Chapter 2: The King of the Jews

“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” This question captures the essence of the Christmas story. Jesus came to be the King of the Jews. Notice how Matthew connects these titles: “Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born” (Matthew 2:4 NASB). The King of the Jews is equated with the Messiah! Though Jesus did not assume His throne in His first advent, rest assured He will be the King of the Jews in His Second Coming.

He will return as King of kings. “And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, ‘KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS’” (Revelation 19:16 NASB). When He returns, He will set up His Messianic Kingdom and reign from His throne in Jerusalem. Imagine the threat that such a question posed to Herod the Great, for he considered himself “King of the Jews.” “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him” (Matthew 2:3 NASB). No wonder Herod was troubled! Here was a worldly king clinging to his earthly throne, while heaven was announcing the arrival of the eternal King who came in God’s perfect timing.

While we know that nature bears witness to the Creator, for the magi to even ask this question about the King of the Jews clearly indicates that they had divine revelation from some source. They simply could not have known this of their own accord. What was the source? We cannot be certain, but there are clues worth exploring.

Consider that numerous prophecies allude to Messiah as King. Daniel was captive in Babylon, in the east, and wrote his prophecies while there. The book of Daniel records: “Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled and his sleep left him. Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. The king said to them, ‘I had a dream and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream.’ Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic: ‘O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.’ The king replied to the Chaldeans, ‘The command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap. But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.’ They answered a second time and said, ‘Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation’” (Daniel 2:1-7 NASB).

Since the book of Daniel was written in Aramaic, the common language of the land, it is certainly possible that the magi had access to prophecies which would have included predictions of a great King. Remember that Daniel saved the lives of all the astrologers by correctly interpreting the king’s dream, and many must have become believers in Daniel’s God through this. No doubt many of these men turned from worshipping the stars to worshipping the Creator of the stars. So this body of wise men most likely had Daniel’s writings from which to determine the time of Messiah’s coming.

Think of it: centuries before Christ’s birth, God was already preparing witnesses in the East. The Babylonian captivity, which seemed like judgment and defeat, became the means by which prophetic truth was planted in foreign soil. These magi were living proof that God’s timing extends across generations and across nations.

Now we come to Caesar Augustus, the versatile and able ruler of the Roman Empire, born September 23 of 63 B.C. His birth name was Gaius Octavius, though he later became known as Octavian. Born to Atia, who was the daughter of Julia, Julius Caesar’s sister, Gaius Octavius was the grandnephew of Julius Caesar. He was born in high places indeed.

But why does Augustus matter to our story? Because in the fullness of time, God was orchestrating history on a scale beyond human imagination. As we discussed last week, Paul declares that “when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son” (Galatians 4:4). This wasn’t soft time or approximate timing. This was divine precision.

The magi from the East, carrying the legacy of Daniel’s prophecies planted centuries earlier, would soon meet the providential circumstances orchestrated through Rome’s greatest emperor. The Pax Romana provided safety for travel. Roman roads made the journey possible. A census decreed by Augustus would bring Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem at precisely the right moment. All of history, East and West, was conspiring under God’s sovereign hand to announce one truth: the King of the Jews had come.

Just as George Bailey discovered he wasn’t alone when his community rallied around him, humanity discovered in that Bethlehem stable that we are not alone. In the fullness of time, at exactly the right moment, God sent His Son. The timing wasn’t accidental. The location wasn’t random. The witnesses weren’t coincidental. From the prophecies preserved in Babylon to the empire built in Rome, from humble shepherds to wealthy magi, everything converged to declare: “The King has come, and He has come for you.”

Homework for Next Sunday

Study the life and reign of Caesar Augustus. How did God use this pagan emperor to fulfill His ancient prophecies? What does this teach us about God’s sovereignty over world powers and human history?