Walk With Me
Christian discussion of biblical topics, and a dose of daily application. Yes the Bible is still relevant, and we find out more and more each day how relevant it has always been.
Walk With Me
Rethinking the Nativity: The Wise Men's Timely Journey and Its Deeper Meaning
Hello everybody and welcome to today's episode of Walk With Me. I am your host, jj. It's so good to have each and every one of you here. It's so good to see each and every one of the downloads and all of that, and I really appreciate how much you guys are sharing and liking and even some of the emails and stuff that I get. Now let me rephrase that I like all the emails. Even you guys choose not to be less friendly, I suppose. But here's the thing Interaction is interaction. So I enjoy those emails, even if I have to go back and forth with you and I say have to as if it's some great torture. But no, it really is a joy to me and I enjoy answering questions and, matter of fact, today's episode is based on a question. So, uh, thank you each and every one of you. If you have questions or comments, uh, go ahead and you know what to do. Go ahead and hit me at the walk with me. Bible study at gmail. Walk withestudy at gmail. Walkwithmebiblestudy at gmail address. If you do not want your name to be mentioned so far and I'm okay with this only one person has requested their name to be mentioned that's okay. But if you don't want your name to be mentioned, do not put it in the subject matter in the subject line. If you are okay with your name being mentioned, for whatever reason, put your name in the subject line so I know to address you directly.
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Speaker 1:We're going to get into our lesson today, our episode today, as it were, lesson today, our episode today, as it were, and it really has to do with one central tenet of what we consider Christmas worship. And one of the things about crafting a great story is that you weave a lot of threads together and it makes a nice story. And as long as you don't pull at any of the threads, the story sort of stays intact. But sometimes if you pull at a story, it starts to unravel. Sorry about that, folks. And this is the same way we have with our Christmas story that if you pull that one of the threads, the thread starts to unravel. So we are going to talk about today, for just a short time, this Christmas story that we find so entertaining. Now I'm going to touch on a few things and maybe we'll come back to them in another episode. But once you pull on this thread, you can't put it back in this way bread, you can't put it back in the sweater.
Speaker 1:Now one of the things we want to talk about is the fact that the way we celebrate Christmas at this moment is not biblical. Now, I know you think I'm going to talk about December 25th. No, I mean, we can. It's another bread that we can pull out, but we're not going to go for something so obvious because we know there's no shepherd in the world that's going to be outside during that time of year. Okay, that's fine.
Speaker 1:However, what we do want to talk about is this nativity scene. This is it. We want to talk about the nativity scene today. Maybe next week, if you guys still send me questions about it. We'll keep going along with some of our Christmas traditions that are really anti-biblical.
Speaker 1:I know that's a hard word. I know that we've been kind of groomed and conditioned that this is supposed to be a joyful thing. We've been kind of groomed and conditioned that this is supposed to be a joyful thing and there's so much quote-unquote joy wrapped around the season. There should be joy wrapped around the season, but not the commercial aspect that we have. And I feel the opinion this is just my opinion, the opinion, just my opinion I believe that the reason why people generally feel so down around the holidays and feel so, uh, morose and, you know, self-harming sort of way, um, is that you kind of lost the idea of the reason why the season happened and so celebrating it in that way sort of gets you in trouble. And now, when faced with the consequences of that. There's no answer and this sort of leads some people down a dark spiral.
Speaker 1:But what we're going to talk about today and forgive me for rambling a bit we're going to talk about today are the three wise men. That's right, three wise men. Once you begin to pull at that thread, everything begins to fall apart and sometimes we just accept these things, um, we just accept them as traditional and we accept them because we've seen so many nativity scenes where you know mary and joseph and standing around with the three wise men and they got frankincense and her and they're kneeling and you have some shepherds standing over in the corner looking confused and sheepish. But we are not really understanding why this could not have happened this way. We're not understanding that this sort of thing is one of the main problems, why in your mind things couldn't have happened this way, and it sort of casts doubt on the entire reason of Jesus coming and therefore on Christianity itself. It's sort of a it's kind of a situation where we used to talk about in computer programming what's called a cascading failure, where if you miss a problem in the computer line we use to write basics, you miss a problem in one of the programming lines and you put a go-to in it, it would literally cause that problem to cascade down further and collapse some of the other programs and then you'd have just a whole problem with the program. You wouldn't even know where to start. So this is a cascading failure. So let's talk about what we have. The three wise men could not have possibly been in that manger, and Jesus wasn't in that manger when they met him. Well, when he received the gifts from him. And to find this out we only have to go to Matthew, chapter 2 and just kind of use our brains a little bit.
Speaker 1:So let's start at Matthew, chapter 2, where it talks about the wise men from the east. Now, how far east did they come from? There are people who say they came from as far away as India. One narrator said they came from China. One said they came from what is now known as Afghanistan. Either way, that's coming from quite a far ways off, especially if you're coming by camel Camels are not the fastest animals in the world.
Speaker 1:So we're going to start off reading verse 1 out of chapter 2. Now, jesus was born in Bethlehem. Okay, we got that. Okay. And in the days of Herod, the King. Behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. Now, if you just use that verse right there, just take one verse you would think that they arrived when Jesus was born, exactly the day he was born. However, if you read further which is true in most biblical or what is called a churchology, christianology, tradition If you read further, you begin to debunk your own theory. Because these wise men came saying where is he that was born king of the Jews, born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, which means these guys saw the star where they were, in the east. And in the way when you say the east, you're thinking the orient, you're thinking you know're modern day korea, singapore and all these places we call the east, even as far west as india. Everything west of india is what we call middle east, not the east. So it's important to understand the terminology. We have seen his darn east and have come to worship him we inherit.
Speaker 1:The king heard these messages. He was troubled and called Jerusalem with him. We have gathered all the chief priests and scribes together. We demanded of them where Christ should be born. Please understand I am reading from the king's version, but I'm just sort of abridging it just for time. And they said unto him In Bethlehem of Judea, but it is written by the prophet and now, bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art, not the least among the princes of Judah, out of these shall come a governor that shall rule my people. So they're telling you, they're confirming that, yeah, jesus was born in Bethlehem that we just read, and he sent them by them. We're talking about the wise men. Go to Bethlehem, search diligently for this kid and when you find him, bring me, tell me where he is, and I'll come and worship him alone. And so they heard the king and these wise men. They left and they saw the star again. Which same star which they saw the star again, which same star which they saw in the east. And the star actually went before them. So it literally traveled before them until they came and stood over where the young child was.
Speaker 1:Now I'm going to say something here. There are some, there are some, um, there are some bible scholars that I will give an ounce of belief to is that that star was the devil. It wasn't an actual star, it was actually lucifer, because he is also referred to as a good morning star. He's also referred to as an angel of light. He is referred to as the morning star. It's also referred to as an angel of light. It is referred to as this, and we have never seen a star actually travel with someone. But a devil will travel with you. Now, I don't know if that's the case, or was it a star as a star that you and I would know? It's very difficult for a star to travel with someone and then sit on top of a building. So this is what, and the reason why there are people who think this is the devil, because of what happens next. Alright, so when they saw the star, they rejoiced, but they see it with great joy. But here's the thing it said it stood over where the young child was, not where the infant was, not where the newborn was. The writers of the Bible were not illiterate when the young child was, and when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
Speaker 1:Now I want to stop right here and I want to go back to the story of Moses, because there are some similarities here. When Moses was in the land of Egypt, there was not a decree that all children two years age and under should be killed. Why? Because, again, one of them pesky prophets went out there and told them that a child was born that will lead the people out of camp. One of them pesky prophets went out there and told everybody what God told him to say. And so Herod had the same problem that these pharaohs had. Herod was looking at the idea that some kid was born that was threatening his power supply. So the next thing he did was that's right, he had people killed. I'm trying not to get ahead of myself, because that's the one really important thing that I want to discuss.
Speaker 1:And when they came into the house? Now we're in Matthew, chapter 2, verse 11. When they came into the house not the manger, not the barn, not the inn they came into the house, they saw the young child, not the infant, not the baby in swaddling clothes, but the young child with Mary, his mother, and fell down and worshipped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts gold and frankincense and myrrh and being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country, which means they were not in Judea, they were not in Israel to begin with. They departed into their own country.
Speaker 1:And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream saying Arise, take the young child and flee into Egypt. Didn't we just talk about that? Flee into Egypt and be there until I bring you word, until I tell you to come back. Go there and stay until I bring you word, until I tell you to come back. Go there and stay until I get you know, sent for you, for a parent will seek a young child to destroy him. And basically he went down there and he stayed until the parent died. And this also was to fulfill another one of those pesky prophets running around saying out of Egypt, I have called my son.
Speaker 1:So now herod got into a position where he saw that he was being mocked with the wise man because you know, hey, I'm just going to go back the other way. Let this idiot keep looking for this guy who's going to threaten his power. That has nothing to do with me. Wise man said you know what's none of my business that, but you know what? I'm going to worship this God because this is the true God. So when Herod saw that this was happening, he was really angry, and what he did was he sent the word out to kill all the children.
Speaker 1:And verse 16, very important from two years old and under, according to the time, which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Herod knew that when these guys had come, they started out when they saw the star. And the star happened when Jesus was born and it took them a long time to get there. They didn't get there. I know, in today's day and age, we think of our cars, we think of planes, we think of trains, we think of, oh my God, it takes so long to get from Texas to New York. Oh wow, it really takes 10 hours by plane, oh my. Or it takes five hours by plane, oh my, it takes three days by car, oh my, the same journey would have taken six months by horse, by camel. Oh, you're talking about a whole different story. No, we're talking about at least a year's worth of travel, from the time that wise men left the east and got to Jerusalem or to Bethlehem, and some Bible scholars say that it was closer to two years.
Speaker 1:And Herod knew right away when the wise men turned around and left and went back to the country, because that's how he reacted that day. He didn't allow that to the fester. He just went off on this killing spree to kill all the children two years old and younger. And this was, this was what was fulfilled by the prophet Jeremiah saying in verse 18, in Ramah, there was a voice, heard a lamentation, sweet and great mourning, rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they are not. So, no, the wise men did not, did not show up at the manger. And once you, once you put on that thread, you begin to question A lot of different things. Yes, true, the baby was Wrapped and laid in the manger. This is true, but that's what it said, the but, however, baby wasn't born in the manger, baby was placed there. And no, the wise men did not arrive on Jesus' birthday. They arrived about I mean, from my best estimate, from about a year and a half to two years later, based on the travel speed of the camel, closer maybe to a year and a half. And it was. It took Herod that long to find out that the wise men went back a different way. And they knew. Here's the funny part the wise men knew they were wise, that Herod was watching the way they came, and they knew, because God told them One of the wisest things we can do is listen to when God is warning us not to saying it.
Speaker 1:One of the wisest things we can do is pay attention to that voice that some people like to clown a little bit, and I get it, but pay attention to when that voice is telling you that you should maybe take another thought about what you're about to do. And you and I, we all know that when you're about to really lay into your loved one for something that they did, you get that little bit of stop saying hey, if you shouldn't say it now, maybe you shouldn't, maybe you shouldn't deal with it that way, why don't you? And by this time we're so angry, we're so hot headed that we kind of get lost in the sauce, so to speak, and we just open our mouth and just let it fly. This is not how we're supposed to be. We're supposed to listen to the Spirit of God when he tells us to not do something or to do something. I can't tell you how many times I've listened to God telling me to hey, why don't you wait here for a few seconds? I have no idea what God just helped me avoid, but I do know when, sometimes, when I've ignored that voice. The stuff has happened. You know I've gotten into bike accidents, or you know things have happened. I got to work too early or too late, or you know, and I got into traffic or something like that. It doesn't have to be, you know, traumatic, but I may have gotten into traffic and then I ended up late for work, when God was telling me to leave early, so forth, and so on.
Speaker 1:There are certainly lessons to be gleaned even from this set of scriptures. Yeah, wise men did not show up on Jesus' birthday. They did not see him in any manger, they saw him in a house. They saw him in Mary's house, joseph's house, and they were already married. And when they went back, they went back a different way, and that the amount of time was two years. And it doesn't mention that the wise men stayed any length of time. Now I I would hope they didn't do what I refer to as turn and burn, like they just came and got brought to the other side. I mean, I don't know, it doesn't seem like they just came and got lost and just left. I mean, I don't know, it doesn't seem like they did that, but it also doesn't seem like they stayed any length of time, god may have actually warned them about to go back a different way before they even got to Bethlehem. You know, because God knows what's going to happen. You know what's going to happen. I know what's going to happen if God tells us that this is going to happen.
Speaker 1:So just be aware that I mean once you start pulling at that prayer, you start thinking about why was the shepherds outside in December and it's cold? You know why is it? You know why do we use Christmas tree, why do we use Christmas lights and holly? Why do we use all these things? And you know there's lots of scriptures we could talk about, like Jeremiah 10. We're not going to get into it because of time, but be careful how you celebrate Christ's birthday. Please understand that the reason why we celebrate Christmas is not because you want a new pair of shoes and you want a new Xbox and things of that nature.
Speaker 1:We are celebrating Jesus' birthday because that was the day that our salvation plan was finally enacted. The beginning of our salvation plan, or this chapter of our salvation plan, was enacted. The beginning of our salvation plan, or this chapter of our salvation plan, was enacted. In order for that to happen, jesus had to be following his own rules and he had to have a ministry. He had to grow. He had to be sinless. He had to have a ministry. He had to grow, he had to be sinless. He had to die. For us, he was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world and, as someone said in Matrix, it happened the way it happened and it couldn't have happened any other way. This is why Now I'm not saying please understand, before we get all off my email comments.
Speaker 1:I am not saying do not give gifts. That's not what I'm saying. And if that makes you feel okay, that feels good. Don't give gifts to the point where you are financially strapped. That's not the reason why we are celebrating that. His gift, his gift of his blood for our remission of our sins. That's not why we're celebrating. What we're celebrating is the fact that we are now able to water the water in the spirit and see the people of God, now able to mourn the water and the spirit and see the people of God. Like I said, if you want to give gifts, that's fine. We should also be celebrating our family. We should be celebrating a new beginning. We should be celebrating a lot of these things wrapped up in the Christmas season that have nothing to do with spending money, nothing to do with throwing up a bunch of decorations that didn't work last year. We had to keep buying new ones every year. That's what the Christmas season is really about. It's easy to say peace, peace, peace for the season, and then we go and we put our gifts in front of this idol tree. So, that being said, that being said, no, uh, you guys that have asked me that that did not happen. The wise man came to a house and jesus had to be somewhere about a year, maybe as much as a year and a half.
Speaker 1:I love each and every one of you. Thank you so much for your interest in this program. You guys can listen to any other podcast. I've chosen a moment to listen to this and I hope you're notified. I hope it answers your questions.
Speaker 1:I hope that as you walk with me and as we go into a deeper relationship with God, the knowledge of God, that you get something from this. And as you go out along the way and you see somebody, you know there's a lot of people out there with big smiles. I'm going to say this A lot of people out there with big smiles and people who are smiling on the outside and dying on the inside. We don't have to look for somebody who looks like they're depressed and say I love you. Just tell them. Tell them that you love them, tell them that there's a better way and you know the better way, and let God do what he does. Alright, love each and every one of you. Hope to hear from you and again, welcome to the Bible study. Email us at tom with comments and questions. I hope to see you on the next one. Love you all. Bye-bye.