The Christmas story is very strange, mainly because it’s about God becoming human by means of a virgin conception; but in terms of characters, the strangest are the wise men, the Magi. Why strange? They’re not Jews; they aren’t Jewish converts; they’re pagans! “Well, they were wise men: surely they must have studied the Old Testament.” Nope: they never mention Biblical prophecies and seem to know nothing about Bethlehem when they arrive in Jerusalem. They were pagans doing pagan things!

“Magi” were pagan astrologers based primarily in Babylonia and obsessed with the notion of a god-appointed king arising in the west. A Magi almanac has survived which predicts that there would be a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation Pisces in 7 BC, not once but thrice in an eleven month period, an extremely rare occurrence. [The Babylonian word kakkabu means “star”, “planet”, and “constellation”!] Jupiter represented Marduk, the great Babylonian god; Saturn represented a king appointed by Marduk; and Pisces represented the “end-times”. Apparently, the Magi interpreted this to mean that a divine-king of the end-times was about to be born. When the third conjunction occurred, Mars (representing Syro-Palestine) joined in. It would be far too coincidental if the Magi of Matthew’s gospel weren’t convinced by their astrology that the son of a god was about to be born in Judea!

The magi came to worship the son of the false god Marduk, but left Bethlehem worshipping the Messiah.

“So are you saying that any religion can lead to God?” NO! Only the Holy Spirit can lead us to the saviour Jesus. All other religions are false; but the Bible is nevertheless clear: God will use whatever means necessary to rescue his elect.

Romans 10:14 and 17 says: “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?…Faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ.” That’s the normal means by which a person comes to faith. Paul wrote that; the same Paul who wasn’t converted by a preacher and hearing the word, but by an unexpected encounter with the Word Himself, as Paul travelled to Damascus…to persecute Christians! Like the Magi, Paul was an exception.

So was Abraham, the father of our faith (Romans 4). Abraham was called while living in Ur in Mesopotamia (Genesis 12:1), where Nanna, the moon-god, was worshipped! But Abraham’s moon-worship didn’t prevent God from reaching him.

Today, missionaries to Muslims report encountering individuals who, in accordance with their heretical beliefs, had sought visions from Allah during Ramadan….and met Jesus instead! Just like the Magi of long ago.

Preaching the gospel and witnessing is the primary and normative way people first encounter Jesus; but I mention these “extreme” cases as an encouragement to Christians wondering if there’s any way they can “get through” to their unsaved loved ones. Abraham, Paul, the Magi: all hopeless cases. But God reached them in the heart of their unbelief, without preaching. Whatever means it takes to reach his elect, no matter how wild and crazy it might seem, God will use it. After all, he became a man, and died on a cross in a sinner’s place!

Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is born!

~ Andrew

Prepare your heart for Sunday by reading the passage and listening to the songs we’ll sing.