Where Is The King? — Rich Wilkerson Jr.

All right, Matthew chapter 2, let's look at this together. This is verse 1, let me read it to you. It says this, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the time of King Herod, magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, where is the one who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him. When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed and all Jerusalem with him. When he called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. In Bethlehem, in Judea, they replied, for this is what the prophet has written. But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel. Then Herod called the magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He, Herod, sent them to Bethlehem and said, go, search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me so that I too may go and worship him. Tonight, I want to preach my title in the form of a question, and the question is what the magi asked Herod, and it's the question that I ask all of you tonight. And tonight's message, I want to preach for the next few moments from this thought, where is the king? Where is the king? I don't know what types of Christmas traditions you have, but for us in our house, Christmas Eve, my kids are allowed to open one present. And so they have been up this morning early, underneath the tree, shaking the gifts, feeling the gifts, wondering what's inside the gift, saying, Dad, what's the best one? And as a parent, I think all of us that are parents, it's interesting to sort of relive Christmas watching your kids. It becomes very nostalgic, and I'm always taken back to my Christmases. And I remember one Christmas, I got that book. Have you heard of these books called Where's Waldo? I don't know if you like these books, but if you've never been around a Where's Waldo book, but it's a book full of all sorts of people, but you're looking for one individual person. His name is Waldo. He's wearing a striped shirt and a little stocking hat, and the books are full of chaos, full of noise, full of distractions, and you stare, and you stare, and you stare, and finally you go, oh, I found him! And if you're like me, as soon as you find him, you're like, how

did I miss it? He was there the whole time, in plain sight. But as soon as you find Waldo, how many of y'all know, you can't ever unsee Waldo. I think there's something to that, as I was reflecting even this week on the Christmas message, that if you're not careful, you can get lost in all the distractions, all of the noise, all of the people, all of the messaging, and if you're not careful, you will miss the message that's in plain sight, the real reason for the season. It's not Where's Waldo, it's Where is the King? Where is Jesus? I recently saw this viral clip go up on Instagram, maybe you've seen it, this past weekend in church, we had a beautiful Christmas program, and my wife and I, we played parts of It's a Wonderful Life, which is a great Christmas movie, but my all-time favorite Christmas movie, Home Alone. Yeah, those are Millennials that are cheering, by the way. That movie changed my life. Kevin McAllister. But have you seen this viral clip that's going around, that they're saying that old man Marley in Home Alone is a symbol of Jesus Christ? This blew my mind this week, and you got to go back and find the clip, maybe next year I'll preach from Home Alone, because truly, old man Marley is a type of Jesus. And I just say that because every good story always, always, always hides the truth in plain sight, that you've got to go a little bit beneath the surface to discover what's really going on. And Christmas, if you're not careful, you'll just think it's a holiday, you'll just think it's a time to be with friends and family, but you'll miss all of the meaning underneath the surface. Like, there's so many things you could preach from Christmas. I mean, the manger itself is a message. A manger is a feeding trough. Just think about this for a moment. Jesus Christ was born, not into a cradle, but into a manger, into a feeding trough. The bread of life is hanging out in a feeding trough for animals. I don't know, but that to me just preaches right there. The first people to get the message are the shepherds. Bethlehem was full of shepherds because in Bethlehem, they were raising lambs because they were under the Jewish law, and in order to have sins covered, you had to sacrifice a spotless lamb. Do you know what they would do when they would find a lamb that was without blemish? They would wrap that lamb in swaddling

cloth. So just think about this, Bethlehem, the home of shepherds. The first announcement is two shepherds, shepherds that raised lambs for sacrifice. But now here comes the angel saying, we got better and bigger news. There's something beneath the surface. The lamb of God is getting ready to be born. And this lamb doesn't just cover sins. Come on, somebody. This lamb cancels sins once and for all. And so we're gonna wrap him in swaddling cloth because he is the lamb of God without blemish. We could go on and on and on. The message of Christmas is more than what meets the eye. And tonight, I'm not trying to get you to find Waldo or try to get you to find some kind of superficial truth. I want you to find the king in the message. Matthew chapter two is this beautiful account that tells the story of the three wise men as we know them, but they were Magi from the East. And these men are not Jewish men. They don't know the law. They're from the East. They study the stars. And as they follow this star, it takes them right into Jerusalem, which is the hub. And they march right into the palace of Jerusalem to the king, his name is Herod. And their question is interesting.

They're looking at the king and they say, hey, where is the king of the Jews? Now you gotta stop and pause for a moment because that's kind of funny. Here they are looking at a king saying, where is the king? And the Bible says that when Herod hears this, he is disturbed. That might be the greatest understatement in all of the Bible. Because if you know anything about who Herod was historically, he was a mad king. He was a crazy king. He was a king who was always crashing out. He had wives killed. He had children killed. He would commit murder on anybody that he found to be a threat. So when the Bible says he is disturbed, no, something deeper is going on. He is not worried about a baby being born. He is worried about this baby becoming his replacement. So the scripture says that he calls the theologians and the scholars and he says, where is this king of the Jews being born? And they come back with the prophecy. Well, the true shepherd, the one that will actually shepherd all of God's lambs, he will be born in Bethlehem. Now watch this. The scripture says that Herod looks at the wise men,

and this is where our text ended. He says, go to Bethlehem and when you find him, let me know because I wanna go and worship him too. If you're taking notes tonight, please write this down. Not everyone who talks about Jesus is looking for him. Why? Because Herod doesn't seek to find Jesus to worship him. Herod is looking for Jesus because he wants to kill him. He wants to manage him. I just gotta stop and I know it's Christmas Eve and I know I gotta be nice and I know I gotta be kind to all of our locations and I know there's a lot of guests, but in 2025, we are living in a fascinating time. I am so grateful that Jesus, the name Jesus is trending all over America. Anybody grateful for that? I mean, I'm really grateful for that. That's pretty awesome. But just because Jesus is trending doesn't mean he's actually being pursued. We're living like in this interesting moment where everyone's kind of like Christian adjacent. Everyone's got a podcast. Everyone's explaining Jesus. Everyone's clipping Jesus. Everyone's giving their take on Jesus. But listen, Jesus didn't come to this earth to be discussed. Come on, somebody. He came to be followed.

And when Herod says to these wise men, I've never seen it before. Hey, when you get there, let me know because I want to come and worship him too. Something about that statement's chilling to me because as he says these words, we know his heart is far from this. As he makes this statement, he has no real intention of worshiping the true Jesus. He does not merely want to find him. He wants to control him. He wants to eliminate him. It's interesting to me because Jesus is not merely our savior, but he is our Lord. He is the real king. And Herod, when he's disturbed, I don't believe he's just a mirror of a tyrant king. I believe that Herod, he is the mirror of every human heart. Every human heart has to answer this question. When Jesus invades your life, when you go, oh, there he is, once you see him, you can't unsee him. But you have to realize that as he invades your life, there can only be one king. You don't get to sit on the throne of your life. and pretend to worship Jesus. It doesn't work that way. There is only one King. And Jesus, he said it this way in Luke chapter 14. These are heavy words and they're Jesus's words. Not usually something you preach on Christmas Eve,

but I think it's the truth. He says, if anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brother and sisters, yes, even their own life, such a person cannot be my disciple. I don't think Jesus is actually advocating for you to be cruel or hateful towards your biological family. Instead, I think this is Middle Eastern language of contrast. What he's saying is, I don't want to just be important in your life, I want to be ultimate in your life. And we have to stop at the Christmas Eve service. Because if we're not careful, we will just fall into the holiday spirit of nostalgia. And we will show up into God's house and we will talk the talk, but our heart will be somewhere else. Just because you stand in a garage, it doesn't make you a car. And just because you're in a high school in South Miami, worshiping doesn't mean that you're actually surrendered. No, the apostle Paul puts it this way in Romans chapter three. He says, there is no one righteous, not even one. Don't look at Herod and miss what's going on in your heart. We all have a heart kind of like Herod. There is no one who seeks God. There is no one righteous, not even one.

There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks God. All have turned away. They have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. Now, when you look at this, you go, is that an exaggeration? Is he like exaggerating right now? What do you mean there's no one that seeks God? I mean, I'm curious. I listened to some podcasts. That's not what we're talking about. To seek God means to pursue Him for who He actually is. And Paul will go on in Romans and say, unless grace invades our heart, our heart is a heart of stone. And what it does is it seeks God for our own benefit. No, we need His grace. We need His mercy. We need to recognize who He actually is. For centuries, theologians have made two important distinctions. Number one, they've said that we often want what God gives, not God Himself. We want peace, we want help, we want forgiveness, we want blessing, but not a king who tells us how to live. It's interesting because a lot of people, they don't leave the faith because they don't believe in God. Many times, people leave the faith

because they didn't get what they wanted from God. But the other distinction that theologians have made for ages is that many people seek a God, but not the God who reveals Himself in Scripture. We want a God who agrees with us, affirms us, never contradicts us, fits nicely into our lifestyle, so we don't reject God outright, we remodel Him to the projection of what we want. I wanna encourage you on this Christmas Eve service, where is the King? Because you can talk about Jesus and you can scroll through Jesus and you can discuss Jesus, but it doesn't mean you're actually looking for who He is. But rather, we have to say, you're not just my Savior, you are the King of my heart and the King of my life. Come on, is there anybody out there who would say, Jesus, you're my King, where is He? You can't crown Jesus and keep control. Look at what happens here in the text. This is Matthew chapter two, verse nine, we're just continuing. After they had heard the King, these are the magi, they went on their way. And the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother, Mary,

and they bowed down and worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. I just wanna stop there for a moment. Many of you have come in here tonight, and I pray like the magi, as you've come to seek the King, I pray that as you meet Him and encounter Him, that you too would leave another route, that you were headed one way, your way, but after you met Him, come on, you had to leave another way. Anybody got some faith? Someone's about to encounter the King. And when they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. Get up, he said, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord. and said to the prophet, out of Egypt I called my son. I want you to write this down because this is so important. Where is the king? Number two, God rarely reveals himself where we expect, but always where we are willing to look.

They go to Bethlehem, they leave Jerusalem to Bethlehem. I'm not trying to, I'm just, Bethlehem is not the hot spot. It's not South Beach, it's not Design District, we're gonna pray for Design District. It is Hialeah, it is, come on now. It's not the place that you would expect to find a king. And when the magi walk in, they don't find a grown man in a robe with a sword, they find a baby in a feeding trough. You have to look beneath the surface and figure out the imagery and what's going on here and what is the symbolism and what's happening that God, when he comes and shows up in your life, when you discover this king, he doesn't come to you in the way that you expect. And the wise men, when they get there, I love it because they preach to us. They don't analyze it, they don't discuss it. No, they fall on their knees and worship him. Oh my goodness, there he is. This is what life is about. We have found the one that we are crowning king and they don't just worship with words, they actually give gifts. Gold, frankincense and myrrh. It's interesting because even the three gifts in and of themselves, there's a message beneath them. Gold is a gift you give to a king. Jesus is the king of kings. Frankincense was something that was used in the temple by priests.

Jesus is your high priest. Anybody grateful, you don't have to go to some man, some woman to have your sins absolved, but rather we have one high priest according to Hebrews. Myrrh is an ointment that was put on bodies after they had died. It was a foreshadow that this baby that was born is born to die, to die on a tree. We in 2025, we give gifts. It's always fascinating to me that Christmas is the only birthday party where the birthday boy, he doesn't get gifts. We're all gonna give gifts tonight. My kids are gonna get gifts. Wild's not in service right now, but I got him a skateboard, it's in the car. It's gonna be awesome. Yeah, I can't wait, man. I didn't get him shoulder pads, I didn't get him any of the pads, so pray for us, we'll see. The upcharge was too much. I was like, nah, he's gotta learn like an 80s baby, you know? But it's the only time that, we're all getting gifts, but we're not giving gifts to him. But this exchange of gift giving actually comes from Matthew chapter two that the wise men brought gifts and we give gifts to each other to remember and to reflect that God sent his one and only son

for all of us, the greatest gift ever. But the greatest gift, come on, we can clap, I love it. The greatest gift is not what's under the tree. The greatest gift is the baby that grew to a man who hung on a tree. Whew, do you know this savior? Because you have to unwrap it. And I think sometimes in Christmas, we'll just get going through everything and what we kind of miss is that I don't think we're outright rejecting Jesus, I just think we're unwilling to unravel and open the gift. And so it sits there and we never receive all that he has for us. It's not gonna happen in the way that you expect it. And there's so much about this from Bethlehem. Did you notice this, that the scripture says that in a dream, Joseph was warned, don't go back to Jerusalem, Herod, he'll kill you if you go there. So the Bible says that they escaped to Egypt. That preaches to me, you gotta go beneath the surface. Why does that preach to you, Rich? Because if you know anything about the Bible, if you know anything about the Old Testament, it's in a story about Israel, God's chosen people escaping from Egypt. But Jesus is escaping to Egypt. Why would that be? It's because he's the true deliverer.

And before he redeems you, he has to walk your own road. He understands you, he gets you, he's faced what you faced. Many of the things that you're trying to escape from, many things you're running from, Jesus is running to those things. What you call escape, he calls a refuge. Where's, where is the king? He is in your pain. He is in that area that feels like you are enslaved to it, that you are in bondage to whatever feels like Egypt. in your life, he's running to that thing. Bible says in Matthew that you're to name this boy, Emmanuel, God with us. Please know tonight that wherever you're at, whatever you're facing, God is with you right there. That thing you've been praying about all year long to escape from, to break out from, he's actually with you in the midst of that, in that crisis, in that hurt, in that pain, the thing you're trying to get out of, he's getting into it with you. The whole thing preaches, but if you're not careful, you won't look for him. You'll think, let me just get to 2026 and then he'll be there. No, he's in this Christmas Eve service with you. Let me get out of this marriage and then I'll find him. No, he's in it with you. Let me get out of this bad job and then I'll find him.

No, no, he's in the bad job with you. Let me just graduate from school, then I can do something. No, he's in the process with you. He's with you. If you know the story, it's after Herod dies, he moves back. They were gonna go to Jerusalem, but then we find out that Herod's son has taken power. And so they have to reroute again and they go to this place called Nazareth. But all of these things were what looks like unexpected, but they were still planned. For out of Egypt, my son will come was a prophecy. And then he will be a Nazarene. He lives in Nazareth, another little place like Bethlehem. We know that Nazareth wasn't much because truly as we see one of the disciples and they hear about Jesus, they say, wait, can anything good come from Nazareth? I just want you to see that the whole message is preaching. Where is the King? He's in the place that you didn't expect. He's in the place that you have to look. If you look for him, you'll find him. And once you see him, you can't unsee him. Lastly, as we get ready to pray tonight, I want you to catch this. The King we miss now will be impossible to miss later. You see, he was born in a stable in a humble, vulnerable way but the word of God says he will return. And when he returns, it's not gonna look small and fragile,

but rather when he returns, he's riding on the clouds. His eyes are like fire. And he's coming back for his bride. He's coming back for those that knew him, that received his grace, that opened the present and discovered him, that said, you're the King of my life. You rule my life. I don't want you just to see Christmas as a holiday and Christmas as a moment to come together and have some nostalgia. I want you to see Christmas as an act of mercy. That he's knocking on the door of your heart. That's the Christmas story. He doesn't kick doors down. He knocks. In fact, they got to the first place and they said, there's no room in the inn. I wonder, is there any room in your heart? Because he knocks and he knocks and he knocks. And the question is, will you let him in? Because the King we miss now will be impossible to miss later. He will come back and he will return. The question for all of us is, will we be ready? We live in a dark world, a world of fear, a world of uncertainty and a world of brokenness. But the gospel tells us something beautiful. The light came into the darkness and the darkness could not overcome it.