Bible Illustrating and Journaling: Matthew 2:1-2

Annie’s Ink-Lings

  This Week's Scripture Focus:  

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,  "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him."  Matthew 2:1-2

My study included Matthew 2:1-12.

When the magi saw the Star, they knew that it signified the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews, the Messiah.  Their long journey was solely for the purpose of worshiping this new King.

In a commentary by John Piper, he asks the question, “ What is worship in this text?”  He goes on to say, “Worshiping Jesus means joyfully ascribing authority and dignity to Christ with sacrificial gifts.”  He believes that there are four pieces to that definition of worship, and all four are grounded in this text.

First, He sees the magi ascribing authority to Christ by calling him "King of the Jews" in verse 2: Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?" "

Second, in verse 11, he sees the magi ascribing dignity to Jesus by falling down before him: "After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him."  Falling to the ground is what you do to say to someone else: you are high and I am low. You have great dignity and I am lowly by comparison.

 Third, he sees the joy in these ascriptions of authority and dignity in verse 10: "When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy." I love how he explains this:  “Now this is a quadruple way of saying they rejoiced. It would have been much to say they rejoiced. More to say they rejoiced with joy. More to say they rejoiced with great joy. And even more to say they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And what was all this joy about? - they were on their way to the Messiah. They were almost there. I cannot avoid the impression then that true worship is not just ascribing authority and dignity to Christ; it is doing this joyfully. It is doing it because you have come to see something about Christ that is so desirable that being near him to ascribe authority and dignity to him personally is overwhelmingly compelling.”

Pastor John says that the fourth part of the definition of worship here is that we do our ascribing with sacrificial gifts. “Worshiping Jesus means joyfully ascribing authority and dignity to Christ with sacrificial gifts.”

God does not need anything from human hands, so the gifts of the magi are not given by way of assistance to God or to meet His needs.  The gifts are intensifiers, meaning to build up or strengthen our desire for Christ Himself.  When you give a gift to Christ like this, it's a way of saying; I have not come to you for your things, but for Yourself.  I am giving up things in the hope of enjoying you more, not things. By this I am saying, You are my treasure, not these things.  John Piper thinks that's what it means to worship God with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh and I can agree with that.

“I bring my gifts to say that you alone can satisfy my heart, not these."

Praise the Lord that wise men still seek Him!

Blessings,

Annie