Introduction:
A. I like the old joke that asks the question: What would have happened if it had been three wise women rather than three wise men who followed the star to Bethlehem?
1. Answer: They would have asked for directions, arrived on time, and helped deliver the baby.
B. Here are a few cartoons about the 3 wise men that I like:
1. Cartoon #1: After the wise men left, there came three politically correct guys, saying: “Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings, Warmest Holiday Wishes.”
2. Cartoon #2: “Well from a distance it certainly looked like a star.”
3. Cartoon #3: “They say they are three kings, but I don’t think they are from the Orient!”
C. There is a lot of mystery, speculation and tradition that surrounds the story of the wise men.
1. Tradition tells us there were three in number and that they traveled by camels across the desert.
2. About the 6th century, someone decided their names were Melchior, Baltazar, and Gaspar.
3. Tradition tells us that they were baptized by Thomas and when they died their bodies were preserved in Constantinople.
4. Centuries later, their bones were moved to Cologne, and if you want to pay the price of admission, you can still see their bones today.
I. The Story
A. Let’s spend some time this morning looking at the Biblical story of the wise men to see what lessons we can learn from them.
1. The Bible says: 1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 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.”
2. The first thing we notice is that the Bible identifies these men as “Magi.”
a. We get our English word “magician” from this Greek word.
b. But these men were not magicians as we would normally use the word – they were not experts at slight of hand, nor did they pull rabbits out of their hats.
c. The word “Magi” in those days referred to those who were experts in the workings of the heavens - the study of the stars.
d. Today, we might call them “astronomers.”
e. These men were probably well educated, and very intelligent, and therefore, deserving of the title “wise men.”
f. These men were also probably wealthy, otherwise, how could they afford such a trip, and how could they afford the gifts they brought.
3. Another thing we notice is that they came from the East.
a. The major empires to the East had been the Babylonian and the Persian empires.
b. We know that the Babylonians specialized in studying the stars.
c. We also know that many Jews had been taken into captivity to the Eastern empires.
d. Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel were Jewish exiles who rose to prominence in those empires because of their faith in God and their other exceptional qualities.
e. Therefore, these men from the East may have been Jewish in their descent and were likely familiar with the Jewish Scripture prophesies about the coming Messiah.
4. We also notice from these verses that it was the star that led them initially to Jerusalem.
a. We have already mentioned the fact that these men were experts in astronomy.
b. We don’t know when the star first appeared, but at some point a star appeared which they had never seen before.
c. Many have speculated over the years about the nature of the star – was it a planet, a conjunction of planets, a comet or a super-nova? No one can say conclusively.
d. All we know is that it got their attention and gave them a direction.
e. There is an Old Testament prophesy called “The Star Prophesy” that many believe is the verse that led the wise men to Jesus.
f. The Star Prophesy is found in Numbers 24:17, “I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.”
g. So the star led them toward Jerusalem.
h. I wonder if the star somehow disappeared just as the neared the region, so they did the logical thing – they went to King Herod, the King of the Jews at the time, and asked him for further information.
i. Who better to ask about the birth of a new King of the Jews than the present King of the Jews?
j. Let’s see how that conversation went.
B. The Bible says: 3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”
9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. (Mt. 2:3-10)
1. So we see that Herod was surprised and disturbed by the wise men’s question.
2. Herod wanted to know the exact time the star had appeared.
a. Although the Bible doesn’t tell us what their answer was, later in the story when Herod realized that the wise men were on to him, the Bible says: 16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. (Mt. 2:16)
b. So it is possible that the star had first appeared to the wise men up to 2 years earlier, and their journey may have taken that long.
3. Herod’s experts were able to tell him that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem.
4. Herod then put on his best disguise and acted like he also wanted to worship this new baby and encouraged them to do the leg work and report back to him what they discovered.
5. But notice that after the wise men left Herod, it seems that the star reappeared.
6. The Bible says that when they saw the star they were overjoyed.
C. The Biblical story continues: 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. (Mt. 2:11)
1. Notice that the Bible says, “On coming to the house…”
a. The traditional manger scenes usually have the shepherds and wise men coming to Jesus in the stable, but in reality, it was probably only the shepherds who came to Jesus at the stable on the night of Jesus’ birth.
b. It appears that Joseph and Mary and Jesus, later moved into a house and stayed in Bethlehem for a period of time after the birth, and the wise men came to see him at the house where they were staying.
2. Once they arrived at the house and saw Jesus with his mother, the wise men bowed down and worshiped, and they presented their gifts.
3. The fact that there are three gifts has led to the speculation that there were three wise men.
4. After all, wouldn’t everyone who came want to bring a gift of their own?
5. Here’s a picture of a gift set you can buy today that has each of the three wise men’s gifts in their raw form.
a. I doubt that they delivered their gifts in such handsome boxes as these.
6. Hypothetically, here is some meaningful symbolism that has been read into the qualities of the three gifts.
7. The first gift was gold.
a. Gold represents wealth – it is a gift fit for royalty because of its great value.
b. Jesus is a King, and even though he was born in poverty – as God’s Son all the wealth of the world was His.
8. The second gift was frankincense.
a. Frankincense represents worship – it is made from the yellow sap of a tree and that has an agreeable fragrance. It was one of the four scents compounded together to make the ceremonial incense for Jewish worship.
b. Jesus is God in the flesh, who now reigns with God the Father in heaven and therefore, He is worthy of our worship.
9. The third gift was myrrh.
a. Myrrh represents work – it was a fragrant perfume used to anoint the dead.
b. Myrrh represents the work and mission of Jesus, who came to die for us on the cross.
D. The story of the wise men ends like this: 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route. (Mt. 2:12)
1. Just as abruptly as they arrived, they departed.
2. They did not go back to Herod, because God told them not to, so they went home by a different route that didn’t include Jerusalem.
3. Had they gone through Jerusalem, Herod’s spies and subordinates might have informed him of their movements.
II. The Application
A. So what can we apply to our own lives from the story of the wise men?
B. First, We learn that God draws and leads those who are seeking Him.
1. How wonderful to see that God has provided His Word – His complete, inerrant and infallible Word to teach and guide us.
2. God put prophesies into place that would point to Jesus.
3. God put this star in place to lead the wise men to Jesus.
4. God may not lead us in quite as dramatic a way as He did the wise men, but we know that God is just as active and interested in people seeking and finding Him today.
C. Second, We learn that seeking Jesus requires faith.
1. Those wise men began a journey of many hundreds of miles, and they really didn’t know where they were going, or how the journey would go, but they trusted – they walked by faith.
2. By faith, they were willing to follow God wherever God led them.
3. Our Scripture reading reminds us that it is impossible to please God apart from faith: And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Heb. 11:6)
4. Do you believe in God’s existence?
5. Do you believe that God rewards those who seek Him and serve Him?
6. If you really believe those things, what is your faith causing you to do?
D. Third, We learn that seeking Jesus requires sacrifice.
1. Our faith should cause us to act and many of those actions require sacrifice.
2. For the wise men the sacrifice included leaving home and everything familiar.
3. For the wise men the sacrifice included giving gifts that cost them something monetarily.
4. Today seeking Jesus involves the sacrifice of our very lives in service to him.
5. Jesus said that anyone who wants to save his life will lose it. (Mk. 8:35)
6. When we offer ourselves in service to God, we no longer belong to ourselves, but we belong to God.
7. This kind of sacrifice is more than just coming to worship, or making financial contributions.
8. Seeking and serving Christ should impact everything about our daily lives.
E. Finally, We learn that seeking Jesus requires change.
1. I really like the last line of the story – “They went home a different way.”
2. I know that that different way was a different route, but I can’t help but also believe that that different way also included a change in their lives.
3. No one can worship Jesus and go home the same as they were when they came.
4. Saul of Tarsus was persecuting the church of Christ until the day he had a personal encounter with Jesus and on that day he became a believer in Jesus.
a. After meeting Jesus, Saul was never the same again.
5. Those hard-working fishermen – Peter, Andrew James and John were never the same again after meeting Jesus and becoming his followers.
F. Today, wise men, and wise women, and wise children still seek Jesus.
1. Whatever other things we might be seeking – like: fulfillment, meaning and purpose, pleasure and joy, or peace – we can find all those things, and more, in Jesus.
2. Ultimately, nothing and no one else other than Jesus will truly satisfy.
3. Everything and everyone else will ultimately leave us empty or wanting more.
4. The wise men came to Jesus and were not disappointed, and neither will we be disappointed.
5. Jesus came that we might have abundant life and eternal life, and when we follow Jesus faithfully, we experience both.
6. I hope and pray that all of us will keep seeking and serving Jesus all the days of our lives – and if we do we will not be disappointed, because God rewards those who earnestly seek Him!
Resources:
After 2000 Years, They’re Still Wise Men, Sermon by Ronald Horgan, SermonCentral.com
What Made These Wise Men So Wise? Sermon by Michael Davidson, SermonCentral.com
The Wise Men, Sermon by Melvin Newland, SermonCentral.com
What Made the Wisemen Wise? Sermon by Mike Turner, SermonCentral.com
Christmas Wisdom: The Story of the Wise Men, Sermon by Tom Shepard, SermonCentral.com
