Rev I D MacDonald
The annual Mbuma Zending meeting took place in the Netherlands on Friday, April 27, the day the Dutch enjoy a public holiday to commemorate the birthday of their King. After extending personal thanks for the kindness and hospitality shown during my trip, and the thanks of the Church as a whole for their financial support of our mission in Zimbabwe, I proceeded to deliver a short address on Matthew 2:2, where we read of the wise men coming from the east, asking, “Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him”.
Today you remember, rightly and honourably, the birthday of your King. But what we have before us here in this part of the Word of God is the birth of the King of kings. This was the greatest birth that ever was or shall be, for His conception and birth meant the incarnation of the Son of God.
He was born as a King. He was anointed to this office of King by His Father, as we are told in the second Psalm, “Over Zion, My holy hill, I have Him king anointed”. To this office He was called before the world began, in the covenant of grace. News of this birth came by an angelic messenger to the shepherds: “Fear not: for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Lk 2:10,11).
We must always remember that, before He could be a King over His people, He must first suffer and die for them as the great High Priest. When He was crucified, the title containing His accusation was: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews”. This was a true description of why He was dying. He was not dying for any crime against the law of the land. Indeed He had committed no sin against the law of God. Rather, He was dying because He was the Covenant Head of His people, the King of the Jews.
Now it is remarkable that these men came from a far-off heathen land to seek Christ. Why did they come so far? Why did they make so great an effort to find Christ? Surely they felt their need of this King. You see they were far off, not only in a geographic sense from Jerusalem, but they were far off also in a moral and spiritual sense from God. We are no different, but are all by nature like the prodigal son, in the far country of a lost and ruined condition. It is when a sense of this enters the soul that the soul will feel its need of Christ.
Before a sinner will come to Christ he must also come to know about Him. Some suggest that the wise men may have had a remnant of Old Testament
revelation preserved among them, such as Balaam’s prophecy regarding Christ as the Star which would arise out of Jacob. At any rate, knowledge was somehow conveyed to them that this Star had indeed arisen out of Jacob and the Sceptre out of Israel, even the Bright and the Morning Star. The star which they saw in the heavens was but a symbol of this great Star.
We too have heard of Christ. We have the Word of God, of which Peter says, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (2 Pet 1:19). You have heard of Christ in His Word and you need the Holy Spirit to enlighten your mind in the knowledge of Christ and to draw you to seek Him.
Now in the soul of such a sinner, who has been convinced of sin and whose mind has been enlightened in the knowledge of Christ, there arises the burning question, “Where is He?” “Where is . . . the King of the Jews?” Where is Christ? This was the desire which Job had when he said, “Oh that I knew where I might find Him”. The question also expresses a belief that they may come to Christ. They did not question their right to come to Him, though strangers from a heathen land. Nor are we to question our right to come to Christ, which is given in His own call and invitation.
This question includes a confession of ignorance: I am lost, I am afar off and I do not know how to find Christ. In the sinner’s experience it is often not so easy to find Christ. Not that God puts difficulties in our way. Indeed there is a wonderful simplicity in the gospel as expressed in these words, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”.
We now find the wise men making their way to Jerusalem. They did not find Christ there. Often the soul seeking Christ does not find Him at first. Their experience is expressed in these words, “I sought Him, I could not find Him; I called Him, but He gave me no answer”.
But the wise men were led to Him eventually. The God who drew them at first to seek Christ did not leave them now. The star shone again and this led them to where Christ was. So it is with the soul in whom God has begun the good work. They may have darkness for a time, but in His own time the Lord will shine upon them and reveal Christ to them. The Word of God will give light on where to find Christ. Indeed it is in the Word itself, read or preached, that He is found by the seeking soul.
When the wise men found Him they fell at His feet and worshipped. All who find Christ as their Saviour come low to fall at His feet to wait for salvation and to receive it. We must be prepared to come low, as the Psalmist was when He said, “I was brought low, He did me help afford”. Christ has never refused any poor sinner who came thus to His feet, for “none perish
that Him trust” (Ps 34:22), and He has said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out”. See that you seek Him yourself; seek that He would bring you to fall at His feet for mercy.
We give one mark of the soul that has found Christ. When the heart has been opened to receive Christ, then the hand will be opened to give to His cause. These men gave of their treasures to Christ. This was the case with Lydia. When the Lord opened her heart, she opened her hand to give to Christ’s people. Christ, we say with reverence, needed the gifts which these men brought. Soon He was to be taken on a journey to Egypt to sojourn in a strange land. Mary and Joseph were poor and very likely would not have had the means to finance the trip. When no one in Israel appeared to give to the Saviour, the Lord took these men all the way from the east to provide for His needs.
So in His providence He has touched your hearts to provide for His cause in Zimbabwe. It would be good for us if our true motive in giving to His cause was gratitude to Him for His gifts to us in the salvation of our souls. If you have found Him, you will worship Him as the wise men did, and the love of Christ will constrain you in serving Him: “The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor 5:14,15).