ADVENT MEDITATION, Jan 06: Read Matthew 2:1-18 This is the LAST advent meditation! This day is called the Epiphany. An epiphany is the sudden appearance of a deity to human beings. This day is celebrated as the day the Magi came to see the One born King of the Jews. When they saw Him, the child Jesus, it was the first appearance of Messiah to the Gentiles; thus it is called the Epiphany. For the Eastern Orthodox Church this is the day of Jesus baptism for in it is revealed His divine nature and His ordination to ministry. We do not know a lot about the wise men but we know enough to know that we do not know how many there were! There might have been three or there might have been far more than that. We know they were not kings but magi from which we get our English word magic. We do not know how they got the message that the King of the Jews was being born. We do not know what the star was they were following. We can be pretty sure it was not a normal star for everyone else would have seen it too. Normal stars do not come to rest over the spot where children are! We know that they had to be traveling for some period of time for they were traveling by land without the benefit of rapid travel. The star kept appearing and reappearing. We know they were dealing with following a star and that somehow, perhaps through studying some of Daniels writings or the other prophets, they knew this star to be for the one born King of the Jews. We know they apparently did not know the Word of God but they did know a Messiah was to be born. They are warned of God in a dream which is not unheard of for God to communicate some truth to Gentiles through it (Pharaoh and Joseph; Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar) even apart from their knowledge of Him or His Word. It is believed these men were king-makers and had come to acknowledge and anoint Jesus as the King. What we do know is that Jesus, though born King of the Jews, is also the King of the Gentiles and that Gentiles as well as Jews, i.e. the shepherds, had worshiped Him and honored Him as their king. Messiah came once as promised and will come again...as promised. Every day is advent to the people whose hope is in the Lord. God bless you all with the knowledge of Jesus, the Messiah!
Posted on: Tue, 06 Jan 2015 06:01:00 +0000
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