A dream or vision
The Wise Men's Warning
The wise men from the east found the child and worshiped Him, presenting gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Herod had asked them to report back where the child was. But God warned them in a dream not to return to Herod, and they went home another way. This is a true protective dream, shielding the young Christ from a murderous king.
“And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.”Matthew 2:12
The dream or vision
After the magi had followed the star, come to the house, and worshiped the young child with their treasures, they prepared to return. Herod had charged them to search diligently and bring him word, pretending he too wished to worship. But being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country by another way. Matthew records the warning plainly and briefly, without describing its imagery, only its command and their obedience. Soon after, Joseph too was warned in a dream to flee to Egypt with the child and His mother, and the sequence of dreams unfolded to keep the child from Herod's reach.
What it meant
The dream exposed and thwarted Herod's plot. Threatened by news of a newborn king, Herod meant to use the magi to locate the child and destroy Him, as his later slaughter of Bethlehem's infants revealed. God's warning broke the trap, sending the wise men home by another road so Herod gained no report. It bought time for Joseph's own dream and the flight into Egypt. What came of it was the preservation of the child Jesus through the very season a king sought His life, God quietly overruling political power to guard the promised Messiah.
How it points to Christ
From His infancy Christ was unwelcome to the powers of this world, and heaven itself moved to preserve Him for the appointed hour of the cross. The dream shows God shepherding His Son through danger so that the Lamb would not perish before His time, but be given as a willing sacrifice years later. It also shows Gentile seekers, the magi, drawn to worship the King of the Jews, an early sign that this Savior belongs to all nations. The warning that turned them home protected the One in whom the light for the Gentiles they represented would fully dawn.
Questions people ask
Why were the wise men warned in a dream
Herod, fearing the newborn king, had asked the wise men to report the child's location, secretly intending to kill Him. God warned them in a dream not to return to Herod, so they departed home by another way. The warning foiled Herod's plot and helped preserve the child Jesus from the king's murderous intent, buying time for the family's escape.
What happened after the wise men were warned in a dream
The wise men returned home by another route, giving Herod no report of the child. Soon afterward Joseph was also warned in a dream to flee with the child and His mother to Egypt. Herod, enraged at being outwitted, killed the infants of Bethlehem, but Jesus was already safe. The dreams together preserved the young Messiah through Herod's persecution.