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, saying, “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.” Thus reads the simple record in Matt. 2:1, 2.
An Imaginary Idea of the Three Wise Men Beholding the Star.
THE record continues, “When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” He ought not to have been; Jerusalem ought not to have been troubled. Every Jew ought to have been glad at the news. Nay, more, they should have been expectant, eagerly waiting to welcome their King.
WHY? They had all the holy prophecies which foretold those days, and the coming of the Antitype of all the ages. From Moses, “the man of God,” to Malachi, “the messenger” of Jehovah, God’s prophets had foretold the coming of the Just One. Light from these prophecies had penetrated the obscurity of the east. The learned Magi had read of His coming. The Greek copies of the Old Testament had doubtless been read; Isaiah had given them light; for they looked for a child born of a virgin. Balaam’s prophecy, himself a son of the east, had been read:—
“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.”
THE wise men found the Child, the One whom they sought. Finding Him, they worshiped Him, and poured out lavishly of their treasures at the feet of the pure, sweet Babe. They rightly went to Herod to inquire. He rightly inquired of the priests and scribes; but they knew not. Where He should be born they could read in Micah’s foretelling; but when and how they were ignorant, tho the when and the how had been as truly foretold as the where.
WHY did they not know?—They wished it so. Their Lord did not reign in their heart; they did not want Him to rule in the kingdom. They were not therefore looking for Him to come in His way; they did not know Him when He came. And Herod, who for a little time was seated upon the insecure throne, baptized with injustice, cruelty, avarice, and blood, he did not know; and as soon as he heard, he became jealous of the Lord of glory; Satan took possession of the heart, and he sought to destroy the One to whom he owed his life. He feared the Child born might be the Christ; and fearing it, in his mad jealousy thought to slay the Lord’s Anointed and to thwart God! Jesus “came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” They professed to be His people; they prayed for His coming; but He came in His own way, and their way not being the Lord’s way, they did not know their Saviour and their King.
IT is a principle often demonstrated, a history often repeated. There were doubtless many who professed to be God’s children who went down in the flood. Many thousands of the Jews of Jerusalem who rejected Christ went to a cruel death in the siege of Jerusalem. They refused Christ their hearts, they would not have Him reign over Jerusalem, and they died reaping the fruit of their own choosing. So it will be with all who reject the Holy Child Jesus. If we will not let Him reign in our hearts, if His law is not the law of our lives, when He comes to reign forever over a renewed and glorified earth, we will not know Him; we will have chosen a king to everlasting destruction.
THE wise men knew the Child, humble tho all His environments were. They loved Light, and wanted it. They loved Truth, and sought it. And when they came to Him, who is the Light of the world, the personified Truth, they knew Him. Their acts of worship were but the manifestation of the inner life. They were demonstrations to the Jews that God was no respecter of persons, and that He would mercifully guide every soul who sought Him to the Fountain of all good.
IT is all—that which we have outlined and much more—a lesson for the ages, a lesson for every day in the year. It matters not whether the day called Christmas is the birthday of the Child Jesus. It is absolutely certain that He was not born on this day, anciently a great high day of the old licentious pagan feast of the Saturnalia, filled yet with the gluttony and folly and lustfulness of the heathen times. But whatever the day when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He may be this day born into your heart and life. “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt ‘among us,’” says the beloved apostle; and the Word wants to come into your flesh, the flesh of every one, and dwell there. And He wishes to do it to-day, every day, that you may share in the joy of the worshiping wise men in pouring out of your heart’s best treasures, and in the song of the angels:—
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, good will toward men.”
THERE are in every land to-day souls seeking Jesus, the Light of the world. They are accounted infidel, skeptical, pagan; but they are seeking truth and will surely find it. There are wise men in the East to-day who will greet Him in gladness at His second coming. He has chosen some to give to such His message; He has given them the2privilege of heralding the message; He gives to all the privilege of receiving it; and “the wise [those who fear God] shall understand.”
MARY, the mother of Jesus, was not the only woman in whom the Christ was born. She was His earthly mother; but there were other women in Judea and Galilee and Bethlehem then and now, as the woman in our picture, who have the privilege of being the mother of the anointed One. For did not He say, as He stretched forth His hands toward His disciples: “Behold My mother and My brethren! ‘For whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven, the ‘same is My brother, and sister, and mother.’” How?—By the life inborn from above. By Christ dwelling in the heart by faith. By the reception of the mystery of God, “Christ in you the hope of glory.” It is not His design that we should exalt either His mother after the flesh or His near disciples to the throne of deity, to be entreated, supplicated, or adored as demi-gods. It is character, the inborn Life from above, the Christ dwelling in the heart, that makes humanity precious in the sight of God. Those who receive this life, and do God’s will, occupy the tenderest and closest relationship to our Lord Jesus Christ. Let the truth of His birth come home to us with this truth; and let Him be to each of us what God called Him, Emmanuel, “God with us.”
