“And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.”
– Matthew 2:11
What a powerful picture here in Matthew 2:11. These wise men from the nations, influential, noble men from far away who come and bow at the feet of a baby. They fell down and worshiped him and opened up treasures and offered these gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh, gifts fit for a king. What a scene. This is amazing to think about. From the very beginning of Jesus’s life, the clear picture we have of this is no ordinary child, no ordinary baby. This is a king before whom nations will bow.
Matthew 2:11 Reminds Us to Praise Jesus
Jesus is Lord and will receive the praise He is due. May our lives be spent for the sake of Jesus being praised.
You can’t help but just to jump ahead in the New Testament, whether it’s to Philippians 2:9-11, that makes clear, “One day every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. Every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Like every one, every single person listening to this right now, every single person on the planet right now, every single ruler among the nations right now will one day bow and worship Jesus.
The reality that we see in the end of the Bible, in Revelation, when nations, tribes, tongues, people all gathered around the throne of God singing praises to Jesus for his salvation as our King. This is where all of eternity is headed, the nations bowing before Jesus, either for his salvation or experiencing condemnation in sin because they have not put their faith in Jesus.
Matthew 2:11 Leads Us to Bow Before Jesus
So in a fresh way, just want to plead with you right where you are listening to this right now, have you bowed the knee before Jesus as Lord? Sometimes people say, “Well, I have not decided to make Jesus Lord of my life.” You really don’t have a choice in the matter. Jesus is Lord of your life. The question is, will you bow the knee to his Lordship now? Or will you bow the knee to his Lordship when it is too late? I want to urge you to bow the knee to Jesus as Lord today if you have never done that. And if you have, then to live with this posture today before Jesus as Lord, and to live with zeal, to make his Lordship, his kingship, his worth and worship known among all the nations.
This Verse Leads Us to Thank God
So we pray, Oh God, we take our rightful place right now in prayer and bow before you as our Lord. Jesus, we bow before you as the King who is worthy of worship from all nations. We are glad to bow before you as Lord, just as these wise men rejoiced exceedingly with great joy as they came to see Jesus. We rejoice exceedingly with great joy right now to be able to call you our Lord. You are our loving Lord, our saving Lord, our kind and gracious and merciful and just Lord.
We exalt you, we worship you, we offer our lives as gifts before you. We pray that you would spend our lives under your Lordship making your worship known, making your worship known right where we live. God help us, help us today, tomorrow to speak about Jesus as Lord to other people who may have not bowed the knee to your Lordship. God, we pray that you would use us to lead other people to Jesus as Lord.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray for Indonesia
God, we pray for the nations. We pray for the North Sumatra Malay of Indonesia, two-plus million of them. Hardly any of them have ever bowed the knee to Jesus as Lord. Many of them have never even heard that Jesus is Lord. God change that, we pray. Cause the gospel to go to the North Sumatra Malay in Indonesia. God, we pray for the President of Indonesia, for Joko Widodo. We pray that you would bring him to bow the knee to you as Lord if he does not know you in this way. God, we pray this for every leader around the world, among every nation.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray for Our Leaders
God, we pray that President Trump would bow before you as Lord and submit to you as Lord in everything he does. God, we pray for the supremacy of Jesus to reign in President Trump’s heart. We pray this for leaders. We pray this for Kim Jong Un in North Korea. God, we pray this for president Xi in China. We pray this for Angela Merkel in Germany. God, we pray this for Boris Johnson in the United Kingdom. We pray this for the leader of every single nation in the world. They will one day bow before you, Jesus, as King. We pray that you would bring them to bow before you as King today, that you would cause them to lead and live under your Lordship.
Jesus, we confess together, you are the King of the nations; and before you, we gladly bow, and we pray spend our lives. We lay our lives before you. Spend us for the spread of your kingship, your worship right around us and among all the nations. We pray this in Jesus name, in the name of our Lord and King. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
