WEBVTT

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Day 274, or October 1st. Seek, and you will find.

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Our thoughts today are rooted in Matthew 2, verse

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1. After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea,

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during the time of King Herod, Magi, wise men,

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from the east, came to Jerusalem. And now the big

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picture surrounding this verse. Matthew gives

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us one of the two biblical accounts of the birth

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of Jesus. The other one is in Luke. Matthew is

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writing primarily for a Jewish readership, and

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it is therefore not surprising to learn that

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he concentrates on the visit of the ancient kingmakers,

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the Magi. Matthew's major theme is to declare

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Jesus as king of the Jews, and the Magi's visit

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underpins this. The major had great influence,

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and it is therefore understandable that King

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Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard of their

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visit, as was everyone else in Jerusalem. Herod

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was afraid he would lose his throne, and as he

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was a ruthless ruler the people were frightened

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too, because they knew he would stop at nothing

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to keep in power, and would brutally destroy

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any potential rivals. They were quite right too.

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as he ordered the killing of all male children

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who were two years and younger. Nevertheless,

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God's Messiah had arrived, and nothing Herod

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or anyone else could do would change that, and

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Matthew relates how Jesus matured to ultimately

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become the redeeming sacrifice for our salvation.

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And now today's action step. Only Matthew tells

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us about the Magi. who we often call the wise

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men, and who the hymn -writer John Hopkins claimed

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to be kings in his hymn We Three Kings, written

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in 1857. They had looked for him in their astrological

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charts, a place I would warn people not to consult,

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in line with Isaiah chapter 47 verses 13 and

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14, but they finally found him in Bethlehem.

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They were looking in the wrong place, But God

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honoured his promise of, seek me and you will

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find me. Isn't it great to know that we don't

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have to be clever enough to always know where

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to look? If we earnestly seek God, he will let

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us find him. So keep looking.