The Wise Find Series

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INTRODUCTION

Can you imagine searching for a lost child? You have the photo of the child, you can identify of voice of your child, you are getting anxious by every passing minute, and you just scan through the streets searching for the sign of your child. Well, today I want to speak to you about a few men who went searching for a child that was born. These wise men want to find the Messiah.

The Bible speaks of a few men who went searching for baby Jesus. If we carefully look at the story of the wise men, we can learn some lessons for our Christian life. Therefore, let’s look at some facts that we can learn from the story of the wise men.

The Magi Visit the Messiah

Matthew 2:1-12

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.”

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. 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. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

WISE MEN AND THEIR DETAILS

The wise men are the mystery men in the Christmas story. We have heard a lot about these wise men from our childhood days, but as we study the scripture, we find that there are many unanswered questions about the wise men who went to find Jesus.

How many were there? We don’t 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.

WHO WERE THE WISE MEN WHO WANTED TO FIND THE MESSIAH?

At the time of Jesus’ birth, there were 2 powerful empires in the world, the Romans, and the Parthians. Romans controlled the western territory, and the Parthians ruled the eastern territories including Israel. Parthian territory is the same territory that was formerly called the Babylonian Kingdom. Babylon was defeated by the Persians who were in turn defeated by the Parthians, all this while Israel was under the eastern control. In 60 BC the Romans defeated the Parthians and took over Israel. Now the eastern kingdom right from the time of the Babylonian kings who ruled with the help of a priestly cast called the wise men. The Bible mentions it and Daniel was one such wise man in the Babylonian kingdom.

Daniel 2:48

Then the king placed Daniel in a high position and lavished many gifts on him. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and placed him in charge of all its wise men.

Daniel was in charge of all wise men in Babylon. Therefore, we understand the wise men came from Babylon in the east which in Jesus’ time was called Parthia to find the Messiah Himself.

HOW DID THESE WISE MEN KNOW ABOUT JESUS TO FIND HIM?

How did the Wise Men know that the star they saw in the sky was so special that they set out on a very long journey on camels to go present gifts to the coming King? Wait a minute! Who told them about a King? How could they have known anything about the impending birth of the Jewish Messiah that had been prophesied for so many years?