A Person of Promise: The King of the Jews

Fulfilled prophecies:

• Place: Bethlehem [Micah 5:2]. This town would have been small and relatively insignificant in the time of David and likely still in the time of our Lord Jesus Christ’s birth. This was where David was born and raised to be a shepherd of sheep. This is where our Lord Jesus was born to be the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, and the Chief

Shepherd of Psalm 22-24. He is still the Chief Shepherd of His people in local assemblies across the whole world. Under-shepherds are guided by His words and learn from His works and ways when He was here among us. The questioning Hebrew believers would have had, or at least heard, those written prophecies that would have been read and so clearly referred to the Lord Jesus Christ when He was here. Bethlehem was also where David was anointed king of Israel. It was the royal birthplace of Jesus, who was born a king; where the prophesied “Governor, that shall rule my people Israel,” was born.

• Person: “His star” was arranged for by the One “who made the stars also” for the benefit of those who read the scriptures. Even though they were far away, those who looked at the stars and at the word of God were enlightened as to the fact “the King of the Jews” would be coming in God’s time. For those wise men to know a Star would come out of Jacob, and a Scepter arise out of Israel [Nu.24:17], indicates the Holy Spirit was working in their hearts. Their minds were able to piece the word of God together and move them to travel a long time to Jerusalem; which would have seemed to be the logical place for the King of the Jews to be born. Herod considered himself the king of the Jews because the Romans called him that, but he was not even a Jew. He was an Idumean. A further prophecy by Hosea [11:1] was fulfilled historically as “Out of Egypt I have called My Son,” which also identified the Person in whom the hope of Israel’s future lay. Israel had been an idolatrous nation and still is as a “people,” but a glorious future is ahead.
• Persecution: Rachel was considered the mother of Israel, so bitter weeping was to be expected when the boy babies two years old and under were killed by the jealous and cruel King Herod, the Great; who felt his position was jeopardized by a child “born King of the Jews. Jeremiah 31:15 prophesied that would happen. “Rachel” wept when many children of Israel we killed by the Babylonians, and taken into captivity, and the small village of Bethlehem wept again when those children were slain after the birth of Jesus. The first Joseph was taken into Egypt and as a child of history: brought weeping, doom, and sadness. Again, because of persecution, this second Joseph was told in a dream to take the child Jesus into Egypt. As a child of hope: He brought comfort, joy, and assurance of a glorious future. Herod the Great had built or rebuilt the temple in Jerusalem and consequently, he had been admired by Jewish leaders even though he was a jealous man given to having violent temper rages. He died in AD. 4, but his three sons didn’t have the confidence of the Romans like their father, so the Romans divided the land with his three sons each having a much smaller jurisdiction. Philip had the north part called Tracontis. Herod Antipas ruled Galilee and Perea, and Archelaus ruled Judea, Samaria, and Idumea. But Achelaus was such a brutal evil man, that he was soon deposed by Rome. Procurators of Rome took over the rule of his jurisdiction. No wonder Joseph didn’t go to Bethlehem when they came back from Egypt with such a man as Archelaus ruling the area. Instead, he went to the obscure and despised village called Nazareth where Mary, Jesus, and his family could be safe.
• Plan: Unless people were familiar with the scriptures, they would have thought like the Jewish leaders in Jesus’ day, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Jeremiah’s prophecy and Isaiah 11:1, are about the only ways we could know that Jesus would be called, “the Nazarene” [Separated One]. That likely is a reference to the fact that a “branch” sounds like the word Nazarene. A branch is part of a green tree that has been cut down. Nazareth was a place of contempt to most people of that area and time. Among them in that community of plain people, God was living in the flesh for thirty years. His

humanity was established in its perfection in a community that was populated with normal living people who had no pretensions of greatness. They must have seen the difference in Jesus as He grew and matured among them because He had “favor with God and man.” He had a Spirit-birth that was unique. He was Spirit-clothed in His life. He had Spirit glory in His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.

Faithful foreigners:

• Students of the scriptures: A conscious awareness of the scriptures being the word of God is in every believer who has been born again by the Spirit and by the word of God. Those who are students of the scriptures have a positive attitude toward them and let it “dwell in them richly.” Those magi must have been used to searching the scriptures “daily,” and hiding in their hearts the word of God. Those who receive the word of God with meekness, delight in them and love the word, teach it to their children, and read it faithfully. They know that it is the word of God, the word of truth, the holy scriptures, the oracles of God. They experience it as the sword of the Spirit and apply the scriptures of the prophets to themselves. Matthew’s Gospel would move those who read it to recognize that what he wrote was truly the scriptures of truth the same as the Old Testament scriptures.
• Studiers of the sky: Looking into the stellar heavens, has been an important activity of people in the past. Seafaring men found their way across the trackless seas to specific harbors by studying the stars. People have been locating their position in dark nights by seeing where Orion and the Pleiades are, and where the north star or the southern cross are positioned in the night sky. A star prepared by God to guide honest searchers moved them to cross the desert to Jerusalem. When they left the king’s palace, the star was there to guide them to a specific house where Joseph and Mary lived and where the “young child was.” They first searched the scriptures. Then they saw “His star in the east.” Then both the scriptures and the star led them to the Son of God whom they recognized and worshipped in humility and thankfulness expressed by the gifts they brought as evidence of what was in their hearts. There is great joy when those who seek the Lord with all their hearts, finally find Him.
• Searchers for the Sovereign: In God-given understanding; those faithful foreigners knew who the King of the Jews was. They bowed before Him and worshipped Him. Worship of God is to be in spirit and in truth. It is commanded. We worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness, and bow down before Him in our hearts as well as our body position. “Ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart,” is a principle we follow when seeking Christ for salvation as well as seeking further knowledge and understanding of Him.

Fearful foes:

• Herod: Herod was an Idumean who had no right to be king of the Jews. He was just called that by the Romans, and given that man-made position as long as he pleased the Romans – and he knew that. His means of controlling the people was fear. Cruelty and brutal punishments were his way of keeping people in line with the demands the Romans laid on him. It was no wonder he was disturbed when wise men from afar and different countries showed up asking for the King of the Jews. But it was more than just that; they wanted to find the one who was “born King of the Jews.” They had seen evidence of Him

being born, by a heavenly sign in a distant country, and Herod didn’t know a thing about it. Even more than that: they had come to worship the newborn King, not Herod who considered himself the king of the Jews. Herod was not the rightful heir to the throne of David; he was hated by the Jews who considered him a usurper and he knew that. If Jesus was the real heir, he was in trouble. A ruthless man, who knew he had many enemies, he would have been concerned that even a child king would rally all the Jews and overthrow him. Added to that was the fact that the wise men wanted to worship the King. That would also make Him a religious leader the Jews would unite around, and the balance of power could swing against Rome if the Parthians owned Jesus as King.

• All Jerusalem: Everyone in Jerusalem was disturbed when they heard about “The King of the Jews” being born. After four hundred years of “doing their own thing,” they settled into a lifestyle they did not want to be upset. The deceitful leaders had control of the minds of the population. People knew who they were and didn’t want to face up to their own spiritual darkness. A true King would change everything. Some were fearful. Others would have been made insecure about their positions. Others would have to face the guilt of counterfeit religion. Others of their guilt of ripping off the people with their taxation, demands for temple money and all the other things they knew were not right. It is possible to just ignore the truth and rationalize sin. The people of Jerusalem were doing that.