This is Fifth in a series of five
about the messages that God sends to us through the Christmas Season. The first four are still available for reading
on my blog.
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The
Message of the Wise Men
“Where is He who has been
born King of the of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the
East and have come to worship Him.” Matthew 2:2
Almost everyone knows the
story of the star shining over the stable in Bethlehem where Jesus was
born. While it’s a wonderful story
regarding the birth of our Savior, there is more to it than that. It brings up many questions; where did the
star come from; why was it so big and is it even true? The scriptural truth is that there was no
star over Bethlehem on the night Jesus was born. However, a great star appeared to some Wise
Men in the Far East on the night Jesus was born. It signified that the King of
the Jews was born.
Tradition shows that the
wise men came at time of Jesus birth, however this is not true; they came at a
later time; possibly a month to over a year or more later. We know this from ancient studies and
charting of the stars. We also know that
these Wise Men had to travel, many months or years by camel, to reach Bethlehem
from the Far East.
Some traditional views say
there were three wise men, but no one really knows how many there were; only
that three gifts were mentioned. We also
know they followed a Star. Bible
scholars as well as scientists have studied this phenomenon for uncountable
years and all have different opinions and possibilities. However, if you believe the Bible to truly be
the Word of God, there is no doubt in my mind that it happened the way the
Bible says it did.
One source, the Bible itself,
may hold one clue. In Numbers
24:17 (NLT) is a prophecy that God told Balaam speak: “I
see him, but not here and now. I perceive him, but far in the distant future. A star will rise from Jacob; a scepter will emerge from Israel.” This scripture tells us some interesting
facts; far in the future from Balaam’s time, something was going to occur and a
“Star” was going to appear and it would come from the line of Jacob.
In Matthew
beginning in chapter one, tells the genealogy of Jesus Christ and part of that
is Jacob,
grandson of Abraham. Fourteen
generations later, Jesus is born in Bethlehem.
Then, in Numbers 24, it speaks of a scepter, which the dictionary
describes as a symbolic staff or wand held in the hand by a ruling king as an
item of power and a sense of divinity.
This scepter will come out of Israel.
Written centuries before Jesus was born, totally covered what happened
that night in Bethlehem.
At the time of Jesus birth,
there was no mention of the shepherds seeing a star; only about the angel of
the Lord and then a multitude of angels all praising God. Apparently, the star
did not appear until we read about the Wise Men in Matthew 2, beginning with
verse one. These men came from the East which was far away from Bethlehem. They studied the stars and discovered one
star that stood out from the others. This star, which they called “His Star”,
proclaimed a King was born in Bethlehem of Judea. They left their country and the star appeared
to go before them.
They stopped at King Herod’s
palace and asked him if he knew of a new king that was born. Herod was evil and told them to continue
their search and come back to him so he could go and worship him. Herod really wanted to kill the new born
King, but God warned the wise men in a dream to go back to their country
another way. When the Wise Men didn’t return after a length of time, King Herod
sent his soldiers to Bethlehem to kill all the babies under two years old. This is another clue that by the time Herod
heard about it, Jesus may have been closer to 2 years old.
When the Wise Men left
Herod, they continued their search and the star went before them until it came
to Bethlehem and stopped over the place where Jesus was. The Bible says they
came to the house where Jesus was and fell down and worshipped Him. Their
search was ended; it had been a long journey, but they had searched until they
found the Child.
This is the Message of the
Wise Men, “Search for Him until you find Him!” Then worship Him! Friends, we all need a Savior; this whole world
needs a Savior. If you don’t know Jesus
as your Savior, search for Him. He is
not hiding, but is waiting for you at this moment. Call to Him and he will come to you. It is your heart that needs to search for him
and not your feet. When you find him, He
will be with you forever and ever.
May this coming year be one
of peace, love and contentment and the joy of knowing the Lord of Eternal Life. Happy New Year
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