Lesson 2 – A Royal Acknowledgement
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In chapter 1 we saw Jesus’ qualification to be King: He was born of the right human family, of royal bloodline just as had been promised and prophesied long before His coming to earth. In this chapter we see two incidents where people of importance acknowledge Jesus as King in very different ways.

The first group is simply called “wise men” in the Bible. We are not told much about them here, but we do read of others like this in the Scriptures, specifically in Daniel 2 where Daniel is made head of a group such as this. If these men came in response to something their ancestors had passed down from Daniel’s time, it was almost certainly in response to a specific prophecy God had made over 2000 years before Jesus was born, found in Numbers 24:17.

The second incident involves King Herod – known in history as Herod the Great. The arrival of the wise men caused great upset to King Herod, mostly because he knew he had no blood-right to this title. He knew a king descended of King David’s line could easily replace him if such a person could be found. He also knew in order to find this “true” king he must find the prophecies. He sent the priests after the information, and then sent the wise men to do the searching.


But God disrupted Herod’s plan to find Jesus by first telling the wise men not to return to Herod, and then by warning Joseph to get away from Bethlehem quickly. Herod’s true motive in wanting to meet Jesus is seen in his orders to kill all male children in Bethlehem.

There are many prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament. As Jesus fulfilled each of these concerning His birth – something no human being could have done by themselves – we see the power of God on display as each event is fulfilled down to the smallest detail. We can be assured when Jesus says He has plans for our life we can trust Him to bring them to pass (Jeremiah 29:11). Also, just as God used the gifts these wise men brought for the young child, Jesus, to provide for Joseph and Mary’s sudden trip to Egypt to escape death at Herod’s hands, so Jesus can also supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19).

*Please look up the following verses from the Old Testament, and say how the prophecy in that verse is fulfilled in this chapter:

*Micah 5:2 _____
*Hosea 11:1 _____
*Jeremiah 31:15 _____
*Matthew 2:23 _____