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scripture befare? l t's not quoted
often in this world 's c hurches.
A nd yet it's in the Bible! J esus
said it!
What does it mean?
The purpose of Jesus' Firs t
Coming nearly 2,000 years ago
was not to usher in world peace.
The angels' proclamation "Peace
on earth, good will toward men" is
a prophecy that this very Jesus
who was born in Bethlehem will–
in the near future-impose world
peace. He will do it at his Second
Coming, for which the way is even
now being prepared.
J esus carne over 1900 years ago
to die for the sins of humanity, to
qualify to replace Satan as ruler of
this world and to establish his
Church. But Jesus promised he will
come again (John 14:3) , this time to
bring that peace foretold by the
angels at Jesus' birth . This time, as
King of kings, he will establish and
maintain worldwide peace. It is then
that "of the increase of
H
is govern–
ment and peace there will be no
end" (lsa. 9:7).
Over t he centuries between
Jesus' First and Second Coming,
however, it is impossible to calcu–
late how much hatred, persecution
and warfare have been the result
even of misunderstanding J esus'
teachings. The angels' proclama–
t ion to the shepherds, however, did
include a second truth: that, even
though surrounded by a society
gane awry, those who yield to God
and obey his laws now experience
peace and good wiU in their indi–
vidual lives (Ps.
119:
165) .
And that can include you if you
are willing to admi t where you
have been wrong and begin to live
God's way instead.
The Magi an d T heir Gifts
You ' re familiar with the "Nativity
scenes"- representations of a sta–
ble showing a haloed baby in a
manger, Mary and J oseph nearby
be ing joined by sheph e rds a nd
three "wise meo " and var ying
numbers of winged angels. Such
scenes, widely displayed at Christ–
mas time, differ extensively from
the biblical account of how it real–
ly was.
The shepherds, who were from
the region close to Bethlehem, as
soon as they were told about J esus'
30
birth, immediately sought out the
stable as they were instructed to
do. They quickly found it (Luke
2: 16).
The "wise meo" or Magi, on the
other hand, carne from a consid–
erable dis tance. Traveling from the
East, searching for the one who
was born "King of the J ews," they
carne to J e rusalem first. From
there they journeyed to Bethlehem
(Matt. 2:2). When they reached
Bethlehem, they found Jesus no
longer in a manger in a stable.
Jesus and his family were living in
a house (Matt. 2: 1
1).
At the time of the arrival of the
Magi , J esus may have been two or
more months old. Wh e n king
Herod learned from the Rabbis
and the Magi that J esus was born
to be a ruler , he was worried for
his own position's sake. He decided
that this child must be eliminated.
So when he questioned the Magi ,
who at that t ime were in J erusa–
lem en route to fi nd J esus, he was
ab le to d etermine the i n it ial
appearance of a star announcing
Jesus ' conception and bir th. When
the time was es timated, Herod
ordered the slaughter of all mate
children "from two years old and
under" (Matt. 2: 16).
Herod did not order the slaying
of all newborn babes, or all babes a
few weeks old. He extended the
limit up to two years to prevent
any possible escape.
When the Magi finally located
the house where the
"young
Child"
J esus (Matt. 2: 11) was,
they presented gifts they had
brought. These were not birthday
g ifts, the day of Christ 's birth hav–
ing long since passed. The Magi,
aware that Jesus was boro to be a
king, offered gifts to him because
it was, and still is, customary in
such circumstances to bring costly
g ifts when entering the presence of
royalty.
The giving of g ifts by the Magi
is often used to jus tify the practice
of exchanging C hri stmas gifts.
What is over1ooked is that the
M agi did not exc hange gifts
among themselves. Rather, they
pr esented a ll t heir g i fts "to
H im"-to J esus (Matt. 2:1 1).
How different from the modern
custom of trading Christmas gi fts
and giving nothing to Christ on a
day mistake nly assigned as his
birth date.
Can you imagine a birthday cel–
ebration where all the guests bring
gifts, exchange those gifts among
themselves and the person they are
supposedly honoring receives noth–
ing? lt doesn' t make sense. N ei–
ther does the modern custom of
trad ing Christmas gifts while sup–
posedly honoring Christ.
Angel s an d Halos
Most Nativity scenes portray three
Magi, usua ll y one each o f the
three general racial divisions of
mankind. But this is pure imagina–
tion. The Bible does not say there
were
three
"wise meo." There may
have been as many as 12. Nor does
the Bible indicate that they were
of diffe rcnt races.
The Bible states that the Magi
were led to J esus from their land
in the East by a "star" (Matt.
2:2). Exact ly which presumed star
or planet this was has given rise to
much specu lat io n. The Bib le,
however, leaves little doubt on the
subject. The "star" moved, lead–
ing the Magi on their long jour–
ney and finally stood over the
house where J esus was (verse
9).
A planet, as te roid or distant star
could not move and posi tion itself
in such a way as to point out a
specific house in a li ttle city in a
small coun t r y on earth. Thi s
"star" was somethi ng else.
In the Scriptures, angels are
sometimes referred to as stars (Job
38:7; Rev. 1:20). The righteous
angels are spirit beings, ministering
in God's service, able to appear as
flames of fire (Heb. 1:7, 14). The
"star" that guided the Magi was
such an angel.
Angels do not have wings as
most Nativity scenes and popular
notion portray them. There exist
sorne spiritual beings called sera–
phim and c herubim. They do have
wings. But the Bible never de–
scribes ordinary angels as having
wings, nor always playing harps of
gold , nor appearing as the c hubby
infants so prevalent in medieval
paintings.
Even the ha los artists have
placed over the heads of their rep–
resentations of Jesus and various
saints are not biblical. Jesus, for
(Continued on page 42)
The PLAIN TRUTH