The Praise Of The Wise Series

Now, if that’s’ true, they would have known the prophecy from Numbers 24 where the prophet Balaam foretold that: "A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” Numbers 24:17

That one prophecy could easily have led these Magi to look for a star that would lead them to find the ONE destined to hold the scepter of Israel. The King of the Jews.

And that’s just one of the over 300 prophecies found in the Old Testament. Some of those prophecies came from the Old Testament Prophet Daniel, and Daniel would have told them roughly when this King of Jews would arrive.

In Daniel 9 God sets a time table for the coming of the new king… called the “Anointed One”. In this prophecy, spoke of 70 sevens… 70 sets of 7 years apiece.

"Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.

"Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens...’” Daniel 9:24-25

When Daniel prophesied that there would be 7 sevens and 62 sevens from the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem to the coming of the anointed one, the new ruler of Israel.

God was essentially telling folks:

“PAY ATTENTION. The clock starts ticking when the walls they start brickin’.”

(Don’t laugh, I worked hard at making that rhyme)

And clock started with the decree issued by King Xerxes to his Jewish servant Ezra somewhere about 457 BC (Ezra 7:6-7 and 9:9)

Doing the math, that meant the Anointed One would to arrive around 27 AD.

So, if the Magi knew of the prophecy, they would have been watching the skies diligently during their lifetime.

But the point is this: they’d read about Jesus.

They’d read about this coming King.

And once they read about Him they felt compelled to find Him.

They diligently sought Him. They spent a great deal resources and traveled a great distance and great personal peril to seek Him.

The question I want to ask you this morning is this:

Have you heard about Jesus?

How many of you have “heard” of Jesus? (Wait for a reply)

And how many of you have come here to seek Him this morning? (Wait for a reply)

You do need to realize, there’s more to SEEKING Jesus than just showing up.

I mean, the Wise Men could have just showed up.

They could have looked inside the house - saw Jesus - and then gone merrily on their way.

And there are regular church goers who show up at church, they look around, they see Jesus, and then go on their merry way without ever getting close to Him.

There are many who haven’t come to spend time with Jesus, they’ve just come to feel religious… and church is a great place to be religious.

But, the Wise Men didn’t just “show up”