Preacher: Pastor Tim Redfield
Date: January 3/6, 2019
Text: Matthew 2:1-12
When we think about the Wise Men, there is a lot of speculation about who they were and where they came from. The reason for this is that Scripture doesn’t give us many of the details. People wonder about the number. Were there 3 or 12 or more? Just because there were three gifts, that doesn’t mean that the number of people had to be three. Where were they from? I find it interesting that some nativity sets have them from three very different regions of the globe. I have seen three characters that appear to be from Africa, Europe, and Asia. There really isn’t a biblical reason to assume that the Wise Men were from three different countries. However, that does stress something about this festival of Epiphany. On Epiphany we focus on the fact that the gospel light is intended for people of all nations. As people living in a nation that is very far from Israel, Epiphany is a reminder that the gospel of salvation is for us. Today we focus on the light of the gospel and we are encouraged to be guided by that light.
- Look at the information we have
Besides the mystery of the Wise Men, there is also the mystery of the star. Some have attempted to offer possible solutions to the star and there are some interesting theories that you can find. Rather than digging into theories that are outside the realm of Scripture, I will point out 9 criteria that get mentioned in Matthew. The first three points are all in the same sentence, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?” First the star showed the Wise Men that an important child had been born. Second, they understood this child to be a king. And third, they knew that he was the king of the Jews.
A fourth point is revealed in the next sentence, “We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” From that point, we know that the Magi came from a region that was east of Israel. One of the possibilities is that the Wise Men came from the region of Babylon and Persia. This would be logical for a few reasons. It would help to explain how they knew about the Messiah of the Jews. If they did come from that region, they are probably descendants of the Wise Men who served King Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel. Those Wise Men are described as magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and astrologers. That information tells us that at the time of Daniel, those Wise Men studied the stars and looked for signs in the stars.
But how did they learn about the coming Messiah? Daniel could have been the one to tell them. When the Babylonian Wise Men couldn’t interpret the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar, God gave that ability to Daniel. After Daniel interpreted the dream recorded in Daniel chapter 2, King Nebuchadnezzar put him in charge of all the Wise Men in Babylon. When the Wise Men witnessed other miracles surrounding Daniel and his friends, they probably decided to pay close attention to what Daniel said. It is very possible that Daniel told them about the coming Messiah. Perhaps God gave a special revelation to Daniel about a star that would signify the Messiah and Daniel told it to the other Wise Men. Or perhaps God gave a special revelation to the Wise Men at the time of Jesus’ birth. Either way, these Wise Men understood that the star was pointing them to Israel for the birth of the Jewish king.
There is speculation about whether the star was a natural star in the sky or if it was a very special star that God created only for a limited time. So the question would be, is it a star that we still see in the sky that behaved strangely for a time or is it a star that burst into existence for a short time and then disappeared? While I can’t definitively answer that, I can say a few more criteria from the Matthew text. The fifth point is that Herod didn’t know about the star. This is interesting because we might assume that more people besides the Wise Men would have noticed this special star. Perhaps Herod did not have the same information as the Wise Men or perhaps the special way the star was behaving wasn’t noticeable from Jerusalem. He tried to find out more details from the Wise Men. They told him “the exact time the star had appeared.” The sixth point is that the star appeared at a specific time. If this was a star that we still see, then perhaps there was a specific time when it started behaving unusually. Herod used this information when he gave the order to kill all the boys who were two years old and younger. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the star appeared exactly two years before then. It was probably a few months short of that. Herod just wanted to be sure that he eliminated the threat to his throne.
The seventh point is that the star endured over a considerable amount of time. We can’t be specific about this time but you can think about it like this: The Wise Men saw the star. They were probably in Babylon. Perhaps they studied it for a little bit to verify it was the star they were looking for. Then they traveled to Jerusalem. They talked to Herod. Then they went to Bethlehem. Later Herod gave the order to kill the baby boys based on the information he had from the Wise Men.
Verse 9 tells us the last two points about the Star. It says, “After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was.” Point 8 is that the star guided them from Jerusalem to Bethlehem and then, point 9, it stopped over the place where the child was. Those are interesting points in that the star seemed to stop leading them for a bit when they were asking questions in Jerusalem and then it guided them once more. Then the star specifically stopped over the place where Jesus was. That is really strange that a star pointed to a specific location like that.
While all these points about the star are very interesting, I think it is enough to focus on the fact that the Wise Men were guided by this star to find Jesus. Still today, people need to be guided to Jesus. We don’t have the special star that the Wise Men had. We have a different kind of light for our guide. We have God’s Word. As it says in Psalm 119:105, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” We have the guidance of God’s Word to point us to Jesus. The light of the Word points us to the light of our salvation.
Even though we have the light of God’s Word, we are tempted to remain in darkness. We need to be careful about this because remaining in the darkness of sin is a way to drive God away from us. He mentions this in 1 John 1:5-6, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.” Sin is lurking in all of our hearts. Sin wants to take control of our hearts and separate us from God. Sin wants to behave like King Herod. Sin wants to attack and destroy the Christ-child. It can happen in all kinds of ways.
Sin tries to get us to stay away from God’s house of worship. Sin tries to make us think that there is something better to do with our time. Sin wants us to leave the Bible on the shelf. Sin doesn’t want us to see the light of God’s Word but rather sin wants us to get our ideas from the worldly philosophies that point away from the gospel. The darkness can easily ensnare us if we stay away from worship. Unfortunately, Satan has done a good job of putting the darkness of false teaching in many churches today. When we try to share the light of the law and gospel, people might not like what it says. Those same people might find another church that has part of the light mixed with the darkness of false teaching. They might follow that false teaching because it allows them to live how they want to live rather than living according to God’s Word. We need the guidance of the pure light of God’s Word. Just like the Wise Men, we need to be guided to Jesus.
- Rejoice, worship, and share the light
I think about the faith that we see from the Wise Men. If they were from Babylon, they traveled approximately 500 miles. Think about that, 500 miles to go to church. They followed an unusual star. They asked strangers for guidance. They saw it as an important task to find Jesus. Then when they found Jesus, they gave the best gifts. They gave him gold, frankincense and myrrh. These were royal gifts for a king.
The gospel light that we have in the Savior produces fruits of faith in our hearts. When we believe all that Jesus has done for us, it produces fruits like we see from the Wise Men. We want to be in God’s House. We are willing to travel to get here. We are willing to give God our best gifts.
I think about what David says in Psalm 122, “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” It is a joyful event to gather around our Savior. We want to spend time with the light of the gospel. If a fellow Christian invites us to worship, our response should be one of joy. We should basically exclaim, “I get the opportunity to celebrate God’s love for me through my Savior Jesus Christ, I’ll be there!”
Jesus reminds us that as believers we are the light of the world. We are this light because of him. We have the light of the gospel. We talk about God’s Word being the light that leads us to Jesus but the light is also Christians. We have the Word in our hearts. We can speak about Jesus. We can lead many to Jesus and then they too can know the joy of salvation that we have.
Conclusion
I enjoy looking at some of the speculation about the Wise Men. I admit that I am certainly curious about these people. However, I take much of the information I find with a grain of salt. It is interesting but if it goes beyond what we know from scripture, I wonder if it is actually true. Regardless of the ideas about the Wise Men, the important truth is that they were guided to Jesus. The light of the gospel truly is for the entire world. May God continue to guide us to the truth of his Word. May he keep us in the gospel light in a world that is tainted by the darkness of sin. After we have been guided, may we help others to see the light of the gospel.