Passage: Matthew 2 Speaker: Nic Higgins Series: Emmanuel: God With Us
Speaker: Nic Higgins - While Israel was waiting for a promised king to arrive and restore them to political power and prosperity like that seen in the time of King David, a group of wise men travelled from the East and brought gifts to a baby that had been born in the humble town of Bethlehem. We know this child to be Jesus. But the announcement from the Magi that this was the child who had been born “King of the Jews” was shocking and strange to those who heard it. There was nothing in his appearance or in the circumstances of his birth that shouted King to those who would have seen him. So why would these wise men from the East bring gifts fit for a king, and fall down to worship him at his sight? If the long-awaited, much anticipated, and hopeful king was to finally arrive, certainly this should be an earth-shattering experience as Jesus intrudes and explodes onto the earthly scene. But Jesus’ entrance into time and space came with more obscurity than with the pomp that might be associated with destined royalty. Was Jesus really the One of whom the world could set its hope? This morning, let us look together at what kind of a King Jesus really is.