The Son of God was born in Bethlehem. The eternal Son of God was born in Bethlehem. Now, what these words mean to us depend entirely on what we believe about this person who was born in Bethlehem. Who is he? Who is he? That's, if he's the Son of God, this is the most wonderful thing that's ever happened in the history of the universe. Up to this time, this baby born in Bethlehem, this is the greatest event in the history of the universe. God became a man. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and all things were made by Him. and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. That's the greatest single event in the history of the entire universe up to this time, up to this time here. I say up to this time because his death 33 years later is the greatest event in the history of the universe. But then his resurrection and then his ascension And His exaltation at the right hand of God is our forerunner and mediator. But if He hadn't been born, He couldn't have died. And if He hadn't died, He couldn't have risen. And if He is not risen, we have no Savior. We have no Redeemer. So this birth was the beginning of the greatest events in the history of the universe. He who thought it not robbery to be equal with God was made of no reputation, took upon himself the form of a servant, and was born in Bethlehem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Why was he born in Bethlehem? Why did he become a man? Well, let's see if we can find just one verse, one or two verses. Turn to Galatians 4. Why was Jesus Christ the Son of God? It says, under us a child is born, a son is given, and the government is on His shoulders, and His name is Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Why was God's Son born in Bethlehem? Why did He become a man? Galatians 4, verse 4. But when the fullness of time was come, when God's appointed time came, the time on the calendar, God created man in years past, centuries, fullness of time, the appointed time came, God's time. God sent his Son, God sent him, God sent his Son, a body thou hast prepared made. Behold, a virgin shall conceive. This was not man and woman's doing, this is God's doing. God sent His Son. A virgin shall conceive and bring forth a son. You call His name Emmanuel, God with us. God sent His Son. A body that has thou prepared me, Christ said. Read on. God sent His Son, made of a woman. He had to be made of a woman to be born like we are, to become a man, to become flesh and blood and bones. He said to his disciples, I have flesh and bones like you. And he had to be made of a woman, to become a man, to become one with us, to be numbered with the transgressors, to be our representative, to be the second Adam. He had to be made flesh, made of a woman, formed in the womb, and brought forth after nine months, and made under the law. You see, Adam was under the law of God, and when God made Adam, He made him holy without fault, without blame, holy in His image, and gave him a commandment, gave him a law to fulfill it, to obey it. Of all the trees of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat it." That's my law, that's my commandment. Do not partake of that tree. I don't know what it was. But do know this, there was an understanding that God was God and Adam was a man. And that God was king and Adam owed obedience to God. He was to obey God. He was to do what God said. Adam was to obey God. That law was given to Adam as long as it stood, unviolated. Adam is saying, God's over me. God reigns over me. God rules me. I'm a subject of God. He's king. And however high I am and exalted I am and blessed I am, He's still above me. But Adam broke that law. When he died, when he sinned, he died. And when he died, we died. When he sinned, we sinned. All who came from his loins. In Adam, all died. In Adam, we died. By the disobedience of one, we were made sinners. That's the first Adam. And the second Adam is the Lord from heaven. And he was made of a woman, and he was made Under the law, under God's law. What is God's law? You say the Ten Commandments. That's just some of them. God's law is God's rule, God's reign. It's God being over us. He's still King. We're subject to His way, His will. His law is His will, His way. See, that was Satan's fault. He said, I'll have my way. I will. exalt my throne. I will be like God. So this Redeemer, this man, this man from heaven, this Son of God came down here made of a woman, made in the likeness of sinful flesh, made flesh and bone and blood, made under law, under His law, under God's law. Tempted as we are in all points, tested, tried, but under that law. You have to obey it in every jot and tittle. If you're going to be representative of the people. Why do you do that? Look at the next line. To redeem them. To redeem, to buy back, to deliver, to save them. Whom? That were under the law. That's us. We were under the law and failed. Desperately failed, didn't we? Man's always failed. Always fail. Always win. But he came to obey, that he might redeem them that were under the law, that they might be adopted, sons of God, adoption of son. That's why he came. And Jesus was born in Bethlehem. You see, all the way through the Old Testament, there are three things set forth over and over again. One, God is holy. God is king, God is sovereign, the Lord reigneth. That scripture I read at the beginning of the service, say among the heathen, the Lord reigneth. We don't, the Lord reigneth. We're subject to Him. He's king, He's holy. And man's sin. And this thought is all the way through the Old Testament. God will punish sin. God will punish sin. God will deal with rebels. But this is all the way through the Old Testament, God will be merciful. And it started back there when they came out of the Garden of Eden. Let's read it in Genesis chapter 4. God will be merciful, but God will be merciful through a substitute, through blood, through a sacrifice, through a lamb. In Genesis 4 verse 1, listen to this, And Adam knew Eve his wife, And she conceived and bare Cain. And she said, I've gotten a man from the Lord. I've gotten the man from the Lord. She thought she had this man, this Christ, this Messiah, this seed of woman. No, she had a seed of man, Cain. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain was a tiller of ground. In the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought her the fruit of the ground and offered it to the Lord. He brought his works. He was proud of his garden, as you men are of yours. You see these beans I raised? You see this corn? You see these apples? You see these things from my orchard? He built an altar and brought these things and put them on the altar and said, I've worked hard. I'm a self-made man. I've worked hard. And Abel, he brought her the first thing of the flock. He brought a lamb, slew that lamb, shed his blood like the Passover lamb. And the Lord had respect to Abel and to his offering. They were together. They were one, Abel and his offering. See, God accepts the offering. When He accepts the offering, He accepts Abel, the blood. It pictured Christ as the Lamb of God. But under Cain and his offering, he had no respect. Cain came in his own strength and deeds and duties. And Cain was angry, and his countenance fell, and the Lord said, why are you angry? Why is your countenance falling? If you do well, you'll be accepted. If you come by the blood, if you come by Christ, you see, there's the Lamb of God. So all the way through the Old Testament, you have God's holy, and God will deal with sin. But thank God, He'll deal with sinners through the Lamb. He's merciful. And this is our Lamb born in Bethlehem. This is our Lamb. Alright, behold, it says here, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. Who are these wise men? You know, I read so many things this week about these wise men until I read a passage in Genesis 25. I was never satisfied. Genesis 25. Who are these wise men? I believe they're sons of Abraham. Not through Isaac. Not through Isaac. But sons of Abraham. You know, usually when we think of Abraham, we think of Abraham, Ishmael, cast out, and Isaac. Abraham had many sons after that. Many sons. Abraham's sons have populated that whole Pakistan, Persia, Arabia, Sons of Abraham. Listen to Genesis 25. Then again, Abraham took a wife. Her name was Keturah. And she bear him, listen, Zimran. These are all men. Jokshun, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, Shuah, and then his son Jokshun begat Sheba, Dedan, Sons of Dedan, here's his great-great-grandson. Asherah, Asherum, Latushim, I'd name them something else, wouldn't you? Lerumen, and the sons of Midian. Think of these fellows. Epah, Eprah, Hanuk, Abadah, Aldeah. All these were the children of Keturah. That's her. He married this woman Keturah after Sarah died and son after son after son, grandson, great-grandson. And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac but unto the sons of the concubines. There were more of them which Abraham had. He gave gifts and sent them away from Isaac his son while he yet lived eastward to the east country toward Persia. All of this clan, he lived to be 175, and these men, eastward. And when this son was born in Bethlehem, when his star, we'll talk about that in a minute, they came from the east country. We saw his star in the east. They were looking westward, Bethlehem's westward from where they were. But they saw his star in their country, where we live, in the east. That's where we saw the star. And they came. All right, how many of them were there? It doesn't say. Nowhere in the scriptures. There were three preachers. Now that's what somebody said. There were many of them, evidently. They stirred up Jerusalem, I'll tell you that. And they didn't come to the manger. I'll tell you why. There's several reasons. Number one, they saw the star. That's the night he was born, the glory of God shone around the shepherds, and the heavenly hosts sang praises. The shepherds went to the manger. They came and found Mary, Joseph, and the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. But these fellows over in the east somewhere, Do you know how long it took them to prepare, to get ready to make that trip? Do you know how long it took them to make that trip from whether Persia or East countries to Jerusalem? Weeks, maybe months. Some people believe it was almost two years before they came to Jerusalem seeking the King. A year, from anywhere from year on. And they came after a long journey, and they inquired of Herod where this child was born. You say they were interested? These were sons of Abraham. These men, Abraham was their father, their grandfather, and their great-grandfather. And Abraham taught them. The Samaritan woman was looking for the Messiah. You remember when the Lord Jesus came to the world? This pagan wants Samaritan. She said the Messiah is coming. And these children of Abraham, Ishmael, Ishmael came back and helped bury his father. Ishmael wasn't angry at Abraham. He and Isaac buried their daddy when he was 175 years old. And these other men, they kept up this, Abraham saw my day, Christ said, Abraham saw my day. He rejoiced to see the day of my coming, and he told his sons about the coming of the Messiah. There's a Messiah coming, a Messiah coming, a Messiah coming. And they was handing down to their sons and their sons and their sons and their sons, waiting on the Messiah, the King, the King, the King, the King of Israel through Isaac. They knew that. Abraham was a good teacher. You couldn't know Abraham without hearing about Abraham's God. I guarantee you that, let alone a son or grandson. And all these years had passed, and they saw that star. God showed it to them. God showed it to them. And they came to Jerusalem, and it stirred up Jerusalem. They stayed there a good while, and they met with Herod. Well, first, Herod called in all the wise men. from Israel, not the wise men, but the teachers. He said, where is this Christ going to be born? They went back to Micah and they said, in Bethlehem. And then Herod called in these wise men and said, you go find Him. And when you find Him, you come back and tell me. I'll come worship Him. So they came. And they didn't come to a manger. Look at verse 11. When they would come to the house, They came to our house. And what did they see? A babe wrapped in swaddling clothes? No, sir. They saw a young child. A young child, probably walking. I don't know for sure, but they saw a young child. And the mother. And one of the great writers said Joseph was not there on purpose. God's purpose. These wise men. These men whom their great-great-great-great-great-grandfather had instructed the Messiah was coming, but he won't be the son of a man. God didn't bring them into this house and have a man standing there and a woman and a child giving the impression that this was just an ordinary child. Joseph was out of the picture at that time, somewhere else, wherever God had him. But these men came from the East. There was Mary, the virgin, when she gave birth to the Son. There was the Son. There was the Son. And their eyes beheld. And you know, down here in verse 11, I'm going to come back to this, but I want you to see this. When they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary's mother, and they fell down and worshipped Him. And when they... Behold, a virgin shall conceive. They read that scripture. They worshipped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented him with gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Now watch this. And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, God was with these men. They departed into their own country another way, went around Jerusalem. And right immediately after they left, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Take the young child and his mother, flee into Egypt. Go to another country, go to Egypt. And be there till I bring you word, for heralds seek the young child to destroy him. And he arose and took the young child and his mother and departed by night into Egypt." Let me read you a couple of scriptures. Don't turn to these. Hosea is kind of hard to find. Let me read Hosea 11. When our Lord Jesus Christ is His name is called Israel sometime in the scripture. He's one with his people, true Israel. And it says here, when Israel was a child, I loved him and called my son out of Egypt. Out of Egypt. And over here in Exodus, this is written, talking about the Lord Jesus. my son out of Egypt. Listen to these verses. Say to Pharaoh, thus saith the Lord, if thou of my son, my firstborn, the firstborn of every creature, let my son go, that he may serve me, and if thou refuse to let him go, I'll slay your firstborn. Our Lord is identified with us when Joseph and Mary took him down into Egypt. We're turning that clock back to when his people were in Egypt. Israel was in Egypt. And God, by the blood of the Lamb, Passover Lamb, brought him out of Egypt. And here the Lord Jesus Christ himself goes into Egypt and is brought out. But let me show you something here. This is so interesting. Joseph was poor and Mary was poor. There were nobodies in the world. There was the daughter and son of David. They didn't have anything. But they were going to leave Bethlehem and go to Egypt. They were in a house in Bethlehem. They were going to Egypt, moving to a foreign country to live there till Herod died. And I don't know the months. We're not talking about catching a plane or something. We're talking about weeks and months and places. How are they going to finance the trip? How are they going to live? Look back at verse 11. And when they were coming to the house, these wise men, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, worshipped him, and opened their treasures, and presented him gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And then the Lord appeared to Joseph and said, your trip's paid for. Go down and eat. Our Lord is so wonderful in his mercies and provisions and grace. But these wise men, this story is told for us. I know I've got to get something here. And I knew when I was looking at it, I was so interested in it, something for me and for you. where these men at least give us an example. But let me show you this. First of all, in verse 1, they're called wise men. Wise men. I'll tell you why they're called wise men. I know I read about the Magi and all this. You'll read it in other commentaries, but don't pay a lot of attention to it. That's just things men talk about. But I'll tell you, these men were wise because they were seeking the Lord. That's why they're wise. Wise men seek the Lord. There's nobody wise who doesn't know God, so God wouldn't be calling them. They're wise in the things of the world, but these men were wise men. They were seeking the Lord, seeking the Lord. These descendants of Abraham wanted to know their King, and they were willing to make a journey to find Him. And look at the next line. It says they came from the east to Jerusalem. I tell you this, he'll be found where he's revealed. These men were not sons of Isaac. These were like the Samaritan woman. These were kind of castoffs. These were sons of Abraham by other women, concubines and wives, Ketuvah. And they were looked down on by the other Jews, by the Jews. But they knew where to find the Messiah. to come where the temple and the sacrifices and the Word of God and the priesthood is. They came to Jerusalem. And if you and I want, if we're interested in the Messiah, we'll search the Scriptures. We'll search the Scriptures. Paul said to Timothy, from a child you've known the Scriptures that are able to make you wise unto salvation. We'll search the Scriptures about the Lamb, the sacrifices, The priesthood, the Old Testament scripture, they came to Jerusalem. I had some friends who were Jordanians who listened to my television program back several years ago, and we became friends. They hated Jews. They literally, absolutely hated Jews. And I think this caused a problem. I no longer have any contact with any of them, but it caused a problem because I insist. Salvations of the Jews. Christ became a Jew. And if you're going to find the gospel, you're going to have to study God's dealings with the Jews. You're going to have to recognize whatever they are now, whatever they were then, whatever they've done, whatever misfortunes and misunderstandings and wrong deeds Nevertheless, David, he sits on David's throne. He's a son of Abraham. He's a son of Isaac. He's from the tribe of Judah. He's the king of Israel. Now, I know Israel is spiritual Israel, the kingdom of God. But I'm telling you, don't let pride keep you away from Him. The messenger will come to His temple morning. He came to Jerusalem, and He died outside the walls of Jerusalem. So these men, whatever, they pushed all their pride down, and they came, and they asked the question. What is their question? Verse 2, they said, Where is He born, King of the Jews? They weren't looking for a Reformer. They weren't looking for a martyr. They weren't looking for a doormat. They were looking for a King. Where is the King? We've heard, well, Scripture talks about him being the bright and morning star. We've seen his star. We've seen his star. Where's the king? And another thing, they didn't make him king, he was born king. They said, where is he, this born king? He's king by decree. He's king from everlasting. He's king because he's the son of the king. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Where is he, this born King? Of the Jews. No doubt about it. David's throne. David's throne. And then they said this, verse 2, they said, we've seen his star. We've seen his star. Turn to Numbers 24. I love these prophecies, and I'd love for you to see them yourselves. In Numbers 24, verse 17, I shall see him, but not now. Numbers 24, 17, I shall behold him, but not now. There shall come a star out of Jacob. And a scepter shall rise out of Israel, the Jews, and shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Seth." These men knew these prophecies and they saw the star. Revelation 22 says, I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star. They saw the star over Judea from their country in the east. And they came seeking Him. What have we seen? Have we seen a star? No, not with these eyes. But God's given us sign after sign after sign back in the Old Testament. God set Him forth in type, in picture, in parable, sign after sign. We've seen His star. They saw the star and got directions. to where the Messiah was to be found. I call your attention to these signs here to give you directions to where the Messiah is to be found. And so then they said, listen to what they said, we've seen His star and we are come. We've come to worship Him. We haven't come to argue. We haven't come to debate. We haven't come to accept Him. We've come to worship Him. We've come to bow down before Him. That's our full intention. When we find Him, we're going to fall down before Him. All right, let's see what happened. Verse 9. Well, the king, you know what he said to them, they departed. And lo, the star which they saw in the east, that sign, that direction, went before them till they came and stood over where the young child was. I read a lot of debates about he went, Joseph was in Nazareth and back to Bethlehem, back and, but anyway he was here in Bethlehem in a house with his mother. And this star brought them right to that place, and watch it, they came in, They rejoiced because God had given them the directions. Verse 10, they rejoiced with great joy. And when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother. They saw him. Simeon saw him. You know, they didn't see the cross. Of course, Abraham didn't see the cross. Moses didn't see the cross. They saw the lambs, the types, the pictures, slain. They didn't see the cross. Simeon, John the Baptist, didn't see the cross. Simeon did, but they saw Christ. Simeon came into that temple, and Mary had brought this young child in to do the different things that were commanded in the law, and he took him up in his arms, and he said, Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace according to your word. I've seen your salvation. I don't know how to word this. I don't exactly know how to say it, but God will have to make it right, however it comes out. Salvation is not in seeing the cross. It's seeing Christ. Salvation is not in receiving a doctrine. is receiving a person. And clear back to the Old Testament, these people saw Him in picture, they saw Him in type, they saw Him in pattern, they saw Him in promise. And they believed Him. And Simeon saw an infant, and he knew that this was the Messiah. This was the Messiah. There must be death, there must be blood, they knew that. They received the promises not having seen the fulfillment of them. But what I'm trying to do is point people to Christ, to Him who created the world, to Him who loved us, to Him who came into the world as a man, represented us, who went to the cross and died for us, who obeyed the law, who was buried and rose again, who ascended. And right now we see Him as He is. We don't have a nativity scene out here because He's not a baby. He's a King. And these people came in and saw Him. They saw an infant. And they didn't go gooing at Him. They fell down and worshipped Him. They fell down and worshipped Him, the King. My faith and confidence is in Him. It's in Him when He created all things. It's in Him when He was It's in Him when He was on the cross. It's in Him now. It's Him, Him, Him. Christ is my Savior. And listen, and they opened the treasures. When God opens a man's heart, He opens his hands. When God opens a man's heart, He opens his hands. God didn't tell them to give Joseph and Mary some gold and frankincense and myrrh, but they Their hearts were open, and they wanted to present something. They wanted to present a sacrifice. They wanted to present a gift of love and appreciation and gratitude unto Him. So they fell down and worshipped Him, and they presented these gifts to Him. And God used it. Then right after that, the young family packed up and moved to Egypt. all their needs met by these men, and they went back to their country. But they went back having seen the Lord. They went back having seen God's salvation, just like Simeon. Simeon went on to glory, but they went back to their country. And I imagine they did what the Samaritan woman did. They went back and said, we found the Messiah.