The Life of Christ

• The pillar of fire and the cloud that led Israel through the wilderness also appeared to be physical manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

It is also probable that the star was seen only by the wise men, as no one else in Jerusalem reported knowledge of the star.

• Only Jesus and John saw the dove according to the biblical record (Mt. 3:16; Jn. 1:32).

“When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him” (Mt. 3:16).

And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him” (Jn. 1:32).

Mt. 2:3-9 And when Herod the king heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he began to inquire of them where 1 the Christ was to be born. 5 And they said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet, ‘ AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER, WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL. ’” Then Herod secretly called the magi and ascertained from them the time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and make careful search for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, that I too may come and worship H im.” 9 And having heard the king, they went their way; and lo, the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them, until it came and stood over where the Child was.

The star led them to Jerusalem, but then disappeared.

• The next leg of their journey would be directed by the written prophetic word stating the Ruler would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5:2).

• With that new information the wise men head south, and as they went, “…behold, the star which they had seen in the east, went before them.”

• The star disappeared for a short season and then suddenly reappeared.

• We thus see the star lead them to Jerusalem, and then later lead them on to Bethlehem; the path was interrupted and certainly not straight.

This same tendency may have occurred on route to Jerusalem from the East because of the unusually long period of time it took the wise men to make their journey.

• Their journey was probably a distance of less than a 1000-miles, one which usually only took a matter of weeks to caravan. However, this journey took two years, implying that it may have zig- zagged and, perhaps, even stopped until the star would reappear.

• If this theory is true, it points toward three fascinating aspects of the leading of the Spirit, typified by the Star:

1. We are not always led in a straight course; the leading of the Spirit often resembles more of a labyrinth than “as the crow flies” (Acts 16:6-10; 2 Ki. 2:1-6; Israel’s 42 stops in the wilderness).

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