Star in the East

Change your perspective

They saw His star when they were in the east.

Rob

 

And how could a star lead someone to a specific building?

 

As in Japanese and many other languages, the Greek word for "star" simply meant a heavenly body, not a giant fiery sun. God sent a miraculous heavenly body to show the wise men the way, and it was created especially so that it could stand precisely over where the baby Jesus was.

 

The birth story of Jesus... so many myths we believe from our childhood.

Read the account with open eyes!

Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”

King Herod was deeply disturbed when he heard this, as was everyone in Jerusalem. He called a meeting of the leading priests and teachers of religious law and asked, “Where is the Messiah supposed to be born?”
“In Bethlehem in Judea,” they said, “for this is what the prophet wrote:

‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah,
are not least among the ruling cities of Judah,
for a ruler will come from you
who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’ ”
Matthew 2:1-6 NLT

The magi were aware of a celestial event and were guided east by the star, of course they'd go to Jerusalem, a holy city.

From there they were guided by other sources too (the OT scriptures being the only one of them mentioned in the text).

Ever follow the stars at night, they always seem to follow you, or you them no matter where you go.

Rob

 

I agree. I think it was actually the Shekinah (an idea held by others as well, no my original idea) - the glory of God resting on the dwelling place of the young Jesus. Just as God's glory rested on the tabernacle in the wilderness, so His glory rested on the dwelling of Jesus when Jesus came to dwell (to "tabernacle" - Jn 1.14) among us.

 

I hadn't thought about this before, but it makes sense!

 

I heard a famous preacher (maybe Ironside - is that his name?) say it on a taped sermon on a radio show when I was a fairly new believer. Then I came across it later.

I am asked about this "star" all the time due to having been an astrologer and in the course of my ministry. People try to use this to endorse astrology or some form of "Christian zodiac" interpretation. I address it here on my site:
http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/AboutCANA_FAQs1.html

 

Best explaination I've heard ------ thanks, J of J

The star was from the spirit world-----the glorious Kingdom of the Lord Jehovah, creator of the Universe

 

Good article, thanks. Ironside was a friend of my granddad's and a great preacher. (JoJ name-dropping again, lol .)

 

Thanks for reading it, JoJ. Thus, you are excused for name dropping. :laugh:

 

Praise the Lord and Merry Christmas!

 

==Per the answer to your question, I agree with Deacon. I also agree with Marcia and John as to the makeup of the star. There are no natural explanations for the star and all attempts at finding such explanations fail (in my opinion). Sadly many theologians and historians, who are otherwise really good, try to find some natural reason for the star. For example, the late Dr. Henry Morris, who I have great admiration for, asserted the following in the Defenders Study Bible:

"Most evangelicals probably take it as a special supernatural light that guided the wise men from Persia to Jerusalem. This theory, however, does not explain why they followed it at all; there was little reason to connect a sudden, slow-moving light in the sky with the promised Jewish King. The magi, expert astronomers as they were, would hardly call such a light a star". A more likely possibility is that it was a supernova star, shining brightly for a year or more, then fading out again." -note on "his star" (Matt 2:2) pg1007

I am confused by his assertion that a supernatural light would not have caused the magi to follow but a supernova would have. Why would a bright star, or supernova star, have caused them to follow? I'm sure they had seen simular events before. How did they know about the birth of the King of the Jews (Matt 2:2)? We are not told. Dr. Morris asserts that the magi would have studied passages in the Old Testament that predicted such a star. While that may very well be true, I am not sure that brings us to the conclusion that the Christmas star was a supernova or some other natural event. Also, how could Dr. Morris explain the fact that the Scriptures clearly teach that the star "went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was" (Matt 2:9)? Supernovas don't move over the surface of the earth and stand still over certain locations. It would have been unlikely that they could have followed such a star to a specific location since stars are not directly over the earth's surface.

For those reasons I agree with Dr. John MacArthur, and the other board members mentioned above, when he asserts that the Christmas star was "similar to the Shekinah that guided the Israelites in the days of Moses (Ex 13:21)."

 

Here's one man's fascinating ideas: http://www.bethlehemstar.net/ His "Day of the Cross" chapter is especially compelling.

And if you're into reading, then another's idea (and the one of the two that seems most likely to me) is in this book: The Star of Bethlehem

These two views were discussed last year. http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=45641

Post 45 compares and contrasts them in more detail.

 

(Doing my part to move the fluff threads toward the bottom.)

 

Marcia's threads?? Fluff???

New screen name for Marcia??

Ms Fluffy!!!

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: