God is the best author. He loves writing stories. One of God’s authorial devices is foreshadowing. He loves dropping clues about what will happen at the end of the narrative. If you have the eyes to see, you can see clues scattered about Jesus’ final days in his early days.
The intersection of the Magi and Jesus was years in the making. The backstory of the Magi is shrouded in mystery. By digging up clues from the text and what we know of Persian culture, we can piece together who these men must have been.
Searching Priests
The Magi were likely Zoroastrian priests, educated in astronomy, astrology, and theology. Like Jews, Zoroastrians were monotheists. Their god was Ahura Mazda. Zoroastrians believed that the forces of good and evil were in an eternal struggle. Unlike Jews, their god was limited by evil forces, which were led by Angra Mainyu, the angry spirit.
Zoroastrians were taught to pursue the truth's path and build their lives on good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. Like Jews, Zoroastrians also believed in a Messiah.
One imagines, then, that their hunger for a Messiah coupled with their knowledge meant that they responded with eagerness when astrological signs started appearing. For the Magi, these astrological signs indicated that a new King of the Jews had come (for more on that, see here).
We don’t know how many Magi there were, but they sacrificed significant time and resources to make a thousand-mile trip West to Jerusalem. Using clues in the text, we know that they arrived at least 40 days after Jesus’ birth and no more than two years after Jesus was born.
Amazingly, these Zoroastrian priests had spent time studying Jewish scriptures. Perhaps they were studying Jewish scripture before they saw the astrological signs, or perhaps the signs prompted them to begin reading Jewish scriptures. Either way, when they meet Herod, they pronounce to him the promise they believe God has fulfilled,
“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’” [Matthew 2:6]
The Gifts
They leave Herod and head to Bethlehem where they meet this infant-King. It is at this moment it is clear that this is more than just a quest of spiritual curiosity. In the presence of Jesus, the Magi fall to their knees in worship. And then, “opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11). They acknowledged what so few could during Jesus’ life, that he was worthy of worship. And they feted him as the King of Ages that he was.
These men then turn and depart to Persia and fade into history. We don’t know what became of the Magi. We can only imagine what it must have been for Zoroastrian priests to come back to Persia as followers of the God of Abraham and believers in Jesus the Messiah. We can only imagine the stories they told and the ways their lives were radically transformed.
Gifts That Portend the Cross
We fast forward to the final hours of Jesus’ life and witness how the Magi predicted Jesus’ death. The Magi’s gift of gold was a gift for a king. Jesus died with the words “King of the Jews” inscribed over his head. He would be far more. As Isaiah predicted, the Messiah would be the ruler of the nations as well. The Magi’s gift of frankincense was a symbol of deity, as frankincense (an aromatic gum resin) was burned in ceremonial worship.[i] Indeed, Jesus’ claim of divinity caused the Jews to arrest him and put him on trial. Finally, the Magi’s gift of myrrh foreshadowed Jesus’ death. Myrrh was in the mixture of spices used to prepare bodies for burial. Jesus would be the King who would save his people by his death.
A Divine Declaration
The presence of the Magi, not just their gifts, foretold Jesus’ final hours. Just as Jesus’ Divine Kingship was proclaimed at his birth by the worshiping Magi, Jesus’ Divine Kingship was proclaimed in his death by the centurion who stood at the foot of the cross of Jesus. “When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ‘Truly this was the Son of God!’” (Matthew 27:54).
The Magi were the first in Jesus’ earthly life to worship him as the Son of God. The centurion is the last one in Jesus’ earthly life to proclaim him to be the Son of God. Just as the Magi would have been the last ones we would have expected to see the truth of Jesus’ identity in Bethlehem (they were Zoroastrians who lived hundreds of miles away!), so the centurion (a worshiper of the Roman gods and complicit in the execution of Jesus!) would have been the last one we would have expected to see the truth of Jesus’ identity at Golgotha.
The Magi and the centurion point to Jesus’ identity as Emmanuel, God-with-us, in his birth and in his death. These non-Jewish figures remind us that God opens the eyes of those far from him to declare his glory. They remind us that Jesus is the hope of the nations and that our salvation only comes from God giving us eyes to see and hearts to put our trust in the shepherd who has come to rule his people.
How Jesus’ Birth Foretells His Death:
Photo by Robert Thiemann on Unsplash
[i] See Exodus 30:34