“When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. 11. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him; and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”
The Magi evidently knew something about Hebrew prophecy, for they were looking for the Messiah. They went to Jerusalem to see Herod to see where the Messiah was to be born. They told Herod, “We have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” (You can read about Herod’s reaction in Matthew 2:13-18.) They discovered from Jewish scribes that He was to be born in Bethlehem. With this information, they continued to follow the star until they came and saw the young child with Mary His mother. Following are some of the truths we can garner from this journey of the Magi: They followed the right star. There were many other stars in the sky, as there are on any given night, but this one star stood out to them, because they recognized it as the star of the Messiah. I do not know how they knew that, but I know that they had it right. We follow many “stars” in our lives, and many of those that we follow do not lead us to the right Person or the right place. The world places all kinds of temptations in front of us to keep us from following the right “star” to the Savior of the world. Satan is a master at side-tracking people away from Jesus. We can learn from these magi, or “wise men,” that there is a right star that leads to the Savior of the world. If you need a definition of the “star” that you can follow, try Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and the rest of the New Testament, plus the prophecies of the Old Testament. They had the right idea about what they would do when they found the One whose star they were following: They told Herod, “We have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” They were not seeking the Messiah out of mere curiosity; rather they knew that when found Him they would worship Him. This is what they did according to Matthew 2:11: “And then they had come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshipped Him.” With what slight knowledge they had of this “young child’s” mission on earth, the wise men recognized that He was worthy of worship. We know the whole story about why Jesus came, what He did and what He will do in the future. We can learn from these men that our Savior is worthy of our worship, and that we should make worship of Him a daily affair. They did the right thing after they had offered their worship to Jesus, i.e., “When they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.” They chose these prophetic gifts out of their treasure: gold for a king, frankincense for His sacrifice and myrrh for His burial. I’m not sure whether the magi realized the real significance of their gifts, but the God who showed them the star knew their significance. It is interesting that they chose these things out of “their treasures.” What we need to learn from the magi is that part of the worship of our Savior is a stewardship offering from our “treasures.” There is a lesson about financial stewardship here, but the greatest lesson is about the stewardship of our lives. Let Paul give you the deeper meaning of this stewardship from Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, hold, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” We need to offer all that we are and all that we possess to this “King of kings and Lord of lords.” Whose “star” are you following? Make sure you are following the “star” that leads to Jesus. Bro. Joe
1 Comment
Margaret M Jones
12/24/2015 10:32:48 am
Will use part of this devotion in Sunday School. Thanks
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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