Witnessing and Worshiping Jesus the King

Encountering Jesus: The Gospel of Matthew

Allen Snapp

Grace Community Church

March 15, 2026

Witnessing and Worshiping Jesus the King

2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, ² saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” ³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; ⁴ and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ⁵ They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

⁶ “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

⁷ Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. ⁸ And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.” ⁹ After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. ¹¹ And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way. Matthew 2:1-12

Let’s pray.

My dad was one of the first and most important spiritual influences in my life. He taught bible at a community college on Long Island and I remember him sharing profound insights into the bible as we ate dinner or had evening time of bible reading. One thing he said that surprised me was that he thought there was something strange and spiritually off about the wise men. First of all, they were astrologers – men who sought guidance from the stars – and the Bible warns us not to do that. Also they were called magi from which we get the word “magic”. Finally look at the results of their trip. Herod hears from them about Jesus and goes in and kills every baby boy under the age of two. He was suspicious of them.

I have to respectfully disagree with my dad on that one. No doubt there is some mystery about the wise men, but nothing sinister. They are an important part of Matthew’s narrative and provide an amazing witness to the majesty of the Christ-child. Let’s begin with the mystery – what we don’t know about them.

• We don’t know how many of them there were. Tradition says three but that’s probably because it says they brought three gifts. Could have been 3, 10, 20. The Bible doesn’t say.
• We don’t know that they were kings. They were wealthy and probably powerful, influential men, but there is no evidence that they were kings.
• We don’t know how old Jesus was when they found him. He probably wasn’t still a baby in the manger – more than likely he was several months or even a year old when they arrived.

What’s much more important though is what we do know about them. They were influential Gentiles who came from distant lands to proclaim Jesus as King and to worship him.

“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?” Vs. 2

1. The wise men came to bear witness that Jesus Christ is the Sovereign King

All four gospels have a different truth about Jesus that they want to emphasize. John emphasizes Jesus’ deity as the Son of God. Luke emphasizes Jesus’ humanity as the Son of Man. Mark underlines Jesus as the Suffering Servant, and Matthew emphasizes Jesus as the sovereign King.

God promised Israel that a son of David would sit on the throne forever and rule over a never-ending kingdom. Matthew’s message is that Jesus is THAT King! Jesus’ first message in Matthew was “repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” The sermon on the mount begins by describing the upside down values of the kingdom. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Many of Jesus’ parables talk about the kingdom of heaven. When a Roman centurion displays unusual faith asking Jesus to heal his servant, Jesus says many will come from the east and the west and take their place in the kingdom of heaven, but, he warns, the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown out into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The wise men were from the distant East. They were astrologers who may or may not have known something about the Jewish scriptures and promises but they were outside of God’s covenant and outside of God’s promises, yet they came to bear witness: Jesus is the sovereign King.

And here’s where the darkly sinister comes in. Not from the wise men, but from King Herod, the chief priests and the scribes and the Jews in Jerusalem. These were the natural inheritors of God’s promises. These were the ones who should have been waiting and looking for the promised King and Messiah. Instead they were “troubled”.

Herod was a great king when it came to building structures, but horrible when it came to his subjects. He was an insecure and cruel man and the thing he feared most was losing his throne to someone else. He killed several of his sons and his favorite wife because he felt threatened by them. In his last days as he was dying of illness, it bothered him to know that all of Israel was planning to celebrate his death and so he instructed his sister to arrest all the Jewish leaders and imprison them in the Hippodrome and at news of his death to have them all executed so that on the day he died, thousands of households would weep with sadness.

Herod only had a little power and only a little time to use it on this earth but he grasped at it with all his might. He killed family members to keep hold on his power just a little bit longer. Jesus on the other hand had all power and all rulership and yet he let go of his power in order to grab hold of us. Listen to the supremacy of Christ’s rule and power:

¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. ¹⁹ For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, ²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Col. 1:13-20

All things were created in him, through him, and for him. All of creation centers on Jesus! Jesus is the King over all creation! But Jesus laid all that aside and took on the limitations and weakness of human flesh, allowed himself to be mocked and beaten, and finally crucified on the cross in order to rescue us from the dark kingdom of hell and transfer us into Jesus’ kingdom of light.

The Bible tells us there are ultimately only two kingdoms and we are all a part of one or the other. There is the kingdom of darkness ruled by Satan and the kingdom of heaven ruled by Jesus. We were born into the kingdom of darkness but Jesus came to pay for our sins and transfer us into his kingdom.

Paul writes in Rom 14:17 that the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking (external do’s and don’ts) but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The Kingdom is God working in here, in our hearts. In our minds. In our attitudes. In our priorities. When someone hurts us and our flesh wants so bad to hurt them back, Jesus says “forgive”. When we want to hate someone, Jesus says “love them.” When we think “sex before marriage isn’t that big a deal - everyone’s doing it” Jesus says there must not be a hint of sexual immorality.

Jesus our King said “if you love me you’ll obey me.” The more we know Jesus, the more we want to obey him because we trust him. Because we want his rule over our lives more than our rule and definitely more than Satan’s terrible rule.

2. The wise men came to worship Jesus Christ as the Sovereign King

“…For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” 

My dad was hung up that these men didn’t fit the description you’d expect. Pagans. Reading the stars. Magi. Add a “c” and you know what that spells! You know who fit the description? The chief priests and scribes. The chief priests were experts on the worship of God. The scribes were experts on the word of God. These are the ones who should be out there seeking the Messiah. When Herod brings his troubled heart to them they look up the scriptures accurately enough. But they make no effort to seek Jesus. They couldn’t be bothered. They don’t care.

They say that the opposite of love isn’t hate, it’s indifference. I do believe that in some ways indifference to Jesus is more dangerous than angry opposition. I think that’s what Jesus was referring to when he said he wished they were hot or cold but because they were lukewarm he would vomit them out of his mouth. Indifference can feel like we’re ok with Jesus cause we don’t hate him or anything.

Let’s be like the wise men and bring him our worship. See Jesus as worth more than anything the world has to offer us. Paul said he counted everything as dung compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord. Can I honestly say that? Can you honestly say you count everything else as so much garbage compared to the worth of knowing Jesus?

It has to begin in our heart. Worshiping Jesus is lip service if it’s not done from the heart. Sometimes I feel the coldness of my heart towards the things of God. I am so wrapped up in my own life and the lives of my loved ones and what’s going on in the world that Jesus and his kingdom seem distant and irrelevant. Maybe you can relate. That’s when we need to bring our heart to God and say “God do a work in my heart. Melt this heart of stone. Help me see and feel the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus my Savior and King!”

There’s nothing weird or spiritually sinister about the wise men. They were following God. God made a promise in the Old Testament that Jesus would be the light for all peoples, not just the Jews.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord shines over you. For look, darkness covers the earth, and total darkness the peoples; but the Lord will shine over you, and His glory will appear over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your radiance. Isa. 60:1-3

God was drawing them and they were sensitive enough to see and hear what God was doing. And then after they worshipped Jesus, they heard God’s voice tell them not to go back to Herod. They were the first of many Gentiles (outsiders) who would see and hear God’s voice, who could come to Jesus and worship Him as our King. Who would want to follow him rather than the ruler of this age. These wise men represent us – people from all nations drawn to the light of Jesus.

May we let his light so shine through us that others see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.