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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

In Search of a King

You have been there every time we have called upon you.

In our darkest nights, you have been there.

In our sorrows and in our rejoicing, you have always been there.

And because you are a constant God, we know that you are here right now.

And we ask Lord that as we take a moment now to hear a word from the Holy Scriptures.

We pray that you would tune our hearts to hear that voice that has been speaking to us already from the very beginning of this day.

The question was the most important question asked in over 400 years.

These were men of noble birth, educated, wealthy, very influential.

They were known as the counselors of the East.

And they were learned in all the wisdom of the East.

In particular, the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament just arrested their attention.

And so as a result of their studies, they began a journey of faith, a faith that would take them over 400 miles by camel.

They would sleep during the day and then at night they would keep their eyes fixed on that star.

A week went by, 2 weeks went by, 4 weeks went by, and finally 1 evening their hearts begin to pound a little faster as they notice that the star comes to rest above Jerusalem.

Can you imagine the expectation in their hearts as they got off those camels and started racing towards the gates of Jerusalem?

But once they entered there, they were very confused.

No festivities, no celebrations, no royal notices.

There's no knowledge of the new born King?

I can imagine them racing down the quiet streets, the dark streets of Jerusalem, wondering, questioning, confused.

My question for you this morning is how can the greatest event in the history of mankind be missed by those closest to him.

The Bible says, when Herod the king heard this, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him.

In verse 4, and we had gathered all the chief priests and the scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

We're gonna take a close look at some of the key characters in our story today.

Twenty-five years before this moment he put 2 of his sons, Aristopoulos and Alexander, to death.

Barely 2 years before this day, he put his other 2 sons to death.

The second of his 10 wives, Marion, was killed, all because he suspected that they wanted to unseat him from his throne.

And only 5 days before his own death he killed his other He killed his other son, fearing a conspiracy.

Now with the news of the birth of a new king.

This divious ruler was aroused at the hint of a possible rival.

Jerusalem, the text says, was troubled too.

With the king's track record of paranoia, Wouldn't you be too?

If we read the text as it reads, Herod could have found the king.

Notice verse 5, So they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet, But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

Verse 8, and he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search carefully for the young child.

And when you have found him, bring back word to me and I will come and worship him also.

Why didn't the king find the newborn child?

Was he afraid of some assassin lurking in dark shadows?

While those may be possibilities, no, no, when you take a close look, you can't help but to realize that he could have gone, but he didn't go because he was not willing to go.

The words of the wise men, we have seen his star, They kept ringing in his ears.

But he knew that there couldn't be 2 kings in the land.

But what would he do if he wasn't the king?

He would not leave the throne for anyone, for anyone.

Now we may understand why the worldly king, mean, paranoid Herod did not find the king, but why didn't the scribes and the chief priests find the king?

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In Search of a King

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