Have you ever been out in the countryside – away from the lights of the city on a clear, cloudless night, and seen the brilliant display of stars in the heavens? Wow! What a spectacle! It’s absolutely breathtaking.
Stars play a significant role in the Bible, and one of the most interesting stories in the Bible about stars is the story of the wise men and the star they saw in the East. In Matthew 2:2 we read, “…behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” Then later in verse 9, the story continues by saying, “When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.”
Now scholars have debated over what the wise men really saw when they were stargazing toward the east. The church father, Origen, said they probably saw a comet. Kepler, the great astronomer, in 1603 suggested it was the brilliant display of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces that was joined a year later by Mars. Now that only happens every 800 years, and evidently it happened sometime around the birth of Christ.
But there’s a basic problem with all of those suggestions. How can a star way up in the sky lead someone to a specific location? (The star the wise men saw “went before them and stood over where the young child was”). Well, in the Book of Revelation, angels appear as stars. Now that seems to be the most logical explanation. They saw an angel that appeared as a star, and the angel led them to Jesus. Angels will always lead you to Jesus, you know. That’s just what they do.
Say! You may not see the angels – but they are there. And they want to lead you to Jesus.