Read Matthew 2:1-2
I hope you are beginning to get the picture that nothing about the birth of Jesus was “normal!” The way He was conceived, the place He was born, the announcement by the angels, and the visit of the shepherds on the night of His birth, were “supernatural” events, and the fact that they have never been duplicated substantiates their validity and their accuracy in proclaiming Jesus as the one, true, God-sent-Savior of the world.
Around two years after His birth, Jesus received a visit from several Wise Men from the East. They had watched the stars for years, expecting something significant to happen, including a new King for the nation of Israel. On the night Jesus was born, a brightness in the East caught their attention, and they followed it to Jerusalem.
These men were from Persia, which is modern-day Iran. They were men of higher learning, the skilled scientists of their day. They were skilled in philosophy, science, medicine and astrology. They were the ministers and advisors to their Persian rulers. Even though it is said the wise men came “seeking the King of the Jews,” it was God who put that bright star in the sky and that hunger in their heart for the truth about God.
Daniel was a highly respected prophet and member of the group of advisers to the kings of Babylon and Persia. Daniel’s prophecies. The Magi may have understood Jesus to be God in human flesh, as they might have from Daniel’s prophecies.
Perhaps it would be good just to let one of the great Christmas Hymns fill in the blanks for us today. “We Three Kings of Orient,” was written by John Henry Hopkins, Jr., in 1871. Hopkins was the son of pioneer parents from Ireland and Germany. After graduating from the University of Vermont in 1839, he tutored the students of a family in Savannah, Georgia. He later returned to Vermont and graduated from General Theological Seminary, where he served as their first instructor of church music.
