Looking Back And Looking Ahead

The Christmas season has ended. January brings us a new year. Like the Roman god Janus for whom the month is named, we look backward and forward. What lies ahead? What has the LORD revealed in His Word? 

The Magi saw a strange star and followed it, based upon their understanding of the mystic science of astrology. In past postings I discussed both astrology and numerology. In those blogs I left some questions unanswered.  Of what use are these portions of Scripture to us? Below are the links to those blogs. Check them out for further information about how some in our day still turn to astrology, claiming even that the entire Christian Gospel is hidden in the stars. 

• Christmas—That Pagan Festival
• Be Wary Of Numerology
• The Zodiac, Cherubim and The Sphinx

Looking back on 2012 we remember a number of wacky predictions. The craziest was that the ancient Mayan calendar predicted the end of the world on December 21, 2012. And don't forget "the best disaster movie ever" —2012! According to that movie a few of us humans survive to carry on the species. A few billion of us have, but where was the world wide disaster? You can now get your own copy of 2012 in Blu-ray DVD to watch without fear.

Some other "prophets" told us that the antichrist would start to appear on May 7, 2012. Of course, we won't really know him, they said, until this year or the next. Sometime during this year or the next Pope Benedict XVI will die and a black man will be named pope in his place. Further, whether you recognized it or not, Dec. 21 marked the beginning of the final 3 1/2 years leading up to Armageddon.

Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation are always the favorite biblical sources. The favorite psychic is Nostradamus. There are literally hundreds of other books and websites arguing, warning, promising disasters and world-wide change. So it has been all during the 2,000 plus years that the Gospel has been proclaimed.

In order to gain some perspective on all of this as we walk into 2013 I humbly suggest that we listen in again to a conversation between the Lord Jesus and his disciples. I referred to it in a blog back in November, 2012: He Is With Us Always, To The End. In the next couple days I suggest that we study in detail Jesus' words recorded in Matthew 24:1-51. In part Jesus said,

And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. - Mat 24:11-13 ESV

Check back tomorrow—assuming, of course, that our Lord has not returned before then.

The Three Wise Men Legends

Early Christian legends tell of twelve wise men living in the East. Their special treasure was a scroll written by Seth, the son of Adam. On this scroll was written prophecies concerning the Messiah of the Jews and the star which would appear at His birth. This group of wise men devoted themselves to watching for the Messiah's star. From generation to generation, every month, these twelve wise men would ascend into a mountain cave and spend three days purifying themselves in its fountains, searching for the star, and praying to be led to the Messiah. As each man died, his son or other close relative took his place. (According to some, when these men were not being wise men, they were simple farmers and only went up on the mountain for a few days each year after the corn was threshed.)

About the year 6 B.C., the long awaited star appeared. It shone brightly in the shape of a beautiful boy child with a cross glowing behind him. The star-child announced, "The King of the Jews is born in Judea. Go quickly to worship him."

Some say the Christ-Star miraculously enabled the wise men to reach Jerusalem in 12 or 13 days without stopping for food or rest. The journey seemed to last only a day! Others say the journey took about two years during which the Christ-Star taught them the Gospel of Peace and replenished their supplies of food and water so they had no need to stop on the way to Jerusalem. This legend was so popular that Chrysostom included it in his commentaries.

A later legend states that a young shepherdess named Madelon met the wise men journeying to Bethlehem and wept because she had no suitable gift to give a king. Catching the sweet aroma of a lily, Madelon looked up from her tears and found an angel standing before her with a wand made of lilies. As soon as she shared the cause of her sorrow with the angel, it waved its wand, causing the road to Bethlehem to be lined with white Christmas roses. Madelon gathered a bouquet of these flowers as she ran to catch up with the wise men. In Bethlehem, she presented her roses to the Christ Child and His touch caused them to glow with a pink tinge.

In exchange for their expensive gifts, Mary gave the wise men some of the swaddling clothes in which Jesus had been wrapped. She also gave them a little box with a stone in it. The stone was supposed to remind them that their faith ought to be as strong as a rock. Mary must've neglected to tell them that because, thinking this stone was worthless baggage, the wise men tossed it into a well. Whereupon fire from heaven filled the well. The amazed wise men carried the fire back to their own country and built a magnificent cathedral around it so that the people could worship it. Later, they were baptized and, giving all their possessions to the poor, they went about living a life of poverty and preaching the Gospel of Peace until their martyrdom in India

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Bible Study

Matthew 2 – The Visit of the Magi

v. 1 – Magi from the east . . . 

Magicians. The science of the Medes (modern Kurds) and Persians included astrology. Chrysostom speculated that Christ chose to reveal His birth to such men in order to give future sinners hope of forgiveness. 

Deut. 18:12-15 and 18:18 – such practices forbidden. 

Daniel 2:1-49 – wise men also interpreted dreams. 

v. 2 – We saw his star in the east . . . 

Numbers 24:17 – a star shall come out of Jacob. The most likely scientific explanation for the Christmas star is that a triple planetary conjunction occurred in the House of the Hebrews (Pisces) on February 6, 6 B.C. and appeared to be a temporary new star.

v. 11 – On coming to the house . . .presented him with gifts of gold, incense, myrrh.

Isaiah 60:3 – by 6^th century wise men referred to as kings. 

Isaiah 49:7 – kings shall worship. 

Psalm 72:10 – kings offer gifts.

Some even associated them with Shem, Ham and Japheth--the three sons of Noah--and thus with Asia, Africa, and Europe. 

Three Kings – Names, Lands and Gifts

GREEK	HEBREW	LATIN	GIFT	LAND
Apellius	Galgalat	Caspar	Myrrh	Europe
Amerius	Malgalat	Balthasar	Frankincense	Africa
Damascus	Sarachin	Melchior	Gold	Asia

Caspar – from Europe or Tarsus. Myrrh = Signifies Christ’s mortality.

Psalm 45:8, Prov. 7:17 – myrrh. Medicinal: strengthen a child, rid of worms. 

Mark 15:23 – He did not take it. John 19:39-40 – used in burial. 

Balthasar – from Ethiopia, portrayed as black. Frankincense = prayers of the faithful

Song 3:6 – perfumes

Leviticus 2:1-2 – used in worship and prayer. 

Melchior – from Asia or Arabia. Gold = Divinity, kingship

Exodus 25:11; 28:2-30 – gold in temple worship

Exodus 32:2-4 – golden calf. 

The gifts of the wise men were also thought to represent the three items contained in the Ark of the Covenant. Gold symbolized the manna. Frankincense represented the tablets of the Ten Commandments. And myrrh was emblematic of the rod of Aaron.

Their visit is commemorated on the feast of the Epiphany (Twelfth Night or January 6). In Epiphany season, besides the wise men, we celebrate three other great events in the life of Christ 

• Christ's baptism in the river Jordan by John  
• the miracle at Cana where Jesus changed water into wine (Bethany); and 
• the feeding of the 5000 men along with their wives and children with five loaves of bread 

At one time Epiphany was celebrated in the west in much the same way as Christmas is now. It still is in Eastern countries. Even today, in such countries, the wise men or their camels bear Christmas gifts for the children each year. In Czechoslovakia, the initials of the magi's names are written over the entranceways of houses to celebrate Epiphany.

Christmas Questions

In my last post I referred to the magi, the wise men from the east who did not return to King Herod to tell him about the Christ Child. I posted the following information about them, the slaughter of the infants and other details of the Christmas story some years back, in another blog. All of it deserves to be repeated. That blog was in response to several detailed questions offered by Sam, a newsman friend who always seeks the facts. 

Sam asked,

As I recall, only Matthew mentions the magi. However, he doesn’t say they are kings or how many made the journey. Popular opinion seems to have settled on 3 magi, probably because only 3 gifts are mentioned, but those were expensive gifts at the time, so several magi may have chipped in to buy them.

One of the OT prophecies that spoke about kings bringing gifts to the newborn king.

May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render (the king) tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts! May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him! - Psa 72:10-11 ESV

After several centuries the church became convinced that the magi were themselves kings. There is no hard evidence however. And certainly no evidence one way or another as to how many magi there were.

Next question. 

Only Matthew mentions Herod’s slaughter of the innocents and reports that Mary, Joseph and Jesus fled to Egypt. Several existing records from those times chronicle many of Herod's misdeeds and murders, but from what I understand, there is no historical evidence of any massive slaughter of male infants up to 2 years of age in that period or area.

We rely strongly on the historian Josephus for the extra-biblical history of that era. Josephus wrote with a strong Jewish bias, so one would hardly expect him to discuss this event. Moreover, Matthew is a totally reliable first century document, proven in many other ways to be so. Since Herod was so paranoid about someone wanting to replace him as king, the command to murder a few infants in the nothing town of Bethlehem would hardly be noticed. This is just another instance of what happened frequently. 

Next question.

Meanwhile, only Luke mentions the angels appearing to shepherds in the field to announce the birth of Jesus, which over the years has caused debate of exactly what time of year He was born. (Historical evidence seems to indicate that the early church may have picked December to compete with a pagan holiday).

No one really knows when Jesus was born. Sheep would ordinarily be penned up in December, because there's no grass and its too cold. What is known is that when Constantine recognized the Christian faith as official early in the 4th century, Christian leaders set the date to December 25. This was indeed an attempt to eclipse a popular pagan holiday in Rome (Saturnalia) that celebrated the winter solstice. Nothing wrong with that. Some have said that Dec. 25 is exactly nine months after the church celebrates the Feast of the Annunciation, March 25, the celebration of Jesus incarnation in Mary's womb. The Catholic encyclopedia elaborates in this manner:

"All Christian antiquity (against all astronomical possibility) recognized the 25th of March as the actual day of Our Lord's death. The opinion that the Incarnation also took place on that date is found in the pseudo-Cyprianic work "De Pascha Computus", c. 240. It argues that the coming of Our Lord and His death must have coincided with the creation and fall of Adam. And since the world was created in spring, the Saviour was also conceived and died shortly after the equinox of spring . . ."

Of course, based upon the Gospels' accounts of Jesus' crucifixion, the church has followed the practice of observing Holy Week and Easter in Spring, based upon the floating Jewish Passover holiday.

Next question.

Of all the books in the New Testament, I think only Matthew and Luke mention a virgin birth.

You are correct. Those are the only two books that mention it, but they do so to indicate that it was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. In our day the virgin birth has been under serious attack, leading to the denial of Jesus' resurrection and even his divinity. As Albert Mohler writes, 

"Christians must face the fact that a denial of the virgin birth is a denial of Jesus as the Christ. The Savior who died for our sins was none other than the baby who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of a virgin. The virgin birth does not stand alone as a biblical doctrine; it is an irreducible part of the biblical revelation about the person and work of Jesus Christ. With it, the Gospel stands or falls."

Further, I must point out that we Lutherans emphasize that doctrine is one. To deny one part is to deny the entire teaching, especially since the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God. As we are seeing, many Christian leaders now deny not only the virgin birth, but also very Gospel itself. . 

Next question.

Luke has Mary and Joseph traveling from their home in Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea to comply with a Roman census, which historians claim defies known facts about how Rome kept track of its taxpayers.

I'm going to let Lutheran Pastor Richard P. Bucher, Th.D., answer this one. He seems to have done a good job of studying the issue:

"But what of the census that Luke 2:1 speaks of? Is there any record in history, outside of the Bible, that Augustus ever issued such a decree? Yes. As a matter of fact he authorized three censuses during this reign. How do we know this? The three censuses are listed in the Acts of Augustus, a list of what Augustus thought were the 35 greatest achievements of his reign. He was so proud of the censuses that he ranked them eighth on the list. The Acts of Augustus were placed on two bronze plaques outside of Augustus's mausoleum after he died. 

"The three censuses were in 28 B.C., 8 B.C., and 14 A.D. In all probability the one in 8 B.C. is the one the Luke mentions in the Christmas story. Even though scholarship normally dates Christ's birth between 4 and 7 B.C., the 8 B.C. census fits because in all likelihood it would have taken several years for the bureaucracy of the census to reach Palestine. For example, we know of a provincial census in Gaul that took 40 years to complete, though, admittedly, this is an extreme example. 

"The only apparent difficulty with identifying the census that Luke mentions in the Christmas story with the one in 8 B.C. is, ironically, something Luke seemingly intended to clarify the dating. He tells us in 2:2 "this was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governing Syria." Seems simple. All we have to do is find out exactly when Quirinius was governing Syria and then we will know exactly when the census was given, right? Right. But the problem is, according to records available to us; Quirinius was governor of Syria in 6-7 A.D. eleven years too late! 

"We know this because ancient historians have quite a bit to say about our man Quirinius. Roman historians Tacitus, Seutonius, and Dio Cassius, as well as Jewish historian Josephus all wrote of him.3 His full name was Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (d. 21 A.D.), who was what the Romans called a "new man." This means that he came to hold his political office on the basis of his own merits rather than by family tradition. It was through his military conquests in Cilicia and elsewhere that Quirinius had been exalted by the emperor to the holding of governor in Syria in 6-7 A.D. 

"The key to solving this alleged puzzle, is in the phrase "first census" in the sentence, 'This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governing Syria.' What does Luke mean by a first census? One theory offered is that the Greek word for 'first' (prote) is sometimes translated 'prior to' or 'before'. This is a viable solution because the Greek text of Luke 2:2 can indeed be translated, 'This census was before Quirinius was governing Syria.'"

Enough history! Study yourself what Dr. Bucher writes. He—and I—favor the above explanation. There is historical evidence.

As to Sam's final comment about the Holy Family returning to Nazareth, the Coptic Church has a long and ancient history of the Holy Family residing in Egypt.

We are not told by Matthew how long the Holy Family remained in Egypt, nor are we given any geographic information about their journey. Even the Nile River is not mentioned. Although the expanded tradition is largely based on written accounts, physical sites that have been popularly associated with the Holy Family also play an important role in supplying further details. Sites made sacred because they are believed to have been touched by the Holy Family often feature unusual physical features. Some of these include miraculous hand or foot prints of the Christ child, unusually shaped trees thought to have sheltered the Virgin, or healing springs where the family quenched their thirst. . . etc.

I thank Sam for raising these questions. I pray they help everyone to rejoice in the celebration of Jesus' birth.