A Far Off Christmas comes to a close as we look at the Epiphany of our Lord. The word Epiphany means reveal. The Star of Bethlehem revealed the Savior of the world to the Magi. There are many questions about this saga that lasted more than a year. First the easy questions.
- How many Magi were there? Commonly we think of three only because of the three gifts that were offered. There could have been just two, but wealth folks traveling more than a year on a dangerous journey most likely had more people in their group.
- How did they know about the Savior that would be born to the Jews? Some people think that it was Daniel, a Jew who was placed in charge of the Magi in Babylon. He would have shared what he knew about a Savior with his group of scholars including more information than what we have in Scripture.
The harder questions about this story involve the Star of Bethlehem. What was the star exactly? Was it really a star at all? Could it have been a conjunction of planets? Using astronomy software the heavens can be rewound like a clock back to the time that Jesus was born. HERE is a brief four minute interview on the topic.
There is longer presentation on the topic found HERE. While the theories that Rick offers are interesting there are a few limits to his logic. In the account from Matthew chapter two we know that the Star of Bethlehem went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. While not completely inconceivable that natural occurrence could do such a thing, I think it’s easier to believe that God placed a special star in the heavens to herald the birth of his Son.
Want to hear more? Watch this week’s lesson from our Christmas series, A Far Off Christmas.
Please click HERE for the Bible class slides.