Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 2325
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East, and have come to worship Him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.” Matthew 2:1-4.
I AM not going to expound the whole passage that I have read as a text, but I desire to help you to gather some lessons from this familiar narrative.
“When Jesus was born.” A stir begins as soon as Christ is born. He has not spoken a word. He has not worked a miracle. He has not proclaimed a single doctrine, but, “when Jesus was born,” at the very first, while as yet you hear nothing but infant cries and can see nothing but infant weakness, still His influence upon the world is manifest. “When Jesus was born, there came wise men from the East,” and so on. There is Infinite Power even in an Infant Savior! When Jesus is born in the heart and there are only the feeblest impulses towards righteousness and repentance with regard to sin, He makes a stir in our whole nature. The most distant faculty feels that something wonderful has happened. When Christ is formed in us, the hope of Glory, a sacred revolution commences within us! When Christ is born in a village, a town, a city—the first sinner converted, the first open-air sermon preached—the first giving away of sacred literature makes a stir! It is wonderful how soon it begins to manifest itself. Somebody or other is affected by the fact that Christ has come! He cannot be hid! The first match struck makes a great blaze. Jesus of Nazareth is so potent a factor in the world of mind that, no sooner is He there in His utmost weakness, a new-born King, than He begins to reign!
Before He mounts the Throne, friends bring Him presents and His enemies plan His death. Oh, that the Lord Jesus might be here, tonight, if it is but as new born, in some few hearts! There will be a result from Christ’s coming, even though I preach Him very feebly—though you may say that I can only bring to you an Infant Christ—though my power of speech may fail me and I may but set Him forth in His littleness rather than in His greatness. When Christ is born, when Christ is only feebly preached, when Christ is but stammered out, a great result comes of it and His name is made glorious! [AMEN!]
There were two results from Christ’s coming, as there always will be, for this Child is not only a Savior to some, but also a stumbling block to others. His Gospel is either, “a savor of life unto life,” or else, “a savor of death unto death.” I want you, first, to notice the note of exclamation that we have in the first verse. “When Jesus was born, behold.”” Ecce! Behold! There is something to look at, something good that is worth gazing upon. Behold it! Here are far-off persons who come very near. Wise men from the East come and worship the Infant Christ! But there is something to which there is no “behold” put, yet it is sorrowfully worth considering. Here are near ones who are far-off—Herod, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the chief priests and the scribes. They are as far from Christ as if He had been born in the distant East, while they who lived in the far country came as near to Him as if they, themselves, had dwelt at Bethlehem! So I have these two things to talk about, tonight—first, the extraordinary fact that many far-off ones are brought near, and the sad but almost equally extraordinary fact that many who are apparently very near never really come near to Jesus.
I. To begin, then, at the beginning. THERE ARE FAR-OFF ONES BROUGHT NEAR. God saves whom He wills to save. His Grace is most sovereign. You cannot see, as I do, so many persons brought to Christ without often wondering why they were brought. I have often seen the last first and the first last—people of whose conversion I would hardly have dreamed become converted, while other persons, for whom I have hoped and over whom I have prayed, remain unconverted! It is very delightful, as well as very amazing, to notice the strange way in which the Grace of God singles out men, and the marvelous measures which the God of Grace uses to bring these men to the feet of Jesus.
Well now, first, these people were wise men, magi, students of astronomy, learned in the lore of the ancients. Their philosophy was not a very true one—it was about as true as modern philosophy—which is not saying much. They believed very absurd things, these magi, almost as absurd as the scientists of the present day, perhaps not quite as ridiculous, for science has grown in absurdity, especially of late—but these men were professors of the philosophy of the period. They were the wise men. If they came from Media, they were probably fire-worshippers, or worshippers of the elements of nature. Theirs was a refined form of idolatry which is not to be excused, but still, if there can be any choice where all is bad, it is perhaps a little better than some others. They were very great students so far as their light went— they sought after knowledge and wisdom.