After 2000 Years They Are Still Wise Men

What do we really know about the wise men? Not much when you examine the scripture. Where did they come from? “The east” you say. But where in the east? We know they came from the east and they came from a long way away, but we don’t really know where they came from.

How many of them were there and what kind of men were they? Again, we don’t know. It has been suggested that these men were kings because the Old Testament had predicted that kings would come to worship him. The three kings “theory” is based on the number of gifts mentioned, gold, frankincense and myrrh. And the manufacturers of nativity scenes picked up on this, so in every nativity scene, you see three kings or wise men. But the Bible doesn’t tell us exactly who they were or how many of them came.

When did they come? We don’t know for sure. But it was almost certain that they did not come to Him in the stable. Matthew writes, “On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary.” (Matthew 2:11). This tells us that at the time they arrived Jesus and Mary were in a house. Also, when Herod realized that the wise men had “outwitted” him, he orders that all boys 2 years and under in the area of Bethlehem, killed. He had asked the wise men when the star first appeared so he had an idea of when Jesus had been born. See Matthew 2:1-8 for the full story.

So we don’t know who they were, where they came from, how many of them there were or even when they came. Why not? Why doesn’t Matthew tell us any of this information? Maybe the detail is left out of the picture in order that the full emphasis may be placed on the one thing that is central to this story, namely their statement, “we have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2b)That’s the main point of this particular story as Matthew tells it to us. “We have come to worship him.” And as we look at what Matthew tells us about these men, although they may have been strange little men who dressed weird, they really were wise men.

And the challenge for us today, is whether we will be wise men and women. Wise men still seek him. Wise men still serve him and wise men still worship him.

First, wise men still seek him! It’s likely that these wise men were descendants of the ten tribes of Israel that remained in Babylon after the time of Daniel. Many of the Jews did not return to their homeland but rather chose to remain behind in Babylon. We don’t know much about their faith but they were looking for the coming messiah. They took literally the statement from Numbers 24.17: “A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” And so they searched the skies for hundreds of years looking for a sign that the messiah had come. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced and came seeking the one who was born king of the Jews.

We don’t know exactly how far they traveled, but it is likely that they came from 500 to 1000 miles away. Imagine traveling that far on the back of a camel. One hump or two? It might not be that bad if you were on a two humper. Maybe you could settle in between the humps and put it on auto-pilot, or auto-camel. But imagine being on top of a one humper trying to keep your balance the whole way! And it was a long and difficult trip across the desert. Give these men credit. They really wanted to come and worship Jesus. They were serious seekers. Are we?

Wise men and women still seek him. What about you? These wise men teach us that perfect theology is not required to come to the conclusion that Jesus is God’s son who came to earth for you. Don’t miss this. The Apostle John says that “He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.” (John 1:11). He came into the world he had created, walked the land he made and came to the people he had chosen as his special people. And he was rejected. But then John says “to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)

Are you seeking for something to fill the void in your life this Christmas? There are a lot of ways to fill that feeling of emptiness. But there’s only one way to fill it in a way that will last. That’s to realize that the emptiness is caused by God in order to bring us to Him. God sent Jesus to fill that void. He came to earth as a man, lived a perfect life, died for our sins and rose from the dead. He offers us forgiveness, fulfillment and peace happiness. What we have to do is first to recognize that we have sinned against him. Ask him to forgive us for our sins and be the lord of our life. Our life will never be the same and we will be on the road to being a wise man.

For many of us, we’ve made that commitment. But it’s important that we continue to seek him, to know him each day and to know his word. We must continue to grow in our relationship with God.

So, wise men still seek him!
Second, wise men still serve him. They stopped in Jerusalem to find out exactly where Jesus could be found. There they met King Herod. He must have been enraged by their question and statement. “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” “Newborn king of the Jews?” Kings are not born. Herod had to murder, commit acts of deceit and treachery in order to become king. Who in the world could be born a king? And why would he have a star? And why would these men want to worship a baby? Herod must have been beside himself. But he kept calm and tried to make a deal with the magi.

“When you find him, come back and tell me so that I can go and worship him, too!” (Matthew 2:8b). The wise men knew he was lying to them. But now they had a choice. Who would they serve? The little tiny helpless baby born king of the Jews or the powerful King Herod? After all, if they served Herod, he might reward them greatly. Jesus was just a baby. Maybe they could worship and serve him later is life. Maybe they could serve Herod now and Jesus later. Maybe they could have the best of both worlds, have their cake and eat it, too.

But that’s not what they did. They went to worship this little tiny baby. And then when God warned them supernaturally in a dream and they understood what he wanted them to do, they were faithful to serve him regardless of the danger of disobeying the murderous King Herod.

Wise men still serve Him. Are you serving Him? What has He called you to do? We don’t know what God has called everyone to do, BUT we do know that serving God involves serving others. There are a lot of opportunities to serve others especially at this time of year.

But doing good for others doesn’t end with the Christmas season. Again, as part of our commitment to live a life that really matters, we will choose to serve God by doing premeditated acts of kindness to those around us. We’ll choose to give time to serving God either through our church or other avenues of service. God blesses those who serve him. Wise men still serve him.

And finally, wise men still worship him. These men had one come all this way with one purpose in mind. That purpose was to worship the one who was born king of the Jews. They came to worship the Son of God. They did it with confidence. They did it with the certainty of hope. Look at some of the language. ““Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.” They didn’t just set out for a leisurely ride in the desert; show up in Jerusalem and say, “we heard something was going on in this area. What’s happening? We saw some bright stars and thought maybe they meant something. What do you think?” No. They were definite and they were certain. “Where is he? We have come to worship him.”

Wise men still worship Him!
Are you a wise man or woman? Are you spending time worshipping him? Worship is not just about attending church. You can attend church and still not worship. Worship involves praising God both in speaking and in singing. Worship involves hearing the word of God taught and responding by changing our lives. And worship involves giving of our gifts to God. How are you doing in your worship? Are you taking time to praise, to confess, to study and to grow?

We read of no greater faith than this in all the Bible. It is a faith that deserves to be placed side by side with that of the thief on the cross. The thief saw one dying the death of a criminal and yet prayed to him and called him ‘Lord.’ The wise men saw a newborn baby on the lap of a poor woman, and yet they worshipped him and confessed that he was the Christ.

The men really were wise men. And today, wise men still seek him. Wise men still serve him and wise men still worship him. My prayer is that we be wise men and women, seeking Him, serving Him and worshipping Him as he leads us every day to become more and more a growing family of believers seeking to be more like Him!

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