Today, on many church calendars, is the day set aside for considering the account of the Three Wise Men in Matthew 2. The interesting thing about this is that there aren’t a lot of details given in the account. Matthew speaks in some pretty general terms about them and so we do not have a lot of information about them.

We are not told how many wise men there were. There were three gifts, so we assume that each wise man was carrying a gift.

We are not given a time for this visit. It was within a few years of Jesus’s birth. That’s about all we know about the time frame.

We aren’t really told where they were from. We assume that they are from Persia because they were “from the east”. (Matthew 2:1) That phrase was most often associated with Persia.

If we work from the location being Persia we can make some assumptions about them that I’d like to make for the sake of this post. It is likely that they interacted with the prophecy of Daniel concerning the coming Messiah (Daniel 9:24-27). And if they were believers because of the prophecy they may have also interacted with Numbers 24:17.

Were they kings? We don’t know, but probably not. People in the past thought this was a fulfillment of passages like Psalm 72:10-11 and Isaiah 60:1-6 that speak of kings bowing to worship Jesus. Today we believe that these were Zoroastrian wise men from Persia. Though they were probably not kings themselves, they likely served in the courts of kings. And, if these were men serving the king and bringing his gifts and message to the Messiah, it would also fulfill these prophecies. Even if they were not tied to a king, these passages will be fulfilled when every knee bows and tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord. (Philippians 2:9-11) In other words, we don’t know anything other than that they were wise men from the east.

What I want to do is take a look at the different characters in this story and their response to the Good News. What we will see is that the wise trust and worship the Savior.

The Wise Men

I would normally want to look at the Wise Men last because they are the ones that got it right. Since they are in the whole story that is very difficult to do.

I want to do this exercise assuming that they are wise men from Persia who know the Hebrew Scriptures because of Daniel’s influence years earlier. That is the most likely scenario, so I feel that is okay but I do want to be straightforward and honest here.

The first thing we know about them is that they interacted with the Hebrew Scriptures and trusted that they were true. So, they watched for a strange astrological event in the sky. And when they saw it they followed God’s guidance. They trusted God’s Word and trusted Him to guide the way.

I do not believe that the star was a star or a conjunction of planets, as many people suggest. I think it was more miraculous than that. I could be wrong, but I believe this was something else. And I also believe that it was plain enough that it was able to be over the top of the very address where the baby Jesus lay. And the wise men followed that star all the way.

When God brought the wise men to the baby Jesus, who was the Messiah, they bowed down and worshiped Him. So, what we find of the wise men is that they trusted God, trusted God’s Word, and when they were confronted with the Messiah they bowed to Him in worship. And in their worship, they laid down great and glorious gifts to Him. These are gifts that generally came from royalty.

The application of this to our lives is quite easy. We have been given God’s Word.

Do we trust it like they did? Do we trust that God will do what He said He will do just as the Wise Men did?

God has guided us to Christ through His Word and the power of His Spirit? We need to let it move us to worship Christ, as the wise men did so long ago.  

Herod

Herod the Great was a descendent of the Edomites who had set himself up as the King of Israel. He was not the rightful king of Israel, as an Edomite he couldn’t be. Edom was south of Judah and the Dead Sea and had been a perpetual enemy of Israel. Around 40 BC he was appointed by the Roman Senate to this position. Herod himself was a ruthless ruler, who was also a bit unhinged and paranoid. He had a few of his sons murdered because he believed they were trying to take the throne. And it’s very likely that the Israelite disdain for being ruled by an Edomite only fed into his paranoia. He is still known today for the incredible architecture he put together, but the greatest among them was the temple he rebuilt in Jerusalem that was not finished until long after his death.

And here, this paranoid usurper of the throne finds out that the true King of Israel has been born. What is his response?

As is often the case with people in power, his response is to do everything he thinks is necessary to keep power. His response is horrific, but it’s not surprising. He is a paranoid, power-hungry, usurper of Israel’s throne. So, he was troubled at the news (Matthew 2:3).

Herod began doing some Oppo Research. He called together everyone, asking where the Messiah would be born. He gathers research about the one who would contest his rule. And, the chief priests and scribes were gathered together to let him know where the Messiah was to be born. They answered “Bethlehem” (Matthew 2:6). And it seems that he was able to keep the wise men from knowing that he was talking to the chief priests and scribes. And so, it seems that the chief priests and scribes were left in the dark as to what was going on, but Herod drained all the information out of them that he could. Then it was time to move to the next part of his plan, deception.

Herod then spoke to the wise men and told them to “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.” (Matthew 2:8 NASB) We all know what Herod’s plan was. We know it because of his reputation and we know it because of the horrors he was about to commit. So, we know what he was doing. He was trying to deceive the wise men into giving up the location of this baby so that he could kill it.

The wise men were “warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod” after having found and worshiped the baby Jesus (Matthew 2:12 NASB). So, the wise men again followed God, and God protected the baby Jesus. Then Joseph was told in a dream to “flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.” (Matthew 2:13 NASB) And that is exactly what they did. Again, baby Jesus was protected from harm.

Later it became obvious that the wise men had not returned for they never showed up. And Herod took drastic measures to protect his reign. He unleashed horror when he had murdered “all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi” (Matthew 2:17 NASB). What a horrific response! What horror and terror fell on that town! What a dark part of the Christmas story this is!

This is the response of a person who didn’t want to give up ruling a kingdom. Jesus is a threat to all political power. We saw this in Rome’s response to Christianity and we see it in modern times in places like Russia during the Cold War and China today. And so, political leaders bring harm to Christians through persecution to keep their power. Many people are harmed by a threatened ruler, and Jesus is a threat to rulers. Here babies died horrifically. Most often it is Christians dying for their faith as martyrs.

I can look around our world today and see the horrible responses of people who reject the rule and reign of the True King. We see people who want to keep their own authority and power rather than bend the knee to the One True King. They want to rule their own lives, so they reject Christ and angrily write about Him and His followers every opportunity they get on Social Media or just in their speech. At root, this is oftentimes the real reason people hate Christianity.

One day I was going door to door inviting people to church. We had just finished a lovely conversation with a lady who hadn’t been to church in a while. Then we ended up at a home of a man who believed he was intellectually superior to any Christian who would knock on his door and was willing to tell them about it on his front porch. Well, after a few of his arguments were rebuffed he began being frustrated and said, “I got into trouble and when I was waiting to go to jail, prayed that God would keep me out of prison. He didn’t.” At root this was his argument. He was never willing to bow the knee to God, to give up ruling His own life. All he wanted was a big candy machine upstairs to keep him out of prison. And when he didn’t get that he was made at God. His anger at God and unwillingness to bow the knee to Him lasted all these many years. His hatred of Christianity was not intellectual. He wanted to control the world by controlling God. Look at the big names in secular thought today, most of them are angry at God because He does not do things the way they wanted Him to do it.

Look at the anger of much of our society today. They want to choose their own gender or the gender they can sleep with so they hate what Christians have taught for thousands of years. Their anger, is at root a desire for autonomy. Their anger is much like the anger of Herod.

The Scribes and Chief Priests

There is not much said about the scribes and chief priests. It seems, as I said earlier, that they were left out of the conversation with the wise men. They simply looked at the Scriptures and told Herod where the Messiah was born.

I do find it interesting that these people did not see what the wise men saw. It is as if the wise men believed God’s promises and looked long and hard for them to be fulfilled. Then when the star arose, they were the only ones who saw what was happening.

As much as the scribes and chief priests knew, they did not seem to be looking for God to fulfill the promises He made to them. And that should be a warning to us today. When God promises a thing we should be on the lookout for it and seeking after it.

Joseph and Mary

This is one part of the Christmas story that Joseph and Mary do not have a large role. In verse 11, Mary was taking care of Jesus. She was doing something that seems very normal, but she was being faithful to care for the child. Mothers who take care of their children are acting faithfully.

Then, “an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.” (Matthew 2:13 NASB) And Joseph believed the message from the Lord and was faithful to care for baby Jesus.

These two parents were faithful to be good and caring parents for their child. And they were faithful to listen to the Lord and protect their child. They were doing what parents are called to do.

This may seem insignificant, but the longer I’m alive the more I understand that there are a lot of people who do not do what seems mundane to so many of us. There are a lot of people out there who do not care enough for their children to protect them. Their love for their children is little more than talk and a little sentimentality. But that was not the love that Joseph and Mary had for Jesus. They loved and cared for Him.

Conclusion

I think it becomes obvious as we look at the different characters in this story who we should emulate and what characteristics we should run from. We should be as the wise men and Joseph and Mary who listen to the word of the Lord and follow Him. And we should be as the wise men who bowed and worshiped Jesus Chris.t

It would be shortsighted, however, for us to miss one big component of this story. And that component is what God was doing in this. God brought Gentile wise men, probably representing a king or kingdom to worship Jesus Christ when he caused that astrological event to happen in the sky. And God protected the salvation that He had brought for all mankind when He protected His Son through the protection of Joseph and Mary. God was bringing about the salvation of the world and ensuring that it would happen.

And the wise in this world will trust Christ and worship Him.

R. Dwain Minor