Christmas Providence in the the Magi Story

Matthew 2:1-12

The Lexham English Bible Chapter 2

2 Now after* Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star at its rising and have come to worship him.” 3 And when* King Herod heard it,* he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him, 4 and after* calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired from them where the Christ was to be born. 5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet,

6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,

for from you will go out a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”

7 Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and* determined precisely from them the time when* the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and* said, “Go, inquire carefully concerning the child, and when you have found him, report to me so that I also may come and* worship him.” 9 After* they listened to the king, they went out, and behold, the star which they had seen at its rising led them until it came and* stood above the place where the child was. 10 Now when they* saw the star, they rejoiced with very great joy. 11 And when they* came into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and* worshiped him. And opening their treasure boxes, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route.

Christmastime is the season of festivities over many places in the world. From decorations, dinners, church programs and gift giving there are an unlimited amount of options. This involves a tremendous amount of planning to make sure everything is perfect. Here in the United States, we take holiday preparations to the highest level and much of it not related to the central message of Christmas.

Two observations when I read this passage.

In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, Jesus clearly speaks about those who were wise and those who not. Ironically the Magi were called Wise Men by some Medieval writers and commentators, but the term wise is just coincidental.

Matthew 25:1-2

The Lexham English Bible Chapter 25

Then the kingdom of heaven may be compared to ten virgins who took their lamps and* went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were foolish and five were wise.

Verse 1 of Matthew clearly states these as being wise. It said that they had seen the star in the East. These men (assumably more) had been watching the skies. Why were they able to not only ascertain that this star was important but also connect the dots and see that it represented the birth of the King of the Jews?

The Christmas story is not original to the Gospels, but it was something predicted since the garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 3. In verse 15 The Lord says the following to Adam and Eve after they had disobeyed Him:

The Lexham English Bible Chapter 3

15. And I will put hostility

between you and between the woman,

and between your offspring and

Even though Adam and Eve committed the worlds largest transgression that affected all of humanity for all generations, the Lord was not paralyzed by this and provided the clear answer to humanity's needs. A promised offspring, a child, the Messiah.

Since that time, there has been an ongoing war waged against the bloodline of that Messiah to stop it from being fulfilled. Abraham doubted and went with Hagar ignoring the promise of God to give him a son through Sarah. Pharoah was used to try and wipe out the Israelites in Egypt, but God provided the Exodus. Israel abandoned God and served idols, but God kept a remnant. The Assyrians the Babylonians forcibly removed the Israelites from their homeland because they abandoned Yahweh, but God remembered His promise at the Garden. Gods love and faithfulness thrived.

In the Book of Daniel, the breadcrumbs stand out boldly. Here God raised up a young man named Daniel. Daniel forcibly removed from his home is Jerusalem and taken from his parents could have blamed God for his situation and served other gods like most of his fellow captives. But not only did he not abandon his faith, he stood up against a tyrant and challenged him. Because of this mans determination to remain faithful even when his life was on the line, God elevated him to positions of authority. One of those position was becoming chief of the wise councilors, (Magicians or Magi), in all of Babylon and eventually Persia.

Here is where the the dots connect to Matthew chapter 2. God spoke to Daniel in man powerful prophetic dreams and visions about future events. These are recorded in chapter 2, 4, 7-12 of the book of Daniel. Here is the cool part. As head of the Wise Men, he would have been in position to influence these men to become devout followers of God themselves. Looking at the testimony of Daniel, seeing how God preserved him, how could his faith not noticed and admired? And if he lead some of these men to follow Yahweh, then He was able to raise up those who would read the prophetic dream accounts that Daniel had seen and begin to watch the signs.

In Daniels dream, he foretold of certain kingdoms rising and falling. These markers and the timeline of the 70 weeks gave accurate clues to the coming the a great event. These men only had to wait and watch. Years became decades and decades become centuries. But on cue, the sign appeared, the star.

These men were also expert Astronomers and knew the predicable [patterns in the sky. But something new appeared in the night sky and they recognized it as something wonderful. These men were prepared!

In contrast, we can see that when the Magi arrived in Jerusalem, it created quite the panic. Their visit appears to be have caught the King and religious leaders off-guard. If fact, Harod had to ask the scribes to give the location of the birth of the Messiah. What is obviously apparent is that the celestial event that was tacking place had completely been ignored or at least not considered important enough to be considered.

I believe the reason why these group of men had completed missed seeing this obvious sign was that they were too consumed with the politics of the day. Forty years prior, the Parthian empire ruled Palestine and Syria and only through military victory of Mark Antony and the Roman legions, Palestine was ruled by Rome. In support of this new overlords, Herod, betrayed the existing leaders, the Hasmonaeans, and was appointed King of the Jews by Romans. During this 30 year rule, Herod the Great as he eventually become known as, was constantly worried that his fragile hold of the kingdom of Palestine would easily slip from his greedy hands.

During this time of Herods rule, there rose many so-called Messiah figures claiming that they were appointed to remove the rule of Rome and restore the Kingdom of David. As quickly as they came to power, they were just as quickly put down and killed.

So when the Magi arrived from the East, most likely from Parthia, Herod was very unsettled. He saw the claim to His throne being challenged when that asked to find the King of Jews. Herod was the King of Jews, right? Also if Parthia was asking for a new king, were also threatening the roman rule over {Palestine. Were they preparing to take Palestine back for themselves. Of course this was totally unexpected and un-nerving for Herod.

So between internal revolts to Herods own rule, Magi asking about a new king, and the possibility of a Parthian invasion, it is easy to see why Herod was a little disturbed.

In the Parable, the wise virgins were seeking after the return of the Groom and had prepared themselves with enough oil for His return, whereas the foolish one became preoccupied by the cares of the world and became too busy to realize that they were not prepared. Subsequently when the Groom arrived they were forced to find oil and in their search missed the Grooms arrival.

In Matthew’s Magi narrative, the Magi were prepared and had been preparing for sometime. But the ones who ought to had been prepared, the very keepers of the promises of God missed what God had prophesied many year prior.

How can we apply this to each of us? Life is complicated. We are constantly bombarded with questions, problems. Life just gets messy and we can easily miss God and He salvation.

Look at the story of the Samaritan woman. Married 5 times, that means she was divorced at least 4 times. Her 5th marriage appeared to be in question since she was living with a man who wasn't her husband. Here she is gathering water in the middle of the day, as task that was usually accomplished in the mornings. She was probably a woman of scandal in this city, had few friends, and was probably very lonely.

She met Jesus while gathering water and He started asking her questions. Initially she deflected Jesus and his questions and focused more on some spiritual overtones that created hostility between the Jews and Samaritans. But then she realized something. Jesus really knew her.

Its easy to miss Jesus in our lives. Life will never get easier. But learning to be prepared for Him insures we don't miss Him. We do this by taking time with Him daily. Psalm 46:10 says to “be still, and know that He is God” . Psalm 37:3-9 says to trust, delight, commit, rest, wait on the LORD. It is in this posture of waiting and humbling ourselves, even when life is chaotic, we find that we can receive the greatest gift of all. Knowing His heart and being ready.

The Magi and the five wise virgins, were ready and received their reward. Whereas the King and religoius leaders in Jerusalem and the five foolish virgins were not prepared.

Be prepared, be ready.