Praise the Lord for this new year full of our Lord's promises, paved with His
amazing grace, unending love, and fathomless mercy. It is great thrill to know
that Jesus is the center of History. He is the Alpha and Omega. The future
belongs to those who belong to Jesus Christ.
The
Lord Blessed with wonderfully in His House with His people by His presence as we
joined untold millions around the corner and around the globe in worshiping the
Newborn King. In the church calendar it was the Epiphany Sunday yesterday, the
time of the coming of the Magi, the Wise Men to Jesus. “It was the best of
times. It was the worst of times.” With those words, Charles Dickens began his
epic novel, “A Tale of Two Cities.” Such words find a powerful echo in Mathews
account of the visitation of the Magi..
For the best of times, we are able to look to the story of the magi. Just few days ago, our thoughts were on Jesus in the manger. Then we found him visited by shepherds, men of little status whose working lives were such that they lacked the ritual cleanliness to be fully participating members of Israel’s religious life which meant in effect being outsiders. Now we read about the gentiles, the foreigners from far away country taking a journey to worship Jesus. Our Loving God makes every effort to reach every person who is far away from Him. In this case God used the star to reach pagan Gentile magician/astrologers in order to bring them to Christ.
The first mention of these wise men is when they arrive in Jerusalem, the Jewish capital. The book of Matthew says, “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 in the east and have come to worship him." The wise men were on a mission, to find the newborn king of the Jews and worship him. What is fascinating about these men, is what they have to teach us about how God makes every effort to reach every person no matter how far away they are from him.
For the best of times, we are able to look to the story of the magi. Just few days ago, our thoughts were on Jesus in the manger. Then we found him visited by shepherds, men of little status whose working lives were such that they lacked the ritual cleanliness to be fully participating members of Israel’s religious life which meant in effect being outsiders. Now we read about the gentiles, the foreigners from far away country taking a journey to worship Jesus. Our Loving God makes every effort to reach every person who is far away from Him. In this case God used the star to reach pagan Gentile magician/astrologers in order to bring them to Christ.
The first mention of these wise men is when they arrive in Jerusalem, the Jewish capital. The book of Matthew says, “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 in the east and have come to worship him." The wise men were on a mission, to find the newborn king of the Jews and worship him. What is fascinating about these men, is what they have to teach us about how God makes every effort to reach every person no matter how far away they are from him.
First, we have
to remember these wise men were likely Gentiles, not Jews, who had come seeking
the king of the Jews. The Jews thought the promised Messiah was for the Jews,
not the Gentiles. In fact, all the first followers of Christ were almost
exclusively Jewish. The Christ was supposed to deliver them from their sins. He
was supposed to deliver them from their oppressors, and yet the signal to the
wise men was that God was calling them as Gentiles to the Christ.
Second, they did not
even share the religion of the Jews; they were Magi, which was a combination of
a learned scientist and cultic astrologer. They knew science as well as magic.
They were the academia of their time, but they were still magician/astrologers,
which were practices God specifically had forbidden for his people.
This tells us that God never abandons anyone. There is never anyone too far gone. If God can reach pagan Gentile astrologers, he is still working on people who we may think are too far away from Him. God never gives up on anyone and he uses whatever means he can to help lead them to Christ. In this case God sent them a message using an astronomical event, a star, as a signal to them that they needed to search for the child born as king of the Jews. God used a language they understood. Perhaps if an angel had appeared to them as it had to the shepherds, it would have been misinterpreted, but God knew the best way to reach astrologers was through a star. God used the star as a way to bring the Magi to Christ.
Not everyone is raised in the church. Many don’t know church language, and they don’t understand their need to seek out Jesus. We are sometimes baffled as to why people do not participate in church. Many times it’s because they have no foundation, it was not part of their upbringing. They don’t know they are supposed to seek him, and so God comes in ways they can understand, making it relevant to them. God came in the flesh so that He could be like one of us. Think of a person whom you believe to be too far gone, someone you think will never come to Christ as their Savior. Remember that God continues to love them and is still working on them; He wants to bring them to Christ.
The Gentile kings found Christ and worshipped Him and offered to Him the gifts gold, frankincense and myrrh. They continued to remain open to God. God gave them a message in a dream. They were men whose job it was to interpret dreams, so God spoke to them again in a way they would understand, in a dream. They recognized this dream as a message from God and they obeyed. God instructed them not to go back to tell Herod, because God knew that Herod was making plans to try to kill this King of the Jews.
God wants us to be open to the leading of his Holy Spirit. He may not always lead throug a dream, but God still speaks to us in other ways, such as through Scripture and through prayer, to lead us away from danger and to stay focused on his plan.
This tells us that God never abandons anyone. There is never anyone too far gone. If God can reach pagan Gentile astrologers, he is still working on people who we may think are too far away from Him. God never gives up on anyone and he uses whatever means he can to help lead them to Christ. In this case God sent them a message using an astronomical event, a star, as a signal to them that they needed to search for the child born as king of the Jews. God used a language they understood. Perhaps if an angel had appeared to them as it had to the shepherds, it would have been misinterpreted, but God knew the best way to reach astrologers was through a star. God used the star as a way to bring the Magi to Christ.
Not everyone is raised in the church. Many don’t know church language, and they don’t understand their need to seek out Jesus. We are sometimes baffled as to why people do not participate in church. Many times it’s because they have no foundation, it was not part of their upbringing. They don’t know they are supposed to seek him, and so God comes in ways they can understand, making it relevant to them. God came in the flesh so that He could be like one of us. Think of a person whom you believe to be too far gone, someone you think will never come to Christ as their Savior. Remember that God continues to love them and is still working on them; He wants to bring them to Christ.
The Gentile kings found Christ and worshipped Him and offered to Him the gifts gold, frankincense and myrrh. They continued to remain open to God. God gave them a message in a dream. They were men whose job it was to interpret dreams, so God spoke to them again in a way they would understand, in a dream. They recognized this dream as a message from God and they obeyed. God instructed them not to go back to tell Herod, because God knew that Herod was making plans to try to kill this King of the Jews.
God wants us to be open to the leading of his Holy Spirit. He may not always lead throug a dream, but God still speaks to us in other ways, such as through Scripture and through prayer, to lead us away from danger and to stay focused on his plan.
Praise the Lord for the Wise Men, the Magi, who came to Jesus and worshipped
Him. They stand in the long history of those intellectuals, scientists, and
astrologers who made a long Journey to Jesus and have found Him to be their Lord
and Savior.
Bishop J. C. Ryle said of these men, “We read of no greater faith than this in all the Bible. It is a faith that deserves to be placed side by side with that of the penitent thief. The thief saw one dying the death of a malefactor and yet prayed to him and called him ‘Lord.’ The wise men saw a newborn babe on the lap of a poor woman, and yet they worshipped him and confessed that he was the Christ.”
In Christ,
Bishop J. C. Ryle said of these men, “We read of no greater faith than this in all the Bible. It is a faith that deserves to be placed side by side with that of the penitent thief. The thief saw one dying the death of a malefactor and yet prayed to him and called him ‘Lord.’ The wise men saw a newborn babe on the lap of a poor woman, and yet they worshipped him and confessed that he was the Christ.”
In Christ,
Brown
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