Verses: Matthew 2:1-9

¹ Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in Judea during the time when Herod was king. When Jesus was born, some wise men from the east came to Jerusalem. ² They asked, “Where is the baby who was born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.”

³ When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, as were all the people in Jerusalem. ⁴ Herod called a meeting of all the leading priests and teachers of the law and asked them where the Christ would be born. ⁵ They answered, “In the town of Bethlehem in Judea. The prophet wrote about this in the Scriptures:

⁶ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are not just an insignificant village in Judah.
A ruler will come from you
who will be like a shepherd for my people Israel.’” Micah 5:2

⁷ Then Herod had a secret meeting with the wise men and learned from them the exact time they first saw the star. ⁸ He sent the wise men to Bethlehem, saying, “Look carefully for the child. When you find him, come tell me so I can worship him too.”

⁹ After the wise men heard the king, they left. The star that they had seen in the east went before them until it stopped above the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When the wise men saw the star, they were filled with joy. ¹¹ They came to the house where the child was and saw him with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their gifts and gave him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² But God warned the wise men in a dream not to go back to Herod, so they returned to their own country by a different way.

 

• Traveling in the 1^st century was drastically different from traveling today. There was no plane, no bus, but only camel rides which was exhausting, uncomfortable, and even extremely dangerous with bandits and wild animals in the wilderness. Yet this didn’t stop the ‘wise men’ – educated, knowledgeable elites of the society at the times – to travel from far away, following star in the sky just to seek the Messiah. When they found Jesus they were ‘filled with joy’. They worshiped him and offered him gifts.

• Today, seeking Christ is much easier. There are churches everywhere in North America, Bibles are easily accessible to most, and lots of devotional and biblical knowledge are couple clicks away on the Internet. Yet do we seek Jesus with the same passion as the wise men? Do we experience joy in seeking Jesus? Do we worship Jesus and give him thanks when we experience Him in our lives? Reflect on how often we seek Jesus and whether we truly enjoy it or if it is more of a chore.

• The Bible goes on to tell us Herod goes on to kill every baby boy in the region because he was afraid Jesus would grow up to take the reign from him. It was actually Satan pulling the strings in the background, trying every mean to eliminate the salvation from us all. Thank God He is the King of Kings, and all of Satan’s tricks are nothing but child plays in His eyes. Have we experienced Satan’s attack or obstacles in the past year? Do we confront trials and obstacles in life with faith and courage from God? Think about this – if we are useful tools and worthy soldiers for God’s Kingdom, you know at some point Satan will try to stop us, just like in sports, teams always guard the best players, leaving the poor players open. How do we deal with trials or attacks? Do we know that God’s grace is sufficient for us? Or do we run away from attacks or trials? Let’s keep our faith and fight a good fight for God no matter our circumstances, because we KNOW we are already on the winning team!

• Listen to Silent Night (an example is on this YouTube link www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRZOv31n1sY) Try to visualize the embrace the atmosphere when the world just quietly anticipates a new hope to mankind, the coming of God’s only son to dwell among us. Try to spend a moment and just quietly sit with God through meditation as you listen to this song.

• How are you spending tonight – the silent night? Are you excited to join the Christmas day worship tomorrow to celebrate our God’s greatest grace and greatest gift for us tomorrow? Don’t forget to join PGC brothers and sisters in celebrating Christmas day tomorrow – 10:30 AM at B.O.S.S.!

 

* Trivial Details – did you know contrary to what is widely portrayed, even among churches, the Bible never said there were 3 wise men? It only said there were 3 gifts!! Also, did you know that the wise men did not actually find Jesus on the night of his birth? Instead, they found Jesus when he was a little boy, some historians told us that was when he was 4 – 5 years old? Now that you know! J