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The Wise Men's Christmas

In this third post about the various responses to the birth of Jesus, I turn to the wise men from the east who traveled for days to see this king who was to be born in Bethlehem. We find the account of their response in Matthew 2:1-12. From those verses, we know the wise men responded in the following ways to Jesus' birth:
  1. Sought Him
    • "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews?" (Matthew 2:2a)
  2. Went to worship Him
    • "For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him." (Matthew 2:2b)
  3. Rejoiced as they were led to Him
    • When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. (Matthew 2:10)
    • Now that is a lot of joy! And they had yet to meet Jesus. But they had great anticipation as they went to see the King.
  4. Fell down before Him
    • And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down (Matthew 2:11a)
    • Think about it. These wise men encounter Jesus as a baby and humble themselves by falling before Him.
  5. Worship Him
    • And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. (Matthew 2:11a)
    • Did they sing to Him? Did they worship with proclamation? We don't know what form their worship took. But apparently it went beyond falling to their knees.
  6. Opened their treasures
    • Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2:12a)
    • They brought what they had to Jesus.
  7. Offered gifts to Him
    • Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2:12b)
    • What they brought to Jesus they brought as an offering. They gave freely of what they had.
The wise men's encounter with Jesus gives us a model of how we are to respond to Jesus as Savior -- seek Him, anticipate great joy, be humble, worship (which simply means ascribe worth),  Your encounter with Jesus can start anytime. Today would be a great day for that start. Once you know Jesus as Savior, your relationship with Him will be eternal.

How will you respond to the Savior? Will you respond to Him today?

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