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The Magi Who Proved That Jesus Is the Messiah

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Bible verse : Matthew 2:11(NIV)

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary,

and they bowed down and worshiped him.

Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold

and of incense and of myrrh.

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Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem, Judea, with a body like ours.

On that day, an unusually large star appeared in the sky.

This star was a symbol of Jesus’ coming to this earth.

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At that time, the wise men who were studying the stars in the distant East also saw this star. They knew that the star meant a great king who had come to this land.

The three wise men set out on a long journey following the star to worship the true king who had been born on this earth.

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The place where the wise men from the East arrived following the star was Jerusalem in the land of Judea. The wise men went to the palace to worship the new king. When Jesus came to this earth, Judea was ruled by a king named Herod.

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When the wise men met King Herod, they asked him, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” When King Herod and all the people there heard them say that a new king had been born, they were astonished.

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King Herod called together the chief priests and the teachers of the law to find out exactly who the new king would be. He asked them, “Tell me where the Bible says the new king, the Messiah, will be born.” The chief priests and teachers of the law answered, “In a town in Judea called Bethlehem.”

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When they say Bethlehem, they are referring to the prophecy in the Old Testament. Long ago, the prophet Micah prophesied: “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”

This means that the new Messiah will be born in Bethlehem.

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When Herod heard this, he called the wise men in private. He asked them in detail when the star first appeared. And he made a special request of them.

“Go and search carefully for the child. When you have found him, tell me, so      that I too may come and worship him.”

Herod's words were a lie designed to find and kill the baby, the new king.

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The wise men set out to go to Bethlehem, as King Herod had said.

At that very moment, the star that had led them there appeared again before the wise men. They rejoiced and followed the star.

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The star that led them stopped in a certain place. When they reached the place where the star had stopped, they saw a mother and a child. When the wise men realized that this was the newborn king, they knelt down and worshiped him.

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The wise men each brought a precious gift to the new king.

They presented the gifts they had prepared to the baby.

The gifts the wise men gave were gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

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These gifts teach us that Jesus is the Messiah who was prophesied to come.

Gold represents Jesus as a king. Frankincense was used by priests as incense to God, revealing that Jesus is God. Finally, myrrh is a burial spice, symbolizing the suffering and death that Jesus will endure to save us.

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On the night that the wise men worshipped the baby Jesus, they had a dream.

In that dream, they were told, “Do not return to Herod.” This was a dream that God gave them in order to protect Jesus, knowing that Herod was planning to kill Jesus.

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The next day, the wise men obeyed the command not to return to Herod.

They returned to their own country by a different route than the one they came from, so as not to go to Herod. The wise men did not follow the command of King Herod, but obeyed the word of God.

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God proved through the Magi that Jesus was the Messiah who came to this earth.

He showed through a big star that the Messiah had come to this earth.

He confirmed that Jesus was the Messiah sent by God to this earth by confirming that he was born in Bethlehem as prophesied by the Old Testament prophet Micah. He made it known through the Magi that Jesus, the Messiah, came to save not only the Jewish people but also the people of the world.

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Christmas is the day to commemorate the birth of Jesus who came to this earth in the same body as us to save us. He came to this earth exactly at the time God had appointed, in the way and place prophesied in the Old Testament.

And Jesus became the light of life that illuminated the whole world beyond Judah and Israel.

As children of God, we must know and observe the true meaning of Christmas.

On Christmas, we must remember that ‘Jesus came as the King who rules over all things.’ We must also confess that Jesus is ‘the true God who came from God.’
And we must remember and be thankful that Jesus came to this earth to save us, to suffer and die on our behalf.

I hope that this Christmas will be a time to praise God with joy as we reflect on this amazing grace.

(This is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)