“And asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."’ Matthew 2:2 (NIV)
When the Magi came from the east to see the newborn King they followed a star. Why did God choose to lead them by a star? After all a star only can be seen at night and they probably did their traveling in the daytime. So why a star? Was the star a morning star that was the last star to be seen before the sunlight of the day made it too bright to see any other stars? Maybe they got their direction from the star for the day and traveled throughout the day.
Now God could have led them by dreams or visions or even a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night but instead He chose to use a star. I would like to offer a couple of reasons that I can think of.
First of all I think that though this baby was born in the lowest of accommodations and only the humble shepherds came that night He was the creator and King of the universe and all universe was at his beck and call. The patriarch Joseph had a dream where the sun, moon and stars bowed down to him. If the sun, moon and stars would bow to Joseph wouldn’t all creation bow to the creator? I think the star shows that all of creation stood in awe that the God of the universe who would became a helpless baby.
But I think there is another reason. In Revelation 22:16 Jesus is described as the “bright morning star”. Numbers 24:17 says that a star will come out of Jacob. That was fulfilled in the birth and life of Jesus. The Magi were led by the star and we are led by the Star. That is why I think that the star that they saw was the bright morning star.
How did the Magi know to follow that star? How did they know that the star would lead them to a baby who was born to be king? They had diligently studied the scriptures; they had diligently studied the heavens and when the saw the star they knew that this was a sign from the God of the universe. Like the Magi of old we need to be diligent in our study of the scriptures and the study of the times so that we can have understanding and know the path that we are to take. God leads His children by many different means and we need to be open to His leading.
Peter says, “And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19 (NIV)
1 comment:
Interestingly, last night for our Advent devotional, we read about the star and magi. The devotional made the point that the general revelation of creation could point to God's glory, but only the Scriptures revealed God's purposes in Christ. Without the specific revelation of Scripture, the magi would not have known the significance of the star, and without the specific revelation of the Scriptures, they never would have found the child in Bethlehem!
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