KnoWhy #769 | December 24, 2024

How Is the Revelation of the Magi Similar to the Book of Mormon’s Prophecies of Christ?

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Scripture Central

The wise men travel to Bethlehem in this image from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The wise men travel to Bethlehem in this image from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“And behold, this will I give unto you for a sign at the time of his coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in heaven. . . . And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you.” Helaman 14:3, 5

The Know

In the Bible and the Book of Mormon, the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ is noted to have been accompanied by the appearance of a star in the heavens. In the Gospel of Matthew, this star is recognized by some wise men, or Magi, who asked Herod, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him” (Matthew 2:2).1 After Herod inquired about the timing of the star’s appearance, the Magi departed and “the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was” (Matthew 2:9). This brief account is the only reference to this star or the Magi in the Bible.

However, the lack of detail in the biblical account was noticed by early Christians, and various other early Christian writings theorize who the Magi were, where they came from, and how they recognized this star as a sign of Jesus’s birth. One such text, called the Revelation of the Magi, purports to be a first-person retelling of the Magi’s experiences, including knowing about Jesus Christ well before He was born and eagerly awaiting the day when the sign of His birth would be given.2 In this text, once the star appears the Magi receive a vision of the premortal Savior just before He is born, travel to Bethlehem, and are promised that one day they will be called to preach the gospel alongside the Twelve Apostles. The text ends by recording the visitation of the Apostle Thomas, who baptizes the Magi and the people of their country (named Shir) and commissions them to join him in the ministry.

As observed by Spencer Kraus, many teachings found in the Revelation of the Magi are also reflected in the Book of Mormon. Like the Revelation of the Magi, the Book of Mormon records how nations “lived outside the land of Israel, believed in Jesus Christ, looked forward to his advent and eventual visit to their land, and even learned how they would fit into the wider Christian world through visions of Jesus’s mortal ministry and his Apostles in the Old World.”3 Thus, a comparison between these two texts reveals significant parallels that potentially highlight the ancient nature of many of the details and teachings of the Book of Mormon.

For example, both the Revelation of the Magi and the Book of Mormon make clear that the Lord was actively calling prophets in nonbiblical lands throughout the history of the world.4 Moreover, each text also suggests that these prophets knew about Jesus and looked forward to His life and ministry. After conversing with the premortal Jesus, for instance, the Magi note that “we were in great rejoicing and great exultation that we were thought worthy to see this complete gift of salvation for which all the kings, and righteous ones, and prophets, and powerful ones prayed, and hoped, and waited, that they might see this sight” (Rev. Magi 14:10). Book of Mormon prophets similarly taught that “even all the prophets who have prophesied ever since the world began” looked forward to the advent of Jesus Christ and “had a hope of his glory many hundred years before his coming” (Mosiah 13:33; Jacob 4:4).5

Another parallel is that in both the Revelation of the Magi and the Book of Mormon, twelve spiritual leaders are called to lead the people, and the leaders are under the stewardship of the Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem.6

One of the most prominent similarities between the texts is the astronomical prophecies that mark the Savior’s birth.7 In the Revelation of the Magi, it is reported that a prophecy was given that “a light like a star” would mark the Savior’s birth, “giving light to the entire creation and obscuring the light of the sun, moon, and stars, and not one of them is seen or is able to stand in the presence of its light” (Rev. Magi 4:3). Though the Gospel of Matthew mentions a new star, neither the details of this prophecy nor the note regarding the star’s luster are found in biblical texts. Yet the matching prophecies and fulfillments are recorded in the Book of Mormon and Revelation of the Magi. Samuel the Lamanite prophesied that when Jesus would be born, “there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld,” which would itself be accompanied by “great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness” (Helaman 14:3, 5).

In both the Revelation of the Magi and the Book of Mormon, the star appeared before Jesus was born, another detail missing in the New Testament account. After the star appears, the premortal Jesus told the Magi, “I will be borne like a human being,” clearly marking that Jesus had not yet entered mortality (Rev. Magi 13:8). This is similar to what Jesus tells Nephi, son of Helaman: “The time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world” (3 Nephi 1:13).

Both texts also describe how the pattern of worship would change with the coming of Jesus Christ, who would fulfill many of the ordinances that were instituted among both nations to point forward to Jesus’s coming. Once the Magi reached Bethlehem, they were instructed that it would no longer be necessary to perform many of their ordinances or mysteries “because they all are fulfilled in him” (Rev. Magi 19:2). Following the Crucifixion, Jesus similarly told the Nephites, “Your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings” (3 Nephi 9:19). Former Nephite prophets also taught that the time would come when the people would no longer need to keep the law of Moses because it would be fulfilled by Christ.8

The Book of Mormon and the Revelation of the Magi record that because these former ordinances were fulfilled by Jesus Christ, each group of people was baptized again following the Savior’s earthly ministry.9 In the Revelation of the Magi, the Apostle Thomas first visits the people of Shir and baptizes the Magi and their disciples; similarly, in the Book of Mormon, Jesus gave the twelve Nephite disciples the authority to baptize when He first came to the Nephites (see Rev. Magi 31:1; 3 Nephi 11:18, 21). Then, the following day, these disciples baptized each other and the remainder of the Nephites (see 3 Nephi 19:11–15). Significantly, after the Nephites and the Magi are baptized, Jesus is recorded as visiting both people, coming down in heavenly light or fire.

The Why

Although the Revelation of the Magi likely dates to the mid-second or early third century AD, it nonetheless reflects ideas that are authentic to early Christian belief.10 Furthermore, studying early Christian literature can provide useful insights into the Book of Mormon, as Hugh Nibley demonstrated when comparing the Book of Mormon with the forty-day literature of the Old World.11 According to Kraus, “The many similarities may indicate that early Christians had some beliefs strikingly similar to the doctrines revealed in the Book of Mormon.”12 This text also shows that the Book of Mormon’s claims of being written by a people living outside of the land of Israel and waiting for the advent of the Messiah are not unprecedented.

Indeed, both the Revelation of the Magi and the Book of Mormon could fit into a genre similar to the History of the Rechabites, which details how people were led from the land of Israel to a promised land.13 While there are significant differences between the three groups of people—the Rechabites, the Magi, and the Nephites—each of their texts grapples with how people in distant lands who could not witness the life and ministry of Christ nonetheless believed in Him and preached His gospel.

Furthermore, there are no circumstances under which Joseph Smith plausibly had access to the Revelation of the Magi since its translation into English occurred almost two hundred years after the Book of Mormon’s original 1830 publication. Because of this, Kraus concluded that “the source of Joseph’s knowledge must be found elsewhere in the realms of the divine,” strengthening the Book of Mormon’s claim to be an ancient text that was miraculously translated by a prophet of God and an authentic, ancient testimony of Jesus Christ’s Atonement and ministry.14

Further Reading
Footnotes
Book of Mormon
Wise Men
Christmas
Birth of Jesus Christ
Another Testament of Jesus Christ
Prophecy
Magi
Early Christian History
Records

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