Matt 2, Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet:6 ‘AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH,
ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH;
FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER
WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.’”Matt. 2:7 Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him.” 9 After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod,
the magi left for their own country by another way.
What we’ve already seen from the Scriptures about the characteristics of true worshipers, or lovesick lovers of God, is that they see things others just don’t see, and they say things others just don’t say, but another observation is that true worshipers seek and find things that others just don’t seek and find. What I mean by that is that worshipers have a tendency to pay whatever price they have to pay in seeking God; not out of guilt but out of sheer delight, hungry for encounter, and discovery. These magi traveled a long distance over at least several months from foreign lands in their pursuit to find, encounter and worship Jesus. As a matter fact, as I mentioned the other day they would not have even noticed the obscure prophecy about the star in Numbers 24:17 unless they were radical seekers Who loved to keep finding more about God. True worshipers do see things other people don’t see, but they see things others don’t see because they seek God in ways others don’t seek. “Blessed are the hungry for they shall be satisfied.” After Herod had talked to his theologians, and those living who had served as High Priests, and having discovered that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, he secretly called the magi to himself and told them to go and find the Christ, and once they did to comeback and report to him, so that he could go himself and worship the Savior. Of course he was lying about his intentions, but it is impressive that he believed that if the magi were to go and look for Jesus they would find him. Part of his thinking had to involve, when sending the magi to find the king of the Jews, is that anyone who would’ve gone as far as they had gone, sacrificing time and all else they had sacrificed to this point to find Jesus, they would certainly find Him, when nobody else might would. Seekers or finders, and seekers are worshipers, and every time there’s a fresh finding at the end of a fresh seeking, there’s always heightened worship. With every fresh finding of the unsearchable riches of Christ there is an expansion of a lovesick heart. I love to read books and to hear teachings from lovesick lovers, actually much more than theologians, because true worshipers find the most awesome things, and because they are lovesick, they love to tell about all they have found. I don’t enjoy much drawing from people who love to study Jesus from a distance; I would much rather hear from someone who is actually, personally, and experientially, found him in new and life-changing ways.