Picture: 3TC 31.1
This chapter is based on Matthew 2.
“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.’” 3TC 31.2
The wise men from the East belonged to a class that represented wealth and learning. Among these were upright men who studied the indications of God in nature and were honored for their integrity and wisdom. The wise men who came to Jesus were such men. 3TC 31.3
As they studied the starry heavens, these devout, educated men saw the glory of the Creator. Seeking clearer knowledge, they turned to the Hebrew Scriptures. There were prophetic writings in their own land that predicted the coming of a divine teacher. Balaam’s prophecies had been handed down by tradition from century to century. But in the Old Testament, the wise men learned with joy that the Savior’s coming was near. The whole world was to be filled with a knowledge of the glory of the Lord. 3TC 31.4
The wise men had seen a mysterious light in the heavens that night when the glory of God flooded the hills of Bethlehem. A glowing star appeared and lingered in the sky, an event that stirred keen interest. That star was a group of shining angels, but the wise men did not know this. Yet they were impressed that the star held special importance to them. 3TC 32.1
Could this strange star have been sent as a sign of the Promised One? See Numbers 24:17. The wise men had welcomed the light of truth that Heaven had sent. Now it was shining on them in brighter rays. God instructed them through dreams to go in search of the newborn Prince. 3TC 32.2
The Eastern country was rich in precious things, and the wise men did not set out empty-handed. They brought the most costly gifts in the land as an offering to Him in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed. 3TC 32.3
They had to travel by night in order to keep the star in view, but at every pause for rest the travelers searched the prophecies. The conviction deepened that God was guiding them. The journey, though long, was a happy one. 3TC 32.4
They had reached the land of Israel and had Jerusalem in sight, when suddenly the star rested above the temple. Eagerly they hurried onward, confidently expecting the Messiah’s birth to be the joyful subject on every tongue. But to their amazement, they found that their questions called forth no joy but rather surprise and fear, even mingled with contempt. 3TC 32.5
The priests boasted of their religion and piety while they denounced the Greeks and Romans as sinners. The wise men were not idol worshipers, and in the sight of God, they stood far higher than His professed followers, yet the Jews looked on them as heathen. Their eager questions touched no chord of sympathy. 3TC 32.6
The wise men’s strange errand created an excitement among the people of Jerusalem that reached to the palace of King Herod. The crafty Edomite was troubled at the suggestion of a possible rival. Being of foreign blood, he was hated by the people. His only security was to stay in Rome’s favor. But this new Prince had a higher claim—He was born to the kingdom. 3TC 33.1
Herod suspected the priests of plotting with the strangers to stir up a rebellion and unseat him. He was determined to thwart the scheme by outsmarting them. He called in the priests and questioned them regarding the place of the Messiah’s birth. 3TC 33.2
This inquiry from one who was not rightfully king, and made at the request of strangers, stung the pride of the Jewish teachers. They turned to the rolls of prophecy with indifference, and this enraged the jealous tyrant. He thought they were trying to conceal their knowledge. With an authority they dared not disregard, he commanded them to make a close search and to tell him the birthplace of their expected King. “So they said to him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: 3TC 33.3
“But you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler,
Who will shepherd My people Israel.”’”
3TC 33.4
Herod now invited the wise men to a private interview. Anger and fear were raging in his heart, but he put on a calm exterior and claimed to welcome with joy the birth of Christ. He urged his visitors, “Search diligently for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.” 3TC 33.5
The priests were not as ignorant as they pretended. The report of the angels’ visit to the shepherds had come to Jerusalem, but the rabbis had treated it as unworthy of notice. They themselves might have been ready to lead the visitors to Jesus’ birthplace, but instead, the wise men came to call their attention to the birth of the Messiah. 3TC 33.6
If accepted, the reports that the shepherds and the wise men brought would disprove the priests’ claim to be the spokesmen of the truth of God. These proud, educated teachers would not stoop to be instructed by heathen people. It could not be, they said, that God had passed them by, to communicate with ignorant shepherds or pagan Gentiles. They would not even go to Bethlehem to see whether these things were true. And they led the people to consider the interest in Jesus as merely fanatical excitement. This is when the priests and rabbis began to reject Christ. Their pride and stubbornness grew into a settled hatred of the Savior. 3TC 34.1
As the shadows of night fell, the wise men left Jerusalem alone. But to their great joy, they saw the star again and were directed to Bethlehem. Disappointed by the careless attitude of the Jewish leaders, they left Jerusalem less confident than when they had entered it. 3TC 34.2
At Bethlehem they found no royal guard to protect the newborn King. None of the world’s honored men were there. Jesus was cradled in a manger, with His parents as His only guardians. Could this be the One who would “raise up the tribes of Jacob,” be “a light to the Gentiles,” and “salvation to the ends of the earth”? Isaiah 49:6. 3TC 34.3
“When they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him.” Then they poured out their gifts—“gold, frankincense, and myrrh.” What a faith they had! 3TC 34.4
The wise men had not seen through Herod’s plot, and they prepared to return to Jerusalem to tell him of their success. But in a dream they received a message to have no further communication with him. Avoiding Jerusalem, they set out for their own country by another route. 3TC 34.5
Joseph also received a dream warning Him to escape to Egypt with Mary and the Child. Joseph obeyed without delay, leaving at night for greater security. 3TC 35.1
The wise men’s inquiries in Jerusalem, the resulting interest among the people, and even Herod’s jealousy drew the attention of the priests and rabbis and directed minds to the prophecies concerning the Messiah and the great event that had taken place. 3TC 35.2
Determined to shut out the divine light from the world, Satan used his evil skills to their maximum to destroy the Savior. But He who never slumbers nor sleeps provided a refuge for Mary and the Child Jesus in a heathen land. And through the gifts of the wise men from a heathen country, the Lord supplied the funds for the journey to Egypt and for their stay in a land of strangers. 3TC 35.3
In Jerusalem, Herod waited impatiently for the wise men to return. As time passed and they did not appear, he became suspicious. Had the rabbis seen through his plot, and had the wise men purposely avoided him? The thought made him furious. Through force he would make an example of this Child-King. 3TC 35.4
Herod sent soldiers to Bethlehem with orders to put to death all the children two years old and under. The quiet homes of the City of David witnessed scenes that had been opened to the prophet six hundred years before: 3TC 35.5
“A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
3TC 35.6
The Jews had brought this disaster on themselves by rejecting the Holy Spirit, their only Shield. They had searched for prophecies that they could interpret to exalt themselves and show how God despised other nations. It was their proud boast that the Messiah was to come as a king and trample down the heathen in His anger. In this way, they stirred up the hatred of their rulers. Through their misrepresentation of Christ’s mission, Satan had intended to bring about the Savior’s destruction, but instead it returned on their own heads. 3TC 35.7
Soon after the slaughter of the children, Herod died a fearful death. Joseph was still in Egypt, and now an angel told him to return to Israel. Thinking of Jesus as the Heir to David’s throne, Joseph wanted to make his home in Bethlehem. But when he learned that Archelaus had been made king in Judea in place of his father, he feared that the son might carry out the father’s evil intentions. 3TC 36.1
God directed Joseph to a place of safety, Nazareth, his former home. For nearly thirty years, Jesus lived here, “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, ‘He shall be called a Nazarene.’” Galilee had a much larger mixture of foreign inhabitants than Judea, so there was less interest in matters relating especially to the Jews. 3TC 36.2
This was the Savior’s reception when He came to earth. God could not entrust His beloved Son to human beings, even while carrying forward His work for their salvation! He commissioned angels to accompany Jesus and protect Him until He could accomplish His mission and die by the hands of those whom He came to save. 3TC 36.3
