SATURDAY 12/7/13 Daily Readings for Advent...Advent is for adoring Jesus MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI

SATURDAY 12/7/13 Daily Readings for Advent...Advent is for adoring Jesus

MESSIAH FOR THE MAGI

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” —Matthew 2:1–2

Unlike Luke, Matthew does not tell us about the shepherds coming to visit Jesus in the stable. His focus is immediately on foreigners coming from the east to worship Jesus.

So Matthew portrays Jesus at the beginning and ending of his Gospel as a universal Messiah for the nations, not just for Jews. 

Here the first worshipers are court magicians or astrologers or wise men not from Israel but from the East—perhaps from Babylon. They were Gentiles. Unclean.

And at the end of Matthew, the last words of Jesus are, 

“All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.”

This not only opened the door for the Gentiles to 

rejoice in the Messiah, it added proof that he was the Mes

siah. Because one of the repeated prophecies was that the 

nations and kings would, in fact, come to him as the ruler 

of the world.

For example, Isaiah 60:3, “Nations will come to your 

light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” So Ma

thew adds proof to the messiahship of Jesus and shows that 

he is Messiah—a King, and Promise-Fulfiller—for all the 

nations, not just Israel.