Tag Archives: Magi

Bible open to Matthew

Mindfully Meditating on Matthew Chapter Two – MMM2

Mindfully Meditating in Matthew, the collection of these studies
(First 100 days of 2023 day 32, Feb 2)

(c) 2023 M. Christine Wildman

Passage Matthew chapter Two

It doesn’t matter which version you choose. It can be digital or paper. You can use one of those fancy coloring bibles and do a page or coloring along with the passage.

I will mostly do Homan Christian Standard Bible because of their copyright freedoms.

 

  • Matthew Two–
    • 2:1
      • After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem,
    • 2:6 Prophecy
      • And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
        are by no means least among the leaders of Judah:
        because out of you will come a leader
        who will shepherd My people Israel.”[c]
    • 2:9 The star was back
      • 9 After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen in the east![e] It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was.
    • 2:13 Angelic Warning
      • 13 After they were gone, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy Him.”
    • 2:16-18 murders
    • 2:19-23 Joseph listens to Angels

 

Image by Scottish Guy from Pixabay

Mindful Meditating

  1. choose a verse,
  2.  set a timer for 5 minutes, or whatever works for you.
  3.  example: Matt 1:18a
  4. repeat to yourself, and at each word, enunciate the next word in the sentence starting with the first word…

example:

  • 18 This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about
  • THIS is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about
  • This IS how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about
  • This is HOW the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about.

…and so on.  This will cause you to look at the verse more intently, and may have you memorize it before your five minutes are done.

Matthew 2:9 Coloring Page

Quick Questions – if  you have time, or to think about over the course of the day, and jot down thoughts later.

  1. How  many  wise  men?
    1. CrossWalk about the Three Wise Men
  2. What was King Herod  meaning when he said “so that I too can go and worship Him”?
    1. this is up to you
  3. why did Herod try to kill Jesus?
    1. Billy Graham’s ministry has an idea.
  4. how old was Jesus when the Magi came?
    1. Never Thirsty explains the various items in this scenario.
  5. How many prophecies did the birth of Jesus fulfill?
    1. Answers in Genesis has some thoughts about that.

~~~~~~~

Hi!
My hope in the midst of despair and my joy in the face of depression is because of my relationship with Jesus Christ. If you do not have one, or are not sure you will join him in heaven, please check out these links:

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

Older woman with shades of coral in jewelry and sweater, glasses, silver and brown hair.

M. Christine Wildman

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

Copyrights and Legal-eze
There are many organizations that support children and families. Here are ones that we are blessed to be a part of. Please consider sponsoring a child – the life you change could be your own.

Advent Day 24 – Magi or Wise Men

Advent Day 24 – Magi or Wise Men
If you are doing the Advent Log, light days 1-24

advent24c

The Magi or Wise Men

Whatever the star was – it was important enough to the Magi, wise men, potentially astronomers, to know that something important had happened. Just as Dr. Morris did in his post, Edersheim speaks a little bit about the magi and why they might know of the coming King.

adventwisemen-3

Because they share these two research posts, and this song! The Magi and the Star go hand in hand.

adventwisemen

They probably weren’t kings.
There is no indication that there were only 3, there were only 3 types of gifts.
But still, the song, We Three Kings tells the story of Christ, and gives an indication as to what the three gifts would be for in his life.

https://youtu.be/k8mjRxkMBkE

And, my take on this is, Am I wise enough to still seek HIM? And would I give him such expensive gifts? Or only leftovers?
That said, what ARE the gifts that I would give?

In Exodus 31, God lists the people in whom HE placed gifts in order to create the special things for HIS tabernacle.

In 1 Corinthians 12, we are told that there are many different gifts, like there are different parts to the body, but we need all of them.
Romans 12:6-8 tells us to use our gifts – give them up to the Lord.

The point is that WE are given gifts…they are part of WHO we are, HOW we were created and wired.
Just like salvation, it is not of ourselves…

Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The gifts of the Magi have been preached about as provisions for the family as they had to flee, and up to the herbs for his burial.
Gifts provide something – and we can be like the Wise Men and give of the gifts we have been given, to glorify God.

What is the gift that God has asked of us?

Romans 12:1
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

We are to give him our heart, mind, soul and strength.
It’s the first commandment, according to Jesus!

Mark 12:30
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

I want to be wise, and give God my heart!
20151215_132401

More Advent Devotions

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

I want to thank

for the ability to search the Bible online.

I’d love to hear what you think – please leave a comment!
Or choose to LIKE me on facebook, or other social media!
I’d love to stay in touch with you – we are working on email subscriptions…sign up! 
Soon, we will have a gallery for the art I have created by the hand of God.

There are many organizations that support children and families. Here is one that we are blessed to be a part of. Please consider sponsoring a child – the life you change could be your own.

Advent 2015 – days 19-26 part 2

Advent days 19-22 dealt with Mary, Joseph, Jesus and Bethlehem.

Part 2 deals with The Star, Angels, Shepherds and Magi. That actually takes us to Advent day 26.
25 days in December until Christmas, but Advent usually starts before December. I explained that in part 1, linked above.

Star Day 23

Star

Star

Why the star before the Angels?
well, since the Magi were coming from the East, or was it the west…
(if the star is in the east, do you walk east or west to Bethlehem?)
(westward leading still proceeding…as well as the appropriate verse: Matt 2:2 & 9),
(See how I figured that out?)
and it took them(Magi) some time to get there – it may have been seen by the magi BEFORE the birth. Maybe it was lit for them at just the moment of his birth – and since their journey was not ended at the stable, right after the birth(spoiler!) – they may have started then. Either way, the Star proclaiming Christ’s birth was at least at the same time, if not before the Angels and the shepherds. It’s my Advent study. If you don’t like it…you can change it up for yourself!

Star

Star

The Star.
I did some research on this, since just this year ‘they’ were saying that we could see a repeat of Christ’s star! With my naked eye I could see that it was three different stars…so, I don’t buy that explanation. It was neat to actually be able to experience one of the possibilities.

There are some very interesting scientific research going on, to prove or disprove this star. Sort of like that sun standing still miracle, but that’s another story.

Ray Pritchard, on www.jesus.org, describes four possibilities in this post.

Dr. Henry Morris, from Institute in Creation Research has an indepth discussion about the Star of Jesus within his article about the Star and the Magi.

Whatever the star was – it was important enough to the Magi, wise men, potentially astronomers, to know that something important had happened. Just as Dr. Morris did in his post, Edersheim speaks a little bit about the magi and why they might know of the coming King.

Next – The Magi Day 24

Magi

Magi

Because they share these two research posts, and this song! The Magi and the Star go hand in hand.

They probably weren’t kings.
There is no indication that there were only 3, there were only 3 types of gifts.
But still, the song, We Three Kings tells the story of Christ, and gives an indication as to what the three gifts would be for in his life.

And, my take on this is, Am I wise enough to still seek HIM? And would I give him such expensive gifts? Or only leftovers?

https://youtu.be/k8mjRxkMBkE

Shepherds Day 25
100_6788

Shepherds
Simple working folk.
Mostly unlearned.
Oddly enough, King David was a shepherd boy before he was anointed to become King.
The Messiah was to come from David’s lineage.
Jesus is the good shepherd, such as Psalm 23 describes.
So, who else would deserve the first proclamation, other than his brethren, in his ancestral home?

These shepherds heard the news and ran…to worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
But first – they were scared out of their wits!!! A nice, quiet night out with the sheep. The usual stars in they sky (or they would have noticed), and everyone was settled in to watch for the night and suddenly! or in KJV speak:

Lk 2:8-9

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

https://youtu.be/X4kAQs7KAHM

silent Night

silent Night

Luke 2:15 & 25

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
~
And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Those they told just wondered. It doesn’t say that they went to see.
Now, granted, the shepherds heard it from angels – the townspeople just heard it from, well, shepherds.

My take away? Would I drop everything and run? Do I despise the messenger?

Angels

Hark the Angels Sing

Hark the Angels Sing

Angels
messengers from God.
warriors from God.
protectors from God.
In this case, I believe they were just so full of Joy that their star quarterback was now in the game!
They were there when God created the earth.
They were left in heaven when satan and the other angels fell.
They were there when Adam and Eve brought death into the world through sin.
They knew that God the Father had a plan, but they didn’t know what it was.
All they knew was what they were told when they were sent as messengers.
And today was the day – The Son of God was going into the world to make everything right! Lucifer had not won. The great plan, that had been foretold in multiple prophecies was being unfolded right before their eyes. This was the beginning of Peace on Earth, good will towards men!

Crocheted Angels

Crocheted Angels

Luke 2:10-12

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

This was the message they had been waiting to give! And once it was given:

Luke 2:13-14

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Piano Guy Version – a must watch!

Hark the Herald Angels

Hark the Herald Angels

And, then, just bust out singing!

hark and Joy

hark and Joy

and some fun

https://youtu.be/bHgPlC7wph4

The next blog will be thoughts for Christmas Eve – and Christmas Day.

For now – I am thinking about the ones that were part of the declaration of Christ’s birth. And I wonder, do I declare Christ’s birth, death and Resurrection with my life, as a light Jesus told us to be? He came as the light in the darkness, and I am to be the light of the world – my life should shine the light of Jesus wherever I go. He came and died so that I might live, and declare the glory of God.

Gloria! In excelsis Deo!

nativity

nativity

More Advent Devotions

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

I want to thank

for the ability to search the Bible online.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

I’d love to hear what you think – please leave a comment!
Or choose to LIKE me on facebook, or other social media!
I’d love to stay in touch with you – we are working on email subscriptions…sign up! 
Soon, we will have a gallery for the art I have created by the hand of God.

There are many organizations that support children and families. Here is one that we are blessed to be a part of. Please consider sponsoring a child – the life you change could be your own.