A few weeks back I started seeing lawns and houses beginning to be adorned with various items that to those homeowner’s represent their traditions of the Christmas season. I began to wonder if I put something on my lawn that would be the most concise representation of what Christmas truly is. As I boiled down the various Scripture that is so often quoted and the sayings that are also often quoted they didn’t seem to be short enough or concise enough. Then however it came I realized that ‘Christ Is Christmas’ would say all I truly know Christmas to be. Nearly all other activities and accoutrements of Christmas as we know them are merely traditions, mostly American.
As I continued to consider the signs of Christmas I see in my neighborhood, in the stores, and our own decorations (yes, we do decorate in some of the Christmas traditions passed down to us from our families) my thoughts went back to ask, What were the signs of that first Christmas day, that day when Emmanuel, God with us, was born?
With that in the back of my mind I was looking through my Greek New Testament trying to draw out what little I remember from Greek classes from years ago and I ventured to do some digging deeper. I recognized some words, one particularly, didaskalos, speaking of teaching. Without looking a the reference I picked out a couple of the larger non-familiar words to look up in my Greek dictionary. The first I looked up was ‘grammateis’ and the second ‘e(xk)ousiav’ which was preceded by ‘exon’. ‘Grammateis’ indicates ‘one skilled in Jewish law; a teacher or interpreter of the law; any one distinguished for learning or wisdom’. ‘E(xk)ousiav’ was simpler meaning ‘authority; rule; dominion; jurisdiction’. The word preceding, ‘exon’, was simply ‘possessing’. I thought I knew what was being said so as I looked up the reference, Matthew 7:28, in the Scripture I read, For he taught them as on having (possessing) authority, and not as the scribes. The latter having the doctrine, the law, these grammarians knew exactly the Jewish law given by God through Moses. The former, Jesus Christ himself, Emmanuel, God with us, taught as having authority, which He truly had. He told his Father, God the Father, I have given unto them (speaking of the disciples who truly followed Him) the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst sent me. (John 17:8) The people very clearly saw that the one knew the Scripture as give by God, the other, Jesus Christ, spoke the Sermon on the Mount clarifying what the law means because He knew it since He is the authority that gave it in the first place.
Men of law, distinguished for learning or wisdom, wise men of Israel is who the ‘grammateis’ (translated Scribes) were considered to be. Back considering Christ’s birth I thought of other wise men as spoken of in Matthew 2. When they came to Jerusalem they openly, boldly asked, Where is he that is born King of the Jews?, with the explanation, For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. (Matthew 2:1,2) What signs did these wise men have that would tell them that there would be born a King of the Jews? Where did they get the idea of a Star? How would these wise men, not even being Jewish, have any idea or interest in a king not from their own country?
My thoughts then went back to a man of whom it is recorded that he was made a great man, and was given many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief of the governors over all the wise men of Babylon. This man was Daniel. Daniel was a Jewish boy taken from his home, his land, as a teenager never to see his parents or his home ever again. The wisdom came from God of which Daniel was thankful. Part of Daniel’s praise was, I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known to me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter. (Daniel 2:48; 2:23) This Daniel was governor over the Babylonian wise men in the Chaldean rule of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar; was president over the Medes and Persians under king Darius; and continued unto the kingdom of Cyrus. The man who came to the land of Babylon as a teenager brought in him the personal knowledge and trust in the God of his fathers. He confessed himself as a sinner before God (Daniel 9:5) and understood God to be the only one who forgives, the only source as wisdom, the Redeemer. His responsibility was not only to know the Chaldean learning and tongue, but also had Nebuchadnezzar tell of Daniel’s God in a letter written to ‘all the inhabitants of the earth’, Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase. (Daniel 4:34-37) Daniel as leader taught the wisdom of the Scriptures to all who truly sought for wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. Among the wise men no doubt the Scriptures were passed down to those of like mind and desire over the five hundred years until the time of Christ’s birth.
So what were the signs there would be a King of the Jews born? and what about the star? The very first sign that there was God himself spoke to the serpent, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and though shalt bruise his heel – the promise of the woman’s seed. (Genesis 4:15)
Another sign would be that given to Abraham, in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:3)
In Joseph’s reign in Egypt near the end of his father’s life, his father Jacob was giving his blessing to each of his sons. Of Judah he says, The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. (Genesis 49:10) From Jacob, Israel, came the blessing of Judah telling of the Sceptre, the symbol of authority of a king, that it would not ever leave the family of Judah.
That was when the family of Jacob, of Israel, moved to Egypt. When they came out of Egypt, wandered forty years in the wilderness, and were now preparing to enter the promised land, the king of Moab called upon Balaam to curse them. But Balaam could not curse the children of Israel, he could not say but that which God told him. Finally God took control of Balaam as is told in Numbers 24 and prophesied, I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. (Numbers 24:17) Not only does the Star out of Jacob represent a ruler to come, but is indicative of a particular star. When God created he said that the lights in the heaven he created were to divide the day from the night, and to be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and for years. (Genesis 1:14) Oh yes, we are familiar with seasons and days and years. But for signs? Someone may say, Now you are talking astrology. Not so. Anyone familiar with the night in the northern hemisphere knows of the constellation Orion, also known as The Hunter. They also know that just as the sun rises each day, the solstices indicate the beginning of summer and winter, and the equinoxes mark the beginning of spring and fall, the constellation of Orion rises in the east at dusk when the time of hunting typically begins. The problem with astrology is that the sovereignty of the Creator God is considered no longer valid, and that the stars are now in control of ones destiny. These wise men sought out the Sovereign God, the Star who would come out of Jacob; and therefore, must be the King of the Jews.
Is this all the wise men from the east were able to learn from the Scriptures given to them. I doubt it. But that was the point of their journey and purpose simply stated.
King Herod heard the question and passed the question on to those who should know – the Jewish leaders, the Scribes (as referenced earlier in Matthew 7:28). These grammarians, these Scribes came out with the exact answer, But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel: whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. (Micah 5:2) Though these Scribes were able to give the answer, they did not pursue the truth or one these about who these truths were told. The wise men, the learned and wise, the interpreters of the Scriptures passed down maybe from Daniel, these men from the east had traveled hundreds of miles in search of the one of whom the the Scriptures spoke. They were not satisfied in being able to distinguish what was the truth of the Jewish Scriptures, but to search out the one from whom they came. The Scribes did not even venture five miles (as far as we are told) to Bethlehem.
There were other signs as we know now. The forerunner of Christ, John the Immerser, (Malachi 4:6 -> Luke 1:17); the birth of a child by a virgin (Isaiah 7:14 -> Matthew 1:23); the brief escape to Egypt (Hoshea 11:1 -> Mathew 2:15); and the death of the children two years old and younger (Jeremiah 31:15 -> Matthew 2:17,18) were all signs God gave through as many prophets from more than seven hundred years to five hundred years before the birth of Christ fulfilled them.
Today we have similar signs that this same Christ will come again. When Jesus Christ left his disciples were told that He shall come again the same way. (Acts 1:11) Paul wrote to the Corinthian assembly, Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. Ina a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51,52) And, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we (the alive in Christ) shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17).
The question we face is the one of the difference between the Scribes and the wise men. Will we just know these facts to quote them back or quote them as a means of witnessing the glory of God; or will we, like the wise men of the east search for the one of whom they speak?
) God is sooooooooooo GOOD!!!!!! We are having a absolute BLAST together already.