The Star
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Our sermon will be on Acts 9:1-19
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Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem
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The Star
The Star
Matthew 2:1-12
We are going to talk a little about Christmas and what the Bible says about it.
There are 2 accounts in the Bible.
One is in Luke and it talks about the time of the birth of Jesus.
The visitation of the Angels, the shepherds, the manger and all the rest.
The account we are looking at today has very little in common.
Luke brings the account from the viewpoint of Mary and Matthew seems to bring it from Joseph’s account.
The Star isn’t mentioned in Luke’s account.
Here’s probably the truth, they happened at different times.
We’ll get into that in a bit, but the point is that the birth of Jesus probably didn’t happen like it’s often portrayed
Not only that, but the time of his birth may be off.
We don’t even know the year.
It was probably between 6 and 4 BC. but some place it closer to 1 AD
We don’t know what the star was.
Was it a conjoining of planets? Was it an especially bright comet? Was it a supernatural event.
Here’s what we know for sure: Jesus made such an impact on the world that our calendar revolves around his birth.
Let’s dig in and see what Matthew has to say about the birth of Jesus.
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,
2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
5 So they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
6 ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel.’ ”
7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared.
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also.”
9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.
11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
They Saw The Star
They Saw The Star
Let’s talk about the wise men.
This is an image of a mosaic in Ravenna, Italy dated to 565 AD.
Notice that there are 3 of them in the picture, but the passage doesn’t tell us that.
By the way - they are wearing Persian clothing
It says in our passage that they are “wise men”
In the Greek, it uses a word Magi. We have the word Magician
That word comes from a Persian word Magus - it was a word used of a priestly caste of Persia.
And Persia is east of Israel so that’s probably where they were from.
Their religion was probably Zoroastrianism.
Tradition puts their names as Mellchior, Caspar, and Balthazar.
Tradition even calls them kings.
Since the text doesn’t tell us their names and how many, we just don’t know for sure.
We do know that they traveled a long distance and likely had a caravan of other people with them.
It would have likely taken a while for them to put together the supplies, get the necessary permission, and traveled to Jerusalem.
It was probably a few months and maybe longer from the time they saw the star to when they got to Harod.
When Harod hears their story, he is troubled.
He doesn’t want a new king. We know from history that he had some of his children killed because He thought they were trying to take his kingdom from him.
Later, when he finds out that the wise men had left, he had all the children in Bethlehem killed 2 years and younger.
He was an evil man.
Harod gets all the scribes and priests together and they all agree that the wise men should go to Bethlehem.
That’s because it says in Micah 5:2
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
So Harod sends them out to Bethlehem.
They Followed The Star
They Followed The Star
When the left, the star went before them and then it stood over where Jesus was.
So what was the Star.
I said before that it could have been a conjoining of planets, or a bright comet, or even a supernatural event.
Here’s the problem. Nobody but Matthew wrote about this star.
Usually, these types of things were written about.
It couldn’t have been a comet because comets don’t stand still.
A conjunction could be what it is taking about because they do funky things because how we are moving around the sun.
To these Magi, the alignment of the stars meant something to them.
There is a documentary called “The Star of Bethlehem” that tells of a special alignment that occurred on December 25, 1 BC.
Now, modern scholarship says that the star would have been somewhere between 6-4 BC because of when they think Harod the Great died.
However, they could be wrong about it. I think it’s based on when a supernova happened.
I don’t put much faith in any of that because the Bible doesn’t state a date, except to say that Harod was king.
The point is that whatever it was they went and found the small child in a house. Notice it wasn’t a stable.
That’s because this probably happened sometime after the birth.
So they went inside this house and ...
They Saw The Savior
They Saw The Savior
It says they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.
When you put 2 adjectives on something. Especially 2 where the meanings intertwine, it magnifies it.
Joy is a wonderful thing. Great joy is is even more wonderful.
When you add exceedingly to it, you are talking about the max.
This is the greatest thing that has ever happened.
There are traditions that say these men were kings. One from Babylon, one from India, and one from Ethiopia.
If that is true, then it gives special meaning to them bowing down and worshipping him.
There is a passage that might be associated to this event.
1 Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
2 For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you.
3 The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 “Lift up your eyes all around, and see: They all gather together, they come to you; Your sons shall come from afar, And your daughters shall be nursed at your side.
5 Then you shall see and become radiant, And your heart shall swell with joy; Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you.
6 The multitude of camels shall cover your land, The dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; All those from Sheba shall come; They shall bring gold and incense, And they shall proclaim the praises of the Lord.
We see here what I believe to be a glimpse of the Savior. Don’t you see these verses acted out in this account.
By the way Sheba is south west Arabia and Ethiopia.
In Isaiah, it talked about gold and incense.
That’s actually what they gave.
There are 3 things listed here: Gold, Myrrh, and Frankincense
One of the early church fathers, Origen, said the following:
Gold, as to a king; Myrrh, as to one who was mortal; and Incense, as to a God.
Think about it this way: Jesus is King, He died for us, and He is God
What happened to the gifts?
Probably, they were used to finance their trip and stay in Egypt.
However, there are legends.
One legend has it that the 2 thieves on the cross stole the gold.
Another story has it that the myrrh was used in Jesus’ burial.
I saw an old movie years ago that told the story of the gifts.
We don’t know because the Bible doesn’t tell us, but we do know the point of all of this.
The point is that Jesus, our savior, our God, our King, came and died for us that we might be saved.
The story of Christmas is that God gave us the greatest gift ever given: Jesus.
What are we to do about it?
We are to be like the Star. We are to point others to Jesus.
We are to be like the Star. We are to point others to Jesus.
That is what Christmas is all about.