SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/9/2019
11:30 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-3 “Magi
from the East”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
2:1-2
Message of the verses: “1 Now after Jesus
was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from
the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2 "Where is He who has been born
King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east, and have come to worship
Him.”
I
want to continue with the quotation from John MacArthur’s commentary on the
history of the magi so we can get a better picture of who it was who came to
visit the baby Jesus, and who it was who talked to Herod.
“During
both the Greek and Roman empires the magi’s power and influence continued in
the eastern provinces, particularly in Parthia.
As mentioned above, it was the Parthians that Herod, in behalf of Rome,
drove out the Palestine between 39-37 B.C., when his kingship of Judea
began. Some magi—many of them probably
outcasts or false practitioners—lived in various parts of the Roman Empire,
including Palestine. Among them was
Simon of Samaria (Acts 8:9), who tradition and history have come to refer to as
Simon Magus because of his ‘practicing magic’ (Greek, mageuo, derived from the Babylonian magus, singular of magi).The Jewish false prophet Bar-Jesus was
also a sorcerer, or ‘magician’ a first-century B. C. Jewish philosopher from
Alexandria, called vipers and scorpions.
“The
magi from the east (the word literally means ‘from the rising’ of the sun, and
refers to the orient) who came to see Jesus were a completely different
sort. Not only were they true magi, but
they surely had been strongly influenced by Judaism, quite possibly even from
some of the prophetic writings, especially that of Daniel. They appear to be among the many God-fearing
Gentiles who lived at the time of Christ, a number of whom—which as Cornelius
and Lydia (Acts 10:1-2; 16:14—are mentioned in the New Testament.”
One
of the reasons that I quote from MacArthur’s commentary on this section is
because I have never read or heard of what he is writing about the magi before
and so I wanted to make sure that what I write comes from MacArthur who has
studied the history of these magi extensively.
“When
these magi, however many there were, arrived in Jerusalem, they began asking, ‘Where
is He who has been born King of the Jews?”
The Greek construction (saying is a present participle emphasizing continual
action) suggests that they went around the city questioning whomever they
met. Because they, as foreigners, knew
of the monumental birth, they apparently assumed that anyone in Judea, and
certainly in Jerusalem, would know of this special baby’s whereabouts. They must have been more than a little
shocked to discover that no one seemed to know what they were talking about.”
At
this time I want to talk about how it was that the magi knew that it was time
for the Messiah to be born. I realize
that they did see a great light in the sky, but there is nowhere in the Bible that
tells us that they followed that bright light or what is called a star,
something we will get into a bit later on, Lord willing. What I am referring to here is that they
probably knew the prophetic writings of Daniel as MacArthur has already
mentioned. In the 9th chapter
of Daniel we have what I consider the greatest prophecy ever given which talks
about 490 years, when it will begin, when it will pause, when it will start up
again and when it will end. We have
written about this in our studies of both Daniel and Revelation. The best way to understand the prophecy is to
look at it as a giant stop watch with 490 years on it. It begins to tick when we read in Nehemiah
chapter two that Nehemiah is allowed to go to Jerusalem from Babylon to rebuild
the walls that have been torn down by the Babylonians and to finish them. There is a pause in the stop watch when the
Messiah is killed. Now if you know when
it starts and when it pauses then you can get a good idea of when the Messiah
would be born. Jesus died at the age of
30, which is something that they probably did not know, but they would know
that the time was getting close to when He would be born and then they saw this
great light and so they knew that He must have been born. The last seven years begins when the
antichrist signs a peace treaty with Israel to allow them to build the Temple
and worship the Lord in Jerusalem, and it ends with the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ at the end where there will also be a great light occurring before
He returns.
Quotation from “Love in Action” comes
from Luke 10:9.
“Heal the sick…and say to them, ‘The
kingdom
Of God has come near to you.’”
12/9/2019 12:06 PM
“Join us Friday, Saturday or Sunday evening, December 13th, 14th and 15th to launch the Christmas Season! The Musicale draws nearly 3,000 people each year and is a spectacular celebration of Christmas with music, drama and over 50,000 lights. This year’s production is sure to put you and your family in the Christmas spirit.”
“A live-stream viewing of the production will be broadcast Saturday, December 14th.” The live-stream on December 14, 2019 will begin at 7:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. If you are able please do not miss this as it will bless your heart.
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