Great Expectation of the Magi

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Matthew 2:10 

NIV:     When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

NKJV:  When they saw the star,

                    they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.

NRSV:  When they saw the star had stopped, 

                    they were overwhelmed with joy.

Matthew 2:1-12 tells us of the 800+ mile, 40+ day journey of the Magi.  It is no small event of the Christmas story as it shows careful preparations based on hope, faith, irony, joy, and expectations.

There is irony in the very fact that rich, Gentile, foreign priests of high honor desired to seek the baby Jesus.  In the days of Jesus, travel was precarious in its danger and was usually done with great preparation and often accomplished in caravans.  Just as Mary and Joseph probably went to Bethlehem with a caravan so to the Magi.  It required preparation for the Magi.  They had to plan provisions, how far to travel each day, determine how many days it would require, how many people/servants to take with them, and on and on and on.  This was no small task.  All this would be done just to find the baby King of the Jews.  The question is why would they care?

The Magi prepared with the hope and faith that they would find the 'King of the Jews' and it is not difficult to understand why they cared in finding a baby that would be King.  Archaeology and in secular writings of the time reveal that among the vast array of Arabs in 'the east' where the Magi originated there were cells of Jewish people that knew their rich Jewish history.  These people were the descendants of the Jews of Israel and Judah that were conquered, taken, and pushed out of Palestine beginning in 721 BC.  From Israel  (northern kingdom) Jews were dispersed to the west in Mesopotamia, some were taken east to Persia/Media (present day Iran), and from Judah in 586, many were taken to Babylon, possibly up to 50,000 of the Judean population of about 120,000 (*1).  But the significance, is perhaps only as few as 10% possibly up to 50% percent returned from Babylon beginning around 520 BC and the ensuing 100+ years (*2).  

For over 500 years stories of Jewish expectations of a Savior were passed down in these Jewish communities of the East.   At the same time in many segments of the Persian and Babylon Jewish communities, the  mixing of the different faiths was common in those 500 years leading up to Jesus' birth.  Within this, Savior expectation stories could have easily been passed to the eastern Magi.  In Matthew's Magi passage, he shows us a few caring Magi, caring because they listened, and in their understanding they found a ring of truth in the Jewish hopes and faith that were stored in those Jewish expectations.

So, these Magi that traveled so very far were likely fully confident in their task, were wealthy and important Eastern priests that set out on their Journey in hope and faith with great expectations.   How ironic it is that they travel seeking the Savior Christ child who is born in their belief "King of the Jews".  How ironic that Arab priests go to the center of power of the Jewish nation asking "Where is the one born king of the Jews?" when a Jewish related King Herod of Palestine sits on the throne in Jerusalem.   How ironic that this King Herod is so shaken he does not think to send spies to find the destination of the Magi.  How ironic Gentile priests seek to submit themselves in worship to a baby Jew and the Jewish priests are overwhelmingly troubled, disturbed, and frightened in their taking no time to find the baby. 

And, in their finding the baby Jesus, it is recorded the Magi are filled with Joy.  Note, it is not recorded that they are happy, rather, that they are overwhelmed with joy, exceedingly!  They come in Joy, falling down, kneeling, and with bowed heads submitting themselves in worship to their new found King, the baby Jesus.  In their gifts, they show not their worth, rather, they demonstrate this child is worthy of their worship.  In their meeting and leaving the baby Jesus, they return home not only a different route, but most notably they return home as different men.

This story connects with us in the 21st Century.  First, there is no information published at the time of Jesus that would in anyway cause us to question the truth of this event or any other of the events recorded about Jesus.   But, well beyond that fact is our connection to the Magi is the same yearning in our hearts as the Magi had in their hearts, to have faith in someone greater than ourselves.  Someone we can believe in, someone who will never fail us in our needful times, someone who will always be there for us.  When we come face to face with that 'someone' and understand what Jesus brings to us in Salvation, as it was with the Magi, we too are changed people.

What are your expectations as you prepare for the Christmas season?  Seek to find your Overwhelming Joy as the Magi did by submitting yourselves to Jesus. The Magi knew with Joy they found the One Savior!  But, we know Jesus is the One Savior not just because of a Star over Bethlehem but, because of the Joy of eye witnesses to an Easter empty tomb.    

In preparation, we celebrate Christmas around the birth of the Christ,  born king of the Jews but destined for sacrifice as our redeeming Savior. In our celebration we show we care and we live in the Joy of Overwhelming Expectations and in the Christian knowledge of a Risen Lord.  In a manner similar to the Magi, we too in Joy understand the 'The Ring of Truth' found in Christ,  and in that 'Ring of Truth' feel compelled to fall down, kneel, and with bowed heads submit ourselves in humble worship to our Savior King and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. 

How Magnificent is our God,

Thanks be to God.

 "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus- There is Something about that Name"

lonnie (c)

================*1 http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4012-captivity...
*2 https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0006_0_06183.html
.
.

The number of Jews that returned to Judah is not really known.  The Judean Jews were in exile about 60 to 70 years and multiplied while in Babylon perhaps doubling their population.  Having settled in Babylon, flourishing in business it is safe to say quite a significant number of Jews and Jewish communities remained behind, perhaps as many as 50,000+.  It is well known from records and archaeology that those returning to Judah had very difficult times.  For many Jews, it was a question of returning to the difficulties of a homeland that many did not know, or continuing their business enterprises in Babylon that were flourishing.

© lonnie coggins

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Sharing these messages

You are welcome to share these messages.  You can send the links to your friends,  copy and insert the link on FB or Christian.com or you can print the message and share it with your friends.

You can print the message including this sharing message only for your friends and for non-profit.  You will have to copy and paste the message to a word processing document.   After you copy and paste add the following at the end of the message:

© Lonnie Coggins

ldcoggins@gmail.com

If you desire to use any of these messages in a For-Profit manner you must contact me (email) for permission.  Typically, I will most likely give permission.

Please email me if you find any broken links in this message.

lonnie 

Publication 0083

The Road Rarely Traveled, The Faith of One Man that Changed the Second Mellinimum

The Road Rarely Traveled,
One Man’s Faith that 
Changed the Second Millennium

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Romans 1:17 NRS     For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, "The one who is righteous will live by faith."

Once upon a time in a land far away full of knights and castles there was an extraordinary man.  But, still a man born of humble beginnings, beaten as a child for his misdoings because daddy believed, along with most in Germany, that God was vengeful and you had to work or buy your way out of purgatory.  For Martin Luther (1484 - 1546) this made no sense and haunted him, for his first 20 years, Luther felt God was a loving God, but there was no one to help him or show him.

Martin Luther

Now, Luther’s daddy loved books, the family could be hungry because of buying books and Luther unknowingly learned to love books.  As it turned out, loving books, courage to travel, and the fear of God lead him to boarding school, Erfurt University, Priesthood, and Wittenberg University to teach, and to strike out at the wrongs of the Catholic Church*1 of the 1500's.  In his education, at age 20 he discovered a Bible in a library, and for the rest of his life he found himself on a road leading other people to a new relationship with Christ.  Martin Luther (1483-1546) in the journey to change the Catholic Church, had to abandon the Church and begrudgingly begin a Reformation.  Others before him with similar beliefs were burned at the stake, John Huss for one.  In April 1521, at a Diet (Conference of high officials) in Worms Germany, he told the Pope's high representative and the Emperor he would not 'recant' his writings against the writings and leaders of the church.  In May, 1521 Luther's excommunication from the Church was completed with Emperor Charles V declaring him an outlaw, to be killed on sight.

Luther took the Road Rarely Traveled in his day changing the world.  His writings gave birth to the Protestant Reformation, a revolution, and the beginnings of the slow change in the Catholic Church.  Luther, as he came to know God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, showed his genius mind, even translating the Latin Bible into German during a three month period.  Perhaps no writing instrument has ever been as powerful as Luther's pen and the Gutenberg Press (invented around 1450).  He became who he was because he had a pain in his heart and in perseverance, searched for a solution.

Some things out of many we learn from Luther about his quest for Christ in his life: 
1-  Choose your goals wisely.
2-  Seek your goals relentlessly.
3-  “Never ever give up”
4-  Above all else, Seek a greater relationship with Christ in your life.
5-  Be courageous for the Lord God, believe in Christ as your Savior, and allow the Holy Spirit to Guide and Protect your life. 

Luther survived excommunication from the Church and the outlaw status.  In 1530 at the Diet of Augsburg a confession of Protestant faith was read to the Emperor and accepted as legal in the Empire.  Luther's outlaw status was also rescinded.  Never raising a sword Luther depended only on his Faith in Christ and scripture to support and defend his work as he toured the Road Rarely Traveled.  

As Luther, we too must seek God's Love and Mercy through Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to help us build our Trust in God and Jesus.  It is a Road Rarely Traveled that will contain rocks, brambles, and snakes, but Faith and Trust will conquer.

Changed people change the world.  To change the world, we step onto a Road Less Traveled.  What part of the world can you change, if you just step out, become as Luther, and pursue your Christ and goals relentlessly?  Who needs your help to do the same?

Seek first the Kingdom of God in your life, and
let His goals be your goals,
Be like Luther and pursue them without fail. 


You too could change the world around you.

Thanks Be to God

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*1 -  My apologies to my Catholic friends.  In no way do I feel the present Catholic Church is reflected in the Church of Luther’s time.  All churches have problems in every time, as long as a church is seeking God’s wisdom and salvation in the manner He desires, the church will be in His Grace.  In simple terms, the Church of Luther’s day was highly focused on money and that lead to its fall from Grace during that era.

The information in this article came primarily from
“The History of the Protestant Church” by John Wiley,
Books 5, 6, 9.
 http://doctrine.org/?page_id=2002

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Sharing these messages

You are welcome and I encourage you to share these messages.  You can send the links to your friends,  copy and insert the link on FB or Christian.com or you can print the message and share it with your friends.  My purpose is to share what I am given.

You can print the message only for your friends and for non-profit.  You will have to copy and paste the message to a word processing document.   After you copy and paste add the following at the end of the message:

© Lonnie Coggins

ldcoggins@gmail.

If you desire to use any of these messages in a For-Profit manner you must contact me (email) for permission.  Typically, I will most likely give permission.

Please email me if you find any broken links in this message.

lonnie 

Publication  0088