Ask Pastor Mike Fabarez

Speaker 1

Well, there are few biblical characters quite as intriguing and mysterious as the wise men or Magi, in the Christmas narrative. But who were these men? Where did they come from? We'll tackle these questions and more on today's Ask Pastor Mike.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Focal Point, all. With Christmas just around the corner, it's time for another fireside chat with Pastor Mike Favarez. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in for a fascinating discussion about the Magi, also known as the wise men.

And remember, if you ever have your own question you'd like to ask Pastor Mike, you can send it to us through our website, focal pointradio.org. You might even hear it answered on the program.

Well, now, here's Focal Point's executive director, Jay Worton. Jay?

Speaker 2

Thank you, Dave. Yes, I am. I am here with Pastor Mike again.

And Pastor Mike, today we have a question about the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. In Matthew 2, we read about these guys called the wise men who came to visit Jesus.

Who were these people?

Speaker 3

Yeah, well, that's a great question. There's a lot of good history and just intrigue, really, regarding what we call the magi. Some translations refer to them as the wise men. Actually, it is a word that is transliterated into Greek, and then we translate it into English as magi. It is actually a Persian word from the Iran-Iraq border area, from ancient Mesopotamia. They're said to be from the east, which is the land of the Old Testament days; we would call it Babylon.

Magi is a term from which we even get our English word "magic." However, the idea isn't so much that it's magic; rather, it signifies greatness, similar to how we use the word "magnificent" or "magnify" to describe something big or significant. These were the scholarly professors of the east. I'm not trying to imply that they weren't involved in things we might consider unbiblical. They probably were Zoroastrians, which was an ancient monotheistic religion that predates Christianity and was likely very active in Mesopotamia.

The magi were the scholars; they were the ones in charge of the education of people. Some would even think they were involved in some kind of priestly leadership among the Zoroastrians. So, it's an interesting set of people that intersect with the biblical narrative here at the birth of Christ. A lot more could be said about them.

There's been a lot of mythology that has grown up around them, actually, in church history during the medieval period. They named them and said there were three of them because they brought three gifts. However, the Bible doesn't tell us how many there were; it only mentions the number of gifts they brought.

In medieval times, they referred to them as Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. Interestingly, those names were associated with ancient kings of India, Persia, and Arabia. However, there is no historical rooting for those names or the kind of story that grew up around them. That's just something that developed to describe them as three important figures representing foreign entities and nations.

Speaker 2

Now, it says they saw a star rise, and that obviously prompted them to go find the king of the Jews who had been born. What kind of astronomical event was this?

Speaker 3

Wow, that is a huge question. And it's increasingly debated these days, and there's been a lot of different theories.

Some people have theorized that it was a comet. Some even tried to find what comet might have been visible in the sky at that time.

Some see it as a supernova. I think Kepler was the one who popularized that as an astronomer, saying that's what he thought it was.

Speaker 3

The comet theory has gotten a kind of a revived.

Speaker 3

Popularity these days with a scholar out of Cambridge has written a book on it, talking about. I think he's called his book the Great Christ Comet, which is dealing with all the history of what astronomically was going on, looking at Chinese astronomical calendars and records.

And it just is an interesting, fascinating book. I'm not sure I'm all the way there yet on what he calls the Great Christ Comet, but it is a fascinating read and it's interesting to see all the theories even that he goes through and that others have chronicled through the years of what it might have been.

You know, it may have been something that can be astronomically explained, or it may have been just a miraculous something, but it didn't seem to be. It doesn't seem to be represented that way in the text. It seems as though this is something in the sky, astronomically that wasn't like, out of the ordinary.

I mean, it was out of the ordinary in that it was not a normal occurrence in the sky every night. But it was not. Didn't seem like, hey, there's this Mirro thing, like we had in the wilderness wanderings like a pillar of.

Speaker 1

Of.

Speaker 3

Of fire at night or a cloud in the day. It seemed like this is something that these astronomers, which they would have been clearly, I would assume, in the priestly and professorial class of the Eastern Empire there in Persian Iraq and Iran area, that, I mean, I'm assuming that they would have studied these things.

And so it may have very well been that. But I, I can't answer definitively. Other guys are going to be more emphatic on that than something in the sky led them to Bethlehem.

Speaker 2

Now, the Bible said they were looking for the king of the Jews. What would make them think that this is the king of the Jews?

Speaker 3

Well, that's great if you think about where they were. And I've even kind of set it up by talking about Mesopotamia between the Tigris and Euphrates river there in ancient Persia. Remember, the Persians came after the Babylonians, and the Babylonian-Persian transition took place in the book of Daniel.

Daniel was the prophet who was taken along with a couple of other luminaries in the Book of Daniel we know as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Mishael, Azariah, and Hananiah. Those three had come as part of this class of very hopeful, promising young Jews from the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century BC, and they were being raised in the palace. Daniel becomes this great prophet, and of course, so much of the book of Daniel records these amazing prophecies, in particular, Daniel chapter nine, the 70 weeks prophecy that would lead you to expect the anointed one of Israel to come at a very particular time in the first century.

So, I mean, there is so much that can be said about that, but I think it has to be traced back to the influence of Daniel among the Persians. Remember Darius and the lion's den. And all of that is just, to me, it is unmistakable that their interest in a king who would rule, as Daniel 7 says, to whom all the people will submit themselves.

Speaker 3

It was coming to Israel. The king of Israel would be the great king of the world.

And I assume that they were very interested to see this king when he was born.

And all of it is traced back to the. We're assuming now, but I think we can safely assume all traced back to the prophecies of Daniel.

Speaker 2

So when they have been studying the prophecies of Daniel, they've been calculating the years that it would take for this messiah to show up. And then they have this astronomical event in the sky. This leads them to go searching.

Speaker 3

Yeah, I mean, I believe it does. And I think these themes tie together so well in other prophetic texts that I'm sure these magi had access to. Isaiah even speaks about, you know, the light shining and the glory of God rising upon Israel and the darkness, you know, that covered the earth.

They're going to see the Lord arise. His glory is going to be seen in Israel, and the nations shall come to the light of Israel and kings to the brightness of your rising. I mean, these are great themes of the ultimate figure of Israel coming to the world scene in the first century.

So, yeah, they were definitely. I mean, I think it's a safe assumption. They were definitely influenced by understanding something of the biblical prophecies of Israel and coming to see it and pay tribute. And they said, we've come to worship him. That was what they said.

Speaker 2

What does it say that these are foreigners that are coming to see the Jewish king?

Speaker 3

Well, again, it comes back to all of the prophetic statements about a king that was not just going to rule over Israel. He would be a king of all the peoples and all the nations. This is a repeated theme throughout the Old Testament prophecies.

And so when foreigners come to worship the king that is born king of the Jews, that's a perfect picture of what the scripture had prophesied. There would be one king of the Jews, and he would be one to whom all the nations would bring their tribute.

All the way back to Genesis 49, the picture of all the peoples coming to bring their tribute to this one king that would arise out of Jacob.

Speaker 2

So the wise men, they brought gifts when they found the baby Jesus. Is there any significance to these gifts that they brought?

Speaker 3

Well, and people have tried to tie significance to them, and I don't want to be emphatic on that either, but the three things you might remember are gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Many have tried to make the parallel, and it's not a bad one. Gold is certainly the precious metal that was known for royalty. I mean, it was a kingly gift. It was something that was associated with the throne, gold. Certainly, Jesus was the great king.

Frankincense was something that was always offered on sacrifices. It was a sacrificial ingredient in Old Testament sacrifices. And I guess you could say it was a priestly gift. Of course, Jesus wasn't only the great king; he was going to be the great high priest.

And then myrrh, that's a picture there that some have pointed out was used as an embalming spice. It was a resin and was used for various purposes.

Speaker 3

I guess would take our minds back to the sacrifice of Christ on a cross that he would lay down his life. So, you know, there's a picture, I suppose, of his kingship, of his intercession, and his intercession based on his Death.

I know in the city of Smyrna, in Revelation chapter 2, they exported the myrrh. It was an anesthetic; it was something offered to Christ on the cross. I mean, these are pictures that you can make and draw, it's connections you can connect.

And, you know, it's certainly fascinating. There's no biblical necessity to draw those conclusions, but we can say all of those were precious gifts. They were things that would be fitting for a king.

Speaker 2

So when the wise men come, they actually go see Herod at one point to find out about this king of the Jews. Tell us a little bit more about that scene there.

Speaker 3

Well, you remember that Herod wanted complete, unrivaled leadership. He wanted to be known as the King of the Jews. He's presented in the narrative when this all takes place in Matthew 2, as the king, right? And it says when the king heard about this one that was to be born king of the Jews, that he was troubled. Because he was such a paranoid leader and such a heavy-handed leader, it says when he was troubled, all Jerusalem was troubled with him, and he was not going to have it.

So he tries to deceive the wise men, as you might remember in the story, and wants to find out where this king is born, claiming that he is going to go and worship the child as well. But, of course, he wants to kill the child. When the wise men learn of this, then, of course, Herod is going to exterminate any threat. He goes out to see if he can kill this child by trying to kill all of the children two years and under in Bethlehem.

This might remind us that this didn't happen in the stable. Sometimes in our nativity scenes, we set up the three wise men, which again, we don't know how many there were, but they brought three gifts. We put them in the stable in this place where you would have all the animals. Well, this didn't take place at the same time; there was some time differential between the two. As a matter of fact, it says in verse 11 of Matthew 2 that they came to the house where the child was.

So in that particular setting, we know that some time had elapsed. Because Herod wants to kill the babies that are two years old and younger, we can assume it is somewhere in that two-year time span. I don't know how much of a margin he put on that requirement, but a year, two years, or 18 months after he was born, that's when Herod said, "We're going to go out and try and exterminate this threat by killing the babies in Bethlehem."

Speaker 2

Yeah, Our understanding seems to be, or the general understanding is that the wise men were there at the birth or right after the birth. But you're not saying that's probably not the case, right?

Speaker 3

It's probably not the case. Not the case because we're not coming to the stable, we're coming to a house.

Verse 11. And because he kills the babies two years and under, we're assuming that some significant time has elapsed by the time the wise men show up.

Speaker 2

Now the wise men make their way back, I guess, home after they present their gifts to Jesus at this time to avoid Herod.

Speaker 3

Yeah. Verse 12 of Matthew says that they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, so they departed to their own country by another way.

So God, by His grace, revealed to them the threat. And Herod did not get the information that he wanted from them, and he led them back.

And that's the last we hear of the Magi in the scripture.

Speaker 2

We know at Pentecost we have a number of people from every tongue, tribe and nation, or a lot of different nations that are there listening to the disciples. Did they tell other people about Jesus? What can we make from that, if anything?

Speaker 3

Well, I don't know that we can draw any connections. We know that the day of Pentecost.

Speaker 3

50 days after Jesus was crucified and resurrected, people gathered in Jerusalem because of the feast of Pentecost. They came from all over the place, and there are many nations and people groups listed in Acts chapter two. I'm sure there were some who traveled from very far away. Whether they had any influence from the Magi is all speculation.

However, we do know that most of those who came, unlike the Magi, were proselytes to Judaism. They were submitting themselves to the litical Law and what it says in the Book of Numbers about presenting oneself before the Lord at these pilgrimage feasts. They were called to do so, and one of these feasts was Pentecost, where they had to travel to Jerusalem to partake in the prescribed worship traditions that occurred every year during this time.

Speaker 2

Would these have all been Jews or would they be people of different nationalities?

Speaker 3

They would have been people from different nationalities. There were plenty of Jews that were scattered about, and the Bible makes that clear in Acts chapter 2. Some had come because they were Jews that just happened to live in other places.

But there were also people that had converted. And it says that explicitly in Acts chapter two, they were proselytes, as we call them. They were converts to Judaism that were foreigners.

And they came and heard the preaching of the Gospel by Peter on the day of Pentecost. And that was the great, obviously, plan of God to send them back with this message to all kinds of nations and people groups.

Speaker 2

I just find it interesting that we've got foreigners, these wise men coming from a long distance to pay tribute to the Messiah, that they were reading the prophecies and see that he was going to be born.

And then we see so many foreigners just after his crucifixion and resurrection that are there as well.

This is a message going out to the world.

Speaker 3

Yeah. And just listen to the list here when you read it in Acts 2. I just pulled it up real quick. The Parthians, the Medes, the Elamites, the residents of Mesopotamia. There's the phrase you're probably searching for. That is the area that the wise men came from. Then Judea, Cappadocia, Pontius, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, visitors from Rome, Jews and proselytes. There is the phrase I am talking about.

There were those that lived in other places who were descendants of Abraham, and then there were others that had not descended from Abraham, but they were committed to keeping the law, which required in the Old Covenant to come to Jerusalem for these feasts. And then it went on, Cretans and Arabians, the desert between Mesopotamia and Israel. They were hearing these 120 there, telling of Christ and what he had done and the mighty works of God in their own languages.

That miracle of being able to speak that language that they had not learned. But yeah, great picture there of the same region, the residents of Mesopotamia. I'm assuming as the wise men went back in their entourage to Mesopotamia, they had to have spoken of those events. So that was, you know, over probably 35 years that intervened between those two events.

Speaker 2

Thinking back on those gifts that they gave, is there anything that we can draw from that in our own lives of what we should be giving to Christ? As they gave expensive gifts or lavish gifts? What kind of gifts can we give to Christ in that regard?

Speaker 3

Well, I've often talked about this passage just in terms of all the things that they did. I mean, they left the comforts of their world, they left even the religion of their.

Speaker 3

Their culture to go and worship the king of the Jews. I mean, that was a big, big deal. Not to mention the time and the effort and the expense involved in ancient travel. It wasn't easy.

And I tell you, we've got to look at our Christian life sometimes and say, well, if it's not convenient, we don't want to do it, or it's another night out, or I don't want to serve in that way. I mean, here are these foreigners that really put us to shame in terms of the kinds of sacrifices they're making to worship Christ, which is an amazing thing.

I mean, we say we worship Christ, and I just wonder sometimes what it costs us. We need to be able to say that we stand with Christ and we're willing to serve his cause and do whatever it takes to proclaim his word, even if it costs us. You may have to get in a car and travel. You may have to get on a plane and travel. You may have to give up some luxuries or conveniences in your life.

So, you know, I think. And not to mention the precious.

Speaker 3

Things that they shared. I mean, they gave away things to someone else, to Joseph and Mary for this child that was expensive to them. And I'm thinking about our own giving, financial giving. It's always important to God.

And I think anyone who loves God and has a heart to serve God is going to be known for giving generously to Christ. And I know sometimes we're thinking so often about giving to a church and its budget and, you know, copy machine and the electric bill at the church, all that, but, you know, we need to think of these gifts as gifts to God, just like the wise men did.

They didn't come saying, well, I guess Joseph can buy some, you know, some food for his family with this. They thought about it as a gift to God. And we need to think that way, too, about our giving, to sacrifice for the Lord. Not only our time and our effort and travel, but even our gifts.

To give to the Lord is a sign that we love Him. We're honoring the Lord with our wealth, which is a great pattern throughout the Bible.

Speaker 2

Well, thank you, Pastor Mike. I trust that understanding the background of the wise men and gifts that they gave will enrich our lives as Christians and help us to go the extra mile for God in our own lives. Back to you, Dave.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Jay. And thanks, Pastor Mike. Glad you could join us for another fascinating edition of Ask Pastor Mike here on Focal Point. Well, stick around and Pastor Mike will be back in just a few moments with one more announcement for our listeners.

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Speaker 3

Pastor Mike Fabar is here. You know God created the world for his children to enjoy and to help you worship him in his creation.

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Thanks, Pastor Mike.

Speaker 1

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Speaker 1

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