Your ShelfYour Projects

THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM

5%

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Sep 27, 1877

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 3, No. 37.

Read the full edition

THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM.

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.
The Jews had separated themselves so far from God by their wicked works, that angels could not communicate to them the tidings of the advent of the infant Redeemer. God chose the wise men of the East to do his will. These men were not Jews; but they had studied prophecy, and knew that the time was at hand for Messiah to come. They were not idolaters, but philosophers, who had studied the works of God in nature. They traced his handiwork in the wonders of the heavens, the glory of the sun, moon, and stars. The Jews regarded these men as heathen; but they were purer in the sight of God than those, who, while making exalted professions of piety, utterly failed to live up to the great light God had given them.
Believing that the predicted time for the advent of Christ was at hand, the wise men were anxiously watching for some sign to indicate the great event, that they might be among the first to welcome, and worship the heavenly King. They observed the heavens brilliantly illuminated, at the time when the heavenly host heralded the advent of Christ to the shepherds on the plains of Bethlehem; and when the light had faded out, they beheld a luminous star appear, and linger in the heavens. This light was in reality a distant cluster of angels. The wise men were not privileged to hear the proclamation of the angels, nor to see them face to face as did the humble shepherds; but the Spirit of God moved them to look upon that beautiful star, which they had never before seen in the heavens, as a sign of the advent of Messiah.
They set out to seek the divine visitor to a fallen world, taking the direction indicated by the star. But as they drew near Jerusalem, the star was enshrouded in darkness, and no longer guided them. The wise men believed the Jews to be well acquainted with all the particulars relating to the advent of Messiah, and the exact time and place of his birth; what then was their astonishment, upon arriving at Jerusalem, to find no unusual interest upon the subject, nor any preparations for welcoming the infant Redeemer.
They heard the priests repeating and enforcing their traditions, expounding the law, and exalting their own piety. They heard them denouncing the Greeks and Romans as heathen and sinners above all men, while they pointed to the phylacteries upon their own persons, and the borders of their garments, upon which the precepts of the law, and their traditions were inscribed, as evidence of their devotion. The wise men were at a loss to understand how these learned expounders of the law and the prophets could be ignorant that the time had arrived for Messiah to appear. They became uncertain as to whether they themselves had read the prophecies correctly.
The wise men plainly stated their errand, and asked, “where is he that is born king of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” The city was thrown into great excitement by the sayings of the wise men. The news was immediately carried to Herod, the king. He listened with intense interest. Envy and opposition were immediately awakened in his heart. He had heard the chief priests and scribes, who professed to understand the prophecies, assert that Messiah was to establish a magnificent, temporal kingdom, and bring every other nation under subjection to his authority. To substantiate these statements he had heard them repeat the prophecies which refer to the second coming of Christ, in power and great glory, to put down all authority, and to rule over the whole earth.
Their anxiety to gratify their lofty pride, had led them to search the Scriptures, not with a desire to conform their lives to the high standard marked out by the prophets, but to find that which they could interpret to sustain their worldly ambition, and to show that God held all nations but the Jews in contempt. They had declared that the power which they were then compelled to obey, would soon come to an end; for Messiah would take the throne of David, and by force of arms restore the Jews to their exalted privileges, and to the pinnacle of earthly glory.
Herod, remembering all this, was alarmed by the sayings of the wise men, fearing the birth of a rival who might drive him, or his descendants, from the throne. The Jews manifested a stupid indifference to the story of the wise men; but Herod was intensely interested in it. He summoned the priests and scribes, and urged them to carefully search prophetic history, and tell him where the infant king was to be born. The indifference, and apparent ignorance of the priests and scribes, as they turned to their books, irritated him, and he began to think they were seeking to conceal from him the true facts in relation to Messiah. He therefore commanded them to make close search concerning their expected king, and declare to him where he was to be born.
“And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Juda; for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not least among the princes of Juda; for out of thee shall come a governor, that shall rule my people Israel.” Then Herod, when he had privately called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.”
Herod received the wise men with apparent respect, and appeared to hail with joy the supposition of the birth of Christ; yet in reality a storm of opposition, and satanic fury was raging in his heart, and he determined to destroy the infant king. The wise men were unable to read the heart of the cruel tyrant; but God, who knows the motives and intents of all hearts, was not deceived by his base pretenses; and he was strong to protect and preserve the Saviour from Satan's devices, until his mission on earth was accomplished.
When the wise men left Jerusalem, to their great joy, they again saw the guiding star in the heavens; “And lo! the star which they saw in the east went before them till it came and stood over where the young child was.” When the wise men arrived at the birthplace of the Saviour, they found no loyal guard to debar their entrance. The honorable of the world were not in attendance upon the infant King. In place of the people who should have welcomed the Prince of Life with grateful homage, he was surrounded by dumb beasts. But the wise men were not deterred from their object. “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child, with Mary, his mother, and fell down, and worshiped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”
The wise men had purposed to return to Jerusalem, after the object of their journey was accomplished, and bear to Herod the joyful news of their successful search for the infant Messiah. But God sent his angel to turn them from their course. In a vision of the night they were warned not to return to Herod. They obeyed the mandate of Heaven, and returned by another way into their own country. “And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word; for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt.”
The wise men were the agents of God to make known to the world the birth of the Saviour. Their coming to Jerusalem made the whole nation acquainted with the object of their journey, and directed their attention to the event which prophecy had foretold would occur at that time. God well knew that the advent of his Son to earth would stir the powers of darkness, that Satan would exert all his might to frustrate the design of God in sending Christ into the world. The eye of the Father was constantly upon his Son. Joseph, in fleeing into Egypt was not destitute. He who fed by a miracle the prophet Elijah, when upon a long journey, who rained manna from heaven for the children of Israel, provided a way for Joseph to preserve the lives of himself and his precious family upon the journey, and while tarrying in Egypt. The earthly parents of Jesus were poor; but the costly gifts brought to the infant Saviour by the wise men were of sufficient value to sustain them all while in that land of strangers.
Herod waited anxiously for the return of the wise men, for he was impatient to carry out his purpose of destroying the infant king of Israel. After waiting long for their reappearance, bringing the knowledge he desired, he began to fear that they might have suspected his dark design, and so purposely avoided him. He looked upon this act as an insult; and his impatience, envy, and hatred of the unknown Prince increased. He was stirred by his father, the devil, to accomplish his purpose by the perpetration of a monstrous cruelty. Since he could not carry out his murderous intent by subtlety, he determined to strike a blow which should not only free him from the fear of a rival, but would, at the same time strike terror to the hearts of the Jews, and silence their proud boastings of a future kingdom.
He therefore issued a proclamation to his soldiers that all the children of two years old and under, throughout Bethlehem and all the coasts thereof, should be massacred without mercy. The soldiers were immediately sent to execute this order. The swords of these unfeeling men carried destruction far and near, until the cruel work was accomplished. The horror and distress of parents were beyond description. The wailing of bereaved mothers, as they clasped their expiring infants to their breasts, rose above the coarse jests and imprecations of the soldiers. Many stricken ones cried to heaven for vengeance on the tyrant king.
God suffered this terrible punishment to fall upon the Jews, that their wicked pride might be humbled. Had their lives been pure before God, he would have preserved them from being thus afflicted and humiliated by their enemies. He would, in a special manner, have made harmless the wrath of the king against his people. The Jews had excited the envy and hatred of Herod toward Christ, through their false interpretation of the prophets. They declared that Christ was to reign over an earthly empire, in unsurpassed glory. Their proud boasting presented the Saviour before the world in an entirely false light. Their unsanctified ambition, however, did not result in the destruction of the infant Saviour, as Satan had intended, but rebounded upon themselves in consequences that filled their homes with grief. Jeremiah, in prophetic vision, says in regard to this event, “In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning. Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted because they are not.”
Herod did not long survive his cruel work; but died miserably unmourned by his family or any of his subjects. When Herod had been cut off from the earth, the angel of the Lord warned Joseph to return with the babe and his mother to the land of Israel. Joseph desired to make his home in Judea, but learning that the son of the tyrannical Herod occupied the throne of his father, he was afraid that the purposes of that father might be carried out by the son, in the murder of the infant Saviour. While in perplexity, not knowing where to locate, the Lord, through his angel, again selected for him a place of safety. “And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.”
Thus was the Saviour received by a fallen world. He left the majesty and riches of his heavenly home, and his position of high command, and took upon himself the nature of man, that he might save the fallen race. But instead of receiving the worship and affection of men, because of this surpassing love and condescension, the Son of God seemed to find no rest nor safety on earth. He who came to bring life to man met insult, hatred, and abuse from those whom he came to save. God could not trust his beloved Son to men, while he was engaged in carrying out the work of salvation, but sent angels to attend him, and to preserve his life till his mission on earth should be accomplished.
The churches of our time are seeking worldly aggrandizement, and are unwilling to see the true light of the prophecies, and to receive the evidences of their fulfilment, which show that Christ is soon to come, as were the Jews at his first appearing. They were looking for the triumphant, temporal reign of Messiah in Jerusalem. Professing Christians of our time are blindly expecting the temporal prosperity of the church, in the conversion of the world, and the reign of the temporal millennium.