within this chapter:
●Biblically "stars" can refer to angels
●The wise men weren't at the manger
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What
was the star of Bethlehem? (Christians have also called it the Xmas star ever
since shortly after the U.S. Civil War when they adopted the pagan holiday the
Roman Catholic Church had “Christianized.”) When asked what the star was most
church-goers who have sat for years under the instruction of Bible-preaching
theologians with either “full time” or “full gospel” ministries would answer
something vague about planetary conjunctions, comets, or super novas. The remaining few would disinterestedly shrug and
say, “I don’t know.” Almost no one would answer with anything having to do with
the Bible.
If you were sitting on your porch at
night, or even during the day, and saw a comet or super nova would you
decide while looking at the object that:
1.
It
was going to lead you on a journey to some indeterminate location so you could
2.
Find
a newborn king no one else knows about, and
3.
Worship
and present him with gifts, and
4.
Try
to convince some friends not only that the object means all of that but also
that
5.
They
should accompany you on this journey?
Of course you wouldn’t. But in their
Jeffersonian haste to replace the supernatural events in the Bible with natural
ones, Christians don’t think.
For
all of the above reasons it is extremely unlikely that the star was a bright
heavenly object.
The
answer, as usual, is not to be found in the flatulence of modern science, but
rather in God’s Authorized 1611 King James Bible: The star was an angel God
sent to give instructions to the wise men. Just as we refer to athletes and
actors as “stars”, the Bible refers to angels as stars. Read Re 1:20 and
then compare Re 12:4 with Re 12:9. For other examples read Nu
24:17; Job 38:7; Re 9:1,2; 22:16.
Now that we know God uses star and
angel interchangeably, carefully read Mt 2 in order to see if the
following agrees with Scripture:
1) An
angel showed up back in the east and told the wise men to find the newborn King
of the Jews and worship Him.
1.
They
were told to begin their search in Jerusalem.
2.
And
they were told to go to Jerusalem instead of Christ’s birthplace and present
location, Bethlehem, because God wanted the events of Mt 2:7 to result in the
fulfillment of prophecy in verses 16-18.
3.
God sent the wise
men to Jerusalem, and King Herod sent them to Bethlehem (v.8) to
continue their search.
4.
On
the road again, this time heading south to Bethlehem, the wise men, probably
beginning to worry that this journey was turning into a wild goose chase, saw,
waiting for them on the side of the road, the same angel who had appeared to
them back east. Greatly relieved, the wise men started pumping the angel’s hand
and telling him how glad they were to see him. The angel then led them to the
house Jesus had been living in for as long as two years (2:9-11).
5.
To
verify the age of the Child when He was visited by the wise men compare 2:7
with v.16. Also notice concerning the birth in Lk
2 that the setting is a “manger” and that Jesus is referred to not just
with the general word “child” but with the specific word “babe.” But in Mt 2
the setting is a “house” and the word “child” is used exclusively. The wise
men never went to the manger.
We agreed earlier that a comet
probably would not cause any wise man to react the way the men in Mt 2 did. And
we can also agree that any wise man who received information and instructions
from God via an angel would carry out the instructions. So, to
further support our thesis with Biblical consistency,
let’s note the fact that the First Coming of Christ was a period of frequent
angelic appearances:
1.
Mary
was told about two babies by an angel (Lk
1:31,36).
2.
John
the Baptist’s father was given instructions by an angel concerning John’s birth
(Lk 1:13).
3.
Joseph
was given instructions by an angel concerning Christ (Mt 1:20,21; Mt 2:13,19).
4.
Some
shepherds were told by an angel to go to Bethlehem to worship the Savior (Lk 2:9).
5.
And
the wise men were first instructed to go to Jerusalem, and were later led to
the house in Bethlehem by a star, that is – an angel.
People used to know all of this. And on top of their Xmas trees they would put either a star or an angel.
