epiphany...

"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 saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." Luke 2:1-2

The time between December 25th and January 6th is considered the Twelve Days of Christmas (no partridge's in a pear tree here), which originated in the Eastern churches. There are many different celebrations during these twelve days, but most notably is the end, January 6th, named Epiphany Day or "Three Kings Day"...a celebration of Jesus entering the world and commemorating the visit of the Magi.

We all have been eyewitness to the countless scenes depicting the "three" wise men at the manger bestowing gifts upon Jesus. This is what we were taught, this is the only story of the wise men that we heard and that we knew. But we, the church, missed the theological significance somewhere along the way. We traded truth for traditions. So, why the wise men?

We read prior to Matthew's account that the wise men (or magi) were consistently seen as the enemy - always going up against God's elite. These men were magicians, scholars, practicing divination among many other things. Moses forbid the people to accept the practices of these "wise men" in Deuteronomy 18:9-14. We see examples of why throughout the Old Testament...the wise men in Egypt who went up against Aaron and his staff (only to watch Aaron's staff swallow theirs), the wise men who couldn't interpret dreams versus Daniel (Daniel 5:15, 2:27) and again versus Joseph (Genesis 41:8), both of which who could - saving nations because of it, and not to mention many other instances where kings consulted them as was custom to making decisions (see Esther 1:13).

Hundreds of years later, into Jerusalem and into the kingship of Herod, walks wise men (side note: the Biblical account doesn't specify how many). They obviously knew the prophecy, quoting the ancient scrolls to the king, and traveling far distances after seeing a star - which must have been so unique it loudly beckoned these presumably sincere astrologers to come. And not to be missed, the biblical account says they traveled from the East - which was home to many enemies of Israel - Babylon, Edom, Assyria, Canaan. We don't know where specifically they were from, but it is safe to say that they most likely came from an enemy territory.

These enemies of Jerusalem and enemies of God weren't just trying to find a star, they were coming to find a King who had been prophesied about, and not only that, once they saw Him they fell down to worship Him, opening their treasures to give Him costly gifts. These were the highest regarded people in society (see Esther 1), outsiders from enemy territory, being invited by a star to come and worship a King, a king that wasn't even the king of their land. These outsiders were given access to the Savior of not just the Jews, but to the entire world.

Matthew 2 details the account of Herod and the wise men, both of whom were enemies of God...one choosing to wallow in his jealousy and pride, leading to death, and one choosing to seek out a star and in all humility falling down before a king, their King, leading to life. Which one are you?

On that quiet night in Bethlehem, there were no kingly witnesses, nor queens, priests, wise men, nor servants, only the lowly shepherds, watching all of the titles of mankind being wrapped up in swaddling cloths, signifying that He was indeed the Savior of the World...to the Israelites first, then to the rest of the world, to all who would come and worship Him as King of Kings.

"...I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star." Revelation 22:16

"...hold fast what you have until I come...conquer and keep my works until the end. And I will give him the morning star." Revelation 2:28 (paraphrase mine)

*To study more about the shepherds and their fascinating theological significance, read my blog titled Christmas Part 2: the witnesses that I wrote many years ago.

*To study more about the star of Bethlehem, read my blog titled: Christmas part 3: the star-ish of Bethlehem