Will you bow?

In Matthew 2:1-12, we have the fascinating story of the wise men that came to Jesus. Now let us make sure that we get the record straight on a couple things about these men. We don’t know if they were kings, we don’t know if there were only three, and they never came and knelt at the manger. (I hope I did not crush your Christmas spirit, but yes, the song “We Three Kings” is not biblically accurate.) Now with that out of the way, I want to look at the wise men and the two groups and one person that they come in contact with. Answer this question as we look at this story, “Will you bow?” Why did only the wise men bow their knee?

Jerusalem People

Let’s start with the people of Jerusalem. The wise men came into their town asking where the King was. They saw the star, read the prophesies and must have thought the Jewish people would know all about the new King. They probably thought there would be lights and banners and parties, for the King, the Messiah, had come, but that is not what they found. The Jewish people were too busy to notice. In verse 3 of our text, it says that all Jerusalem was troubled when the wise men started asking about the Messiah. The Jews were not bowing before the Messiah; no, they were troubled because they didn’t want anyone to stir things up. They were afraid that their lives might have to change or that things might get harder if these men were right. They did not want to bow before this new King.

Sound familiar at all? We so often don’t bow because life is going fine. Yes, there are hard times, but let’s not stir things up too much. We get “troubled” when someone starts getting too fanatical about Jesus. We are way too busy to bow.

King Herod

King Herod was a bad king. He did extremely wicked acts against the Jewish people. He had a kingdom and was afraid that someone was going to take it from him. He had killed some of his own family members; because, he thought they were conspiring against him. He was not going to give up his kingdom to a baby. He wanted to be in charge and he was going to do whatever it took to keep it that way. He wanted to bow to no one, but himself.

You know, we have “kingdoms” that we don’t want to surrender either. We want to be in charge of our life and we for sure are not going to bow before a baby. “I have done pretty good just as I am. I am in charge of this life, and no one is going to take that from me”.

Religious Leaders

Now these guys are mind boggling. They had the truth. The wise men came to them and asked, “Where is this King going to be born?” They didn’t need two weeks to go study it out or even a day to talk amongst themselves. No, they knew exactly what the Scriptures said. The wise men had a hunch and they acted upon it. The religious leaders had the truth and they did nothing. Absolutely nothing!  The wise men came from miles away to see the king. The religious leaders were 6 miles from Bethlehem and they did nothing. They were totally indifferent to the Messiah.

It is easy to fall into this same camp. We know the truth. We have the truth, but we don’t use the truth. Have you ever found yourself indifferent to Jesus? We have everything we need to pursue Him, but we don’t.

Wise Men

These guys are awesome. They studied the OT; they traveled extreme distances to find the truth. They were not afraid to ask for help (men just don’t do this today), but the most astonishing thing was done when they saw Jesus. He was at his house with Mary and the wise men came knocking at the door. We see in verse 11, that when they came into the house they fell down and worshipped Him. This was a two-year-old boy, but they knew He was the King. They gave Him gifts fit for a king.  These were men of class and wisdom, and the first thing they did when they saw Jesus was bow.

We read in Philippians 2 that one day every knee will bow before Jesus Christ. The question that we must ask ourselves today is: Will we voluntarily bow before King Jesus? For one day, we will all see Him as the King and will bow before Him. Will you bow today? As this Christmas season passes by, don’t miss the opportunity to bow before King Jesus and give Him the worship that He so rightly deserves!

 

Practical ways to live this out:

• When you get up each morning, try to get on your knees first thing. Physically bow before Him and acknowledge that He is King of your life.
• Give a special gift to someone as a picture of giving it to God.
• Write a list of why you worship King Jesus.
• Be faithful to church this month. Worshiping with the body of Christ is one of the greatest ways to keep your eyes on the King.