Original Entry Date 12/22/2015: Let’s read about the Wise Men from the East who come to find the Messiah.
Matthew 2:1-11 NKJV:
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived unexpectedly in Jerusalem, 2 saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”3 When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born.
5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet:
6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the leaders of Judah:
because out of you will come a leader
who will shepherd My people Israel.”7 Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and asked them the exact time the star appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find Him, report back to me so that I too can go and worship Him.”
9 After hearing the king, they went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen in the east! It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed beyond measure. 11 Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped Him. Then they opened their treasures and presented Him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
This shining star the wise men followed symbolizes us, nowadays, leading people to Christ. We emit the Light of Christ upon the dark skies, leading those who are wise out of the darkness of the world into His beautiful Light.
Now let’s flip to Luke 1 and read a small portion of Zechariah’s prophecy after his tongue was loosed and he was able to speak again..
Luke 1:78-79 HCSB:
Because of our God’s merciful compassion,
the Dawn from on high will visit us
79 to shine on those who live in darkness
and the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Christ Jesus is the Light, He shines through us. We are His Body, a mechanism used to bring salvation to those who are perishing.
Throughout scripture, stars are used to describe people anywhere from
Deuteronomy 1:10 The Lord your God has so multiplied you that today you are as numerous as the stars of the sky.
Daniel 12:3 – Those who are wise will shine like the bright expanse of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
Here is a snippet from my Symbols book about Stars:
Final thing I’d like to do is look up the Hebrew Word used for Stars in the following verse.
He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names
Stars comes from the word kowkab
| Definition: | 1) star 1a) of Messiah, brothers, youth, numerous progeny, personification, God’s omniscience (fig.) |
probably from the same as 3522 (in the sense of rolling) or
3554 (in the sense of blazing); a star (as round or as
shining); figuratively, a prince:-star((-gazer)).
This is interesting! Wow! Look!
Here Job is cursing the day he was born — it’s as if the stars of the morning announced the day of his birth …
=> Job 3:9 … May the stars of its morning be dark; May it look for light, but have none, And not see the dawning of the day;
From NetBible http://classic.net.bible.org/verse.php?book=job&chapter=3&verse=9
*1 Job wishes that the morning stars – that should announce the day – go out.
*4 the dawning of the day= is literally “the eyelids of the morning.” This means the very first rays of dawn
Job 38:7 … When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?
From Netbible http://classic.net.bible.org/verse.php?book=job&chapter=38&verse=7
*1 The expression “morning stars” (Heb “stars of the morning”) is here placed in parallelism to the angels, “the sons of God.”
*4 “the sons of God.” see Job 1:6
From NetBible http://classic.net.bible.org/passage.php?passage=job%201:6;%202:1
*3 sn The “sons of God” in the OT is generally taken to refer to angels. They are not actually “sons” of Elohim; the idiom is a poetic way of describing their nature and relationship to God. The phrase indicates their supernatural nature, and their submission to God as the sovereign Lord. It may be classified as a genitive that expresses how individuals belong to a certain class or type, i.e., the supernatural.
=> “the sons of God” in Job seem to be angels
=> “the morning stars” in Job seem to be stars with human characteristics
Look at this?!
Revelation 1:20 … The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.
=> remember the lamp stand – the seven branched candlestick
=>represents both the Messiah(Isaiah 11) and His people
==>the seven lampstands together are the Bride which have seven flames=seven eyes=seven spirits of God! Zechariah 4 links the vision of the candlestick with seven branches – seven flames to the seven eyes-spirits of God!
**** maybe the seven stars are similar
here it says angels — meaning messengers = both angels and people?!
Hebrews 1:7 … And of the angels He says, “WHO MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS, AND HIS MINISTERS{servants} A FLAME OF FIRE.”
Psalm 104:4 … He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire His servants.
=> the lampstands have seven flames of fire = seven spirits of God = seven eyes
=> interesting Job above associates the stars with eyes
!!!!!Look at the star of David – six points around a center point
=> a circular representation of the lampstand with 6 branches
connected to the “center” !!!!!
LOL it looks like an eye with eyelashes …