah appreciated this and took the envoys from Babylon on a tour of the palace, showing them his treasure-house full of silver, gold, spices, and perfumes. He took them into his jewel rooms, too, and opened to them all his treasures—everything. Then Isaiah the prophet came to the king and said, “What did they say? Where are they from?” “From far away in Babylon,” Hezekiah replied. “How much have they seen?” asked Isaiah. And Hezekiah replied, “I showed them everything I own, all my priceless treasures.” Then Isaiah said to him, “Listen to this message from the Lord Almighty: “The time is coming when everything you have—all the treasures stored up by your fathers—will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left. And some of your own sons will become slaves, yes, eunuchs, in the palace of the king of Babylon.” “All right,” Hezekiah replied. “Whatever the Lord says is good. At least there will be peace during my lifetime!”
Isaiah 39:2-8
Hezekiah had foolishly shown the enemy all the ancient Crown Jewels because of his pride. And he didn’t really care too much when Isaiah warned him what was going to happen down the line because at least he would be alright! What kind of a legacy are we leaving for the next generation?
How could Hezekiah have been so careless. He was the steward of the riches gained by all his forefathers. The same way Esau was careless with his birthright. Satan stalks around like a roaring lion waiting to devour his prey. Pride comes before a fall. So in Hezekiah’s grandsons rule, the Babylonian’s came and stole it all, destroyed the temple, killed all the men women and children except for a few captives from the royal household, including Daniel as we saw in week 1 of Bob’s series.
In chapter 2 early on in their captivity, Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream about a giant statue by giving him a prophecy about 4 coming empires, the last of which would be destroyed in the End Times by the coming of the true King.
But in chapter 3 we saw how Nebuchadnezzar instead of being humble and worshipping the God who interpreted his dream, instead became proud and ;
King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue ninety feet high and nine feet wide and set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon;
Daniel 3:1
Where did he get all that gold from? One strongly suspects it’s what he stole from Jerusalem’s Temple! Someone once said to me that rich people have got their money only one of 2 ways - either they inherited it or they’ve stolen it! I think he forgot about hard work but in any case ...
Daniels friends , Shadrach , Meshach and Abednego were the ones purified like gold in the fire - our trials will turn to gold in the hands of God.
In chapter 4 we saw that Pride comes before a fall. God humbled Nebuchadnezzar by turning him into a madman like an animal. Watch out if you’re feeling safe because of your Worldly Power or Possessions.
You would think his grandson Belshazzar would have learned the lesson but no!
We saw in chapter 5,
While Belshazzar was drinking, he was reminded of the gold and silver cups taken long before from the Temple in Jerusalem during Nebuchadnezzar’s reign and brought to Babylon. Belshazzar ordered that these sacred cups be brought in to the feast, and when they arrived, he and his princes, wives, and concubines drank toasts from them to their idols made of gold and silver, brass and iron, wood and stone.
Daniel 5:2
Mene Mene Tekel Parsin, that was the end of Belshazzar! But not the end of the treasures. Someone must have been polishing the silver all those years.
Then the king made Daniel very great; he gave him many valuable gifts and appointed him to be ruler over the whole province of Babylon, as well as chief over all his wise men.
Daniel 2:48
Gods purposes continue in spite of mans plans. When we look at our world, we might think that chaos reigns and blessed are the proud and arrogant but that is not the case. God is in on the throne and in control of history. In Daniel 9 there is a remarkable prophecy which gave the wise men a timeline for the coming of the Messiah. When the Jews were taken captive into Babylon, they took their scriptures with them and Daniel was sure to have made them known to all the wise man who were placed under his authority.
Now listen! It will be 49 years plus 434 years from the time the command is given to rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One comes! Jerusalem’s streets and walls will be rebuilt despite the perilous times. “After this period of 434 years, the Anointed One will be killed, his kingdom still unrealized. . . and a king will arise whose armies will destroy the city and the Temple. They will be overwhelmed as with a flood, and war and its miseries are decreed from that time to the very end. Daniel 9:25-26
This prophecy is very famous because it was fulfilled to the very day but I will leave it until Easter as it’s more relevant to then.
These wise men of Babylon would have had plenty of knowledge of the promised Messiah. For example The scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh comes, whom all people shall obey. Genesis 49:10
So he spoke this prophecy to him: “Balaam the son of Beor is the man Whose eyes are open! He hears the words of God And has knowledge from the Most High; He sees what Almighty God has shown him; He fell, and his eyes were opened: I see in the future of Israel, Far down the distant trail, That there shall come a star from Jacob! This ruler of Israel Shall smite the people of Moab, And destroy the sons of Sheth. Israel shall possess all Edom and Seir. They shall overcome their enemies. Jacob shall arise in power And shall destroy many cities.”
Numbers 24:15 - 19
These prophecies help explain why the Wise Men from the East turned up when they did. Through Daniel, chief of the wise men, Astrologers and Magicians in Babylon, the wise men (Magi is short for Magicians) knew that a Jewish Messiah was coming. They recognised from the old prophecies about the star and they knew the time was right for the King to be born.
It’s also a pretty good guess as to where they got the idea for the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh as these were the original gifts from the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon. Perhaps it’s also true the gifts were really just some of the stolen merchandise being returned to the rightful King!
What they didn’t know (or hadn’t checked) was that the King would be born in Bethlehem as they went to Jerusalem instead on the assumption that the young Prince would be the current King’s son. Bethlehem is very close to Jerusalem so perhaps that’s why they thought the star was shining over there. The Bible is a very detailed book, there isn’t one word that is meaningless. Micah had given a prophecy about Bethlehem more than 100 years before the captivity so they could have known.
Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem, in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. At about that time some astrologers from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in far-off eastern lands and have come to worship him.” King Herod was deeply disturbed by their question, and all Jerusalem was filled with rumors. He called a meeting of the Jewish religious leaders. “Did the prophets tell us where the Messiah would be born?” he asked. “Yes, in Bethlehem,” they said, “for this is what the prophet Micah wrote: ‘O little town of Bethlehem, you are not just an unimportant Judean village, for a Governor shall rise from you to rule my people Israel.’”
Matthew 2:1-6
Note: Micah was born around 250 years after David
No wonder the imposter Herod was disturbed by the Wise Men seeking the King! He knew his time was nearly up! In fact it is reckoned that he died in Autumn of 4BC not too long after he ordered the slaughter of all the babies in Bethlehem. Vengeance is mine says the Lord!
Entering the house where the baby and Mary, his mother, were, they threw themselves down before him, worshiping. Then they opened their presents and gave him gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:11
You are really blessed like these Wise Men if you can see who Jesus really is! It seems impossible that anyone could miss the great gift that is right in front of their eyes especially in these days of so much available instant knowledge. But sadly that’s how it is.
The queen of Sheba shall rise against this nation in the judgment and condemn it; for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and now one greater than Solomon is here—and you refuse to believe him.
Matthew 12:42
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