Where do you look for truth today? After all, our two political parties offer mutually exclusive and diametrically opposed visions for our government. And with the internet placing so much information at our fingertips, we are surrounded by all sorts of various and conflicting opinions about everything. Whom should we believe?

Well, in today’s passage, the magi looked for truth in the movements of the stars and the planets – today we would call them astrologers. And to make matters worse, they came from the “east,” which probably means they worshipped lots of different false gods. So, what can Christians possibly learn from them?

Well, whatever it was that they saw in the stars, it turns out that they needed God’s Word to fill in the gaps in their knowledge. For while they had come to the correct conclusion that a king had been born to the Jewish people, it was only the book of the prophet Micah that could tell them the exact location of His birth.

In the same way, while God’s creation continues to reveal His glory, His might, and His majesty in so many ways, it is only His written Word that accurately spells out His plan of salvation, telling us of His love and grace, and of the great sacrifice Jesus was born to make for the sins of all His people. No matter how many other sources clamor for our attention, it is only the Word of God that can serve as an infallible rule of our faith and practice.

But the story of the wise men also reminds us that Jesus’ people come from all over the world. For even though they were not Jews, they recognized Him as King, bowing down before Him, and giving Him gifts worthy of His royal status. In the same way, God doesn’t care about our lineage or the faith tradition in which we might have grown up. No, the only thing that matters is our faith in Christ.

For what did the Babe in the Manger grow up to say? “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent…. All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” (John 6:29, 37). So may we believe His Word, trust His promises, and bow down before Him today.

Matthew 2:1-12 (NASB)

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying,
2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east, and have come to worship Him.”
3 And when Herod the king heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he began to inquire of them where the Christ was to be born.
5 And they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet,
6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, Are by no means least among the leaders of Judah; For out of you shall come forth a Ruler, Who will shepherd My people Israel.'”
7 Then Herod secretly called the magi, and ascertained from them the time the star appeared.
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and make careful search for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, that I too may come and worship Him.”
9 And having heard the king, they went their way; and lo, the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them, until it came and stood over where the Child was.
10 And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
11 And they came into the house and saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell down and worshiped Him; and opening their treasures they presented to Him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.
12 And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed for their own country by another way.