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The Spirit of Prophecy Volume 2
in darkness, and no longer guided them. They reasoned that the Jews
could not be ignorant of the great event of the advent of the Messiah,
and they made inquiries in the vicinity of Jerusalem.
The wise men are surprised to see no unusual interest upon the
subject of the coming of the Messiah. They fear that after all they
may not have read the prophecies correctly. Uncertainty beclouds their
minds, and they become anxious. They hear the priests repeating and
enforcing their traditions, and expounding the law, and exalting their
religion, and their own piety. They point to their phylacteries, and
the borders of their garments, upon which the precepts of the law and
their traditions are inscribed, as evidences of their devotion, while they
denounce the Romans and the Greeks as heathen and sinners above all
men. The wise men leave Jerusalem not as confident and hopeful as
when they entered it. They marvel that the Jews are not interested and
joyful in prospect of this great event of the advent of Christ.
The churches of our time are seeking worldly aggrandizement,
and are as unwilling to see the light of the prophecies, and receive
the evidences of their fulfillment, which show that Christ is soon to
come, as were the Jews in reference to his first appearing. They were
looking for the temporal and triumphant reign of Messiah in Jerusalem.
Professed Christians of our time are expecting the temporal prosperity
[22]
of the church, in the conversion of the world, and the enjoyment of the
temporal millennium.
The wise men plainly stated their errand. They were in search of
Jesus, the king of the Jews, for they had seen his star in the east, and
had come to worship him.
The city of Jerusalem was thrown into great excitement by the
sayings of the wise men. The news was immediately carried to Herod.
He was exceedingly troubled, yet disguised the discomfiture, and
received the men with apparent courtesy.
The advent of Christ was the greatest event which had taken place
since the creation of the world. The birth of Christ, which gave joy
to the angels of Heaven, was not welcome to the kingly powers of
the world. Suspicion and envy were aroused in king Herod, and his
wicked heart was planning his dark purposes for the future. The Jews
manifested a stupid indifference to the story of the wise men. But
Herod is intensely interested and excited. He summons the scribes,
and the chief priests, and urges upon them to search carefully prophetic