Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-10-02

| OF Matthew, who prepared his BIZ
ography of the Master to prove to
the Jews that Jesus was the Messiah.
We are to study this gospel of the
| kingdom, not only to see how in
Christ's life in the flesh the prophe-
cies of Isaiah, jeremiah. Zechariah
| and the other prophets predictions
application of the Lords teachings
to the problems of the hour and our
own lives. From the opening of his
gospel, that affirmed that Jesus is the
Messiah. the Son of David. the Son
of Abraham, to the closing words,
sion. the apostles purpose in writing
! his biography of Jesus is clearly to
convince the Jewish Christians that
| the new faith was not only that of
| their fathers, whose hopes for Mes
| Slah were fulfilled in the Master. but
| also that it was world religion. freed
| from the bands and restrictions of a
local or national faith.
In the opening chapter Matthew
| traces the ancestry of Jesus from
Abraham to Christ. whose birth was
the greatest event in human history.
| He records the genealogy in three
great stages of progress marked by
| Abraham. David and the captivity.
| Gods promise to Abraham was that
"in thy seed shall all the nations
|
| Use which Jehovah gave to David
| indicated that this blessing for the
| nations would come through a king
| of his line. who was to rule over, not
only Israel, but all nations, as the
| Prince of Peace" and King of
| Babylon to be a witness for God, and
| centuries later his descendants were
| brought back there as captives to
be purified of their idolatry and then
| to be scattered abroad from that
world center a spiritual people. freed
and the land, to prepare the nations
of the earth for the coming kingdom
of God by their faith, life and wor-
ship.
He also records the heavenly descent
of Jesus with striking simplicity and
clearness. The gospel narratives of
the birth and infancy of the Christ
present this theme, which can hardly
be handled without being depraved
with the most exquisite delicacy. "The
we'll where it ought to conceal does
not reveal-where it can be lifted it
is lifted softly, and neither torn nor
isoiled." The miraculous elements in
the advent of the Lord, while impos-
tsible to men, are not SO to God. The
birth of Jesus is an established his
itorical fact. which is the basis of hui
man salvation and the hope of the
race. Faith must exercise its power
lin connection with those elements
lcocerning which it is impossible, ow-
ing to the limitations of human knowl-
ledge to give demonstrations of the
accuracy of the gospel records. Chris
itianity has it's fundamental basis in
the miracle of the ages. that God en-
tered the human race in the birth of
Christ. whose advent had been the
subject of prophecy and the study of
scientists of the east.
Matthew passes over the early
leventS connected with the birth of Je-
sus. who had been born in Bethlehem
in accordance with prophetic predic-
ton. 1t is remarkable that writing
His gospel to prove that the Babe of
bethlehem was the unexpected the
customs collector records how wise
men from the east made the first an
Inouncement to the national authori-
ties of the Messiah's birth. We are not
told who the wise men were or the
icountries whence they came. Ira
number and assigns to them the
names OF Caspar. Melchior and Bal
thasar. Some legends make them to
be descendants of Shem, Ham and
lJapeth. representing religion, service
and rulers from all classes of men
brown and black. representing ali the
races Of men. They represented the
| scholarship. science and statesmen
or their day. for they were not mere
magicians. but scholars, students OF
the heavens and seekers after knowl-
edge and truth.
The arrival of these men, who eyi.
IDENTIFY travelled with a large retinue
of men. created a sensation in Jeru-
salem by their inquiries as to where
is the. newly born King of the Jews
These GENTLE scholars, who were con-
IT,, -,
Egypt and Babylon. were surprised
that the citizens of Jerusalem knew
evidently nothing concerning the
birth of the King. whose star they
had seen and followed for probably
! several months. The light that they
| saw in the heavens has been a prob
lem that students of the Scriptures
and scientists have tried to solve. The
two best solutions that appear to meet
the case are the conjunction of the
planets Jupiter and Saturn. that dis
tinguished astronomers like Kepler,
Encke and Pritchard have calculated
occurred about the time of the birth
of the Christ, or the manifestation of
a miraculous heavenly light; that led
them. Astronomy is against the. first
because the two planets would not
appear as one. The last view in
PRODUCES miracle without any
Scriptura1 foundation although Ba-
laam had predicted the coming forth
of star out of Jacob, and Jesus
claimed that He was the bright and
morning star. -' =
Herod, the Idumean usurper,A was
alarmed. when he learned of the new
claimant to the throne. He, knew that
the Pharisees would gladly welcome
any chance to remove him. as he was
not of the royal line of the Jews. He
feared personal opposition Christ's
birth was a menace to Herod, so he
was troubled, and for other reasons
Jerusalem was also filled with fear
The willy, sinful and hypocritical old
tyrant sent for the wise men. pre-
tended to be interested in their an
nouncement. demanded of the Jewish
scholars, with diabolical diplomacy,
where Christ should be born" The
religious authorities informed Herod
after they had searched the Scrip
lures that according to the prophets
Bethlehem was the place where the
| scrupulous. pitiless and murderous
Herod gave the wise men directions
drawn from the word of God with
the request that he be informed as
to the 4 Its of their Investigations,
so that ;. too, might worship the
newly bern king.
The wise men had been aroused by
the hypocrisy of Herod. They deter
mined to follow the Scripture in their
search for the Christ. SO they started
for Bethlehem, which was about six
miles distant from Jerusalem. They
had gone only few miles, following
star again reappeared so that the
sages seeking the newborn King
were guidsd to Bethlehem by the
combination of Scripture and science.