40-06 Magi Visit the King

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Matthew 2:1-2

We’re back in GMatt after taking a couple of weeks off. As we enter another Christmas season—it truly is a profound blessing to spend our time digging into Matthew’s account of the Lord’s incarnation.
The Incarnation of the Son of God was one of the greatest events in all the created universe (if not THE greatest). And yet, we know that the birth of Jesus, the birth of the King of kings, the birth of the God-Man, was not known to all mankind but was revealed only to a very few selected individuals. The first group were the lowly shepherds of Bethlehem. These were not men of great learning but when angels appeared to them in the night sky, they hurried to the place where they found the baby lying in a manger and they rejoiced and returned to their fields, glorifying and praising God for all they had just encountered. Now, God did not reveal this humble birth to the Scribes and chief priests (these were the ones Herod gathered and inquired as to where the Messiah was to be born). Now they are only 6 miles away and though they searched the Scriptures to discover that Bethlehem was to be the location, they knew nothing of the arrival of the long-promised Messiah.
What a remarkable thing God’s grace truly is.
1 Corinthians 1:27–29 NASB95
27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29 so that no man may boast before God.
God also chose to reveal the birth of a new King to certain men who traveled from the far east because they understood the significance of something that had been revealed to them at an earlier time. Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus—revealed to those who were most unexpected is written to show that Jesus is Lord of all peoples—and all are invited to respond as the magi respond “we…have come to worship Him” (vs 2).
Thanks to John Henry Hopkins, Jr, we have a strong impression that there were 3 kings from the orient (1857) who brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Nativity scenes feature them wearing elaborate robes and riding on camels.
Marvin Vincent

Many absurd traditions and guesses respecting these visitors to our Lord’s cradle have found their way into popular belief and into Christian art. They were said to be kings, and three in number; they were said to be representatives of the three families of Shem, Ham, and Japhet, and therefore one of them is pictured as an Ethiopian; their names are given as Caspar, Balthasar, and Melchior, and their three skulls, said to have been discovered in the twelfth century by Bishop Reinald of Cologne, are exhibited in a priceless casket in the great cathedral of that city.

The account of Jesus’ birth has several features that leave us with more questions than answers—things that we simply do not/ cannot know (much of it covered by the fog of tradition):
The day of Jesus’ birth (trad. 12/25). I have no doubt that it wasn’t on the 25th (shepherds were in the field—speaks more of springtime)
We don’t know with certainty much about these magi (number, names, how they arrived, where they are from, when they arrived)
We don’t know about the star they saw in the east
This morning, I’d like to visit the identity and inquiry of the magi and while their background remains somewhat uncertain, we see them as forerunners of those far-off who seek to worship JC. Their response is instructive to all of us.

I. The Identity of the Magi

Important to recognize that Mt is writing to an audience that understood his reference to the magi. This is why he doesn’t lay out a detailed description about these mysterious visitors. The audience would have known who these were and understood the reference that they came from the east. So Mt doesn’t need to explain it further. But we can glean some insight from the term “magi.”
Gk magos has several different nuances:
Member of Persian priestly class
Magician (eng. derived/magic)
Deceiver/seducer
In Acts 13 these 2 meanings are brought together in a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus
Acts 13:6–10 NASB95
6 When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, 7 who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the magician (for so his name is translated) was opposing them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, 10 and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?
Generally “possessor and user of supernatural knowledge and ability”
This last seems to most accurately describe the group of men known as “wise men” or magi. The magi were experts in astrology, and had special wisdom in reading the stars. They were able to interpret dreams and had other occultic abilities. Now, if you doubt the reality of occultic power you should understand that the OT recognizes those powers. But thruout the OT Israel is consistently forbidden to dabble in any form of magic.
Deuteronomy 18:10–14 NASB95
10 “There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, 11 or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. 12 “For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. 13 “You shall be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 “For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.
Israel would encounter these various practices in the nations that were around them but the Lord called them to holiness, blamelessness—to not be like the other nations. Though this prohibition rested on Israel, there were those who were not Israelites who were known to practice such things. There are many scholars who have taken up the challenge of identifying the Magi and from their studies we can conclude several features about these mysterious visitors.

A. The Origin of the Magi

Magi appear to date from about 7th C BC where they were part of a tribe in the Median nation east of the land of Canaan (S of Caspian Sea). Gk Historian Herodotus writes that the magi were part of the priestly caste of Medes. He mentions that they conducted sacred rituals at the offering of sacrifices. Matthew only tells us that they arrived “from the east” (lit from the rising [of the sun]). So far from being specific, the direction from Jersualem is very broad and could be generally everything that was eastward from the promised land. Abraham traveled from the east (NE in Mesopotamia). Persia is also east as is Arabia (SE). Beyond Persia would be the realm of the far east—including the modern regions of Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and even India.
Remember the song? We 3 kings of orient are… orient is from an old Latin term oriens “from the rising.” So the direction of these visitors is accurate—only that virtually everything east of Jerusalem could be included.

B. The Beliefs of the Magi

It seems that they were initially priests in an ancient form of Parsi known as Zoroastrianism. This was the official religion of Persia, established by a sage named Zarathustra (Zoroaster Gk name). When he lived is debated some say as early as 1400 years before Christ, others say 6th century but they agree that he was a moral man, suffered persecution for his beliefs, and was assassinated while worshiping at an altar. He propounded the theory “He is best who is pure of heart!”
He taught the worship of god Ahura Mazda (god of good works and ethical actions). He also taught that darkness and death were represented by the archdemon Angra Mainyu. The whole universe was divided b/t these 2 cosmic forces.
Thomas DeWitt Talmage explains the practice of Zoroastrianism:
500 Selected Sermons: Volume 16 (The Better Heathenism)
that the Parsee must be born on the ground floor of the house, and must be buried from the ground floor; that the dying man must have prayers said over him and a sacred juice given him to drink; that the good at their decease go into eternal light, and the bad into eternal darkness; that having passed out of this life the soul lingers near the corpse three days in a paradisiac state, enjoying more than all the nations of earth put together could enjoy, or in a pan-demoniac state suffering more than all the nations put together could possibly suffer, but at the end of three days departing for its final destiny; and that there will be a resurrection of the body.
They are more careful than any other people about their ablutions, and they wash and wash and wash. They pay great attention to physical health, and it is a rare thing to see a sick Parsee. They do not smoke tobacco for they consider that a misuse of fire. At the close of mortal life the soul appears at the Bridge Chinvat where an angel presides, and questions the soul about the thoughts and words and deeds of its earthly state. Nothing, however, is more intense in the Parsee faith than the theory that the dead body is impure. A devil is supposed to take possession of the dead body. All who touch it are unclean, and hence the strange style of [funeral rites].”
The name Zoroaster means “worshiper of the stars.” It was believed that the magi had a remarkable ability of intuition, knowledge of wisdom, astrology, agriculture, mathematics, history and the occult.

C. The Abilities of the Magi

Magi were advisors to the kings, interpreting dreams and otherwise divining wisdom thru their practice of magic/occult. We can clearly see the demonic involvement in that false religion.
In Daniel’s time, the magi had strong influence in the Babylonian empire. Nebuchadnezzar assembled the wise men around himself very gifted men. Jeremiah (39:3) mentions Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag or chief magi in Nebuchadnezzar’s court.
Jeremiah 39:3 NASB95
3 Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sar-sekim the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.
In 605 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem and captured the choice young men in whom he found extraordinary wisdom including Daniel, Shadrach…
Thru remarkable events, Nebu had a dream that troubled him but he forgot it. He ordered:
Daniel 2:2 NASB95
2 Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.
They said—tell the dream to your servants and we’ll give you the interpretation. That’s pretty convenient isn’t it? If you’re quick on the draw—you’ll come up with a fantastic story in a hurry. Nebu wouldn’t have it though:
Daniel 2:5–6 NASB95
5 The king replied to the Chaldeans, “The command from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap. 6 “But if you declare the dream and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.”
When they couldn’t reveal it to him, He ordered his wise men (magi, soothsayers, even Daniel) killed. Daniel then prayed to God, who revealed it along with its prophetic interpretation and he told it to the king. Nebu was so impressed:
Daniel 2:48 NASB95
48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
No doubt Daniel was a strong influence upon these men and had opportunity to teach them about the one true God. They likely would have learned a great deal about the Scriptures and prophecies relating to the Messiah. You can see this influence in their question, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?”
Matthew’s only description is “magi from the east arrived…” (vs 1). With no additional clarity, and recognizing that his audience understood the reference, we’re left to some speculation and inference that those in Daniel’s time were influenced by him and began to look for signs of the coming Messiah in the stars (possibly even being revealed to them as such).
Now, unlike the song, these were most likely not kings but of that priestly order, men who were devout, God-fearing Gentiles that were anticipating the arrival of the Messiah and looking to the stars to reveal to them when He had come.
Remember, Zoroaster means “worshiper of the stars” and his followers were keen on looking to the stars. This is dangerous. Now God warned Israel:
Deuteronomy 4:19 NASB95
19 “And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.
These magi had exchanged the old practice of star worship to worship the true God and somehow He revealed it to them that Christ had been born…whether that was thru study of the stars/planets or dreams, we don’t know, but God revealed it and they came to Jerusalem.

II. The Identity of the Star

In this account, I want to make a couple of observations about the star. This is one of the features that we simply don’t know precisely what it is that the magi saw.
They simply said “we saw His star in the east…” (vs 2). Now again, contrary to the song—they didn’t follow the star. They saw it in the east and travelled to westward. So they didn’t follow it as much as it appeared and they were looking for the sign and when they saw it…they set out on their journey to the west. The star then disappears while they are on the journey. Matthew doesn’t tell us directly that it disappeared…but notice the tense “we saw” (not “we see”) and at vs 7—Herod needed to know exactly when the star appeared—this will help him determine how old the child might be at this point.
And also vv 9-10.
It disappeared and re-appeared (and they rejoiced when it reappeared) once they had come to Jerusalem and then it moved and settled over the place where the child was. And they did not come to the manger but a house (vs 11)—and the only time frame we have is that the baby could have been born anytime over the last 2 years (since this is the age of children Herod raged against). So there is something clearly remarkable, extraordinary about the star.
The term in the Gk is aster which refers to any luminous body (other than the sun) visible in the sky, star, single star, planet, comet. Various scholars have proposed that this “star” was Jupiter (largest planet in our solar system). Some have insisted that it was a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn (coming together and visibly brighter). Others have suggested that it was the appearance of Halley’s Comet (appeared in 11-12 BC).
The only thing we can be certain about is that Scripture doesn’t tell us the precise nature of what the magi saw. Charles Spurgeon said, “we believe it to have been a luminous appearance in mid-air; probably akin to that which led the children of Israel thru the wilderness, which was a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.” If so, then what the magi saw (described as “His star” referring to Christ) could well have been the shekinah glory of God revealing to them something remarkable has happened. It would later take them directly to the house where the child was. It is the same glory that shone around the shepherds when the angel announced the birth of the Jesus.
We’re going to spend more time with the magi next week and see their response in contrast to those around them. They took upon themselves great risk and profound danger to travel (could have taken up to a couple of years to reach the child) b/c they recognized that the one who was born was King of the Jews. But Jesus is not King only of the Jews but His kingdom is for all.
The life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus attests to this truth that He is the propitiation for sins—the sins of the whole world (1Jn 2:2). You who have come to Him by faith—know this about Jesus—He is your King and to your King you must give every allegiance, for this is what He demands.
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