Holiday Visitors

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered on the first Sunday after Christmas, the 26th of December, 2021, at Pilgrim Reformed Church.  Our YouTube streaming channel is: 

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDIz4WuP8igQstkEOq1AMTg.  Look for the video of our recorded services on our Vimeo channel:  http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]

Valentine’s Day may be the time for lovers, but I think Christmas is the time for love.  For it is the celebration of when God showed His great love for us by sending His Son into the world to offer us redemption of our sins.  And it is the holiday when, if we are fortunate and blessed enough, we gather our loved ones close around us, sharing in the warmth of love as we share in the giving of gifts.

Yes, we are most likely to receive holiday visitors during the Christmas season.  Now, we don’t know for sure when this occurred, but at this time of year we also celebrate some visitors that Jesus received.  And they, too, shared some wonderful, and expensive, gifts.

Please listen and follow along as I read of a time after the birth of Jesus but while He was just a small child, less than two years old.  This comes from the 2nd chapter of the Gospel account of the Apostle Matthew, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning…

1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:

6 ‘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.’ ”

7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 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, that I may come and worship Him also.”

9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.

13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I bring you word; for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him.”

14 When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, 15 and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

16 Then Herod, when he saw that he was deceived by the wise men, was exceedingly angry; and he sent forth and put to death all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all its districts, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,

Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,

Rachel weeping for her children,

Refusing to be comforted,

Because they are no more.”

19 Now when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, 20 saying, “Arise, take the young Child and His mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young Child’s life are dead.” 21 Then he arose, took the young Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.

22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea instead of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he turned aside into the region of Galilee. 23 And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, “He shall be called a Nazarene.”

--Matthew 2 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Father God, thank You for sending Your Messiah, our Christ, into the world to save us.  Rather than riding in like a conquering hero, He came to us as a small baby one quiet night, with only Your angels and nearby shepherds giving witness of His birth.  Thank You, Father, for sharing the greatest gift of love with us poor sinners.  Thank You for sending visitors to the young Jesus, who shared their expensive gifts with Him to show us how to share our own wealth.  And thank You for protecting the Christ child from great harm before the proper time.  Please help us remember the real meaning of this season, this time for love.  While we celebrate the birth of our Savior, help us to not forget the sacrifice He made to free us from the chains of sin.  And help us to do as You will and not just what we might be willing to do.  Please keep us strong in our faith and of one mind and one purpose in our service to Christ Jesus.  Please keep us healthy and safe through these trying times.  And Father, please shield us from all the tricks and schemes of Satan.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit and better understand the message You have for us this morning.  Speak to us of the greatest gift ever given, the gift of love, the gift of Your Son.  This we pray in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.   Amen.

In late September of 1864, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest was leading his troops north from Decatur, Alabama, toward Nashville.  But to make it to Nashville, Forrest would have to defeat the Union army at Athens, Alabama.  When the Union commander, Colonel Wallace Campbell, refused to surrender, Forrest asked for a personal meeting, and took Campbell on an inspection of his troops.  But each time they left a detachment, the Confederate soldiers simply packed up and moved to another position, artillery and all.  Forrest and Campbell would then arrive at the new encampment and continue to tally up the impressive number of Confederate soldiers and weaponry.  By the time they returned to the fort, Campbell was convinced he couldn't win and surrendered unconditionally!

General Forrest took Colonel Campbell on a little tour through the countryside.  And during this tour, Campbell was a “guest” of Forrest.

Seeing as they were in Alabama and Campbell was probably from somewhere up north, I think it safe to say he was a “visitor” to the area, even if his forces were encamped there in Athens.  He very likely was not familiar enough with the surroundings to know if Forrest was taking the “long way” around, giving his own troops time to move everything to a new location.  The end result was that Campbell perceived the forces opposing his own to be far greater in both numbers and arms, so he surrendered immediately upon return to his fort.

It just goes to show that sometimes you can deceive a visitor.  But then again, sometimes you can't.

Matthew was a tax collector.  Apparently he wasn’t one of the bad tax collectors, who would charge his neighbors more than the actual tax due and pocket the rest.  We would consider him to be more like a toll booth operator, collecting from travelers for using the roads.  Jesus walked up to his collection table one day and said, “Follow Me”, and Matthew did just that.

Matthew was also a Jew, by birth and by early training and belief, although now he believed in and followed Jesus.  So for this reason, Matthew’s primary audience, the main people he was writing for, were the Jews.  He wanted to prove to them that Jesus was their long-awaited Messiah, sent from God to save them.  So he often quoted Scripture, what we would call Old Testament Scripture, and specifically those passages that predict the coming of the Messiah.  And then he would show how Jesus fulfilled those prophecies.  We can see this four times in our scripture reading this morning.

If we pay attention to what Matthew saved for us, and research his references, we can see that Jesus is the Christ.  Of that point there should be no question.

But this isn’t so much about fulfilled prophecy as it is about holiday visitors.  You may have had some of those this year.  I did.  My daughter and son-in-law spent two weeks with me over the holidays – one at Thanksgiving and one at Christmas.

Jesus had some holiday visitors, too, although it wasn’t really celebrated as a holiday just yet, and He was pretty young when they came.  Wise men came from the far east, following a star that had appeared in their sky, following prophecies of old.  They came to Jerusalem asking the whereabouts of the one just born who would be king of the Jews.

Well, that didn’t sit too well with the current king of the Jews, King Herod, so he set a plot in motion.  His own priests and scribes said that Bethlehem was the place to find this future Ruler.  So Herod sent the visitors on their way to Bethlehem, telling them to let him know when they find the child, all along intending to have the infant killed.

But these wise men were visitors who could not be deceived, because they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod.  Just as Joseph was warned to take his family and flee to Egypt, to escape before Herod could launch his plan.

Now, in a way, Herod was also a visitor to the young Jesus - a visitor of death.  He tried to deceive the wise men into giving up the location of the One born to be King of kings, but instead, he himself was deceived.  But when his plan failed, thanks to God's intervention, he ordered the slaughter of all males in Bethlehem and the surrounding area two years old and younger.  He visited death on the village.  Joseph, Mary, and the Christ child barely escaped.

Like I said, we don’t know exactly when the wise men visited the Christ child, although we celebrate that visit along with Christmastime.  Fact is, in all likelihood, Jesus was probably born in late September rather than on December 25th.

But the exact timing of either event doesn’t really matter, does it?  All that matters is that they happened and that we remember them, we celebrate them each year in late December.  We remind ourselves during this holiday of the time when God visited the world in the person of Jesus, bringing His wonderful gift of love.  Chapter 2 of the Apostle Luke’s Gospel account tells the story in verses 8 through 18…

8 Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. 10 Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. 11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

14 “Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

--Luke 2:8-18 (NKJV)

Family, God is good.  For unto us a Child was born.  Unto us a Son was given.  And His name is called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  We know Him simply as Jesus, our favorite, most precious holiday visitor.  One who came to visit, and stayed.

In the blessed name of Christ Jesus, our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Father God, again we thank You for the gift of love given in Your Son Jesus.  The Child Jesus received gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh, but He brought us a gift of far greater value – the gift of redemption and everlasting life.  Thank You, Father, for giving us Your love.  Thank You for having mercy upon us poor sinners.  And thank You, too, for allowing us to share love with all our visitors this holiday season.  Sometimes though, Father, we get too caught up in all the rush of this busy time.  Sometimes the commercialism distracts us from the true meaning of Christmas, the real reason for the season.  Please forgive us, dear Father, when the world view of the holidays overshadows the birth of Your Son and the promise of salvation He brought us, the redemption He bought for us, paid by His own precious blood.  Please help us remember His great sacrifice even as we celebrate His birth.  Remind us of this beautiful holiday visitor who came to stay in our hearts.  Encourage us and strengthen us as we strive to carry out the task Jesus gave us.  Please keep us strong in our spirit, in our faith, and in our service to You and Jesus.  And please help us stay true to You during these times of turmoil and pain.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You from our hearts through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more faithful and true, putting all our trust in You and Jesus, and seeking Your help as we do so…

Lord Jesus, You were a visitor to our world so long ago and for a short 33 years, but yet You remain in our hearts, those of us who follow You.  You came and brought us the gift of God’s love, the best gift we could ever receive.  Thank You, Jesus, for coming to us, for giving Your all for us, for loving us.  Lord, we ask You to help us remember the true meaning of Christmas and God’s gift to the world.  And help us remember the sacrifice You made on our behalf even as we celebrate Your birth.  Help us stay true to You and faithful no matter what trial we may face.  Strengthen our will to do what our Father God wills us to do.  Help us to be more loving, more understanding, kinder to all we encounter each day.  And please help us as we try to show Your love to all we encounter in our daily walk.  All this we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.