SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/17/2019
11:09 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The
Adoration by the Magi”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matt. 2:9-12
Message of the verses: “9 And having heard the king, they went their
way; and lo, the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them,
until it came and stood over where the Child was. 10 And when they saw the
star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And they came into the house
and saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell down and worshiped Him;
and opening their treasures they presented to Him gifts of gold and
frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned by God in a dream not
to return to Herod, they departed for their own country by another way.”
The
first thing that I want to discuss from these verses is that it is not known
exactly all the conversation that the magi had with Herod, there may have been
more conversation between them and Herod.
One thing for sure is that the magi had no idea of the evilness that was
in the heart of Herod. The magi
proceeded to Bethlehem, not because of Herod’s instruction, but because at last
they knew where to find the One they came to worship. Now we want to move onto some more discussion
about the star. John MacArthur writes
the following after verse 9b which says “The star, which they had seen in the
east, went on before them, until it came and stood over where the Child was.” He then writes “That the star was not a
physical heavenly body is again evident from the fact that it was able to stand
directly over the house where Jesus and His family now lived—which for obvious
reasons could not be possible for an actual star (cf. Ex. 40:34-38; Ezek.
10:4).” 34 Then the cloud covered the
tent of meeting, and the
glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses was not able to enter
the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the
LORD filled the tabernacle. 36
Throughout all their journeys whenever the cloud was taken up from over the
tabernacle, the sons of Israel would set out; 37 but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did
not set out until the day when it was taken up. 38 For throughout all their
journeys, the cloud of the LORD was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire
in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel” (Ex. 40:34-38).” 4 Then the glory of the LORD went up from the
cherub to the threshold of the temple, and the temple was filled with the cloud
and the court was filled with the brightness of the glory of the LORD” (Ezekiel
10:4).” We have talked about this in
earlier SD’s and as one looks at what happened in the OT with the Shekinah
glory, how it moved around, then one could think about the possibility of this
is what led the magi to where Jesus was.
Remember this was not where He was born, so do not pay any attention to
those Christmas cards with three wise men on them, for we don’t really know how
many magi were involved here, but we do know they were not where Jesus was
born, as the text says they were living in a house.
We
read of rejoicing coming from the magi “And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with
great joy.” MacArthur writes that
“The original text piles up superlatives to emphasize the extent of exhilaration
they felt, thus indicating to us their uniquely strong interest in this great
event.”
After
the magi found the house where Jesus and His family were living in they then “worshiped Him,” that means that they
worshiped the child and not the mother as some would led you to believe. Matthew is very careful to say their worship
was going to the Son and not the mother.
There are times in the NT that people are misinformed and begin to
worship people or angels rather than worship God. Peter stopped Cornelius from worshiping him,
and two times in the book of Revelation when John started to worship angels
they stopped him from doing that telling him to worship God. After the magi worshiped Jesus they gave him
gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.
MacArthur adds “Their giving was not so much an addition to their
worship as an element of it. The gifts
were and expression of worship, given out of the overflow of adorning and grateful
hearts.
“Right
worship is always, and must be, the only basis for right giving and right
learning and right service. Giving that
is generous but done apart
from a loving relationship with God is empty giving. Learning that is orthodox and biblical, but
is learned apart from knowing and depending on the Source of truth, is empty knowledge,
like that of the chief priests and scribes.
Service that is demanding and sacrificial but done in the power of the
flesh or for the praise of men is empty service.”
Lord
willing we will look at the gifts that were given to Jesus by the magi in our
next SD.
My Steps of fait for today: Giving is always a part of worship when done
with a joyful heart.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Giving must come from a humble heart
realizing that I am just a steward of what the Lord has entrusted me with.
Our quotation from “Love in Action”
comes from Luke 24:30-31.
“Now it came to pass, as He sat at the
table with them, that He took bread,
blessed and broke it, and gave it to
them. Then their eyes
were opened and they knew Him; and He
vanished from their sight.”
12/17/2019 12:04 PM
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