Bruce Collins, Evangelist

Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.

We have all seen the bumper sticker that says, “Wise men still seek him.” This time of the year we all want to fight for the right to celebrate a Christian holiday, but I wonder how many of us are really wise.

There are people in the Bible that are called wise men that weren’t really wise. The magicians that resisted Moses and Aaron are an example (see Exodus 7). They knew how to fake the power of God up to a point. Wisdom is the ability to understand and to discern what is good and right and starts with the fear of Jehovah (see Proverbs 9:10). The magicians were opposing the God of heaven; and, therefore, they weren’t very wise.

A wise person considers consequences. He is a prudent person who foresees evil and hides himself (Proverbs 22:3). He recognizes that there are consequences associated with accepting or rejecting the Lord Jesus. Not only will a person be happier in this life if he or she walks in fellowship with the Lord, but that person who trusts in Christ will be saved for eternity.

People often think they are wise when they think they are smart enough to understand the how’s and why’s of life without considering God. We want to be self-reliant. We are proud. We don’t want to be dependent on anyone. Actually, those of us who act this way are very foolish. A wise person doesn’t try to fix a car without using the manual that was produced by the manufacturer and a wise person doesn’t try to figure out life without considering the manual of the Creator which is the Bible.

A wise ruler will put the welfare of his subjects ahead of his own just as the Lord did. A wise scientist will try to figure out how God put the world together rather than trying to figure out how it just happened. A wise philosopher will try to understand how God thinks. A wise preacher will preach the truth of Scripture and will not try to explain the principles of Scripture away. In other words, a wise person will try to work with God instead of working against Him.

A wise person in general will seek the Lord just as the wise men from the East did. Daniel in the Old Testament was considered one of the wise men of the kingdom of Babylon which is present day Iraq (See Daniel 2), Some of the wise men in that kingdom were magicians, but while Daniel was trained in their colleges, he stayed faithful to Jehovah. He had it revealed to him that the Messiah would come and even when He would come in Daniel 9:25-26. I suspect that the wise men of Matthew 2 were aware of the teachings of Daniel and as a result were looking for the Lord to be born. So some heathen magicians were wise while the Jewish religious rulers were so blind and foolish that they were not able to recognize the Lord when He came, even though His coming fulfilled their prophecies.

A wise person will believe the Lord when He says that our sin has separated between us and our God and that we need to be forgiven. A wise person will recognize that he or she is accountable to God. A wise person will want the only salvation that God says is available. A wise person will not want to live independently from God. A wise person will want to be prepared for death. A wise person will believe God when He says that the unbeliever is condemned already (John 3:18) and that the believer has eternal life. Yes, a wise person still seeks Him.

Bruce Collins