The Wise Still Seek Him

The Wise Still Seek Him

“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem.” Matthew 2:1 KJV

We have all seen the bumper sticker that says, “Wise men still seek Him.” This time of the year we all want to fight for the right to celebrate a Christian holiday, but I wonder how many of us are really wise.

There are people in the Bible who are called wise men who weren’t really wise. The magicians who resisted Moses and Aaron are an example (Ex. 7). They knew how to fake the power of God up to a point. Wisdom is the ability to understand and to discern what is good and right and it starts with the fear of Jehovah (Prov. 9:10). The magicians were opposing the God of heaven, and that’s not very wise.

A wise person considers consequences. He or she is a prudent person who foresees evil and hides from it (Prov. 22:3). He recognizes that there are consequences associated with accepting or rejecting the Lord Jesus. Not only will a person be happier in this life if he or she walks in fellowship with the Lord, but the person who trusts Christ will be saved for eternity.

People often think they are wise when they think they are smart enough to understand the hows and whys of life without considering God. They want to be self-reliant. They’re proud. They don’t want to be dependent on anyone. Actually, those of us who act this way are very foolish. A wise person doesn’t try to fix a car without using the manual produced by the manufacturer. And a wise person won’t try to figure out life without using the manual of the Creator, the Bible.

A wise ruler will put the welfare of his subjects ahead of his own, just as the Lord did. A wise scientist will try to figure out how God put the world together, rather than trying to figure out how it “just” happened. A wise philosopher will try to understand how God thinks. A wise preacher will preach the truth of Scripture and will not try to explain away the principles of Scripture. In other words, a wise person will try to work with God instead of against Him.

A wise person will seek the Lord just as the wise men from the East did. Daniel in the Old Testament was considered one of the wise men of the kingdom of Babylon, which is present day Iraq (Dan. 2). Some of the wise men in that kingdom were magicians, but while Daniel was trained in their colleges, he stayed faithful to Jehovah. It was revealed to him that the Messiah would come, and when He would come (Dan. 9:25-26).

I suspect that the wise men of Matthew 2 were aware of the teachings of Daniel and as a result were looking for the Messiah to be born. So some heathen magicians were wise while the Jewish religious rulers were so blind and foolish that they were not able to recognize the Messiah when He came, even though His coming fulfilled their prophecies.

A wise person will believe the Lord when He says that our sin has separated us from God, and that we need to be forgiven. A wise person will recognize that he or she is accountable to God. A wise person will want the only salvation that God says is available. A wise person will want to live dependent upon God. A wise person will want to be prepared for death. A wise person will believe God when He says that the unbeliever is condemned already, and that the believer has eternal life (Jn. 3:16-18). Yes, the wise person still seeks Him.

By Bruce Collins