Cutting through the fog
This week's study is on Matthew 2:1-12:
People usually talk about these verses during the Christmas holidays, but the truth in them really applies anytime during the year. They say a lot about the power of God and about his effect on people.
The Magi were practicers of occult magic. Picture the sort of freaky people that hang out at the new age bookstore, or tribal witch doctors. The Magi studied the stars in order to figure out what was going to happen, kind of like a horoscope. Some people say astrology is made up, or is demonic spirits, or whatever, but in this case God must have intervened in the heavens to introduce his own star, knowing fully what the Magi believed, and used it to send a message to them about what was going to happen.
The whole thing seems absurd! These people didn't know God. They practiced a false religion, which typically brings heavy condemnation on people. And yet God reached out to them in a faraway land, and said "Hey, come see what is about to happen." We hear about stuff like that happening in the middle east, where people have dreams where a guy comes up and says stuff like "Hey I'm Jesus. You should learn about me. Go to the market tomorrow and a guy in a red shirt will tell you about me." And it happens! I've also heard of people who were high on drugs and were still spoken to supernaturally and invited to see Jesus. God finds people and speaks to them where they are.
The Magi were overjoyed when they found Jesus. They worshiped him! Herod, on the other hand, along with all of Jerusalem, was disturbed. How could such good news be disturbing? To Herod, it meant an end to his dynasty. If Jesus was king, he couldn't be. But don't people who want to rule their own lives always seem to be hostile to the truth of God? But why Jerusalem? Maybe they figured out he was the Messiah and they didn't want their world to end. I don't know.
Herod's reaction was to try to kill Jesus. The people of Jerusalem had the same reaction a few decades later, and managed to succeed at it. Herod still lost his dynasty. Jerusalem's world still ended, as the following centuries sent army after army to sack their city. The only thing they missed out on was Jesus. And he's still alive!
After the Magi worshiped Jesus, God spoke to them in a dream and warned them to stay away from Herod. How cool was that? They didn't have to figure out what the stars were doing anymore. They could hear it directly! God spoke to them and they were saved.
The Magi were lost in the fog when God sent a light to guide them out. When they emerged, they found Jesus and never had to go back to the darkness they used to live in. They were free. God is great!
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.”
When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 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. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
“‘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.’”
Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 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.”
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. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 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. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.
People usually talk about these verses during the Christmas holidays, but the truth in them really applies anytime during the year. They say a lot about the power of God and about his effect on people.
The Magi were practicers of occult magic. Picture the sort of freaky people that hang out at the new age bookstore, or tribal witch doctors. The Magi studied the stars in order to figure out what was going to happen, kind of like a horoscope. Some people say astrology is made up, or is demonic spirits, or whatever, but in this case God must have intervened in the heavens to introduce his own star, knowing fully what the Magi believed, and used it to send a message to them about what was going to happen.
The whole thing seems absurd! These people didn't know God. They practiced a false religion, which typically brings heavy condemnation on people. And yet God reached out to them in a faraway land, and said "Hey, come see what is about to happen." We hear about stuff like that happening in the middle east, where people have dreams where a guy comes up and says stuff like "Hey I'm Jesus. You should learn about me. Go to the market tomorrow and a guy in a red shirt will tell you about me." And it happens! I've also heard of people who were high on drugs and were still spoken to supernaturally and invited to see Jesus. God finds people and speaks to them where they are.
The Magi were overjoyed when they found Jesus. They worshiped him! Herod, on the other hand, along with all of Jerusalem, was disturbed. How could such good news be disturbing? To Herod, it meant an end to his dynasty. If Jesus was king, he couldn't be. But don't people who want to rule their own lives always seem to be hostile to the truth of God? But why Jerusalem? Maybe they figured out he was the Messiah and they didn't want their world to end. I don't know.
Herod's reaction was to try to kill Jesus. The people of Jerusalem had the same reaction a few decades later, and managed to succeed at it. Herod still lost his dynasty. Jerusalem's world still ended, as the following centuries sent army after army to sack their city. The only thing they missed out on was Jesus. And he's still alive!
After the Magi worshiped Jesus, God spoke to them in a dream and warned them to stay away from Herod. How cool was that? They didn't have to figure out what the stars were doing anymore. They could hear it directly! God spoke to them and they were saved.
The Magi were lost in the fog when God sent a light to guide them out. When they emerged, they found Jesus and never had to go back to the darkness they used to live in. They were free. God is great!
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