Three Kings?

Christmas is almost over.

Today is the 11th day of Christmas.

There are 12 days of Christmas, from December 25th to January 5,

and then January 6th is the Festival of Epiphany

The Celebration of the wise Men.

Somehow as Christmas became Commercialized they ended up getting lumped in with everyone else at Christmas.

But the Wise men or Magi did not show up for probably about a year after Jesus was born.

In Fact there are a lot of assumptions about the wise men that are not found in scripture.

We do not know their names.

We do not know how many there were.

We do not know if they had camels.

we do not know if they were Kings - they probably were not.

So where do these assumptions come from? and What do we actually know about the Magi?

Matthew 2:1–2 ESV

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, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

Lets start with what we know:

the text calls them “wise men” or “magi” from the east.

They have come to Worship the new king of the Jews because of a star that they have seen.

But what are Magi?

Magi is a term from ancient Persia,

and while it comes from Magus - and is tied to our word Magician, the magi did not practice magic.

They were advisors to kings skilled in the interpretation of dreams, prophetic omens, and of signs in the night sky.

And we actually have a couple of Old Testament examples of Magi.

Daniel 2:1–2 ESV

In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has a dream, and like any good Babylonian king he summons his Magicians - his magi - to interpret the dream.

Now to make a long story short, they are unable to interpret the dream, and Nebuchadnezzar threatens to kill them all.

Daniel 2:24–28 ESV

Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.” Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus to him: “I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.” The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?” Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream and the visions of your head as you lay in bed are these:

Daniel prays to receive the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and God revealed it to him, and So Daniel comes with the interpretation,

and nebuchadnezzar responds

Daniel 2:46–48 ESV

Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.” Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

So after Nebuchadnezzar learns that Daniel was correct in his interpretation, he sets Daniel up as Chief over the wise men (Magi) of Babylon.

And Daniel remained in that post after Babylon collapsed and Persia took over.

And though he was never trained by magi in their rules and traditions, apparently some of his teachings among them were preserved for nearly 500 years.

Because when Jesus was born, the Magi recognized the signs, and came to worship him.

Now why did the Magi recognize that a star meant the birth of the King of the Jews?

Well, because it was predicted, all the way back in Numbers.

In one of the Oracles of Balaam,

the guy who had a talking donkey

who was hired by Moab to curse Israel,

But God forbade him from pronouncing curses on Israel, and instead he could only speak blessings.

And in his final oracle he says

Numbers 24:17–19 ESV

I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth. Edom shall be dispossessed; Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed. Israel is doing valiantly. And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion and destroy the survivors of cities!”

He Speaks of a Star Coming from Israel, a person who will have dominion over His enemies, so a King, heralded by a star, but in Balaam’s days these events are still far off.

But about 1400 years later, the Magi see a star, rising over Judea, which means the kings that was once Far off had now come.

And so they head to the place where they would expect the king to be born, Jerusalem

and King Herod is there, who was notoriously paranoid about people trying to take his throne,

Which is already precarious, Herod is not a jew, he is an Idumean, an Edomite, but he was granted kingship over the Jews by Caesar.

He had previously murdered three of his own sons and one of his wives because he thought they were plotting against him, now the magi arrive asking about the new King of the Jews.

Matthew 2:3–8 ESV

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”

So Herod meets with the magi, and learns when they first saw the star, and says “Well go find the king, so that i might worship him as well”

And Herod has no intention of worshipping the messiah.

Matthew 2:9–12 ESV

After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 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. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

The Magi leave for Bethlehem, and the see the star again, pointing the way to Bethlehem.

and they come to Mary and Joseph’s house

They are not in the stable anymore.

and they give Jesus three gifts,

Gold - a gift for kings.

Frankincense - Used in the temple by the priests

and Myrrh - a fragrant preservative.

In this they declared Jesus

The King of Kings

the Great High Priest

and the Atoning Sacrifice for our Sins

These Foreigners, who came from distant lands, who were probably rased within pagan customs, recognized who Jesus far better than most of the Jews.

It is because of these three gifts that we assume there were three magi.

and then after being warned in a dream, they return to their country by another route.

Meanwhile Joseph is warned in a dream to flee to Egypt,

a journey during which they will probably spend most of the gold and Frankincense and Myrrh

Matthew 2:16–18 ESV

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

When Herod sees that the Magi are not returning, he has all the baby boys in Bethlehem ages 2 and under killed.

So it seems it took the magi at least a year, and nearly two, to recognize the stars significance, buy their gifts, and travel to Judea.

Their actual trip would have taken 3-4 months.

Which means they spent the bulk of that first year digging into the Scriptures to learn about who this newborn king was going to be.

And that’s why they recognized who Jesus was when so few others would, because they looked into the scriptures and saw it all.

Church to truly see who Christ is, we got to look into the Scriptures,

and the Magi only had the Old Testament! We Have the Old and the New to point us towards Christ.

and when they finally came to worship their messiah, they worshipped him with Gold for the King of Kings, Frankincense for the Great High Priest, and Myrrh for the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.