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Living Hope SDA Church

Christian Martin

Throne Exchange

Father in heaven, we just want to pause to acknowledge you once more.

Because you have already spoken to us through various means.

And now, Lord, we pray that you would speak through your word.

The question was the most important question asked in over 400 years.

They were wealthy, very wealthy, and they were influential.

These were men that were regarded as the philosophers of the time.

And they were very, very educated in all the wisdom of the East.

In fact, 1 can conclude that they studied the Hebrew scriptures.

In particular, the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament.

Because it's true, the Bible doesn't explicitly say that the Magi were students of the Hebrew Scriptures.

But, it is clear that the wise men did understand very well, enough at least, to believe that the child was the promised King of the Jews.

They knew enough to come to that conclusion.

That verse in the book of Numbers was all they needed to set their eyes on what appeared to be a glorious star.

You know, perhaps Daniel in the Old Testament, the prophet Daniel, had opened the Scriptures to the Magi of Babylon.

You can trace their presence to his time.

And many actually have concluded, in fact, there's a Jewish tradition, I just recently found this out, A Jewish tradition that claims that Daniel had founded an order of Magi while he was in Babylon and that he instructed them about the prophecies of the Messiah.

That he taught them those ancient prophecies and then he instructed them to be mindful of them and to pass them from 1 generation to the next and to be on the lookout for the Messiah.

You know, perhaps then through the Scriptures, the Hebrew Scriptures and Daniel's testimony, these men, these magi, came to fear the Lord.

We're gonna see in a moment why we can conclude that these men feared the Lord.

For we know that the fear of the Lord, according to Proverbs, is the beginning of wisdom, the beginning of knowledge, and the beginning of wisdom.

So it's no wonder that the Bible calls them the wise men.

They were men who studied the scriptures.

Just some obscure, you know, verse in the book of Numbers and some star that seemed to be different in appearance than all the other stars that they had ever seen.

They followed the star, a journey of faith.

And we can estimate that they traveled from a distance.

We're talking hundreds of miles, 234 hundred miles easily by camel.

They traveled across the deserts taking the risk that they could be robbed, that they could be attacked by wild beasts.

It's not necessarily a very safe place to travel.

And I'd like to conclude that they traveled by night.

They traveled by night and they probably slept by day.

They set up camp, a little tent, and they slept throughout the day so they could be wide awake so they could keep their eyes on the star throughout the night.

And so a week went by, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks went by.

And as they're traveling, I can only imagine that their hearts begin to pound a little faster as the star appears to settle, to stand still above Jerusalem.

These wise men anticipating something grand, anticipating something extraordinary.

But once they enter the city gates, they're confused.

They enter the gates, and they're like, are we in the right place?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the stars, the star stops right there.

There's no grand announcement about the newborn king.

They've been on this long journey with nerves and anticipation.

And when they finally find the place, they're shocked.

And my question for you this morning is this, how can the greatest event in the history of mankind be missed by those closest to Him?

So open your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew, first gospel, the first book in the New Testament, Matthew chapter 2.

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