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as so many Jews were to the Old Mosaic Covenant. He was waiting for the Christ who would be the fulfillment of the Law and whose blood would be the blood of the new testament shed for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28). He knew that Christ was for both the Gentiles and the Jews and said so! In contrast to such men, however, God was not pleased with men such as Herod who hated the child when he learned of his birth. To associate Christ with just "good will" among men regardless of their obedience to God's will is a perversion of the meaning of this passage. God is not pleased with men (people) who revel at drinking parties, despise the truth, are covetous, or who exploit others "in the name of Christ" through their organizations this time of the year! Nor was He pleased with the "likes" on the night Jesus was born! People get kissy-huggy at Xmas time don't they? But somehow people have been overtaken by the mistaken idea that God's pleasure rests at this "season" (secular) upon everybody regardless of their deeds, and even upon those who are worldly and know they are and have no determination to be otherwise. This is wrong! This shows they are not studying about the birth of Christ as they should be.
THE WISE MEN AND THE STAR
Let's look quickly at Matthew 2:1-15. The wise men followed the star until it stood over "the house" where the young Child was! One fact we can pin down here is that Jesus is not a newborn babe in the manger when the wise men come. That scraps many a manger scene put up for display! Further more it says "the young child." By now Jesus is referred to as "the young child" and the wise men finally find him in a house. It does not say there were three wise men nor does it name them. And it does not say that they presented exactly three gifts to Him. The important thing is they "worshipped Him." Only God is worthy of worship! Where they were living when they fled to Egypt I don't know for sure, but from Luke 2 it does appear that they went to Jerusalem from Bethlehem (2:22) and then returned to Nazareth from Jerusalem(2:39).
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