The final miracle of Christmas was a star that guided a group of astrologers from the east to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem to pay homage to the new-born king of the Jews.

Who were these ‘wise men’? Where were they from? Why did God allow pagan astrologers a way to discover the new-born king of the Jews, his son, Jesus? What was God trying to teach us from this unusual story? 

These and other questions are ones we’ll take up as we look for the final wonder of Christmas in the arrival of these wise men.

The most astounding miracle of Christmas is that God became a man in the person of Jesus who was born in Bethlehem on the first Christmas. In this message we’ll see how the apostle John declared this truth, and then consider how amazing and miraculous what we call the Incarnation actually was. It is the chief wonder of Christmas not only in how it occurred, but why it occurred. Join in the wonder of this greatest miracle of Christmas.

Shortly after the first miracle of Christmas, the second one occurred. The angel Gabriel was sent to announce what was about to happen: a virgin would conceive without losing her virginity, and she would bear a son who would be God’s Son and would reign on the throne of King David forever. The virgin, a peasant girl named Mary, living in a small and obscure Galilean village, submitted to God’s plan and willed for God to do for her what the angel said even though it might meant public ridicule and a divorce from her engaged husband, Joseph.

This is a familiar story, but the great miracle and the willing  submission of this likely teenage girl, Mary, are two of the wonders of this second miracle of Christmas.

A story of an elderly childless couple seems irrelevant to the Christmas season, yet that is the story Luke uses to open his gospel. He doesn’t start with Mary, or Joseph, or shepherds, or a manger, or wise men. He starts with the miraculous conception of the one who would be the Messiah’s forerunner, John the Baptist.

This is the first miracle of Christmas, one of many. It is a miracle that shows God’s grace, compassion, love, and faithfulness. It’s a wonderful human interest story, too, one we can be encouraged by today. That’s probably one reason Luke began his story of Jesus with it.