THE STAR

 

On His second visit to Jerusalem, Jesus taught at the temple and declared himself to be the light of the world. He testified that ‘he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life’ (John 8:12).

The incredulous Jews challenged His testimony because He bore record of Himself defying their law that required the testimony of two witnesses for any question of fact to be true. Jesus acknowledged the law and insisted that there were two witnesses, Himself and His Father (John 8:18).

In reality, there were many more witnesses to this truth. The witnesses that light had come into the world began at His birth. If they had only paid attention….

In his prophecy of Messiah, Balaam, by assumption one of the greatest Magi of them all, prophesied “there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel” (Numbers 24:17).

Matthew records that ‘there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem’ asking ‘where is the child that is born, the Messiah of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him’ (JST Matthew 2:2a).

Thus, the wise men of the east, as they followed the star to Bethlehem, became the first witnesses of the ‘light of life’ that had come into the world to save the world. One ancient writing claimed that “a Star in the East was to appear two years before the birth of the Messiah” (Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus The Messiah, 1:211-12).

Much mystique has surrounded the identity of ‘the wise men from the east’ and many an inspirational story written. This assumption, however, seems the closest to the truth:

“They had prophetic insight. They knew the King of the Jews had been born, and they knew that a new star was destined to rise and had arisen in connection with that birth. The probability is they were themselves Jews who lived, as millions of Jews then did, in one of the nations to the East.

“It was the Jews, not the Gentiles, who were acquainted with the scriptures and who were waiting with anxious expectation for the coming of a King……His first witnesses were to come from his own kinsmen, from the House of Israel, not from the Gentile nations composed of those who knew not God and who cared nothing for the spirit of prophecy and revelation found among the Lord’s people.” (Bruce R. McConkie, The Mortal Messiah Book 1, 358)

But it doesn’t end there. On the other side of the world Samuel the Lamanite prophesied that ‘great lights in haven’ would appear and that light would remain when the night came: “And behold, there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you….that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning…..” (Helaman 14:2-6-12).

Samuel’s prophecy was truly fulfilled when the Saviour was born in Judea and a star did appear according to his words but the greatest witness they had of Jesus Christ as the light of the world came when they sat in darkness for three days following His death, and they heard this voice: “I am the light and the life of the world. I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end.” (3 Nephi 1:15; 21; 3 Nephi 9:18)

What is spiritual darkness? It is not being able to discern right from wrong. It is not being able to see the truth. It is not being able to recognize the Saviour Jesus Christ as the sole source of our salvation. It means being stiff necked like the Jews of His time. It means looking beyond the mark, like they did.

They looked right past the man who sorrowed for their sins, looking for someone else. It means spiritual blindness within which extinguishes the path that leads home. It means being lost. It means being lost forever.

Follow the star, it will lead you home.

 

Born to be King

Born to bear the scepter of truth,

Born to cleanse my soul within

And deliver me from every sin. 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Following the Star by Greg Collins)