Christmas According To The Wise Men 2023 Series

Wise Men Still Seek Him

Matthew 2:1-12

Pastor Jefferson M. Williams

Chenoa Baptist Church

12-17–2023

White Christmas

Let’s start this morning with a trivia question. What’s the number one-selling Christmas song of all time?

You’re right! “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby is not only the best-selling Christmas song of all time but it is the best-selling single of all time, selling over 50 million copies!

What’s the number one most-recorded Christmas carol of all time? 733 artists, including Bing Crosby, have recorded “Silent Night” since 1978! That’s nearly twice as much as the second-place song, “Joy to the World.”

In the last 15 years, what has been the most digitally downloaded song? Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” is number one by a landslide. By the way, this song was voted Illinois’ favorite Christmas song.

Sixty-five years ago, Brenda Lee recorded, “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree.” Last week, it dethroned Mariah’s song as the number one song on the Billboard’s top 100!

Travis and Jason Kelce band, the Phili Special’s Christmas album is climbing the charts. That may be due to the Swift effect!

What are the most hated Christmas songs? In a recent poll, these are the top five most hated Christmas songs:

Christmas Shoes by NewSong

Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney

Do They Know It’s Christmas Time? By Bandaid

The Chipmunk Song by Alvin and the Chipmunks

Dominick the Donkey by Lou Monte

They got one of the songs on this list wrong because “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” is pure genius.

We were at a beach in Michigan last year and the family behind us had a teenage girl that sang, “Last Christmas” by Wham over and over again. She only knew the first stanza. Everyone on the beach wanted to strangle her!

By the way, are you playing “Whamageddon?” It started December 1 and when you hear “Last Christmas” you are out of the game.

A DJ in England had to apologize for playing the song during a soccer match, effectively eliminating thousands from the competition.

Many of the Christmas songs we sing now are classics and remind you of Christmases gone by but the words are theologically off.

Silent Night, Holy Night, All is Calm, All is Bright - I’ve been present for the birth of my two children and I can tell you that it was anything but quiet. (I felt her pain)

Away in a manger says, “No crying He makes.” Jesus was a normal baby and I guaranteed that he cried if woke up next to a cow!

I Saw Three Ship”. - Bethlehem is landlocked. This song is nonsense.

Mary, Did you know? Yes, she knew. The angel told her!

* Little Drummer Boy - don’t you think that Mary took that kid’s drumsticks away from him?

We Three Kings of Orient are - that entire line is wrong. I’ll prove it.

If you have a Bible with you, turn with me to Matthew 2.

Prayer

Wise Men Seek Him

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and 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)

We are told that this happened in the time of Herod so we know it was about 6 BC because Herod died in 4 B.C. [By the way, this means that Jesus was born about 5 BC].

Who were these men? Scripture calls them “Magi.” These were a spiritually elite group that surrounded the throne in Babylon, not in the Orient.

They are a very old sect, dating back to Abraham. When the Israelites were deported to Babylon, Daniel and his three friends were taken into the palace. Daniel is listed as the head of the Magi.

They worshipped one god, (but not Yahweh), they had an altar with an eternal flame, and they would make animal sacrifices.

They studied astronomy, astrology, mathematics, and history and they were highly influential.

They are not kings but king-makers. If someone was going to be a ruler in Persia they had to master the knowledge of the Magi and the Magi had to approve them for leadership.

These men traveled between 800 and 1,000 miles and stopped in Jerusalem to ask for directions, another Christmas miracle.

There was a nativity scene in front of a church down south and a northern visitor asked why the wise man had on fire hats.

One of the ladies was indignant and asked if he had ever read this Christmas story. She pulled out her Bible and read from Matthew 2 that the wise men had come from afar (fire),

How many were there? We have no idea. Because of the song, many people believe there were three - even given names - Casper, Melchior, and Balthasar.