Today marks the first Sunday of Advent.  My church and many others celebrate this season with an Advent wreath, lighting a candle each of the four weeks before Christmas, concluding with the Jesus candle that is lit on Christmas Day.

Jesus is the light of the world.  Lighting the candles represent the light that Jesus brought with Him regarding the Father and His Kingdom, and His reconciliation plan for all mankind.

John 8:12-

“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

This first week of Advent, we light the Hope candle to reflect on the coming of our Lord and Savior. For 400 years the Israelites put their HOPE in the long awaited Messiah.  As the prophets foretold in the scriptures, the Messiah came, born as a baby in a stable in Bethlehem, more than 2000 years ago.

Isaiah 7:14-  

^“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel {which means “God with us”}”

Centuries before Jesus came, “wise men” called Magi studied the heavens to learn about God and watch for signs of what was to come. It was not astrology as we know it today which is almost a religion, but, rather, the scientists of the day were the knowledgeable, learned men of that time who studied the heavens. They were probably not Jewish, not Jehovah God followers, and wouldn’t have been considered God’s people. But they did believe the heavens revealed Truth and Prophecy.  Their thoughts were aligned with Psalms 19:1-4, whether they knew the scripture in the Torah or not. (Torah is the Old Testament, the Holy Book of the Jews.)

Psalms 19:1-4-

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.

God went to great lengths to reach His people with the message of redemption. In fact, those who have studied the heavenly bodies and the science of the stars in that period of time starting a few years before and up to when Jesus came, say that several remarkable heavenly events took place matching significant dates of Jewish religious events, and the Magi would have been following this “story”.

The Magi who came to find baby Jesus were probably a group of several wise men, not just three.  (That number is probably taken from the fact that they brought three gifts.)  They would have been wealthy, so they probably rode horses, but did bring camels to carry their supplies because it was a very long journey that took several months.

There were likely other significant but less prominent stars to guide them along their route to show them the way until they finally reached the place where the magnificent Bethlehem Star “marked the spot”.  They didn’t know God as Jehovah God, but because the rulers of the day were considered gods, they were seeking this one God that the Torah and the stars and prophecies all spoke of:

Isaiah 9:6-7-

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.

Isaiah 11:1-3-

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

Matthew 1:21-23-

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel^] (which means “God with us”).

Acts 5:31-

God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins.

The significance of the birth of Jesus that first Christmas was that God put into action the Redemption Plan that would reconcile fallen mankind back to Himself that they might have fellowship together once again.

That significance is the same for each of us today.  God has done His part. Jesus has done His part. Now it is up to us to do our part by responding to His offer of redemption.

John 3:16 (TPT)-

For here is the way God loved the world—he gave his only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life.

Ephesians 1:18-19 (NIV)-

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the HOPE to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength.

That first Christmas brought us the gift of HOPE for a future worth living.

The Magi led the way to find the Messiah on that first Christmas.  We can learn five important things from those Magi to help us find our way to Jesus the Savior.

1. Read and study God’s Word. The Magi studied God’s truth through the heavens that God created. We don’t have to know how to study the heavens because God has given us His love letter, the Bible, to teach us all we need to know about God and how to live in relationship with Him, and we must make a commitment to reading and studying it.
2. Seek out Jesus. The Magi studied, and then put their knowledge into action to actively seek Him out. We must do the same. Knowing about Jesus won’t cut it; we need to KNOW Jesus through relationship with Him.
3. Recognize Jesus’ Worth and His Gifts. The Magi would have never embarked on that long journey had they not recognized that THIS God, and Who He Is, and what He has to offer is far superior to any other god or treasure.  We, too, must recognize the glorious omnipotence and superiority of God over everything else in creation, and seek His gifts that will nurture, protect, and sustain us.
4. Humble Ourselves in Worship. The Magi were somewhat like royalty for their culture and time, and yet, when they came into the presence of Jesus, they knelt on their knees and bowed low in submission to Him, which was an outward expression of their humbled hearts. We must also first humble ourselves before the Lord in Worship.  Regardless of the music genre or the lyrics of the songs, we cannot truly worship God without our heart being humbled before Him. Our prayers, our praises, our worship, our ministries, our testimonies, all can only be meaningful to God when we have a humble heart.
5. Obey God, not man. The Magi were given instructions by King Herod, who considered himself to be the god of his people, to find the child and then to report back to him where they found him. But they did not, which meant their lives were in danger, and still, they did not report back to Herod, but “turned and went home another way”. We also need to obey God and what His Word tells us rather than what our culture tells us, sometimes even including what our government tells us. God’s law must come first above all other laws, rules, and protocols. His Word must come first above all emotions, earthly relationships, and cultural habits. Herod was the bad guy in the Christmas story; our “bad guy” is the father of lies, and we are to “turn and go another way”. As we grow in Christ, our listening skills will continually improve to recognize Holy Spirit’s voice as he leads us, and to identify the lies of the deceiver. We want this skill, but it takes commitment and time spent with the Holy Trinity- God, Jesus, and Holy Spirit- to hone this skill. We’ll never get it 100% right this side of heaven, but we can give 100% effort to improving.

But wait, there’s more!

I Thessalonians 4:16-17 –  

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

 Our great HOPE now is that Jesus is coming again! He will make all things new. No more pain. No more sorrow. No more trials. He is coming again to receive His bride- that’s all of us who are redeemed- to live with Him for all eternity.

Our prayer for you this season is that you will dare to put your HOPE in Him to enable you to receive all that God has for you and wants to give you.

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(Thank you Pastor Andrew Burchett for sharing some of this information today.)