The Story of the Wise Men, Part 1 (Matthew 2:1-12)

Have you every looked up into the sky at night and been impressed by the many lights or stars that God created? There are billions of them! Of course, we can only see a few because they are so very far away. People who study stars and the universe in a scientific way in our day are called astronomers. Around the time Jesus was born, there were some wise men that lived in the East who also liked to study the sky and stars. One night as they were watching the sky, a great miracle took place almost as exciting as what happened to the shepherds. A star or light from a star started moving across the sky, and at the same time God revealed to the wise men that if they followed the star it would lead them to a new born king. Of course, they started on the long journey as soon as possible, and they took with them many treasures to give to Jesus when they find him and will worship him as their new born King. The star led them close to Jerusalem and the wise men went in to King Herod and asked him, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” Herod was really troubled by what the wise men had said about a new king being born, and he didn’t like the fact that these men had traveled such a great distance to worship him and to lay costly gifts before him. Now King Herod was an evil man, and in tomorrow’s story he will come up with an evil plan to destroy Jesus, the one whom the wise men called “the King of the Jews.” Do you know what Herod’s evil plan will be, and do you think it will work?