Lessons from the Wise Men

1) God can give us guidance, if we seek it. He guided the wise men through a celestial object of some sort, through a dream, and through the advice of Old Testament scholars.

2) God can work through people we don't expect Him to use -- the wise men don't seem to have been Jews.

3) Christ is worth sacrificing possessions for.

4) Christ is worth going out of our way for.

5) Christ is worth worshiping.

6) We have to be careful of adding to what the Bible says: There is no Biblical evidence that there were three wise men, their names are not given, and, even though Matthew says that they came from the East, tradition says that one was from Africa, one from Asia, and one from Europe. Probably not. The Bible doesn't give a number, or names. (See Wikipedia article on the wise men.)

7) There is no Biblical evidence that the Magi and the shepherds saw each other, and it seems likely that they didn't.

8) Although prophecy is difficult to understand, even in hindsight, it does get fulfilled. See Micah 5, where the prophecy quoted to the wise men, about the location of the birth of the Messiah, comes from. The chapter included prophecy against the Assyrians, and about the restoration of Israel. (For more on the difficulty of understanding prophecy, see point 3 of this post. In spite of that difficulty, the scholars Herod consulted were able to find the meaning in the prophecy in Micah -- Christ would be born in Bethlehem.)

9) Christ's birth in Bethlehem, to an earthly father who was descended from David, is also a fulfillment of prophecy (2 Samuel 7:12, for one place). Fulfillment of prophecy is one of the evidences for the authenticity of the Bible.

10) Not everyone who says they are following Christ really is. Herod, of course, didn't want to worship Him at all. See Matthew 2:16-18.

Thanks for reading, and a blessed Christmas to you.