Story Of The Wise Men Series

Christmas Stories Series:

Take a look at some of the stories that surround the birth of our Savior...

Isaiah 60:1-6 (Approx 700 BC)

1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.

2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.

3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.

4 Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.

5 Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.

6 The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries (young camel) of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense (frank); and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD.

Israel knew this prophecy of their coming Messiah King - it was written to them approximately 700 BC

Matthew 2:1-12

1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold , there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled , and all Jerusalem with him.

4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together , he demanded of them where Christ should be born.

5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet,

6 And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor , that shall rule my people Israel.

7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, enquired of them diligently what time the star appeared .

8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said , Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again , that I may come and worship him also.

9 When they had heard the king, they departed ; and, lo , the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was .

10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.

11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down , and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

12 And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.

Introduction:

The story of the wise men is a story that is a mysterious story. From the traditions of Christmas songs and stories we seem to know all the facts and details of the Wise Men.

But as we really look the scripture we find that there are a lot of questions we can not answer about the wise men from the Biblical text.

For example:

How many were there? Tradition says 3. But we don’t really know.

Where did they come from? We don’t know.

How long did their journey take? We don’t know.

They seem to just show up mysteriously

And just as mysteriously they are gone.

But the story of The Wise Men is recorded to teach us some very valuable lessons about seeking the Lord...

1. The Wise Men Were Paying Attention

1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold , there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him

We have seen His star

What separated them right off the bat is that they saw the star!

Verse 3 tells us that when Herod & Jerusalem heard this they were troubled.

So that means plain and simply they didn’t even see the star.

The Magi did not know the God of Abraham but they knew that something extraordinary was happening.

They began to follow this star and somewhere along the way they got clued into the prophecy and of Isaiah and