Thru the Bible

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: How many wise men came to Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus? Was it three or maybe more? Well, welcome to through the Bible. In this study, Dr. J. Vernon McGee explores this question and other misconceptions about the biblical facts that we have been taught since childhood.

As we continue our journey in Matthew, we've been amazed at how God can take seemingly unrelated prophecies and then bring them all together. Well, to help you go a little deeper yourself, Dr. McGee will mention his notes and outlines. Now, if you haven't already downloaded your copy of our free digital book, Briefing the Bible, that contains them all. You can do so right in our app or visit TTB.org or call us at 1-800-65 Bible, if you'd like to have an abridged paperback copy sent by mail.

Now, before we get started, we got just a couple of minutes to share some letters from our fellow Bible bus passengers. First, we hear from Patricia. She writes this: "I am the assistant manager of a bagel shop in Michigan. This week, I had the radio on before we opened. I was listening to Vernon McGee while performing my opening duties. While the two other employees made bagels, my coworker asked, "Who are you listening to?" He has a very strange voice. I told her, "Dr. McGee," and went to the front to get ready for customers. My coworker then opened the door and the customers flooded in, literally. This is a super busy place in the morning. The line goes out onto the sidewalk and all kinds of people are standing inside waiting for their bagels. Well, I didn't have time to turn off the radio and the only sound booming through the shop was my beloved Vernon McGee's distinct teaching. Then I realized how quiet it was. You could hear a pin drop. No one said a word as they stood in line. I decided not to do anything, just let everyone hear the full teaching. Finally, my regional manager, who's from the Middle East, kindly and gently told me, "I can't have the Bible study going on instead of the approved company music." He laughed at my willingness to get the message out there, even if it was unconventional. He also asked about Dr. McGee and was touched by the teaching and wanted to know more.

Well, bravo to you, Patricia, and to all of you sharing God's word with others. Now, here's a quick note. This is from Grace. She shares this: "I listen to your program daily. My mom got saved at Dr. McGee's church when she was younger. She is now 89 and still listens to your programs every day. What a blessing it has been to my mom and me. Thank you so much for continuing to be a big part of our lives."

Well, thank you, Grace, and thanks to your mom as well too for traveling with us all these years. I'm sure that you both have got a lot of stories to tell about what you've learned along the way. And, by the way, what's God teaching you as we journey through His word together? If you've been riding the Bible bus for a while, maybe you're seeing a book of the Bible in a brand new light this time through. And then like Patricia, are you boldly sharing God's word at work or right in your own community? We'd love to hear about it. You can drop us a note using the feedback tool in our app. You can email Biblebus@TTB.org or send a letter to Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. And you can also call and leave a voicemail message at 1-800-65 Bible.

We truly love hearing how God's moving in your life. So, whatever way you prefer to reach out to us, do it. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for the power and the clarity of your word. When confusion surrounds us, you speak truth. When questions arise, you reveal who you are and what you're doing in our lives. And as we open the scriptures, fill us with your Spirit so that we can understand, believe, and live out your truth. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now to Matthew chapter two on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: We come today to chapter two in the Gospel of Matthew. If you have your Bible, you'll want to turn there with us. And as you do, I urge you to use our notes and outlines if you have them. If you do not, write in and ask for them. We have a set for you.

Now, as we come to the second chapter of Matthew, we have here the visit of the wise men after the birth of the Lord Jesus, and then the flight into Egypt, and the return to Nazareth. Now, all of this is that which took place historically. But back of this is a tremendous truth that's being presented here that you don't want to miss. Now, as we've said before, that each one of the gospels was directed to meet the needs of a particular group of people. The Gospel of Matthew was written to the nation Israel. It's for religious people.

Now, you have here recorded the fulfillment of four prophecies. And that actually is the purpose, I think, of chapter two of Matthew. And you have here about seven or eight Old Testament scriptures that were fulfilled at the birth of Jesus. Now, let me just gather them up, and then we'll see how they were fulfilled at the time of Christ. And I'm sure that there were many sincere students of the word in Christ's day that wondered how all of these things could be fulfilled.

And it just looked rather difficult. And first, the Old Testament said that he was to be born in Bethlehem. That's in Micah 5:2. He's to be called out of Egypt. That's in Hosea 11:1. There was to be weeping in Rama. And Rama is just about as far north of Jerusalem as Bethlehem is south of Jerusalem. And if he's born in Bethlehem, why do they weep in Rama? And that's in Jeremiah 31:15. And then, to cap all of this off, we have in this chapter the fact that he went up to Nazareth. Well, that fulfilled prophecy. He's to be called a Nazarene. And that's in Isaiah 11:1.

Now, the question is, how could all of these be fulfilled in a little baby that was born in that day? And Matthew shows how literally and accurately and easily all were fulfilled without any strain on prophecy or history or on anyone. It just came about as God said it would come about. Now, that ought to give us an indication of the fact that in our day there are certain prophecies that relate to the second coming of Christ. And it's difficult for many of us to correlate these. We find it difficult to see how all can be fulfilled and in the way they can be fulfilled.

Now, I'm of the opinion that when we come to that time, and we will one of these days, we're going to find out that it all took place in a very normal, natural way. And that it all looked like a jigsaw puzzle to us down here. And when we get into his presence and it's all fulfilled, it'll be just as natural as this. It'll be every little piece of the jigsaw puzzle fitted into place, and we're going to wonder why in the world didn't we see it at the time. Now, let's look at this and see how it came to pass. And I'm confident that's the reason Matthew recorded these things concerning the birth of the Lord Jesus.

I'm reading now Matthew 2, verse one. "Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem." Now, let's look at that for just a moment. This is the record of the coming of the wise men. And when they came, they wanted to know where he was born. And we'll see that in the next verse. The one who's King of the Jews. And it was in the days of Herod the King. One thing that Herod didn't want, that was competition. And there was one thing that he would not tolerate, and that was competition.

So this really alerted him when these wise men came into Jerusalem. Let me come back up and take a look at this verse. Again, and will you notice it very carefully? "Behold, there came three wise men from the East to Jerusalem." Is that what your Bible says? You say, "No, you've inserted three." Well, isn't that what you have been taught at least from Christmas cards? I think a great many people know more about the Christmas story from Christmas cards than they do from the Bible. And they've got so many things inaccurate from the Christmas cards. I had a class many years ago. I was teaching Bible, and this class was a very talented class. I was teaching Matthew, and they came up with a Christmas card. And they had in it everything that I attempted to correct. And there are about five or six things I'll attempt to correct several of them right here in this chapter.

First of all, you'll notice it was not three wise men. And I make this suggestion. I don't know how many there were. But I don't think, first of all, that three wise men would have disturbed Herod, or have excited Jerusalem. I do believe that 300 would have. And these wise men who came from the East, evidently they came from all different sections. They'd been studying the stars, and they had seen a star, and they've gathered together, and they came to Jerusalem. Now, I'm of the opinion, it was nearer 300 than three. But don't say that I said 300, because I didn't. I don't know how many there were. I'm almost sure it wasn't three.

Now, they came to Jerusalem saying, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" They're looking for a king. And that's the thing that alerted Herod the King. And this is the thing they say, "For we have seen his star in the East, and we've come to worship him." There are some folk that are going to get a little disturbed at what I'm going to say now, but it needs to be said. They said, "We've seen his star in the East." In portrait, that's called the Eastern star. Actually, there's an organization called the Eastern star. And the All-Worshipful Master of that group, who was a member of my church in Nashville, and she got greatly upset when I told this, but it needs to be said. "We've seen his star in the East." Was it an Eastern star? No, if they had seen his star in the East, and it had been an Eastern star, they'd have ended up in India or China.

The star was in the West. They were in the East. You notice what it says? "We have seen his star in the East." Or let me put it like this, "We have seen in the East his star." And that might be the better way to translate it. We've seen his star in the East. May give you the impression it was an Eastern star, but we have seen in the East his star. The star was in the West, they followed it. And they came West, not East, you see. They didn't go that direction at all. That's one correction we'd like to make because there's so much said of the Eastern star. My question is, how in the world did they associate a star with a king and how did they identify it with Israel? Well, all I know is that they had a prophecy in the East in that section, a prophecy given by Balaam, that's recorded back in the 24th chapter of the Book of Numbers, at verse 17, and it says this: And you remember old Balaam gave these prophecies concerning the nation Israel.

Here's the prophecy. I'm reading. "I shall see him, but not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh. There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth." Now, you notice what the prophecy says, "There shall come a star out of Jacob," that is, the nation Israel. "And a scepter shall rise out of Israel." The star and the scepter go together, you see. And that's the only place I know where they are put together back in prophecy in the Old Testament. And they, the wise men out of the East had that.

And these men came out of the mysterious East with this question. Now, notice that it did disturb the city of Jerusalem and old King Herod. "When Herod the King had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him." Now, I think that converged on the city of Jerusalem this great epidemic of wise men. Just think, a parade of three wise men would not be very impressive. Would you let 300 of them come traipsing into the city of Jerusalem and asking a question like this, and the whole city's going to be disturbed? Now, Herod wants to know about this. And he's a very superstitious man. He is Herod the Great, and I can't take time for this, but if you have a good Bible dictionary, and you remember at the very beginning of this study, I recommended that you get a good Bible dictionary. And if you have one, why, turn to the Herod family.

And if you want to read about a bunch of rascals, they were a bunch of rascals. You have in that family a real first century mafia. They are like the House of Medici. The House of Herod were made up of rascals, but here's the biggest rascal of all. He had bought this position from the Roman government. He was an Idumean, by the way. He was not of Israel at all. And so he's anxious to know. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. He didn't ask them, he demanded. He said, "I know that you have scriptures and in that, why, you have a record of a Messiah that's coming, and I want to know where he's to be born." And they were able to tell him.

Now, that is one of the amazing things. Verse five, "And they said unto him, in Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it's written by the prophet. And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel." Now, when he asked the scribes this question, they didn't have to get their scripture down and turn pages and spend five minutes trying to find the passage. They knew where it was. Micah 5:2. They went right to it. Fact of the matter is, they didn't need to go to it. They had it in their mind. They could quote it. They knew all about the coming of the Messiah. The only problem is their knowledge was academic. It certainly was not vital. It was not meaningful to them.

You would think that since they knew the Old Testament scriptures, and there's an example of a man who can know the history. They could know certain factual truths, but it carried no meaning for them. Why, you would have thought they would have got on the back of the camels and taken a trip out of Jerusalem to Bethlehem. It's not very far down there. You'd think they would have said to the wise men, "How about letting us ride down with you? We are looking for the Messiah too." I'm wonder today, how many people really are looking for the coming of the Lord? Who even talk about it and know a great deal about prophecy? Would you really like to see him right now? Or suppose, friends, that he broke in right today where you are with what you're doing. Would he interrupt anything? Would you like to say to him, "Well, I wish you'd postpone your visit to some other time." Well, these men were not prepared for his coming, that's sure.

Now, Herod has got his information. "Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared." Now, I'm going to make this statement now and try to prove it later that the star had appeared sometime before they arrived. You see, they made the trip by camel, not by jet plane. And it's a long ways across that desert. I'm of the opinion that they did not arrive in Jerusalem until at least a year after the appearance of the star. You see, theirs wasn't just a little Christmas celebration. They had been hanging to that hope as they crossed that desert to come and see him, and they were bringing gifts to him. Now, will you notice, he inquired diligently, and keep that in mind, that'll be important when we get to that next time.

Now, he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word again that I may come and worship him also." And here's just about as subtle a thing as possibly could have been said by this old serpent here. And that's exactly what old Herod was. You see, if he had said, "Well, I'd tell you, if there's a king born around here, I'll do something about it." Suppose he had sent soldiers down there. He wouldn't have found where the child was born, I can assure you. He knew that he'd be hidden. And he knew the best way to do and the clever way was to let these wise men go down there and find him, and then he urged them to come back and tell him that he wanted to go down and worship him. And of course, what he really wanted to do was to kill him.

Now, verse nine, "When they had heard the King, they departed. And lo, the star, which they saw in the East, went before them." Now the star appears again. They must have traveled a long time without seeing the star. Now it appears again. And that ought to answer all of this nonsense every Christmas season. A magazine or the magazine section of our newspaper comes out with an article about some astronomer of what really the wise men saw and that was the confluence of certain stars at that particular time, and that was it. The very interesting thing is that Matthew makes it clear that this star is a rather unusual star. Or let me put it in very matter of fact language, this is a supernatural star and you do not explain it by modern astronomy. Let's rule that out. This is miraculous. And it's presented on that kind of a basis. And don't attempt to find an explanation in all of this.

Now, I think, maybe all that's interesting and apparently from what many of the astronomers have said, there was quite a movement in the heavens at that time. You see, when he came, heaven and earth both responded to his coming into this world. And I think that actually did take place, but that's not what these wise men saw.

Now, verse 10, "When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy." Now, when they arrived, Jesus was not in a stable back of an inn. When they were come into the house. You see, the great movement of people in the city of Bethlehem had all now dissipated. They'd all gone back to their homes. The enrollment was over. But you see, this little baby had been born and they couldn't move him for a while. And I'm of the opinion that a trip of a little fellow that age would have jeopardized his life. And so they had stayed there.

And when they were coming to the house, and in the meantime, they'd moved into a house. They saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gold and frankincense and myrrh. Now, this is a remarkable passage of scripture, and I want you to notice it. Most of the pictures I've seen show the wise men coming into the stable. Well, unless Joseph pointed that stable out to them, they never knew where it was. They didn't go there. They came to the house.

And when they saw the young child with Mary, his mother, notice how accurately they stated. They fell down and worshiped who? They worshiped him. If ever was a time when Mary should have been worshiped, this was it. But they didn't worship her. They were wise men. And they worshiped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gold and frankincense and myrrh. And I think one of the very interesting things that you have here is the fact that it is second coming, and Isaiah is the one that tells us this in Isaiah 66. "The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah. All they from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and incense, and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord."

Now, that's a prophecy of his second coming. What's left out? Myrrh. Why didn't they bring myrrh? That speaks of his death. When he comes the second time, nothing will speak of his death. Gold speaks of his birth. He's born a King. Frankincense speaks of the fragrance of his life. And myrrh here speaks of his death. All of it's wrapped up in the gifts that were brought to him at this time, but myrrh will not be brought the last time, the next time he comes, because the next time he won't come to die upon a cross for the sins of the world. We're going to leave off right there today. This is an important section, as you can well see, my beloved.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Well, if you'd like to listen to these studies again or maybe share them with a friend, you can download a free copy of our Bible companion for Matthew in our app or at TTB.org. I think you'll appreciate the clear and careful review of Dr. McGee's teaching, as well as the reflection questions that will help you think through each section of God's word in a personal and practical way. You know, many listeners tell us that this has become their favorite way to study along with us on the Bible bus. So why don't you give it a try? Again, the Bible companion for Matthew is waiting for you over at TTB.org, or call us at 1-800-65 Bible to order a paperback copy.

Well, we're going to discover even more about the fascinating subject of fulfilled prophecy as the Bible bus rolls on. Read ahead in Matthew 3, and then ask God to prepare your heart for what he wants to teach you. I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll meet you right back here next time.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Today's study with Dr. J. Vernon McGee is brought to you by Through the Bible, and it's made possible by the generous prayer and financial investments from listeners like you on the Bible bus all around the world.