The Mysterious Magi
Sermon 3 | The Bethlehem Star
Aspects of the Star | Matthew 2:1-12
The star signified in some way that the King of the Jews had been born.
Verse 2 -- born king of the Jews -- they were looking for an infant.
Verse 4 -- demanded where the Christ was to be born -- not where Messiah would live, but where He would be born.
The star must signify the exact house in which the new King would be found -verse 9.
A word about the science of the Bible.
Biblical language about nature is truth, written from the perspective of human experience.
Scientific language about “behind the scenes" detail.
To think that the Bible is less than truth because it doesn't use the language and perspective of science is to insist that there is only one manner of speaking. Such insistence is for the uneducated.
The Confluence of forces: Part 1 -- Persian Religion
The ancient religion of the Persians was informed (likely by Japheth) of sin, separation, the existence of evil, a singular God, and a coming savior to deliver a perfect age.
The Confluence of forces: Part 2 -- Biblical Prophecies
The magi were informed by Daniel, through the preservation of his teaching, and were therefore cognizant of the timing of the cutting off of Messiah, the King of the Jews.
Daniel's prophecy only estimated the time of Messiah's birth. And that was a very rough estimation.
The prophecy through Balaam spoke of the arrival (birth) of the Messiah as a star out of Jacob (Num. 24:17).
The Confluence of forces: Part 3 -- Astrology
Astrology is literally the word of the stars.
Do the stars have a message?
Genesis 1:17 (for signs also compare Gen. 4:15, 9:12-13).
Psalm 19:1-4 (for line also compare Is. 28:10).
Contemporary western theology is a perversion of ancient Hebrew and Mesopotamian astrology. One should not consider the former to shed light on the latter.
The magi were extraordinary astrologers, searching the skies for thousands of years prior to Matthew 2.
“cutting off" of Messiah would be 483 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem (Dan. 9:25), the magi made the logical connection that somewhere prior to Daniel's year, there should be a sign in the stars announcing the birth of the Messiah…and so they began to look.
Astrology was looking for a message, but astronomy was the messenger.
The Confluence of forces: Part 4 -- Astronomy
Astronomy is literally the law of the stars. It is sometimes called astrophysics.
The magi had strong knowledge about exactly where the roaming stars (planets) and fixed stars (stars) were going to be for every night of the year, far into the past and long into the future.
“new star," or the fading of that star from visibility is “nothing new." Being common-place, it doesn't tell anything.
Recorded for us (through Kepler, an astronomical genius of the 15th Century) that Saturn and Jupiter had a convergence in the year of Rome 747, and again the two planets with Mars in 748, and that King Herod died in 750 AUC.
Also known is that a new star was recorded in 748AUC.
It is the convergence that alerted the magi, it is the star that the magi followed.
