Magi Q&A

These questions were written by a prisoner somewhere overseas, to a family that correspond to him here in New Zealand. I have tried to answer them briefly but hopefully well enough to provide answers. From the style of the questions, its probably safe to conclude that English is not his first language.

Are the Magi people belong to believers?
Which religion they belong and what they worship?
Why they come and worship Jesus?
The Magi came from the east, probably from what was previously the Persian empire. In Old Testament, the Jews had been exiled to Persia when Judah was finally overrun. It was also in Persia that Daniel prophesied when the Messiah would appear (Daniel 9:25). Because the prophecy was so detailed, saying that the ‘Anointed One’ (Messiah) would come six nine weeks (years) after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, the Magi needed only to take notice of when the decree to rebuild the temple was given, and then calculate when the Messiah would come. Once the time when the Messiah was to come drew closer, they would have been on the lookout for any unusual signs (such as stars that appeared) to signal his birth.
When the exile in Persia ended, the Jews living in Persia were allowed to go back to Israel. However, as the book of Esther shows, some decided to remain in Persia. Because of this, there would have been Jews living in Persia even during the life of Jesus, and so the Magi could have been Jews, even though we don’t know for sure. If not, they could have simply been Persians who knew about Daniel’s God and the prophecy, and wanted to worship him. Either way, they knew the power of God, and wanted to honour him, so they must have had some knowledge about Judaism, and may have become believers through finding Jesus, although they wouldn’t have learned about his ministry then, as he still hadn’t done it.

Why people wait for Messiah but don’t recognize the Messiah?
Although the prophecy in Daniel was clear to those who recognized it, many people living in Judea probably did not understand the prophecy. Also, they were expecting the Messiah to act differently to the way Jesus acted. For example, the Old Testament prophesied that Jesus would come as a King, so they expected that the Messiah would destroy the Romans, and rule on a throne in Jerusalem. Because Jesus made no moves to become king, but stayed among the people, teaching them peacefulness and love, many people refused to accept him as Messiah.

Is it possible that the Lords angel can talk to us? I mean now?
Yes, it is, but now we don’t need angels to talk to us so much, because we already have God’s Word written in the Bible for us to read. Angels can also visit us without us realizing that they are angels (Hebrews 13:2). They often appear in order to protect people, and sometimes can only be seen by certain individuals. Some people planning to beat up a pastor in Africa saw six huge men guarding him, when there were no men there. They were angels.

If the magi people have now, do they have the knowledge to see the sign of Jesus second coming back?
Whereas Jesus’ first coming could be accurately predicted by the Magi, thanks to Daniel’s prophecy, the Bible says that ‘not even the Son’ knows when Jesus is coming back, ‘only the Father’ does. There are still signs that we can look for that let us know that Jesus’ second coming is getting closer, but we won’t be able to predict it as accurately as his first coming was.
However, the Persian empire was overthrown by the Greek empire under Alexander the Great, and Jews from there began to spread out across the world, and later gathered back together in 1947 when Israel was reformed as a nation. It is quite likely because of this that the Magi do not exist anymore, or are part of Israel if they do.