Day 22: Read Matthew 2:9-12
Wise Men Come to Visit Jesus
Matthew 2:9-12 reveals to us the wise men's departure from the king and their visit with Jesus. After the wise men had listened to the king, they left. The star they had been following from the east went before them until it stopped above the place where the child was. When the wise men saw the star they were filled with joy. The wise men came to the house where the child was and saw him with his mother, Mary. They bowed down and worshipped him. The wise men opened the gifts they had brought. They gave Jesus treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. When it was time for them to leave, God warned the wise men in a dream not to go back to King Herod, and so the men returned to their own country by a different way.
This passage leads me to believe that the star the wise men were following disappeared for awhile, which is why they stopped in Jerusalem to ask King Herod about the child. It was when they had departed King Herod that the star appeared before them until it stopped above the place where the child was. The scripture doesn't say that the star disappeared, but if it didn't then the wise men wouldn't have had a reason to stop to ask King Herod where the child would be born. The wise men knew the importance of the star and they were filled with joy when they saw it. When the wise men came to the house where the child was, they knew immediately who the child was and demonstrated their understanding by bowing down to worship Him. After they worshiped Him they showered Him in the gifts they had brought from their country.
The gifts the wise men brought symbolized three different parts of Jesus' life. They gave gold because He was royal as the King of the Jews. Frankincense was given because Jesus was God among them and frankincense was reserved for making special incense for God, a recipe given to Moses by God. Finally myrrh represented the death Jesus would experience on behalf of mankind. Myrrh was something the Jewish people used during the burial process. It is believed that Joseph used these gifts to help his family during the next part of their journey.
God warned the wise men not to go to King Herod and so they returned to their country by a different way. Scripture goes on to record King Herod's response to the wise men not returning, a part often left out of the Christmas story. King Herod was angry when the wise men didn't return with the child's location. He wanted the child destroyed, but he didn't know where the child was. King Herod knew the approximate age of the child and ordered that all boys two years of age and under were to be killed. God is not going to allow His son to be destroyed and warns Joseph to flee with his family to Egypt. The baby boys are massacred, but Jesus escapes to safety. This is the darkness to Christmas. For all of the joy we experience in the birth of the Savior, there are people out there who are threatened by our joy and who seek to destroy it. Darkness, but without darkness there is not a need for light.
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