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Transcript

“The Three Wise Men: Who Were They?” Ep#20 · Spiritual Hot Sauce

• 0:00
  Chris Jones: Think of any nativity scene you've ever seen in your life.
• 0:03
  Chris Jones: When did you not see the three wise men displayed?
• 0:07
  Chris Jones: And if the display did not include the three wise men, did you feel like it was a scaled down version?
• 0:12
  Chris Jones: Just a gesture?
• 0:14
  Chris Jones: What if I told you the wise men didn't show up for twelve to twenty four months after the fact?
• 0:21
  Chris Jones: And it doesn't say three wise men, it just says wise men.
• 0:26
  Chris Jones: That when we put the nativity scene together, we use the archetypal number of three, the number of completion and synthesis.
• 0:34
  Chris Jones: But all of that is just a minor footnote compared to who were the wise men.
• 0:41
  Chris Jones: Welcome.
• 0:49
  Chris Jones: I'm Chris Jones.
• 0:51
  Chris Jones: This is where believers and skeptics alike are invited to embark on a journey of faith, philosophy, and life from a different perspective.
• 0:59
  Chris Jones: Whether we are joined by an insightful guest or we just jump into the deep end, this exploration promises to challenge us all.
• 1:07
  Chris Jones: Are we getting it right?
• 1:09
  Chris Jones: This is Spiritual Hot Sauce.
• 1:12
  Chris Jones: I listened to somebody speak one time and they were giving their hypothesis of who they believed the wise men were.
• 1:27
  Chris Jones: Now they believed that because Daniel had been captive in Babylon, modern day Iraq, under King Nebuchadnezzar, that he was teaching and speaking about Jesus who was coming, the Messiah, and that there were people there that heard this and believed this, which started a movement that people were waiting for the Messiah.
• 1:50
  Chris Jones: And then once Jesus was born, there were these wise men, part of that movement, that made the journey, the trek to go see the Messiah.
• 2:00
  Chris Jones: But I gotta be honest, I don't think that's the way it happened.
• 2:03
  Chris Jones: That just seems really unrealistic.
• 2:05
  Chris Jones: I mean, I get why we would like a story like that, but I don't think Nebuchadnezzar would have ever tolerated such movement.
• 2:13
  Chris Jones: Besides that, it says in the original Greek, magi.
• 2:17
  Chris Jones: Now we often think of them as kings, but they weren't kings.
• 2:21
  Chris Jones: They would have been a high-ranking class of priests and scholars from the East, likely Persia or Babylon, which is modern day Iran and Iraq.
• 2:30
  Chris Jones: They would have been experts in astronomy and astrology, dream interpretation and ancient prophecies.
• 2:37
  Chris Jones: Powerful men and kings would have surrounded themselves with these magi.
• 2:42
  Chris Jones: In fact, our root word magic comes from magi.
• 2:46
  Chris Jones: But don't kid yourself, they weren't doing card tricks and party favors.
• 2:50
  Chris Jones: They were a combination of scientist, priest, and royal advisor all in one.
• 2:56
  Chris Jones: To kind of help you get an understanding of what these guys were like, if you remember the story of Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brothers, now he would have to go through a lot of terrible things and endure some wrongdoings, and ultimately he would end up in a prison.
• 3:13
  Chris Jones: However, he had an amazing gift God had given him of interpretation of dreams and understanding what they meant, and he had given him wisdom.
• 3:22
  Chris Jones: When the Pharaoh of Egypt found out about this, he was promoted to second in command.
• 3:28
  Chris Jones: He was the prime minister who answered only to the Pharaoh.
• 3:32
  Chris Jones: That kind of gives you an idea of who they are.
• 3:35
  Chris Jones: These magi would have been the highest order of priest, and they come from a certain religion.
• 3:43
  Chris Jones: And it's not Judaism.
• 3:44
  Chris Jones: At that time, one of the most popular religions would have been Zoroastrianism.
• 3:51
  Chris Jones: Now, Zoroastrianism is a very old religion.
• 3:54
  Chris Jones: It's only two to five hundred years, though that number is debated by historians, younger than Judaism.
• 4:01
  Chris Jones: Today, it's estimated that only 100 to 200,000 practice the religion worldwide.
• 4:07
  Chris Jones: What once was the state religion of Persia is now endangered of going extinct.
• 4:14
  Chris Jones: Now here's the challenge.
• 4:16
  Chris Jones: I'm going to share some stuff with you that you're probably never going to hear in a church, but I think it's important because if the Bible is painting Zoroastrians, Zoroastrian priests in a positive light, what does that mean for our faith?
• 4:30
  Chris Jones: And in addition to that, these are not the only Zoroastrians that appear in the Bible and that are spoken highly of.
• 4:38
  Chris Jones: So most historians agree that King Cyrus was a Zoroastrian.
• 4:43
  Chris Jones: And King Cyrus was prophesied in Isaiah that he would come and free them from being enslaved, which is strange because when he prophesied that they weren't enslaved yet.
• 4:55
  Chris Jones: Isaiah calls him a Messiah, the anointed one, a savior.
• 4:59
  Chris Jones: And in fact, King Cyrus would free them from the Babylonians.
• 5:03
  Chris Jones: He would send them back to their homeland, and he would decree that their temple be rebuilt and restored.
• 5:09
  Chris Jones: Now, though they never found the Ark of the Covenant, they did start building the temple, as decreed by King Cyrus.
• 5:16
  Chris Jones: Now he wasn't able to finish it, but one of his successors found the decree and decided to honor it.
• 5:24
  Chris Jones: That was King Darius I, and he would finish it and complete the second temple.
• 5:30
  Chris Jones: The Bible speaks exceptionally highly of him, portraying him as the finisher of the temple project, a king who used his absolute power to protect and fund the worship of God.
• 5:43
  Chris Jones: He is also a Zoroastrian.
• 5:45
  Chris Jones: So I think it's important that we know who are these Zoroastrians and what do they believe?
• 5:52
  Chris Jones: So it actually starts in another religion with a priest named Zarathustra, and sometimes people refer to him as Zoroaster.
• 6:00
  Chris Jones: But he is a priest in this other religion, and he has a lot of problems with the religion that he's in.
• 6:08
  Chris Jones: He sees the priesthood that he's a part of as serving itself instead of serving God.
• 6:13
  Chris Jones: They're getting drunk, they're just kind of roaming the streets and expecting everyone to take care of them, and they're not really doing anything for anyone else.
• 6:22
  Chris Jones: Well, he is getting ready for this ceremony, which means he has to go down to the river and collect water for this ceremony.
• 6:29
  Chris Jones: And while he is at the river, he is encountered by a nine-foot shining being.
• 6:35
  Chris Jones: We would probably refer to him as an angel.
• 6:38
  Chris Jones: His name was Vohu Manah, which means good mind.
• 6:42
  Chris Jones: Now, this isn't a regular visit.
• 6:44
  Chris Jones: This has meaning.
• 6:45
  Chris Jones: This is a purpose.
• 6:46
  Chris Jones: Zarathustra is being tested Vohu Manah.
• 6:51
  Chris Jones: And Vohu Manah asks two questions.
• 6:54
  Chris Jones: Number one, who are you?
• 6:56
  Chris Jones: And number two, what is your deepest desire?
• 6:59
  Chris Jones: Now, how he responds is going to totally affect the outcome of everything.
• 7:04
  Chris Jones: And Zarathustra answers.
• 7:07
  Chris Jones: He replies, he is an enemy to the lie, and he is a friend to the truth.
• 7:14
  Chris Jones: He stated that his deepest desire was to know the will of God, so he could help heal the world.
• 7:21
  Chris Jones: Because Zarathustra answered from a place of good thought, Vohu Manah took him up where he received the visions that would become the Gathas, the holy hymns of the Zoroastrianism.
• 7:34
  Chris Jones: Now Vohu Manah tells Zarathustra that he's going to introduce him to basically God in the Holy Assembly.
• 7:41
  Chris Jones: But he tells him he's going to have to leave his physical body behind, that his body can't enter that plane.
• 7:47
  Chris Jones: So he takes Zarathustra with him, and there he will meet Ahura Mazda, which is the supreme creator or supreme God who sits head of this council.
• 8:01
  Chris Jones: Now there are six other beings that sit with Ahura Mazda.
• 8:06
  Chris Jones: They are called Amesha Spentas, which means bounteous immortals.
• 8:12
  Chris Jones: Now, while he is there, I think he comes into council one more time with Ahura Mazda, but he is given visions and prophecies of things to happen and what's happening with the world and what life is like in the afterworld.
• 8:26
  Chris Jones: In Zoroastrianism, they believed in an afterlife, and they believed in heaven, and they believed in hell.
• 8:33
  Chris Jones: Now there is another immortal called Angra Mainya.
• 8:36
  Chris Jones: Now, Angra Mainya is constantly trying to get people to be deceived.
• 8:42
  Chris Jones: He is trying to bring chaos and lies and disorder.
• 8:46
  Chris Jones: He doesn't like humanity, and he's doing everything he can to get people to go to hell.
• 8:52
  Chris Jones: Now he has created other demons to help him spread the deception, the chaos, and the lies, because again, he absolutely hates humanity and wants to see it suffer.
• 9:02
  Chris Jones: How it works is like this.
• 9:04
  Chris Jones: After you die, you go to what's called the Chinvat Bridge, which is also known as the Bridge of Judgment.
• 9:12
  Chris Jones: Beneath the Chinvat Bridge is hell.
• 9:15
  Chris Jones: If you make it across the Chinvat Bridge, you go to heaven.
• 9:20
  Chris Jones: Now Chinvat Bridge isn't like a physical bridge that's there that you have to cross. Chinvat Bridge is exclusive to each person, and it's comprised of your good works, your good thoughts, and your good deeds, your good actions.
• 9:35
  Chris Jones: So the idea is to create enough good works in life that once you get to the afterlife, you can create a bridge over hell to get to heaven.
• 9:46
  Chris Jones: So as you walk on this bridge, it becomes narrower and narrower until you can't make it across and you fall into hell.
• 9:55
  Chris Jones: So if you have enough good works, you're going to make it into heaven.
• 9:59
  Chris Jones: But if you fall short, you're going to go to hell.
• 10:03
  Chris Jones: And yeah, it is hell with fire where you cannot die.
• 10:07
  Chris Jones: It is everlasting punishment.
• 10:09
  Chris Jones: However, it's prophesied by Zarathustra that there is one coming named Saoshyant, and he will be born of a virgin.
• 10:20
  Chris Jones: Now Saoshyant means he who has benefit or world savior.
• 10:25
  Chris Jones: Now it's prophesied that he is going to come and he is going to defeat Angra Mainya, the evil one, and free all the souls from the hellish states that they're in.
• 10:37
  Chris Jones: In other words, no matter if you didn't have enough to get to heaven and you went to hell, he frees everyone at the end and he puts the world back to being correct.
• 10:48
  Chris Jones: He restores order and he sets it up for humanity where they are connected back to God as it is supposed to be, and he frees everyone from this everlasting punishment.
• 11:02
  Chris Jones: So what does this mean?
• 11:04
  Chris Jones: It means when they came to worship Jesus, they were coming to worship the Savior of the world.
• 11:12
  Chris Jones: See, this is not them just going to pay tribute to who the Hebrews believe may be their Messiah.
• 11:19
  Chris Jones: This is the foundation of their whole religion and their faith and their belief.
• 11:26
  Chris Jones: This is everything to them.
• 11:28
  Chris Jones: This is what they've been waiting for.
• 11:30
  Chris Jones: It starts taking on a different meaning, doesn't it?
• 11:33
  Chris Jones: Just from my perspective, I think sometimes we forget just how important Jesus is to so many different faiths and so many different religions, how so many people outside of Christianity see Jesus as the one.
• 11:50
  Chris Jones: I think sometimes we get so hyper-focused on the religion that we forget the message.
• 11:58
  Chris Jones: When you see in Matthew, where he writes about these magi, these Zoroastrian priests, this high order, they are coming from a far distance following the star that is leading them to the one that they have been waiting for, to recognize and pay tribute to Jesus as Saoshyant, the prophesied one that restores and reconciles us back to God.
• 12:27
  Chris Jones: So the next time you see a nativity scene and you see those three magi, remember he's not just the Christian's savior, he's the world's savior.
• 12:41
  Chris Jones: Thanks for joining me here on Spiritual Hot Sauce.
• 12:45
  Chris Jones: I'd love to hear from you.
• 12:46
  Chris Jones: So please reach out with questions, comments, and or concerns.
• 12:50
  Chris Jones: And don't forget to like, subscribe, and review us.
• 12:54
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• 12:57
  Chris Jones: And if you enjoy the flavor of the sauce, then please share it with others.
• 13:01
  Chris Jones: I would appreciate that.
• 13:03
  Chris Jones: We'll see you next time.