We Three Kings - How Did the Magi Know What to Look For?

We Three Kings - How Did the Magi Know What to Look For?

Matthew 2:2

“For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

How did the Magi know a newborn King of the Jews had arrived? God used three powerful witnesses:

1. The Prophecies They Had Learned. Israel’s Scriptures had traveled east with the exiles. These truths, preserved for centuries, prepared the Magi to recognize the signs:

• Numbers 24:17 — “A star shall come forth from Jacob…”

• Daniel 9 — a timeline pointing to the coming Messiah

• Micah 5:2 — the Messiah born in Bethlehem

2. The Sign God Placed in the Heavens. The “star” was not a normal celestial light. It was a God-appointed sign — a beacon that moved, paused, and guided them to the exact location.

3. The stirring of the Holy Spirit. God awakened their hearts. Understanding alone would not have carried them 700 miles across desert and kingdom. The Spirit drew them — the same Spirit who still calls people to Christ today.

4. The Prophet Daniel lived among them. Daniel, who served in the courts of Babylon and Persia, still influenced the wise men of that region. Daniel had been placed “over all the wise men of Babylon” (Daniel 2:48). His teachings would have lingered long after his lifetime. So when a strange new star appeared, these Eastern scholars recognized something the rest of the world had missed.

So, let’s look at what the song of “We Three Kings” teaches us:

Christmas is a special time for all of us. It’s a time for each one of us to celebrate but also to contemplate. The Wise Men were seeking Truth and found it in that Child. They travelled across deserts, rivers, fields and into distant land to find that King.

Have you found Him? Are you searching? This is what He says to you in His Word:

Jeremiah 29:13

“You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”