Jocko Willink, a retired Navy Seal commander, has become a best-selling author, top podcaster, and frontline business consultant. If you want to be a better, at anything, read his books and listen to his podcasts. Along with his helpful, seasoned insights, Jocko is known for his discipline, grit, and toughness. In one of his podcasts, he recounts what he would always tell his subordinates who came to him with a problem. When a subordinate would come explaining some problem or issue they had, Jocko would respond with, “Good.” Jocko explains that when things are going bad, there’s going to be some good that’s going to come from it. Paraphrasing some of this podcast, Jocko says, “Didn’t get promoted? Good, more time to get better. Didn’t get funded? Didn’t get the job you wanted? Got injured? Good. Got beat? Good, you learned. Unexpected problems? Good, you have the opportunity to figure out a solution.
We know the truth in these words in general because the best things in life worth doing are always what? Hard. But there is good on the other side. This means often when we feel pain, when we’re hurt, when we’re miserable, we are on the verge on something great. And the Bible says something similar when we come face to face with the misery of our sin, the misery of our guilt, the misery of our unworthiness. When we are face to face with our sin – with our misery - the Bible says, good, and we see this much in Matthew 2:1-12.
The Gospel of Matthew begins in an odd way, odd to us at least, with a long genealogy. This means the book brings us immediately into a world of waiting, a world of long-expectation. This waiting is a waiting on a person, someone this genealogy is looking fo. Then something abnormal happens. A virgin is pregnant. The long-expected one is here.
So, who is this baby? Matthew quotes in 1:23: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). In other words, God is here. Whoever this long-expected one is, He is God. God has showed up in history, in a counted year, real culture, historic community, actual family, under a real government. What a fascinating thing to consider. And as we consider that, we naturally ask, how did they respond? How did the government leaders respond? The spiritual leaders? The average person? His family?
In Matthew 2:1 we begin to see some responses. 2:1 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 saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” Here, we have a response of people looking for Jesus. It’s mysterious. But there should be no surprise that a star is preaching “God is here” to these magi because “The heavens declare the glory of God…” (Ps. 19:1).
But then we see another response: 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; 4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. The whole town is thrown into uncertainty and wondering and questioning and the government leader is threatened. Herod is threatened because this King threatens his joy, which is the result of building his own kingdom. So, Herod gathers a big group of Bible scholars to figure out where this Shepherd-King is, sending them to find Jesus’ exact location. Herod is hunting. Herod will soon begin annihilating a generation of toddlers in order to kill Jesus. But he isn’t unique. The spiritual leaders of the day will soon enough hunt Jesus down and execute him, threatened by his kingship.
The whole Bible shows that the message, “God is here”, is not a message of joy to humanity. It is terrifying. It is terrifying for one of two reasons. On the one hand, “God is here” may be terrifying to you because it threatens to disrupt our joy by dismantling the kingdoms we build for ourselves. On the other hand, “God is here” may be terrifying because it means judgment is finally here for us. “God is here” results in people either hunting for Jesus or hiding from him. To those who don’t think they’re guilty, like Herod, “God is here” is threat to a joy based on a personal kingdom. And to those who know they are guilty, “God is here” is judgment. To a world of people living in the misery of sin, either the misery of ignorance of sin or the misery of awareness of sin, “God is here” is just bad news.
What in the world, therefore, is going on in Mt. 1:9-10? And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced. Exceedingly. with great. joy. This group didn’t just rejoice. They didn’t just rejoice exceedingly. They didn’t just rejoice exceedingly with joy. They rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. This is overwhelming joy and we know intuitively the value of that verse. We long for that joy. I know this because you’d rather live in a prison with joy than in a mansion with depression. So, why are these sinners rejoicing at “God is here”?
They are rejoicing because of what we’re told about Jesus in verse Mt. 1:21: “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Jesus is “Immanuel”. Jesus is “God is here”. But good news, Immanuel’s name is “Jesus”, meaning “God is salvation.” In Jesus, God is here & God is salvation. God is here in grace, not judgment. God is here to save those in the misery of unworthiness, the misery of lostness, the misery of separation from God’s presence, the misery of impending judgment, the misery of sin.
The wise men “qualified” for this joy by simply being lost - “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?”. They were done with themselves. They didn’t know where to go. The gig was up for them. They didn’t have the answer in themselves. But then a star found them.
Are you done with yourself? Do you know the gig is up? Do you know there is nowhere to hide? In other words, are you miserable in your sin yet? As Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote, “You must be made miserable before you can know the true Christian joy.” Are you miserable yet? Good. Jesus only came to save sinners. Are you miserable yet? Good. That is the beginning of unshakable joy.
So, how is Jesus the savior of sinners, your savior? The gifts brought to Jesus tell us. First, he is given gold because gold is for kings. You and I can’t be saved by a mere man. We need the King of Kings and that is who Jesus is. Second, he is given frankincense, which was used in Old Testament sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise, pleasing sacrifices. The King came to live a life totally and perfectly pleasing to the Father, on your behalf. Lastly, he is given myrrh, which is used to embalm dead bodies. The King who came to live a perfectly pleasing life to the Father also came to die. He came to die in your place, for your sins, and then rise from the dead in victory.
There is nothing left for you to do but rest in and receive Jesus and His accomplished work of salvation. Jesus is God and Jesus is salvation. This means overwhelming joy is something to receive. It is free. You qualify for it by simply being miserable and lost, by being done with yourself. Then you look out and you look up, to the Savior who is your salvation.
