(20 minutes)
Teacher Note: Today’s passage is Matthew 2:1-12. Encourage your students to find the passage in their Bibles. They will have several opportunities throughout the Bible Story Time to read verses from the passage.
Since the beginning of creation, God had been planning to send His one and only Son to rescue people from their sin. Why do we need Jesus to rescue us from sin? When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God in the Garden of Eden, they brought sin into the world. Since that time, all people have been born into sin and are separated from God. God cannot look at sin or allow sin to be in His presence. However, we cannot take our own sin away, and we cannot fight sin on our own. But God had a rescue plan for us. God promised Adam and Eve that He would send a Savior to defeat sin.
God also made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that a member of their family would be the One to rescue people from their sin and bring them back to God. Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon, and the prophets all trusted in God’s promise to send someone to deal with the problem of sin. However, God’s special people, the Jews, kept turning away from God and trusting in worthless idols. But none of these idols could free them from their sin. The Ten Commandments, the laws, the sacrifices, the prophets and kings, and even the great miracles they witnessed could not change the Jewish people’s hearts and free them from sin. The situation seemed hopeless, but God was always at work preparing to bring hope into the world in the form of a little baby.
The time had finally come for Jesus to be born. God’s great rescue plan had begun!
Ask student volunteers to read Matthew 2:1-2. Whom did the wise men say that Jesus was?
The wise men called Jesus “the king of the Jews.” These wise men were not Jewish. Since any non-Jewish people were called Gentiles, the wise men would have been called Gentiles too. Even though the wise men were not part of God’s chosen people, they noticed the special sign God placed in the sky to show the world that the Messiah had come. These wise men wanted to find the new King so that they could worship Him.
Have you ever seen or played with a manger scene? Many times, the wise men are standing with the shepherds who also came to see baby Jesus in the manger. However, the wise men did not actually see Jesus until He was a little older. Jesus may have been closer to two years old when the wise men found Him.
Ask a student volunteer to read Matthew 2:3-4. Why do you think the news of Jesus’ birth troubled King Herod?
Herod was a very jealous and suspicious king. He did not want anyone taking his throne from him. He questioned the wise men to find out where the baby who was called the King of the Jews had been born. He wanted to make sure that the baby did not try to take his throne away from him.
Ask student volunteers to read Matthew 2:5-6. Where was Jesus born?
What other king was born in Bethlehem? (Although Bethlehem was a small town, both David and Jesus were from the same town.)
Herod made the wise men believe that he also wanted to worship and welcome the new king. However, Herod really wanted to kill Jesus. Herod sent the wise men on their way and told them to return to him once they had found the new king.
Ask student volunteers to read Matthew 2:9-10. Why were the wise men so joyful when they saw the star?
God used the star to lead the wise men to Jesus. Although these men were not part of God’s special people, God was still willing to lead them to Jesus.
God used these Gentiles to show us this truth—even though Jesus was born as a Jew and was called the King of the Jews, He came to rescue all people, not just the Israelites. Jesus came to be the King and Savior of all people everywhere.
Ask a student volunteer to read Matthew 2:11. What was the first thing the wise men did when they saw Jesus?
Ask a student volunteer to read Matthew 2:12. After the wise men worshiped Jesus, what were they warned not to do?
The wise men were not Jewish, and they most likely worshiped false gods. Yet these men were among some of the first people to recognize Jesus as the King of the Jews. Their story shows us that God sent His Son to save the entire world. The wise men saw what God’s own people could not—Jesus was born as the rightful King of the Jews and of all people and worthy of our worship. As the descendant of Abraham and David, Jesus was the Promised Offspring, the King who would reign forever, the One who would crush Satan. All of the prophecies in the Old Testament point to Jesus.
The birth of Jesus was the most extraordinary thing to happen to the world since God created all things. God Himself was born as a baby and would walk among His people! He would live a perfect life, die to take the punishment for our sin, and be raised from death to life to defeat sin and death once and for all. We must be careful not to miss the awesome truth of who Jesus is like the Jews did. Search the Bible to learn more about Jesus. When you discover His power and love, you will see that you are a sinner who needs forgiveness. You can ask for His forgiveness today and begin to worship Him for being your Rescuer and Savior.