Transcription

Chris
Hey, Jeff, you’re such a wise guy. Wo wo wo wo wo wo wo. The three Stooges.

Jeff
Yeah, exactly. Well, there’s two of them right here, so. Yeah. Right.

Chris
And well, it’s we, we know them as the three wise men in the Bible. That’s right. But really, the Bible doesn’t even say how many there were.

Jeff
Yeah, just three gifts. Yeah, but they were wise men.

Chris
They were.

Jeff
So he’s Chris and I’m Jeff and we’re the Bible guys. Oh. Wise guy. Yeah.

Chris
Hey. So, uh, hey, our segment today is called Who’s Most likely. We’re going to use paddles. Uh, we’re. If you’re watching, we’re holding up Chris and Jeff paddles. And we’re going to ask who’s more likely to do each thing. So here we go. Okay. There’s five things. Okay. So the question.

Jeff
I have not seen these.

Chris
No I’ve not either. I’ve not even read them. All right. Number number one is this who’s most likely to be late for lunch because they stopped to pet a dog. Jeff
Oh, it has to be Chris.

Chris
Yeah, it’s definitely Chris.

Jeff
I’m never late for lunch.

Chris
Right. Well, you usually never late for anything.

Jeff
Lunch is a core, core value of mine, so. Yeah. Chris
And I’m usually late. Uh, if something starts at one, I’ll probably walk in at 101.

Jeff
101 or 5 or 12.

Chris
Hey, now, them’s fighting words. All right, here we go. Number two. Who’s most likely to clap when they’re. This is this is a great question. Who’s most likely to clap when they’re plane lands.

Jeff
Oh that’s you I’d say it’s got to be you.

Chris
I’d say you held up. You you you held up. You. Oh.

Jeff
Yeah. Okay. I’m holding up, Chris.

Chris
Yeah, that’s probably me too. I actually like that. You like clap? Yeah. There’s also a theater, uh, that has a clapping thing. Uh, a local theater. Do you clap during that song? Yeah.

Jeff
Oh, yeah. Yeah yeah yeah. Mjr.

Chris
Yeah. Mjr.

Jeff
Yeah yeah yeah.

Chris
Okay, here’s the third one. Um. Who’s most likely to become an internet meme.

Jeff
That’s you too. I’m going to say you. Me? Yeah. Oh, really? Yeah.

Chris
I think you have some funny moments. I thought.

Jeff
I thought it was you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Chris
Well.

Jeff
Your, uh, your facial expressions, your. So if you could make, uh, a sounding a meme from a sound, your laugh would be a meme.

Chris
Oh, man. Maybe.

Jeff
So maybe. Yeah.

Chris
Okay. All right, number four, who’s most likely to be the first one on the dance floor?

Jeff
Oh. That’s you?

Chris
Yeah, that’s probably me. Yeah. Although I really can’t dance.

Jeff
I can’t dance.

Chris
Either. Yeah, I wish, uh, I actually wish I could take dancing lessons. I think I should, you should. Hey, Liz. Let’s take dancing lessons. There you go. Yeah.

Jeff
You sign up. Don’t tell Bonnie.

Chris
Uh, really?

Jeff
Why? Because she’s always wanted to take dancing lessons.

Chris
Oh, dude, this is it.

Jeff
Oh, no.

Chris
Oh, no. We’re gonna get people writing in encouraging us. No, no, the four of us should do it.

Jeff
It’d be terrible.

Chris
Uh. Terribly awesome. Oh. All right, here’s here’s number five.

Jeff
I, uh, I made a mistake several years ago. So my wife, at weddings or whatever, loves to get out on the dance floor. Yeah. And she came back and I was laughing. Yeah. And, uh, it was one of the ones that was coordinated, you know, to the right, to the right, to the left. Whatever. Sure, sure, sure. I was laughing about it when she came back and said what? I said, do you remember that that, uh, episode of Seinfeld where Elaine can’t dance? Yes. And Bonnie’s like.

Chris
When I said best dances are.

Jeff
Funny. She said, is that what you think when I dance? I said, well, a little bit, right. Since then, she’s been like, I’m not getting out on the dance floor anymore. And I feel like I stole that from her. So I need to find a way to give it back to her.

Chris
Yeah, well, maybe it’s the dancing.

Jeff
Lessons thing, I don’t know.

Chris
And then here’s the fifth one who’s most likely to DIY something instead of buying it.

Jeff
That’s got to be you.

Chris
I’d say you.

Jeff
Really? It’s not me, man. I don’t fix anything.

Chris
Yeah, I guess it is me. All right.

Jeff
I didn’t know it’s all you. This. This whole thing. It’s all about you. It’s all about me. Which is the way it’s supposed to be, isn’t it, Chris? Yeah. Isn’t that how you think about.

Chris
I made a joke Sunday. Just on Sunday, that it’s all about me, remember? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jeff
That was funny.

Chris
We were talking about Pride on Sunday. Yeah. And, uh, and one of the stories is, uh, that I told was. I’m not sure you realize how big of a deal I am, but I’m kind of a big deal.

Jeff
A big deal?

Chris
Yeah, that’s that’s funny.

Jeff
Yeah, I’m. I’m not. I’m not a very handy person. No, no. I’m terrible. I probably have ten unfinished projects right now. Okay. Yeah, I’m the worst at it. I always look at something and go, oh, that’s got to be easy. That’s got to be super easy, right? And then it turns out it’s not.

Chris
Well, I, I’m not the best in the world at all. Uh, but I’ve done a few things, you know, just, just with YouTubing stuff and all that.

Jeff
I’m the worst. The worst. Okay, well, now that we made me feel bad and I didn’t qualify for any of the votes. Thanks, Desiree. You ruined my day. Thanks. That’s all right.

Chris
That’s funny.

Jeff
So we’re in Matthew chapter two. Yeah. And this is where the wise men show up. That’s right. I forgot to turn. Uh, so it’s going to be surprising to some people that the wise men did not show up at the at the the manger.

Chris
At the manger scene.

Jeff
I know it’s shocking. I mean, it’s going to totally mess up your whole nativity scene if.

Chris
You’re if you’re a Christian and you celebrate Christmas in America, chances are you seriously have a Europe.

Jeff
Europe. And yeah, in the West.

Chris
In the in the West, you have a nativity scene. Yeah.

Jeff
That’s right, because you have the little star in the above and there’s usually an angel. My wife and I just bought one made out of a hand carved from olive wood in Bethlehem. In Bethlehem.

Chris
Yeah, yeah. So you bought your nativity scene in Bethlehem? In.

Jeff
In Bethlehem? Yeah.

Chris
Yeah, that’s pretty cool.

Jeff
By a Christian carver. He’s a master carver. That’s awesome. Pretty neat. It was crazy expensive, but it’s, you know, it’s kind of an heirloom, listeners.

Chris
How much?

Jeff
Yeah, it’s too much. 300 bucks. No, we’re going to move on.

Chris
Well, we’re going to move on.

Jeff
It was it was expensive. Okay. But it was a neat a neat thing we wanted to do it for, to be a family thing. Yeah. Um, but I told Bonnie, I said, we’re going to take the three wise men and put them outside the Nativity. It can’t be inside. They have to be heading two. Right? So they’re heading to it, and she goes, come on, it’s just a yeah, I said, I just I’m a Bible guy. I got to be accurate. That’s right.

Chris
Uh, do you know that we take the wise guys, uh, the wise men, and we put them, um, like a, like a month, like whenever I set up the Christmas tree, it’s usually like, right after Thanksgiving, I’ll take the three wise men and I’ll put them, like, in the kitchen. Oh, and then every once in a while, we’ll. My kids pass. They’ll move them like, a foot closer. Oh, really? And then we’ll put them like a foot closer or a foot closer and, and sometimes we’ll do that. We haven’t done it in a while. Uh, but when they were younger especially, we would have them journey and make the month long journey all the way to the scene.

Jeff
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. They’re on this long journey. Yeah, that’s that’s great. So, uh, listen, you’re not going to be in trouble. God’s not mad at you for having whole nativity set with your three wise men there, but that’s true. Yeah. Anyway, so here’s how it happens. This is going to be a surprise for some of you. Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea during the reign of King Herod. Uh, about that time, some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem asking, where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose and we’ve come to worship him. King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, and as was everyone in Jerusalem, and he called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, where is the Messiah supposed to be born? In Bethlehem, in Judea, they said, for this is what the prophet wrote. And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah. For a ruler will come from you, who will be the shepherd for my people Israel. When Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he. Or then Herod called for a private meeting with the wise men, and he learned from them the time when the star first appeared. Then he told them, Go to Bethlehem and search carefully for the child. And when you find him, come back and tell me, so that I can go and worship him too. After this interview, the wise men went their way, and the star they had seen in the east guided them to Bethlehem. It went ahead of them and stopped over the place where the child was.

Jeff
When they saw the star, they were filled with joy. They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. When it was time to leave, they returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod. After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream get up, flee to Egypt with the child and his mother. The angel said, stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. That night, Joseph left for Egypt with the child, and Mary his mother, and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet I called my son out of Egypt. Herod was furious when he realized that wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under. Based on the Wise Men’s report of the star’s first appearance, Herod’s brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah. A cry was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be confronted or comforted, for they are dead. When Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt. Get up, the angel said, take the child and his mother back to the land of Israel, because those who were trying to kill the child are dead. So Joseph got up and returned to the land of Israel with Jesus and his mother. But when he learned that the new ruler of Judea was Herod’s son Archelaus, he was afraid to go there.

Jeff
Then, after being warned in a dream, he left for the region of Galilee.

Chris
Yeah. There you go. There it is. So, um, there’s a lot happening here. And, um, you know, we never we never think about Joseph and Mary living in Egypt. It doesn’t really tell us how long, uh, they lived in Egypt, right? Right. I don’t think so. But, um, uh, you know, I mean, just to think that, uh, Jesus was technically born in Bethlehem, but was raised in Egypt and then came back later on. Right? Uh, I think this passage is pretty filled with scriptures here. So they actually are quoting, um, uh, Jeremiah. They quote Hosea, and then they quote Micah. Right? Actually, not in that order. Uh, Micah was the one where King Herod was trying to find out where the baby was born. And the scholars looked up, uh, Micah. And then later on, it actually quotes, uh, Hosea, which is, I called my son out of Egypt. And then Jeremiah, um, uh, with with the brutal action, that of Herod. Yeah. Uh, can you even imagine somebody who, uh, was so threatened by his position? King Herod didn’t want any of their king. Uh, he heard about King of the Jews. And so he decides to send out a decree to murder every baby boy two years and younger, two years old and younger. Think about the. I mean, can you even. It’s brutality. It’s beyond imagination, isn’t it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And think about the soldiers carrying that out. Yeah. Talk about, you know, Vietnam veterans in our day and age who had PTSD. What is PTSD? Yeah. Can you even imagine?

Jeff
Yeah. No. Have you been to the, um, the the church that’s built over the what is the traditional manger area? I have been there. So there’s a statue in the courtyard of Saint Jerome. Have you seen have you seen that?

Chris
I have, yeah.

Jeff
And, uh, so Saint Jerome was, uh, uh, a monk that translated the Bible into Latin. And he, when they asked him to translate the Bible into Latin at the time, which was the common language of the Roman Empire at that point, uh, he said he would only do it if he was allowed to be in the caves in and around where Jesus was born, while he translated, and he was supposed to just translate, I think, the Gospels or something. He winds up doing the entire New Testament. And, uh, in those caves there were 20 something, 28 um, uh, remains of infants, all from that first, uh, probably from that massacre, uh, in Bethlehem. And they found all these little baby, uh, bodies. And so he’s standing there, the statue of him is standing there, and there’s a little skeleton there at the bottom of that statue. And it’s recognizing the suffering of the families, even from the very early days there in Bethlehem. What a what a horrible thing. What a horrible human. Yeah, right. That would do something like that. And, you know, later on Jesus talks about and we’ll read about this. Jesus talks about people who abuse children. Jesus had to be better to have a millstone put around your neck and thrown out in the middle of the lake than to, you know, hurt a child like this. And so, uh, God has a special place for children and, um, you know, the consequences and the judgment that comes on a person. But the two year window seems to be significant. Um, uh, this is what the the the wise men say was the beginning of when they saw the star was from the time he decided to execute these babies back to years was about the amount of time that they had seen.

Jeff
So you can imagine if they came, if they came from Iraq or if they came from the Nabataeans were over in Jordan at the time. They were very prosperous kingdom during the time of Jesus. That’s where Petra mayor ever see Indiana Jones Last Crusade again? I make a lot of Indiana Jones references. Um, by the.

Chris
Way, I saw that last night. Oh. Did you? Part five. Yeah.

Jeff
Yeah. Okay. Yeah, the new one. So, um, but when he’s going, when they go through the that, kind of that, that, uh. A kind of a cavern. And then they pop out and there’s that, that building carved into the rocks. So there’s a whole, uh, society that had built up there. They were big traders. They were very powerful. So perhaps the Kings came from there. Well, that wouldn’t have been very far. It would have taken, you know, several days to get there if they’d come from maybe over towards where Babylon is, that would have taken weeks, you know, weeks and weeks, maybe even months to get there if they came from further east than that. Uh, then yeah, it would, it could have taken years to get there. Um, the entourage of kings traveling. We do know that when kings would travel, it wouldn’t just be them. It would be dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of camels and servants and people hauling things in the, you know, the you can’t just stop off at the rest stop on the way, or you can’t stop off at a truck stop and grab some extra potato chips for another snack. Right? Right. So you have to have your own supplies for the whole thing. So the operation of moving at least three kings, multiple kings, uh, together would have been very, very significant. And so any time you have a large operation like that, it would move slower than Mary and Joseph moving, you know, 20 miles a day. Maybe. Maybe they’d move at half that pace. So you start working that out and yeah, two years would have gotten you out towards Iraq, Iran, uh, maybe even Pakistan. So that would be kind of the window or down towards, uh, into the Arabian Peninsula somewhere in there.

Jeff
We don’t know where from, but somewhere in the east they came. And then also during that two year window seems to be the time that Mary and Joseph were hiding out in Israel. So everything happened. We read it in like ten verses, but this is a couple years worth of information happening in just a few verses.

Chris
Yeah. And then and the reason why we today think that there are three wise men and that’s why it’s so popular, is because there are three gifts. Sure. So, so gold, frankincense and myrrh. So frankincense and myrrh being very valuable spices. Yes. That’s right. And then and by the way, uh, also, uh, these were spices that were typically, uh, brought to the tomb of somebody, is that correct?

Jeff
Yeah. So the note for this in the Life Application Bible says, um, gold was a gift for royalty. Frankincense was a gift for deity, and myrrh was a spice used to anoint a body for burial. Yeah. So recognizing that he was the king. Yeah. Recognizing that he was God and that he would die. Those were the three gifts.

Chris
That’s amazing. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, it’s also, uh, I wonder if there were more gifts and then and then, you know, sometimes I. My mind does that. My mind says they mentioned these three gifts because of those reasons. Sure. But there was probably, you know, 30 wise men and 30 gifts. Sure. Right. Sure. So it could have been maybe.

Jeff
Yeah. So, you know, we kind of obsess about the very specifics of the Bible does say, right, right. But the Bible doesn’t say there weren’t any other gifts. Right. The Bible doesn’t even say that there were three kings. It just mentions that there were kings. Right? Wise men. So men means more than man, right? Right. It could have been two dudes with three gifts, right? Right. It could have been ten guys with three gifts. It could have been ten guys with 30 gifts. Right. And these are the three mentioned. You know, it’s not super specific, but, you know, the tradition is three wise men because there’s three gifts.

Chris
Yeah. And that’s really important to know too because uh, you know, again, it’s just it’s one of those things where if God wanted us to know, he would have told us. Sure. And so it’s important to know that.

Jeff
Well, he told us the parts he wanted us to know, right?

Chris
That’s right. So, uh, so anyway, so they escaped to to Egypt, and then God appears to them in a dream and says, come on back. And, uh, and I got to tell you, if I were, uh, Joseph and I had a two year old son, uh, and I fled to Egypt. And then I heard about how Herod had killed every baby boy. Right? Then all of a sudden, you know, he says, go back to Israel. Herod’s dead, and you find out Herod’s son is alive. Uh, you know, and the one who’s ruling, you think to yourself, man, like I would be just frightened, uh, you know, just for my son. Yeah. Even in spite of his predictions that he’ll grow up to be the Messiah. You know, the hardships that could come, you know, never guaranteed. Joseph. Safety. Safety.

Jeff
Well, he didn’t have a sense of fatalism. Well, God said everything’s going to turn out okay. I’m just going to do my thing right. Instead, he took responsibility. And his responsibility was, I’m going to do what I can do to protect this child. Uh, while God has promised to protect his child. And I think that that’s the way God God tends to work right as he uses people to do the right thing. I love the fact that the angel warns Joseph in the Bible says immediately they leave. Right? Um. That night. That night Joseph left for Egypt. He didn’t wait around till tomorrow. Yeah, he left right then. And how much better would our lives be if the first nudge we get from the Holy Spirit to do something? We just did it, right. Just do it. So he gets up and goes. So I’ve been in Egypt several times, and there’s several traditional places for where Jesus would have gone. And this is a picture, quite honestly, of the people of Israel, Jesus is the solution for Israel. And so Israel was in captivity in Egypt for uh generations, hundreds and hundreds of years. And so this is just kind of the picture of Jesus also going to Egypt. But there were a number of cities that colonies, Jewish colonies that were still in Egypt left over from those days. And so it wasn’t uncommon for Jews to go to Egypt. It wouldn’t have been a weird thing, but there are several places. Alexandria has a place. There’s there’s a couple of other places down near Minya in Upper Egypt, uh, which I’ve been there before. There’s a well there. And that they they claim that this whole community had been Jewish people, that Mary and Joseph actually came and stayed there.

Jeff
So I don’t know exactly where in Egypt to happen, but, um, the Bible says that they were there for a while and then finally Herod dies. So we know Herod died in what is now four BC, which means Jesus wasn’t born at zero. Right? Um, uh, we know that he died four BC, and this is one of the benefits of heaven. Uh, Luke and Matthew are being so precise with their descriptions. Herod dies, then Jesus comes back. So it’s sometime they were probably down there more than a year, it seems like. And how did they live? Well, one, Joseph was a was a carpenter. So, you know, you can take your trade wherever you go, especially in something like that. And the other one was they had a bunch of gifts. Right, right. So these, these they had money. These wise men came with gold and frankincense and myrrh to, uh, supply for this child. So they were able to able to escape when they needed to. In the moment, there’s something to be said for having a little bit set by, for those emergencies. Yeah.

Chris
You know, and it’s a beautiful picture of the church as well. Yeah. Like like, you know, this is one of the first times where here’s, you know, Joseph and Mary. Yeah, they’re God’s servants. And uh, and other people who are believers are the ones supplying the resources so that they can continue to do what they’re doing. Yeah. Right. Which is really just to be the chosen ones, by God. Yeah. Right. So it really is. It’s from the very, very beginning. It’s, it’s a it’s a foreshadowing, I think of, of how the church functions. Yeah. Right. So you know, those who are those who are, for instance, you know, you just mentioned a minute ago actually. Well, we record five episodes per day. So I think it might have been two podcasts ago, which for us was like an hour ago, you had mentioned that you gave a motorcycle to a pastor.

Jeff
Oh yeah. Right.

Chris
Yeah. And so here you are, uh, you know, a guy who doesn’t even know this pastor in, in Africa. And this pastor says, I want to do this great work of God. I want to keep in touch with these churches. Uh, but I need a means to do it. And you’re like, here, I’m going to gift you a motorcycle, right?

Jeff
Yeah. You know, I think a lot of times we think, well, we’re not preachers or we’re not singers or we don’t teach children or, I don’t know, a lot of theology, so I don’t really have much to do in the kingdom. But the reality is there are some people who just have this gift for making money. There are people who have a gift for, uh, building up resources. And that’s it’s a blessing from God. You should enjoy all of the fruits of that. But at the same time, you should understand what an incredibly important, uh, role you have in God’s kingdom. Helping resource. Um, the the movement of God. And so in this situation, these wise men came to worship Jesus. Um, but I believe that their, their main function here was you already had Simeon and Anna. You already had the, the shepherds. Now you have these wise men show up, but they show up with resources. And those resources were able to protect Jesus. And so bring what you have. What do you have in your hand? Bring that for you and me. That tends to be Bible knowledge and the ability to teach the gift to lead. Uh, for others, it would be the resources that you have to make the kingdom of God move forward.

Chris
That’s great. Well, that’s an encouraging word, and that’s a great place to end. And we’ll see you tomorrow hopefully on The Bible Guys.