The Wise Men Worship and War is Waged

In Matthew 2, the Wise men come to worship Jesus. A remarkable thing in itself, that they should journey so far on the basis of a star. Little do they realise that they are igniting a war against the baby Jesus. The devil is determined to destroy Jesus (Revelation 12) and he finds his method in Herod. And so, as soon as Herod is alerted to the birth of Jesus, he is determined to kill him. However, he pretends to want to worship Jesus and asks the wise men to let him know where Jesus is when they have found him. The wise men continue on their way and when they find Jesus, they bow down, worship and offer him gifts. When they are ready to return, God has already intervened and warned these worshipping wise men to avoid Jerusalem and to go back to their land another way. An angel also appears to Joseph in a dream to tell him to take Jesus to Egypt to avoid Herod’s killing.

I notice this: the wise men were not aware of the danger they were potentially bringing to Jesus. But as they worshipped him, the Lord revealed to them the path they should take – a new and different path, avoiding the danger, avoiding their implication in the devil’s schemes and preserving Jesus for what he was here for.

We plan to begin 2019 with praise and worship – on Wednesday 2nd January from 7-9(ish) we will primarily worship our God. We will use a mix of live and video worship and I encourage us all to come to worship and participate together. “O come let us adore him”: we are in a spiritual battle and we will fight it on a spiritual plain with our Lord Jesus leading the way –

May the Lord richly bless you and us together over this Christmas season and in 2019, may we each and together know the fullness of his love, grace and power,

With love and blessing,

Roland