magi

Posted by David Whitten on December 18, 2011 under Featured Articles |

Magi

Matthew 2:1-12

Last week we started a series identifying the key figures in our Nativity. Last week we learned a little about shepherds. This week we are going to talk about the Magi and that will leave Mary and Joseph and The Christ child for Christmas.

Lets pick up with the Magi’s  entrance on the scene in our Christmas story

The Visit of the Magi

¹ After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east^[b] and have come to worship him.”

³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ^[c] was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶ “‘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 be the shepherd of my people Israel.’^[d]”

⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east^[e] went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ 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 and of incense and of myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

So who were these mysterious visitors?

Where do they come from?

How did they know about Jesus’ birth?

What’s the deal with this star and what’s up with these gifts they gave to the baby?

We read this story and we have questions.

So let’s take our time this morning and see what we can learn from the Magi

Who were these strange visitors?

The Magi, are called by different names through the years. We sing a song  written by rev. Henry Hopkins titled “we three kings” we have sung this song for years and so every nativity has these three visitors, these “kings”. The funny thing is that these men were not kings nor was it likely there were only three visitors from the orient. We number them as three because of the three Gifts they presented.

These men weren’t kings but advisors to kings they were wise men who’s counsel was sought out by kings because of their knowledge of many things. They were called magi because they were known to read the stars in order to tell the future they were a mystical people.

You get a good example of who these people in the book of Daniel. In fact some of the Jews who were carried off in to exile to babylon  were chosen to serve the king and would be trained to serve as advisors and “wisemen”.

Dan 1:3-4 “Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring in some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility— ⁴ young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the language and literature of the Babylonians”

Among those chosen were Daniel and our friends who were thrown in to the Firey Furnace

Dan 1:6-7  ⁶ Among these were some from Judah: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. ⁷ The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.

In Daniel 2 we see that King Nebuchadnezzar has a bad dream. Now because of this dream we get insight of one way these wisemen were used in the kings service.

The king has this dream so he called all his advisors and they are listed in Daniel 2:2 ² “So the king summoned the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and astrologers^[a] to tell him what he had dreamed.”

This collection of men were known to be the Kings “Wise Men”. They were his advisors. If the king has a question for them they would answer him after consorting together. The magicians would do their magic to create illusions and give validly to their message, the enchanters would conger up spirits of the dead to get their answers the sorcerer would mix up potions speak some spell to bring about some mirical the astrologers would read the stars to give their answer. The astrologers would use the placements in the heavenly bodies and interpret them. It is widely assumed by the articles I have read about our Magi in the Christmas story that the men who followed the star that night were astrologers. We will return to that thought in a moment.

As you remember in the story in Daniel. The king has this dream and he wants his “Wiseman” to interpret it for him. But there is a twist. He wants them to first tell him what he dreamed then tell him what it means.

The Wiseman, the astrologers in particular respond to the kings impossible request in dan 2:10-11 “¹⁰ The astrologers answered the king, “There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. ¹¹ What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men.”

This makes the king angry and he decides to kill all the” Wiseman” including our friend Daniel. So Daniel summons his friends  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to pray and ask God to show him the kings dream and give him the interpretation of the dream. And God did.

Daniel then finds an audience before the king in the eleventh hour and tells the king his dream and gives interpretation of the dream. The result is that God is glorified and the lives of these Wiseman are saved. Daniel is given high position in the kingdom as the chief advisor.

It is thought that Daniel had a signifant influence in the training of these advisors and included the teaching of his people and His God. Along with the prophecies and laws of Yahweh.

This where these wise men are believed to have come from. Along with the knowledge of God’s promise of a savor and King they were apparently given some external sign of a star or some other heavenly body which moved across the sky and they followed it. It appeared at a certain time and moved from where they were in the east (most likely in the Tigris Euphrates river valley some 500 miles east of Jerusalem).

Some bible scholars suggest that the star or heavenly body appeared the night that the Christ was born. The astrologers saw it that night and followed it to Jerusalem then in to Bethlehem. This explains why it took so long for them to arrive. It would have taken quite some time to traverse 500 miles over the desert to get to this new born king.

The wismen was asked by Herod the exact time the star appeared and from that information Herod gives orders to kill every child in Bethlehem and in the vicinity two years old and younger. It is assumed that Jesus at the time of the Wisemans arrival could be as old as 2 years old.

That bring us to where we are in our story

They Came to Jerusalem

These Wiseman Arrive in Jerusalem asking a question apparently assuming the general population had an answer to when and where their king was born… imagine their thought process at this moment. The Jews have in their prophecies that their king is going to be born and they don’t know.

Apparently after asking around someone brings them to their king which is Herod the sitting “King of the Jews” the visit created quite a stir in the city

1. This band of Wiseman often would travel in a complete entourage not to mention asking around “where is he born king of the Jews. They all were Jews. This clearly made the people a little concerned. In v3 of our text it states that Herod was disturbed and all of Jerusalem with him.

They didn’t know Herod called together the chief priest and teachers of the law (while they were sleeping)  and they knew the prophecy but they weren’t expecting him…….really. they had great expectations of a deliver but they were some how blinded of his coming. They knew the scriptures concerning him they quoted from Micah

⁶ “‘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 be the shepherd of my people Israel.’

OT prophet reference in Micah 5:2

They had head knowledge of the coming Christ but their heart knowledge didn’t even kick in. it was as if they were sleeping…..

It’s as if they were sleeping   (click here to view video casting crowns “while you were sleeping)

Why they came:

We have come to worship him (dedication)

1. Over 500 miles
2. Looking watching for him and sought him out over 600 years waiting and watching
3. They knew what the Jewish leaders missed . Messiah was born.

Gifts of gold incense and myrrh

These gifts honor Jesus as King, Priest and Savior

What about you are you watching for him

Are you longing for a time to honor and worship him

Among the gifts you give this year will you look to offer him a gift that will honor him as your savior, your priest and King?

Wake up o sleeper

“Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”  Eph 5:14

May you know his coming is closer than it ever has before when he comes may hr find you watching and waiting to honor and worship.

don’t be found sleeping