THE incarnation of the Son of God was one of the greatest events in the history of the universe. Its actual occurrence was not, however, known to all mankind, but was specially revealed to the shepherds of Bethlehem and to certain wise men of the east. These wise men, magi, were students of the stars and of old prophetic books from the far-off east.

Christ was born at Bethlehem, near to Jerusalem; yet throughout all the streets of the holy city there were no enquirers, “Where is he?” He was to be the glory of Israel, and yet in Israel there were few indeed who, like these wise men, asked the question, “Where is he?”

The wise men did not regard the favor of seeing the star as a matter to be rested in. They did not say, “We have seen his star, and that is enough.” Many say, “Well, we attend a place of worship regularly, is not that enough?” There are those who say, “We were baptized, baptism brought regeneration with it; we come to the sacrament, and do we not get grace through it?” Poor souls! the star which leads to Christ they mistake for Christ himself, and worship the star instead of the Lord.

Note well, that these wise men did not find satisfaction in what they had themselves done to reach the child. As we have observed, they may have come hundreds of miles, but they did not mention it; they did not sit down and say, “Well, we have journeyed across deserts, over hills, and across rivers, it is enough.” No, they must find the new-born King, nothing else would satisfy them.

I pray that you and I may always be so led by the Spirit of God that we may never put up with anything short of a real grasping of Christ, a believing sight of Christ as a Savior, as our Savior, as our Savior even now. If there be one danger above another that the young seeker should strive against, it is the danger of stopping short of a hearty faith in Jesus Christ.

See, then, how these wise men were not made by the sight of the star to keep away from Christ, but they were encouraged by it to come to Christ, and do you be encouraged, dear seeker, this morning to come to Jesus by the fact that you are blessed with the gospel.

I should like you to notice how these wise men were not satisfied with merely getting to Jerusalem. They might have said, “Ah! now we are in the land where the Child is born, we will be thankful and sit down.” No, but “Where is he?” He is born at Bethlehem. Well, they get to Bethlehem, but we do not find that when they reached that village they said, “This is a favored spot, we will sit down here.” Not at all, they wanted to know where the house was. They reached the house, and the star got over it. It was a fair sight to see the cottage with the star above it, and to think that the new-born King was there, but that did not satisfy them. No, they went right into the house; they rested not till they saw the Child himself, and had worshipped him.

Lastly, consider the example of these wise men. They came to Jesus, and in so doing, they did three things: they saw, they worshipped, they gave. Those are three things which every believer here may do over again, and which every seeker should do for the first time.

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Adapted from the C. H. Spurgeon sermon “The Sages, The Star, and the Savior”, Dec 25, 1870, From: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Volume 16