I am James Hong and welcome to the Surpassing Value Podcast. The fuel and desire for this podcast was born out of a compulsion to flesh out what's been going on in the midst of an ocean of megaphones that may not actually withstand the test of scrutiny. As a signpost theologian, I will do my best to filter out the impurities and point people in the right direction.

In this bonus episode of the Surpassing Value Podcast, I wanted to talk about Christmas from a historical and biblical perspective. It's a bonus episode because I'm recording this after Episode 10 and by the time this episode drops, we should be on Episode 3. Today is December 12th of 2020.

So for this episode, we're going to be talking about the birth of Christ and the Magi because quite frankly it is relevant to Christmas. If you're hearing this, it might be Christmas Day because my plan is to drop this on Christmas Day and for most of the nation, Christmas invokes rom-coms, presents, hot chocolate, Santa Claus, reindeers, and the like.

For another significant portion, this might even include a nativity scene. However, for Christians, it should invoke a lot more. The reason it should invoke a lot more is because the very nature of the day is based on the birth of our Savior. To be clear, we're not exactly sure on what exact date Christ was born, so this day is more of a commemoration of his birth than it is an anniversary of sorts.

For Christians, this day celebrates the day that God took on human flesh, entered the world by condescending to where we were, was praised by a few, and entrusted to people of low societal value. What is extremely noteworthy about this grand paradox of God taking on human flesh is the sheer exhibition of the immense power of God as he holds all things together.

Colossians 1:15-20 states, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him and for him.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church, and he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself will come to a first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross." Consider these few verses in light of the power of God, this all-powerful and holy God.

The God who destroyed the world with an apocalyptic flood. The God who humbled unbelieving Pharaoh and made his own people to suffer because of this unbelief. God turned water into blood, thunder and hail to envelop Egypt, a darkness so thick that the Egyptians couldn't see in front of them, and caused the death of their firstborn.

The God who parted the Red Sea and allowed only Israel to pass. The God whom Moses couldn't see, but only could see the trail, because Moses or any other man would have died thus, causing Moses' own appearance to physically change. The God whom Elijah called upon when he battled the prophets of Baal.

The God who destroyed the Assyrians and the Babylonians, the two international world empires that took turns dominating the globe. Christ is the image of that God, but also the firstborn of all creation. So one of many aspects we learn from the Incarnation is that this same all-powerful God is also a loving God who cares for all humanity deeply and profoundly.

Or else why would he send his only begotten? Imagine the power of Christ that in him all things were created, both in heaven and on earth. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. I want to illuminate this aspect of holding together because I do think it is profound.

A hydrogen bomb is 1000 times more devastating than an atomic bomb. A hydrogen bomb is 1000 times more devastating than an atomic bomb. The atomic bomb was what was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed 129,000 and 226,000 people, respectively. This is how a hydrogen bomb works, and I'll be quoting from Science Drug.

"A hydrogen bomb basically works with the help of fusion reaction, but it includes fission reaction as well. Fission reaction releases a lot of energy, whereas fusion reaction requires energy to take place. Hence, the reaction starts with the fission reaction, where the neutrons collide with the uranium or plutonium and release excess amount of energy which creates high pressure and temperature.

This gives a perfect environment for hydrogen and helium to fuse with each other. This generates even more energy and results in an explosion. Enormous amount of energy is released, which can be highly destructive. Hence, we can say that hydrogen bomb has greater power than the atomic bomb." Enormous amount of energy is released, an enormous amount of energy is released that is highly destructive, much more destructive than the atomic bomb.

This is all being held together on this molecular level that we cannot see with the naked eye. God holds all of this together. Doesn't that give you a deeper understanding and appreciation for the God who descended and took on human flesh and holds all things together when you consider His power?

God is holding all these things together and if you were to just let it go, things wouldn't just spin out. A more accurate logical next step would be an explosion, an unfathomable one. Circling back here to the birth of Christ, for the rest of the episode, I want to point out some interesting tidbits that could each be expanded upon further, but we'll have to settle for a flyover.

Consider the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1. You have Abraham who amongst other things twice refused to recognize Sarah as his wife due to him being afraid of his own safety. You have Jacob who deceived Esau out of his birthright so fled for his own safety. You have Judah who slept with Tamar the prostitute and wanted her dead because she had become pregnant out of wedlock and then relented when finding out that he was the father of the child.

You have Ruth the Moabite who was not even Jewish. You have David who murdered Righteous Uriah. You have Solomon who had a harem of wives and concubines and completely disobeyed God's commandments in the latter portion of his life. You have Manasseh who led Israel into wanton sin and gross idolatry, worshiping every other God as opposed to the one true God.

You have the Messiah, the King, born to a teenager of very low societal status. Right from the beginning, you have God showing he works through imperfect people. Don't get it twisted, many of the people named were in fact righteous people. But my point is, while being righteous, they were also clearly flawed and imperfect.

God brought forth the Messiah through what could easily be deemed the riffraff of society. Moving on into Matthew 2, you see the Magi coming from the East. And contrary to Christian cartoons, it doesn't say that there were three of them. If you saw my post for this episode, my Facebook post, I hope you noticed that I didn't choose an image that had three individuals on camels, despite the fact that I was tempted to do so because so many of them were so well done.

It could have been three, but there was probably at least a little more than three, we just don't know. Moreover, they probably didn't come right when Jesus was born. There's probably a bit of a time gap. We're going to talk about them anyway, since most of us associate the Magi with the birth of Christ.

We don't know a ton about the Magi, but we do know this. They were probably extremely wealthy as indicated by the gifts they brought, being able to receive Herod as an audience, and the probable length of their journey having come from what Matthew describes as the East and not some nearby town.

The Magi were actually a very powerful group of Medes, M-E-D-E-S, who were exceptionally learned religious men who also acted as king makers. They were a powerful priesthood with immense political clout. You could think of them as corollaries with the Pharisees, but replaced Judaism with some sort of astrological paganism.

You see them in Jeremiah 39 and Daniel 2. In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and tells the Magi that they must interpret the dream or be killed along with all the other designated wise men. The Magi responded that they weren't able to interpret his dream, and even further that no man on earth could do so.

Daniel is to be killed along with Hananiah, Misael, and Azariah, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, since they were also considered to be part of the group of sages. Let me read to you Daniel 2 verses 10-30. It states, "The Chaldeans answered the king and said, 'There is no person on earth who could declare the matter to the king, because no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any soothsayer priest, sorcerer, or Chaldean.

Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it to the king except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.' Because of this, the king became angry and extremely furious, and he gave orders to kill all the wise men of Babylon.

So the decree was issued that the wise men be killed, and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them. Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment to Ariok, the captain of the king's bodyguard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. He said to Ariok, the king's officer, 'For what reason is the decree from the king so harsh?' Then Ariok informed Daniel of the matter.

So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him a grace period so that he might declare the interpretation to the king. Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, about the matter, so that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his friends would not be killed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon." "Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision.

Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. Daniel said, 'May the name of God be blessed forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the periods. He who removes kings and appoints kings. He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to people of understanding.

It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with them. To you, God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and power. Even now you have made known to me what we requested of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter.' Thereupon Daniel went to Ariok, whom the king had appointed to kill the wise men of Babylon.

He went and said this to him, 'Do not kill the wise men of Babylon. Take me into the king's presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.' Then Ariok hurriedly brought Daniel into the king's presence and spoke to him as follows, 'I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can make the interpretation known to the king.' The king said to Daniel, 'Whose name was Belshazzar?

Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?' Daniel answered before the king and said, 'As for the secret about which the king has inquired, neither wise men, sorcerers, soothsayer priests, nor diviners are able to declare it to the king. However, there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days.

This was your dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed. As for you, O king, while on your bed your thoughts turned to what would take place in the future, and He who reveals secrets has made known to you what will take place. But as for me, the secret has not been revealed to me, for any wisdom residing in me more than in any other living person, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.'" God goes on to interpret the dream through Daniel.

Afterwards, Nebuchadnezzar gives glory to God. Daniel 2, 46-49 states, "Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and paid humble respect to Daniel and gave orders to present to him an offering and incense. The king responded to Daniel and said, 'Your God truly is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of secrets, since you have been able to reveal the secret.' Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts, and he made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.

And Daniel made a request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the administration of the province of Babylon while Daniel was at the king's court." The God of the Jews is shown to be who He really is, which is the king of the universe, above the perceived greatest worldly sages known to mankind at the time, which were the Magi.

The Magi also understood this as well, as they had previously just stated in this passage, that the Magi couldn't fulfill King Nebuchadnezzar's request, nor could any other man alive. It had to be, even in their own words, "heavenly wisdom." Undoubtedly these former pagan, worldly learned astrologers now begin to learn the one true religion of Judaism, the God of Daniel, the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

Not only did faithful Daniel teach them this, but also many must have been converted after realizing that the one true God was not only all-powerful, but also kind and merciful. Despite the fact that they were immersed in their own pagan religion and not the true religion of Judaism, God shows them kindness through Daniel, and they are all saved.

Psalm 103 8 states, "The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness." Daniel had undoubtedly discipled this group of men, and the faith of the one true God was passed down from generation to generation. When you skip ahead to Daniel chapter 9 verses 24-25, one would be easily able to generally tell when the Messiah would be born by estimating backwards.

So if you can get the general time period down, you know the city because of Micah 5:1-2. So you have the general time, you have the exact city. And so these group of men who were discipled by Daniel pass down the faith of the one true God. And then the spiritual descendants, who were also probably the genetic descendants also, came from the East to worship the King of the Jews.

What else is interesting about this time period when Jesus was born, was that the entire world had this expectation of a coming King. It wasn't just the Magi in the East, it wasn't just Israel, it was the entire world. Daniel Woodhead, Professor Woodhead, writes, and I quote, "Historians record for us that at that general time there was a strange expectation in the world for a coming king.

The people in the East had it, which partly explains why the Magi came. People in many places were anticipating the arrival of a king, something even the Roman historians acknowledged. Suetonius wrote in the Twelve Caesars, "There had spread over all the Orient an old and established belief that it was fated at that time for men coming from Judea to rule the world." Writing during the second century A.D.

about such things as Vespasian's conquering of Israel in A.D. 70, Suetonius looked back and said that the first century was a day when there was an expectation for men coming from Judea to rule the world. Consequently, people's eyes were focused upon that place. Tacitus, the famous Roman historian, tells of the same belief in the anals, that there was a firm persuasion that at this very time the East was to grow powerful and rulers coming from Judea were to acquire a universal empire.

Josephus, in the Wars of the Jews, said that the Jews had a belief that, about that time, one from their country should become governor of the "habitable earth." Moreover, God must have given these faithful believers, these magi who believed, some kind of certain sign perhaps connected with Numbers 24.17.

Numbers 24.17 says this, "I see him, but not now; I look at him, but not near. A star shall appear from Jacob, a scepter shall arise from Israel, and shall smash the forehead of Moab, and overcome all the sons of Sheph." Whatever the case these magi saw, whether it was a star or perhaps it was a manifestation of God's glory as alluded to in Matthew 24 and Zechariah 14, whatever it was, it caused them, as Matthew 2.10 states, when they saw this star or manifestation of God's glory, it caused them to rejoice with exceedingly great joy.

To put it another way, when they saw that sign of the Messiah, they rejoiced upon rejoicing with great, great rejoicing, and then upon seeing the Messiah, they worshiped him. Even the gifts they brought showed an understanding of who Christ was. Gold as a symbol of kingship and royalty, frankincense was an incense as a symbol of deity, and myrrh, an embalming oil, as a symbol of humanity and death.

You know how the rest of this portion of the story goes. After worshiping, they return to their own country without seeing Herod after being warned in a dream. Joseph and Mary escape to Egypt with Jesus. Herod slaughters all the babies under two because he had been tricked by the magi and was afraid of Jesus.

An angel appears to Joseph in a dream after Herod dies, and they return from Egypt to Israel. As Christians, we commemorate this day as more than just materialism. Isaiah 9.6 states, "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." The child was born, but the son was given.

The child was born, but the son was given. Thanks for making it to the end. I'll continue to try to make the journey worth it. To Him be honor, glory, and eternal dominion. Merry Christmas. James Hall now. (upbeat music)