The Star of Bethlehem

Luke 2:15 NKJV

15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”

Let’s set our course, then, for two millennia ago—the dividing point of history. The scene is a little town on the quiet landscape of Judea. There are rumors of a miracle happening in the night. Are you ready to investigate?

Luke 2:15 (NKJV)

15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”

Consider this your invitation to a remarkable journey to a moment of wonder, deep in the bygone days of the Roman Empire. Are you ready to travel?

Why the Prophecies?

Time is a mystery. We live each day immersed in it, so we cannot imagine a life outside of it, looking in. Time marches by us, moment by moment and year by year. It leaves its mark upon us more than we leave our mark upon it.

Imagine standing several miles from a great mountain range.

You admire the majestic chain from its foothills in the west to the last outcroppings in the east.

But if you didn’t have that separation—if you were standing on one of the mountains—you would see only the scenery that was right around you.

God watches over us from outside the straight mountain range that is time.

He sees past, present, and future in one unbroken line.

And as long as we are travelers through this life, climbing from one slope to the next, we lack his perspective—with one exception, that is: the men and women known as the prophets.

Prophecies

God gives many amazing gifts.

To some he gives a surplus of wisdom,

to others a specially loving heart.

And some have received from him the sight to perceive certain shapes in the mist of the future.

Those with this gift have always been people obedient to God and to his purposes.

Why would he let them see what was to come?

Because he loves us, and he wants us to know what lies ahead, whether for our encouragement or as a sober warning.

A prophet’s central mission, as a matter of fact, is not to predict but to preach. He speaks more of the present than the future.

Even so, the Old Testament prophets spoke frequently about a coming champion.

Every page, from Genesis to Malachi, seems to tremble with the wondrous anticipation of his coming.

The books were written by many different writers, at various times over many centuries.

What bound the readers and writers together was their identity as a special people that God truly cherished.

Through that particular nation, a small one called Israel, God’s plan was to let the whole world know of his love.

But that nation encountered times of grief and despair.

Because the Israelites occupied one of the most contested areas in all the world, they were frequently under attack by tribes and empires—by the Philistines, then the Babylonians, and finally the Romans.

Their walls and homes and Temple were built, destroyed by enemies, and rebuilt.

Finally, Israel became a dying nation, filled with confusion and doubt. It was against that scene that the great age of the prophets came.

Many of the Jewish people had been carried away into slavery.

Some had lost their sense of national identity in exile.

Many were cynical, faithless, embittered.

Everyone yearned for the great days of the kings—David and Solomon and all their glory.

And it was here that the prophets—men such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah—urged the people to keep the faith.

Their message was, Wait for one more king.

This one will be the greatest of all, and he will end our struggle forever.

Just when people most needed hope, God sent spokesmen to offer a foretaste of a better future.

Throughout the words and work of the prophets, there were glimmers of a savior—a king who would rescue his people and restore them to God.

In fact, there were more than three hundred specific prophecies in the Hebrew scriptures about the promised “Messiah,” as they called him.

The hints were tantalizing.

Isaiah said that this special deliverer would be born of a virgin (see Isaiah 7:14). What kind of man could he be?

Micah, too, offered a prediction that was specific and startling. He said that the king would be born in the town of Bethlehem.

Micah 5:2 NKJV

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.”

Again, it was clear that the Messiah would be one who was not confined by the bounds of time. He would come “from the distant past.”

There are references to a ministry of teaching, healing, and miracles.

This would be a man who would enjoy public favor, then finally be “despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief” (Isaiah 53:3).

There are surprising references to crucifixion by a writer who had never witnessed such a thing (see Psalm 22).

Isaiah 53:5 NKJV

5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

The people of Israel could hope for a better time, including forgiveness by the God they had abandoned.

The coming king would prove that God had never abandoned them.

Most amazing of all was the coming Messiah’s mission. God said,

Isaiah 49:6 NKJV

6 Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, And to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth.’ ”

Can you see the picture that emerges?

It was as if many different artists had drawn strange squiggles on paper separately—only to find that when their fragments of art were combined on a single canvas, there was a beautiful portrait of a king we would come to know as Jesus Christ.

Nearly all of the more than three hundred prophecies have already come true (a few remain for our future).

Jesus was all that had been foretold, and so much more.

One mathematician determined that the odds of one person’s fulfilling even sixty specific prophecies are 1 in 1 plus 157 zeros.

Why the prophecies? They show us that even as Jesus was fully a human being like us, he was also “one whose origins are from the distant past.”

By reading the prophecies we see the entire mountain range in a breathtaking glance;

We behold a magnificent God who works his purposes out through the march of time, patiently but faithfully, down to the smallest detail.

We know that this is a God who can be trusted,

and this is a Messiah who fulfills every hope in our hearts.

The Star

Some scholars have argued that the star was an unprecedented astronomical event, such as a supernova, comet, or a spectacular alignment of the planets

Matthew 2:1–12 NKJV

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.