Who were the Magi?

The story of the Magi appears in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew and has become an integral part of the Christmas narrative. The Magi are commonly depicted in nativity scenes, featured in carols such as “We Three Kings,” and even commemorated on a specific day of the church calendar.

But who were the Magi, and why are they important to the story of Christmas?

Misconceptions About the Magi

Many commonly held beliefs about the Magi are not based on the biblical text.

If these popular beliefs are misconceptions, then who were the Magi really?

Who Were the Magi?

Several theories have been proposed regarding the identity of the Magi. Matthew’s Gospel, however, does not provide any information other than they were from the east. Nevertheless, we can use some tools of interpretation, in this case, looking for clues from other parts of the Bible, to gather relevant information. 

The Greek word used for “Magi”, typically translated magicians or wise men, is used prior to Matthew in the Greek translation of the Old Testament; however, it appears only in the book of Daniel – see Dan 1:20; 2:2, 2:10, 2:27; 4:7; 5:7, 5:11, and 5:15. So, we look for clues in the story of Daniel.

Connections to Daniel

Daniel was an Israelite from the tribe of Judah who lived in captivity in Babylon. (The Babylonian Empire later became the Persian Empire.) Scripture describes Daniel as possessing an extraordinary spirit, and he was regarded as the wisest man in the land. King Nebuchadnezzar appointed him chief of the magicians (Dan 5:11), and later he became one of three governors over the kingdom; the king even planned to appoint him over the entire kingdom (Dan 6:2–3).

This Daniel prophesied about the Messiah. In Dan 9:24-27, Daniel wrote that the Messiah the Prince would come at a specific time in history. And being a high-ranking official in the land, his words were known and preserved, particularly, by the magicians.

Additional Considerations

The Israelites were taken into exile because of their unfaithfulness to God’s covenant. Before and during this exile, God spoke through multiple prophets, promising deliverance through a Messiah (see Isaiah 9:6–7; 11:1–2; 42:1–4; 49:5–6; Jer 23:5–6; 30:9; 33:15–16; Ezek 34:23–24; 37:24–25, and others). These prophecies were similar to Daniel’s prophecy.

When we consider these biblical clues, there is strong reason to believe that the Magi were wise men from Persia, which is located east of Jerusalem. They were familiar with Daniel’s prophecies and other messianic predictions foretelling the birth of the King of Israel—the King of the Jews. They knew this birth would occur after the rebuilding of the temple (Dan 9:25), which also explains how observing a star led them to conclude that a new King had been born.

While this interpretation is plausible, Scripture ultimately tells us only that the Magi came from the east. And whether it is true or not that they were from Persia, we can still see how God acted in history to fulfill His promise.

Significance

The birth of the Son of God, the Messiah, was promised since the Fall of mankind (see Not an Ordinary Birth) and prophesied by various prophets as seen above. And when the appointed time for this birth came, the Lord opened the heavens and announced it with extraordinary signs. He made a star appear in the sky and He sent His choir of angels to proclaim it to the shepherds. This was not something God wanted the world to miss!

Moreover, God announced this message to all kinds of people. The Israelites had the prophecies, the non-Israelite Magi saw the star in the sky, the common shepherds heard it through the angels, and through the Magi, God also made the news known to the powerful Herod, the chief priests, and the scribes.

But why?

God did this because of His great love for us, and He did not want anyone to miss this moment. God sent Jesus so that in Him we might be reconciled to Himself and be freed from the bondage of sin. God knew that we could never earn this reconciliation by ourselves or our works. The only way this was going to happen was if He Himself became a man, undid the curse of sin, and defeated sin, death, and Satan. And that is exactly what He did through Jesus.

We, now, receive this reconciliation by turning away from our sin and our idols in repentance, and turning to Jesus in faith, trusting His finished work alone for our salvation. So, turn to Him today!

God also made the birth of Jesus known so that we would worship Him. Just as the Magi came to worship Him, we are also called to worship Him. They did not come to honor an ordinary child, but to worship the King of the Jews. Jesus is not only the King of the Jews; He is the true Messiah, the true God of the universe, and the King of the entire world.

And this is exactly what God wants from every one of us also – to worship Jesus, to bow our knees and confess Him as Lord and Savior. 

Will you do that this Christmas?

Merry Christmas!!

What Child is this, What Man was He?

Most people enjoy puzzles and brain-teasers. They’re captivating and often evoke a range of emotions as people try to solve them. One popular puzzle you may be familiar with is "one of these is not like the others." In this puzzle, a set of items is presented, and the contestant is asked to identify the one that differs from the rest. Typically, there is one key aspect that makes one item stand out.

When we consider every human being who has ever lived, Jesus is the One who is different from all of us. He stands out because He was without sin.

But if He was different from all humans, then was He really human? And if He was human but different from us, what kind of human was He? To answer these questions, we must first understand the true nature of humans. And to understand that, we have to go way back… all the way back to when God created humans.

Back to Creation

When God created humans, He made them in His own image and likeness (Gen 1:27), and He said that it was very good (Gen 1:31). In their original state, humans – Adam and Eve – were able to live in God's presence. They were not created flawed or sinful. They did not require a sacrifice to approach God’s presence, as we see from Leviticus onwards. They enjoyed fellowship with God and, in fact, were His representatives to all of creation. Adam and Eve ate, slept, moved, worked (yes, work existed before the Fall), had relationships, and enjoyed all of God’s creation according to God’s design.

This was God’s design for humanity and this is what being human meant according to God’s purposes. There was no fault in them. To err was not human. There was no fear, guilt, sickness, or death that characterized humanity. Sin was not part of human nature.

Humanity Corrupted

However, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin entered the world. Humanity was now stained with sin. Everyone born of Adam and Eve inherited a sinful nature. Through sin, death, sickness, sorrow, and fear entered the world, spreading to all humanity (Rom 5:12). Sin multiplied greatly, and humanity, which was very good in God's eyes, became filled with evil, grieving the Lord (Gen 6:5-6).

Humans were no longer as God had originally created them. In this fallen state, they were not fully human according to God’s design. And this is true even today. Everyone who is conceived naturally and is born as a human, is, in fact, born in sin (Ps 51:5). Sin, like hunger or thirst, has become a default aspect of human nature.

But God did not give up on humans. Right after the Fall, He promised Adam and Eve in Gen 3:15 that He would send a new human, a true human, a complete human, a sinless human who would defeat Satan and sin. And who will fulfill that which Adam was supposed to fulfill, namely, to fill the earth with God’s image-bearers (Gen 1:28). That man was Jesus.

Jesus' Humanity

Jesus, the Son of God, entered humanity through the incarnation. However, He did not inherit the sinful nature that had now become part of human nature. He was conceived supernaturally by the power of the Holy Spirit and was born of a virgin. Jesus was fully human in every way that God originally designed humans to be. But, unlike Adam, He was born into a fallen world. He experienced hunger, thirst, sorrow, rejection, mockery, and even temptation, just as everyone born in a fallen world does. Yet, unlike us, He was without sin and did not yield to temptation (Matt 4:1-11, Heb 4:15).

Jesus took on human nature and was made in the likeness of men (Phil 2:7). Because He was truly human and a better Adam, He resisted temptation and lived without sin. Because He was truly human, He lived in perfect communion with God. Because He was truly human, He became the true representative of all humans, who could not approach God by themselves. He took upon Himself the sins of humans, experiencing death on our behalf. He died on behalf of His people to save them (Matt 1:21) and bore the judgment we deserved (Is 53:5-6). But because He was sinless, death could not hold Him, and God raised Him from the dead, ending the agony of death (Acts 2:24).

Humanity Restored

Humans who are in Jesus through faith, already experience humanity according to God’s original design. In Jesus, we can boldly approach God’s throne (Heb 4:16). We enjoy deeper fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit who dwells within us (1 Cor 6:19). And, through the Spirit, we are set free from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:2). And, one day, when Jesus returns as the King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16), He will restore all of creation, and we will be transformed to what God intended humans to be – like Jesus (1 John 3:2).

Conclusion

As we celebrate Christmas this year, let us remember that the Son of God became human – a true human – to restore humanity – and more – to everyone who is united to Him through faith. He became like us in every way, except sin. In Jesus, we have a true representative before God because He became like us. And because of the similarity He shares with us, we will one day be like He is – sinless and perfected.

Turn to Him and be restored!

Merry Christmas!!

Why the Virgin Conception?

“All is calm, all is bright, round yon virgin mother and child.” These are words from the most popular Christmas carol, “Silent Night!” Most of us have sung these words thousands of times. The words “virgin” and “mother” rarely go together. But that is the reality of Jesus’ birth – He was born of a virgin. Nothing like this has ever happened in all of history. And it did not take place without a purpose. God was not just flexing His muscles to show the world what He can do. It was necessary that Jesus be born of a virgin for Him to accomplish what He intended. And without the virgin conception, Jesus would have failed even before He left the womb. 

Let’s begin to understand this by first seeing what Jesus was supposed to accomplish. 

Jesus’ Mission

The birth of Jesus, the Messiah, was prophesied long ago in the Old Testament by God directly and also through the prophets (see here). All these prophecies included specific things that Jesus would accomplish. And primarily, His mission – the reason He came to this world – was to reconcile humans and all creation to God (2 Cor 5:19). 

Humans once enjoyed close fellowship with God in the garden of Eden. However, because of sin – because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve – humans were alienated from God. Through that one act of disobedience, sin entered the world and spread to all mankind (Rom 5:12). Every person born is born under the curse of sin (Ps 51:5, Eph 2:2) and we are all separated from God (Rom 3:23). Moreover, we cannot redeem ourselves from this state because in our minds we are hostile to God (Rom 8:7-8), we enjoy our sin (Eph 2:3), and all our righteous deeds are like filthy rags before the Lord (Is 64:6).  According to God’s law, the wages of our sin is death (Rom 6:23). Such is the helpless state of mankind in comparison to God’s holiness. And this is what Jesus came to rectify. 

He did this by bearing our sins upon Himself and dying in our place (1 Pet 3:18); while we were still helpless, Jesus died for us and redeemed us from the wrath of God (Rom 5:6). And He could do this only because of His virgin conception. 

Importance of the Virgin Conception

Before diving into this, let us keep in mind that the birth of Jesus was not miraculous but His conception was. He was born like any of us are born – He was in Mary’s womb for 9 months, and was delivered like any of us are; but unlike us, He was conceived by a virgin, without the involvement of a man. Therefore, the term “Virgin birth” is misleading.

The story about the conception of Jesus is found in the Gospels of Matthew and of Luke. Mary, the young virgin, became pregnant before she had relations with a man. The child in her womb, Jesus, was conceived of the Holy Spirit (Matt 1:20) and eventually, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. 

As we saw earlier, everyone conceived naturally of Adam and Eve inherited sin and are sinful by nature – sin spread to all mankind. And a sinful person could never reconcile humans to God because he cannot be a suitable atonement. God revealed this truth through the sacrificial system in the Old Testament. The sacrificial animal, which was a substitute for the people, had to be without blemish. The best example of this is the Passover lamb in Exodus 12:5 – it was to be unblemished. We see the same in Lev 1:3,10; 3:1; 4:3; 14:10; 23:18; Num 6:14; 28:19, and many more. So, for Jesus to be our sacrifice, our Passover Lamb (1 Pet 1:19), He needed to be without sin. He could not inherit the sin of Adam from birth; and at the same time, He could not commit any sin either during His life on earth. 

To accomplish this, according to God’s awesome and wise plan, Jesus was not conceived in a way which will automatically associate sin to Him. He was not stained with a sinful nature into which everyone is born. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and was free from sin. And when we think about it, isn't that how God created man originally? Adam was created when God breathed life into him and he was created without sin, and God said that it was very good (Gen 1:31). Likewise, Jesus was also born without sin as the second and last Adam (Rom 5:14). 

And when it comes to committing sin during His life on earth, the Bible is clear that Jesus never sinned though He was tempted in every way as we are (Heb 4:15). He was not subject to sin as we are and there was no desire in Him to break God’s Law. Even during His false trial before His crucifixion, He was found to be without guilt (John 18:8). 

Thus, Jesus was sinless in every way and it began with His virgin conception.

Conclusion

The virgin conception of Jesus is crucial in God’s redemption story. If He had not been born of a virgin, then He would have been sinful and He would have needed redemption just like all of us. But, praise the Lord, Jesus was born of a virgin and therefore, He was sinless, and because He was sinless, He could be and was the perfect atonement for our sins. 

As we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus this year, let us ponder on the importance of His virgin conception and how it was absolutely necessary for our redemption. The nature of the incarnation of the Son of God is intertwined with his atoning work on the cross. His unblemished nature was organically tied to His perfect life, His death, and His resurrection. 

Without the virgin womb, there would not have been an empty tomb!

Merry Christmas!

Further Reading

  1. Stephen J. Wellum, God the Son Incarnate
  2. Stephen J. Vellum, Christ Alone

Not an Ordinary Birth!

Remember the feeling you experienced when you kept a promise? More than that, remember the joy when someone fulfilled their promise to you? What if that fulfillment came after a time of waiting? 

In Jesus’ birth, God fulfilled a multitude of His promises. These promises were made many millennia before they were fulfilled. But God never forgot them. In fact, He carefully orchestrated and brought about the events exactly the way in which He prophesied them. In that sense, the birth of Jesus was not an ordinary birth. It was a marker of God’s faithfulness and shows that God is in complete control of all things. His words are true and they will never fail. 

The First Promise

Ever since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, God promised a Savior to not only undo the curse of sin but also to crush Satan. We see this in Gen 3:15, where God promises a seed of the woman who will crush the head of the serpent (Satan). This promise was fulfilled that night in Bethlehem because Jesus was that seed and He would eventually crush Satan’s head and his dominion on the cross. 

Subsequent Promises

To Abraham

When God called Abraham, He promised him descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky. And in Gen 22:18, God promised him that through his seed all the nations will be blessed. Peter interprets this seed to be Jesus in Acts 3:25 when he is preaching to the Jews. Paul also, in Gal 3:16, associates this seed to be Jesus, Abraham’s greatest descendant. In Jesus all the nations will be blessed when they turn to Him in faith. When Jesus was born, God’s promise to Abraham to provide him a seed to bless the nations was fulfilled. 

To Moses

There was not a greater prophet than Moses in the history of the people of Israel. Moses was the one who gave God’s Law to the Israelites and, even today, he is greatly revered and followed by devout Jews. But in Deut. 18:18, God told Moses that He will raise up a prophet like him and that the people are to listen to this prophet’s words. God did raise up such a prophet on the night that Jesus was born. Jesus was that prophet who brought grace and truth, just as Moses brought the Law (John 1:17), and in Jesus’ birth, God’s promise to Moses was fulfilled. 

To David

King David was a man after God’s own heart and because of his zeal for the Lord, he wanted to build God a temple, a dwelling place for God’s presence. But God told David that it would be his descendant and not him who would build the temple. God promised that He will raise up one of David’s descendants to be a king forever and that His kingdom will have no end. And this King was Jesus who was born in the lineage of David. He did not build a temple with stones but His own body (John 2:19, 21), which is now His church (1 Pet 2:5). And, moreover, as God promised, Jesus’ Kingdom will never end (Luke 1:33, 2 Pet 1:11). The birth of Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s promise to David to provide a King from his lineage who will reign forever. 

To Isaiah

There is no clearer promise of a virgin conceiving and giving birth to a son than in Isaiah 7:14. This was God’s sign to the people of the household of David to show that God will deliver them. In Isaiah 7, the deliverance was against the Arameans, but that was not the only purpose of the sign. This was also God’s sign for His people that He will deliver them from all oppression. More than 700 years later, when Jesus was born of a virgin (Luke 1:31,34, 2:7), God’s sign was manifested; His promise of a deliverer was fulfilled. 

To Micah

While God promised to Isaiah the manner in which Jesus would be born (through a virgin), to Micah God promised the exact location of His birth. Bethlehem was a small city of little significance in the clan of Judah. But in Micah 5:2, God chooses this city to be the place where a ruler for Him would be born. Centuries later, wise men from the east see the star of the King of the Jews and come to meet Herod. The priests and scribes in Herod’s court confirm Micah’s words of a ruler coming from Bethlehem (Matt 2:2-5). The wise men then find Jesus in Bethlehem and worship Him. 

Mary and Joseph did not live in Bethlehem; they lived in Nazareth of Galilee, which is about 93 miles (153 km) from Bethlehem (about a week’s journey by foot with a heavily pregnant woman). However, God orchestrated the events – the census, the time of birth, and the arrival at Bethlehem – to ensure Jesus, His Ruler, would be born in Bethlehem according to His promise. Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem fulfilled God’s promise of a ruler coming from that city. 

To Jeremiah

When God’s people in Judah were mistreated by their leaders, God denounces these false leaders and promises to raise up a righteous Branch who will do justice and righteousness in the land (Jer 23:5-6). Jesus was that Branch because there was no unrighteousness found in Him (Heb 4:15, 1 Pet 2:22), and His judgements were true (John 5:30). In the birth of Jesus, God fulfilled His promise He made to Jeremiah.

Conclusion

In the birth of Jesus, God made a loud proclamation that His promises to provide a Savior, a Deliverer, a Prophet, a Ruler, a Righteous Judge, an everlasting King, and our Salvation were fulfilled. He has proved Himself to be faithful.

Jesus’ birth was not an ordinary event. It was God, the Son, entering the earth in human form. He who was the Lord of the universe took on human flesh to redeem humans. He did this for His name’s sake, to be true to His nature and to His word. It was also His love for His people that caused Him to be born as a child. This is worthy of celebration, not just on Christmas Day but everyday and every moment of our lives! 

Merry Christmas !! 

Why the Incarnation?

The month of December is the most wonderful time of the year! People everywhere are in festive spirits and make plans to spend time with their families. While many holidays are celebrated all over the world (including Festivus), there is none more popular than Christmas. It is the most recognized Christian holiday, and it is enjoyed and celebrated by many non-Christians as well. 

While people will identify Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, there are many other aspects of this holiday that are not thought about. For example, who is this Jesus and why is His birthday so important? Why does the whole world celebrate/remember His birthday? I am not sure if you have pondered these questions but they are definitely worth investigating. 

Christians believe, as the Bible teaches, that Jesus was born miraculously through a virgin. He was called Emmanuel, which means “God with us”. He was/is God (see here), who took on human nature and was born on the earth. But why? What was the reason for Him to become a man? There are two ways this question can be answered – objectively and subjectively.

The Objective need for the Incarnation 

When we approach it from an objective view, we take into consideration the facts of the argument. What was the factual need for the Son of God to be born as a human being? Or what did humans lack that God had to take on human form to accomplish? A very simple, yet profound, answer to this question is that humans lacked fellowship or friendship with God. 

When God made man and woman, he made them in His image. He gave them the ability to be aware of themselves and to be aware of their surroundings. Because of this, they were able to enjoy God and also each other. There were no barriers between God and humans. Nothing prevented humans from living in the manner God had intended and to have perfect fellowship with Him. However, this did not last forever. Humans disobeyed God by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge, which God had prohibited. And because of man’s disobedience, there was a cosmic shift in creation. 

Humans were now afraid of God and did not want to be in His presence (Gen 3:10). God’s most wonderful creation rebelled against Him and avoided Him. God was still merciful and did not destroy them. However, He knew that His word was violated and that humans lacked the ability to make amends or restore the fellowship. Humanity was now stained with sin, and death made its way into the human race. Every human born was now born with the stain of sin; they sinned more and violated God’s commands easily, and consequently, suffered death. Only God could make a way for humans to enjoy the fellowship that they enjoyed with Him before sin came into the world. This could be done only by destroying sin and its effects, namely death, and that is the exact reason God became a human, in Jesus Christ. 

Jesus restored fellowship with God

Even before His birth, the angel told Joseph in a dream that Jesus would save His people from their sins (Matt 1:21). When Jesus first appeared to the public, John the Baptist said that He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Jesus forgave people their sins during His earthly ministry (Mark 2:5), and said that He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). 

Moreover, He never succumbed to the power of sin. When He was tempted, He did not give in; rather He was victorious over every temptation (Matt 4:1-11). He was tempted in every way that humans are tempted, yet He did not sin (Heb 4:15). He was the Only one whom sin could not overcome and could not conquer. 

But the ultimate freedom from sin was obtained when Jesus took our sins upon Himself and died on the cross. God condemned sin in Jesus’ flesh, and through His death, defeated sin. And through His resurrection, He defeated the power of sin, namely, death. Jesus inaugurated a new era in which humans could have fellowship with God again without any hindrance. What was lost in the garden of Eden through the disobedience of one man – Adam – was gained, and more, through the obedience of one man, Jesus. This was the objective reason for the Incarnation – to restore the fellowship between God and man. 

The Subjective need for the Incarnation

From a subjective standpoint, we are not considered with facts but with feelings and personal perspectives. And in this case, we have to wonder why God felt the need to become human. And this question has only one answer – Love. 

God’s love for humans did not cease when they disobeyed Him. He continued to love them and was also patient with them, enduring the sins they committed against Him. In His love, He established the sanctuary and the temple in the Old Testament. Through the sacrifices offered for sin, God made a way to live with His people. He never abandoned them but loved them (us) with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3). Everything in the  OT was a preparation for the final solution. And His ultimate display of love was seen in the person of Jesus Christ. 

We read in John 3:16, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Jesus came to this world because of the Father’s love for us. God, by nature, is love and Jesus is the manifestation of God’s love for us (1 John 4:8-9). In Jesus, we can see the true extent of God’s love in that God did not even spare His own Son for us (Rom 8:32). We were God’s enemies because of our rebellion, but God loved us. He demonstrated His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). And Jesus gave Himself on the cross because of the love He had for us (Gal 2:20). Jesus took on the form of a slave and was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil 2:7-8) in order that God and humans may be reconciled. God’s love for us is so infinite that nothing in all of creation can separate us from Him (Rom 8:38-39). 

So much more can be said about God’s love for us. Infinite volumes have been written explaining the depths of God’s love but they, together, fail to scratch even the surface of it. We can never comprehend why God loves us but we can be sure that He does. And this love He has for us compelled Him to become human and be born of a virgin. This is the birth we celebrate!

A New Christmas!

Maybe you have celebrated many Christmases and have never wondered why Jesus was born. Or maybe Christmas in the past did not focus on Jesus and His love for us. It might be that Christmas has been about spending time with the family and exchanging gifts. But this year, Christmas could be different when we realize that Jesus was born in this world so that we could have perfect fellowship with God. 

God was reconciling the world to Himself in Jesus Christ (2 Cor 5:19) and now extends this reconciliation to all who believe in Jesus and turn from their sin. Jesus came so that we might have life in all its abundance (John 10:10). 

Let’s turn to Jesus, the birthday boy, and call on Him for this abundant life and fellowship with God.

Merry Christmas!