[155]The wise men reaching Bethlehem found the babe and brought their presents and worshiped.  Without a doubt it was their intention to return and report to Herod.  And the result of such a return would have been the death of the child.  But God here intervened and warned them in a dream.  These wise magicians relied upon dreams.  “Being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.”  Satan again was thwarted in his wicked purpose.

[156]The real intent of Herod in sending these wise men is disclosed by what subsequently happened.  “Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.” (Matthew 2:16) Determined not to be thwarted in his purpose, Satan and his instrument Herod were willing to destroy all the babes in and about Bethlehem, with the hope of destroying the one that was to be the King and Savior of the world.  Jehovah saved the babe Jesus from this slaughter by directing his mother and Joseph to take the young child and flee into Egypt, which they did.—­Matthew 2:13.

[157]We would not be justified, then, in presuming that God was using these devil worshipers, the “wise men”—­“Magians,” Magicians—­for the purpose of being his witnesses to the birth of his beloved Son.  But on the contrary, the facts show that it pleased him to reveal this great truth to the shepherds and to use them as his witnesses.—­Luke 2:8-18.

[158]There is nothing whatsoever in the account of this experience of the wise men to indicate that their mission was in any wise beneficial to mankind; but the most charitable view we can take of it is that they were dupes of a deep-laid plot by Satan, the arch conspirator, to destroy the seed of promise; and that Jehovah let the conspiracy proceed to the point where it would fully demonstrate the wickedness on the part of Satan and his instrument, and then demonstrated his great protecting power.  Without a doubt Satan has attempted to deceive and has deceived multitudes of honest people into believing that these wise men were the witnesses of the Lord, and hid from their minds the fact that they in truth and in fact represented Satan.

[159]All the wicked persecution that came upon the Lord Jesus afterward, and upon his followers to this day, has been because of the influence of Satan the devil.  And yet at all times the Lord has protected his own at the very critical moment, just as promised:  “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear [reverence] him, and delivereth them".—­Psalm 34:7.

HOW UNDEFILED?

[160]St. Paul says:  “As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”.  (Romans 5:12) “There is none that doeth good, no, not one.” (Psalm 14:3) These Scriptures being true, and since Jesus was born of a woman, was he not born like other children?  And if so, was he not a sinner like others?