A New Year’s Grounded Ministry Series

A New Year’s Grounded Ministry

Catching the Truths to the Magi’s Gifts and Their Testimony

A look at the Bible in regard to the period after the birth of Jesus Christ, I see a time which shows the importance of providing for and protecting the Lord’s work.

The Bible says, “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi… asked, where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.” (Matthew 2:1-2)

At that time in history Herod called the Magi secretly and “found out the exact time the star had appeared.” (Matthew 2:7 NIV) According to the Word of God, Herod knew the Magi were referring to the Messiah. (Matthew 2:4) Herod understood from the time the Magi had seen the star of the new born king of the Jews - up to the time of their meeting, it had been around two years. It is very likely from the time the Magi saw the star to the time they spoke with Herod it had been a long period of time. (Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Mt 2:16). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.; Barclay, W. (Ed.). (1976). The Gospel of Matthew (Vol. 1, p. 37). Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster John Knox Press.)

We know what the Bible says about the killing of every male child in the vicinity of Bethlehem at that time period – the order was to murder all male children at the age of two and under. (Matthew 2:16)

I think it is good that the NIV, NASB95, and the NRSV Bibles say “the exact time” the star appeared. The Lexham English Bible says, “Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and* determined precisely from them the time when* the star appeared.” The English Standard Version says, “When Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.” The Greek word for “ascertained” (????ß?? akribóo) means, “to know… accurately, to inquire accurately.” (Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.) The Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon tells us the Greek word means “to know accurately, to do exactly.”

It is not out of line for a born-again theologian whom has done the work of proper exegesis of Scripture to say it is very likely the Magi showed up at the “house, they saw the Child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and worshiped Him.” (Matthew 2:11) two years later after Jesus’ conception.

The Greek word for house (????a oikía) means a house, a dwelling. In many New Testament verses the Greek word (????a oikía) is most often used when referring to an actual house. (Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.; Thomas, R. L. (1998). New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries : updated edition. Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc.) (Matt. 2:11; 5:15; 7:24–27; 8:6, 14; 9:10, 23, 28; 10:12, 14; 12:29; 13:1, 36, 57; 17:25; 19:29; 24:17; 26:6; Mark 1:29; 2:15; 3:25, 27; 6:10; 7:24; 9:33; 10:10, 30; 13:15, 34; 14:3; Luke 4:38; 5:29; 6:48, 49; 7:6, 37, 44; 8:27, 51; 9:4; 10:5, 7, 38; 15:8, 25; 17:31; 18:29; 22:10, 11, 54; John 11:31; 12:3; Acts 4:34; 9:11, 17; 10:6, 17, 32; 11:11; 12:12; 16:32; 17:5; 18:7; 1 Cor. 11:22; 1 Tim. 5:13; 2 Tim. 2:20; 3:6; 2 John 1:10; Sept.: Gen. 19:4; Ex. 1:21) The Greek word for child (pa?d??? paidíon) literally a little child, male or female. This is usually the Greek word used when describing a young child. (Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.; Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.; Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon. Woodside Bible Fellowship.)

At this point of time, we are now past the time of the year about remembering the birth of Jesus Christ to get more involved in the work of the Lord, we are now to be about our Father, God’s business, like Jesus was when His mother Mary and Joseph found our Lord in the Temple “listening to the teachers” of God’s word, asking questions. (Luke 2:41-51)

First: A grounded ministry begins with a seeking the Lord, sometimes for a long season. The Magi were studiers and according The Lexham Bible Dictionary they “represent humans of all ages, from all continents, giving gifts appropriate to royalty, divinity and death.” (Morrison, M. D. (2016). Melchior. In J. D. Barry, D. Bomar, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, D. Mangum, C. Sinclair Wolcott, … W. Widder (Eds.), The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.) If these men were from Persia, the land that was once called the Babylonian Empire, the place where the Jews were held in captivity for seventy years. It is very likely these educated men would have come across some writings from God fearing Hebrews. There is no such thing as coincidences, only God's full controlling hand. It is safe to assume, these men may have came across writings like what is found in the Book of Numbers, Balaam's prophecy, "A star will come out of Jacob, a scepter will rise out of Israel." (Numbers 24:17)