Musing: Magi-cal Christmas

The King said to Daniel, “Surely your God is the God of gods
and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries,
for you were able to reveal the mystery.”
Then the king placed Daniel in a high position
and lavished many gifts on him.
He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon
and placed him in charge of all its wise men (magi).

1,400 years later three magi pay a visit to a baby boy in Bethlehem. We wonder, “How did they know?” What’s amazing is that the Word of God is always found to be in perfect harmony with itself -- 66 books, 40 authors, written over a period of thousands of years, a single integrated message, a love story written in blood on a cross.

Daniel, the revealer of dreams, had been used by God to ready a people for the Good News that the Messiah would come, One who would bring salvation to all. Daniel, taken hostage as young teen by a Babylonian king, grew in wisdom and could interpret dreams and visions and so was made the chief magi in Babylon. He then used his God-given influence in a foreign nation and his knowledge of the Scriptures to instruct the magi regarding the signs that would point to the future coming of the Anointed One. The question today is how do we use our God-given influence and our knowledge of the Scriptures to create expectation and hope in the hearts and lives of those in our home, our neighborhood, our work, our larger world regarding the coming of Christ the King?