KnoWhy #769 | December 24, 2024
How Is the Revelation of the Magi Similar to the Book of Mormon’s Prophecies of Christ?
Post contributed by
Scripture Central
“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
Spencer Kraus, “‘One Drop of Salvation from the House of Majesty’: An Analysis of the Revelation of the Magi and Restoration Scripture,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 61 (2024): 235–270.
Evidence Central, “Book of Mormon Evidence: Revelation of the Magi,” Evidence 448 (May 21, 2024).
- 1. The term translated as “wise men” in Matthew 2, magoi, is typically used to refer to a “wise man and priest” usually from Persia or Babylon. The Magi of Matthew 2 seem to be righteous individuals who recognized the signs of the Savior’s birth, though not much is known about their origin. The Book of Mormon also describes how angels visited wise men in the New World in Helaman 16:14, which could potentially highlight the righteousness of the wise men who lived in the Old World at about the same time. Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (University of Chicago Press, 2000), s.v. “μάγος”; Scripture Central, “Why Does Mormon State that ‘Angels Did Appear unto Wise Men’? (Helaman 16:14),” KnoWhy 187 (September 14, 2016).
- 2. This text can be found in Brent Christopher Landau, “The Sages and the Star-Child: An Introduction to the Revelation of the Magi, An Ancient Christian Apocryphon” (PhD diss., Harvard University, 2008), which includes a critical edition of the Syriac and a translation. This same translation has been republished in Brent Christopher Landau, Revelation of the Magi: The Lost Tale of the Wise Men’s Journey to Bethlehem (HarperOne, 2010). A summary of the text can also be found in Brent Landau, “The Revelation of the Magi,” in New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, vol. 1, ed. Tony Burke and Brent Landau (Eerdmans, 2016), 19–38.
- 3. Spencer Kraus, “‘One Drop of Salvation from the House of Majesty’: An Analysis of the Revelation of the Magi and Restoration Scripture,” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 61 (2024): 245–246.
- 4. See Kraus, “‘One Drop of Salvation,’” 257.
- 5. King Benjamin also taught this principle as he declared, “The Lord God hath sent his holy prophets among all the children of men, to declare these things to every kindred, nation, and tongue, that thereby whosoever should believe that Christ should come, the same might receive remission of their sins, and rejoice with exceedingly great joy, even as though he had already come among them.” Mosiah 3:13.
- 6. For a greater discussion on the similarities between how the Nephite church and the church of Shir are organized, see Kraus, “‘One Drop of Salvation,’” 246–249.
- 7. See Kraus, “‘One Drop of Salvation,’” 249. Similar prophecies were also given to mark the Savior’s death in each text. For a discussion on these prophecies, see pp. 258–259.
- 8. See Mosiah 3:15; 13:27; 2 Nephi 25:24, 30.
- 9. See Kraus, “‘One Drop of Salvation,’” 261–262.
- 10. For a discussion on the dating of this text, see Landau, “Revelation of the Magi” (2016), 21–23; Kraus, “‘One Drop of Salvation,’” 243–245.
- 11. For a discussion on the forty-day literature, see Scripture Central, “What Might Jesus Have Taught His Apostles for Forty Days? (Acts 1:3),” KnoWhy 678 (July 4, 2023); Hugh Nibley, “Evangelium Quadraginta Dierum: The Forty-Day Mission of Christ—The Forgotten Heritage,” in Mormonism and Early Christianity (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies [FARMS]; Deseret Book, 1987), 10–44, first published in Vigilae Christianae 20 (1966): 1–24; John Gee, “Jesus Christ: Forty-Day Ministry and Other Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus Christ,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (Macmillan, 1992), 2:734–736. For Nibley’s comparisons between the Book of Mormon and these texts, see Hugh Nibley, “Christ Among the Ruins,” in The Prophetic Book of Mormon (FARMS; Deseret Book, 1989), 407–434; Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 4: Transcripts of Lectures Presented to an Honors Book of Mormon Class at Brigham Young University, 1988–1990 (FARMS; Covenant Communications, 2004), 69–80, 115–126.
- 12. Kraus, “‘One Drop of Salvation,’” 268.
- 13. For a discussion on the History of the Rechabites and the Book of Mormon, see John W. Welch, “The Narrative of Zosimus (History of the Rechabites) and the Book of Mormon,” in Book of Mormon Authorship Revisited: The Evidence for Ancient Origins, ed. Noel B. Reynolds (FARMS, 1997), 323–374; Scripture Central, “Why Are Lehi’s and Nephi’s Visions and Histories Similar to the History of the Rechabites? (1 Nephi 8:10–11),” KnoWhy 710 (January 16, 2024); Evidence Central, “Book of Mormon Evidence: Narrative of Zosimus,” Evidence 447 (May 15, 2024).
- 14. Kraus, “‘One Drop of Salvation,’” 269. In Spencer Kraus, “Analyzing the Book of Mormon as an Early Christian Text: The Revelation of the Magi and Book of Mormon in Dialogue,” in 2024 BYU Religious Education Student Symposium Proceedings, ed. Mary Jane Woodger, Beverly Yellowhorse et al. (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2024), 13, Kraus has also observed, “The similarity between [the Book of Mormon and the Revelation of the Magi] suggests that there was a common typological tendency in the records of early Christian communities existing outside the land of Israel that would have been unfamiliar to Joseph Smith. . . . It would . . . appear that the genre of the Book of Mormon is much more than anything that could be traced to nineteenth-century Christian thought,” thus strengthening Joseph’s claims to have translated an authentic, ancient record.