Matthew 2:1-12
By Pastor Brian
2019.12.24
Christmas Eve Service
Fort Bend Community Church
Introduction
Matthew 2:1-12 is the most fascinating passage in the nativity story: the magi and the star of Bethlehem. I have been fascinated by the star of Bethlehem since I was a kid. Was it real? If it was real, what was it? Where did it come from? How did the magi know the star was the birth of the king of Jews? On this Christmas Eve, I would like to look back at the Star of Bethlehem when Jesus was born. What is the significance of the star for us today?
In the last ten years, two major things happened that bring us closer to finding the Star of Bethlehem.
1. The advancement of cosmology and the computer technology has given us the sky maps of any day in history. We are able to pinpoint the exact location of every planets and stars in the sky. We know their obits, we know their speed, finding their locations using the help of a computer is possible. Therefore we know, for example, January 1, 1 BC, what the sky map looked like in Israel or December 24, 2019, what the sky map looks like in Houston in any particular time.
2. Dating Christ's birth: A new discovery of the year when King Herod died. We know Jesus was born when Herod was the king over Judea. He was born in 70 BC and died on 4 BC according to Josephus, the trusted Jewish historian, in his book, Antiquities of the Jews. This book is the only source we have in determining the year when Herod died. Josephus said so. 4 BC. But in recent years, scholars find that all the manuscripts of the book, Antiquities of the Jews, dated before 1544 have a different year. Instead of 4 BC, these older manuscripts say that it was 1 BC when Herod died. It seems that in 1544, there was a mistake in copying the book and the mistake has passed along to all those copies after 1544. Therefore it is highly possible that Herod died on 1 BC instead of 4 BC.
Based on the new discovery, we begin to search the sky from 4 BC to 1 BC, looking for the Star of Bethlehem.
To find the star, there are 9 qualifications this star must have from Matthew 2:1-12.
The magi saw the star and knew that the there has been born King of the Jews. 2:2
1. The star indicated birth
2. It signified kingship.
3. It had a connection with the Jewish nation. A Jewish king was born.
The magi saw the star rising in the east just like most other stars. As the earth turns. All stars seem to be rising in the east. 2:2b
4. It must rise in the east like most other stars
Herod asked the magi the exact time the star appeared. 2:7
5. It appeared at an exact precise time.
6. Herod didn’t know when it appeared. He had to ask.
When the magi went their way to Bethlehem, the star went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the child was. 2:9
7. It endured over a considerable time period. The Magi saw it, perhaps from Babylon, traveled to Judea and saw it still.
8. It went ahead of them as they traveled from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Not so much as a guide but a further confirmation of the signs they had seen.
9. The star stopped over Jerusalem. Can a star do that?
If any of the 9 biblical features of the Star is absent, it isn’t the Star of Bethlehem.
Therefore the Star of Bethlehem was:
1. Not a meteor or what we call a shooting star.
Shooting stars don’t rise in the east and they won’t last. They burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere quickly.
2. Not a comet
Comets do rise in the east and endure over time. But the problem is that comets were regarded as omens of doom and destruction in that time in history, the very opposite of good tidings. And there do not appear to have been any comets in 3 or 2 BC. And comets are obvious things. Anyone could and would have seen a comet. But Herod would not have needed to ask the Magi when such a thing appeared. The Biblical Star was very likely not a comet.
3. Not a nova
A nova is an exploding star. It appears suddenly at a point in time, endures over time, rises in the east like other stars and can be bright and spectacular. However none appears in the ancient records including the Chinese records for this time period. Jerusalem is high on the mountain every night. Common people were far more familiar than we are with the appearance of the night sky. If a nova suddenly appeared, almost everyone would know about it. Herod and the Jewish citizens would not have to rely on the magi for the information. The Star of Bethlehem was very unlikely to be a nova.
4. An angel?
It could be just that. Angels are said to be the stars of heavens figuratively. God certainly can do that supernaturally to post a sign in the sky by an angel to lead the magi all the way. Possible. But before we settle the case as supernatural, let us also look at the possible answer from the ancient sky maps. There is a real good candidate to be the Star of Bethlehem.
Jupiter—The name of the greatest god of Roman mythology, the largest planet of our solar system. It has been known from ages-old as the KING Planet. It moves around the night sky as the obits of Jupiter and earth change. He is a good friend of mine. I look for him all the time in the starry night sky. This is what Jupiter looks like today in a clear sky.
On September of 3 BC Jupiter began an amazing dance.
The magi watching Jupiter that September 3 BCE (the Jewish New Year) saw two objects moving so close that they appeared to touch. This close approach of celestial bodies is sometimes called a ‘conjunction.’ 會合 Our Middle Eastern viewer saw Jupiter coming into a close conjunction with the star, Regulus 軒轅十四,
The brightest star in the constellation of Leo and one of the brightest stars in the night sky. Regulus takes its name from the word root which yields our word ‘regal.’ The Babylonians called Regulus Sharu, which means ‘king.’ The Romans called Regulus Rex, which means ‘king.’ So to start things, at the beginning of the new Jewish year, the Planet of Kings met the Star of Kings.
The conjunction may have indicated to the magi kingship. Jupiter glides slowly past Regulus about every 12 years. It would not be unusual. But there is more.
The planets move against the field of fixed stars. From Earth, they appear to be “active.” Moving around. Periodically, Jupiter appears to reverse course and move backward through the other stars. This may seem odd, but the reason is simple enough: we watch the planets from a moving platform—Earth—hurtling around the Sun in its own orbit. When you pass a car on the freeway, it appears to go backward as it drops behind. For similar reasons, when the Earth in its orbit swings past Jupiter, Jupiter appears to move backward against the starry field. Astronomers call this optical effect retrograde motion 逆行運動.
In 3-2 BC, Jupiter’s retrograde wandering would have called for our magi’s full attention. After Jupiter and Regulus had their kingly encounter, Jupiter continued on its path through the star field. But then it entered retrograde. It “changed its mind” and headed back to Regulus for a second conjunction. After this second pass it reversed course again for yet a third rendezvous with Regulus, a triple conjunction. A triple pass like this is rare. Over a period of months, our watching magus would have seen Jupiter the Planet of Kings dance out a halo above the Star of Kings. A coronation.
How did Jupiter’s movement relate to the Jewish nation?
Because the starry coronation—the triple conjunction—occurred within the constellation of Leo, The Lion. The Lion of Judah. Ancient stargazers, particularly if they were interested in things Jewish, may well have concluded they were seeing signs of a Jewish king.
Nine months later in June of 2 BC, Jupiter continued the pageantry.
By the following June, Jupiter had finished crowning Regulus. The Planet of Kings traveled on through the star field toward another spectacular rendezvous, this time with Venus, the Mother Planet. This conjunction was so close and so bright that Jupiter appeared to join Venus. The planets could not be distinguished with the naked eye. If our magi had had a telescope, they could have seen that the planets sat one atop the other, like a figure eight. Each contributed its full brightness to what became the most brilliant star our man had ever seen. Jupiter completed this step of the starry dance as it was setting in the west. That evening, our Babylonian magi would have seen the spectacle while facing toward Judea.
No one alive had ever seen such a conjunction. If the Magi only began their travel plans in September, when they saw this sight nine months later, someone may have shouted “What are we waiting for? Mount up!” At the end of their travel, which may have taken weeks or months, these experts arrived in Jerusalem. They told their tale, and “all Jerusalem was disturbed.” Herod wanted to know two things: when the Star had appeared, and where this baby was. The Magi presumably described the timing of events starting in September of 3 BC and continuing through June of 2 BC. Herod sent them to Bethlehem in search of the child with orders that they return to tell where he was.
To qualify as the Star, Jupiter would have to have been ahead of the Magi as they traveled South from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Sure enough, in December of 2 BC if the Magi looked south in the wee hours, there hung the Planet of Kings over the city of Messiah’s birth.
All but one of the nine Biblical qualifications for the Star have now been plausibly satisfied:
1. The first conjunction signified birth.
2. The Planet of King’s coronation of the Star of Kings signified kingship.
3. The triple conjunction began with the Jewish New Year and took place within Leo, showing a connection with the Jewish tribe of Judah (and prophecies of the Jewish Messiah).
4. Jupiter rises in the east.
5. The conjunctions appeared at precise, identifiable times.
6. Herod was unaware of these things; they were astronomical events which had significance only when explained by experts.
7. The events took place over a span of time sufficient for the Magi to see them both from the East and upon their arrival in Jerusalem.
8. Jupiter was ahead of the Magi as they traveled south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
But the ninth qualification would require that Jupiter stops over Bethlehem. How could a planet do that? And did Jupiter do it? Planets can’t stop. Right? Not true. Planets do stop to the naked eyes. When Jupiter enters retrograde, when the speed going backward is the same speed as the earth turns, Jupiter would appear to have stopped. We are talking about not stopping for a few minutes, but appearing to stop for days or weeks and months.
On December 25 of 2 BC as it entered retrograde, Jupiter reached full stop in its travel through the fixed stars. Magi viewing from Jerusalem would have seen it stopped in the sky above the little town of Bethlehem.
All nine qualifications are met. Here is our Star of Bethlehem, possibly! Most likely!
The Star is telling us two things today:
1. The Star was clearly visible. The starry dance was for all to see. God put them in the sky as part of the natural revelation and used the special interests and training of the magi to draw them to the Savior. Draw near. Come to me. See more. Hear more clearly. The magi went all the way across the desert to Jerusalem to worship the new born King. They saw. They heard. They worshipped.
Tonight God is also calling you to draw near. Walk closer. See more. Hear more what I have for you. Know me. Come to me. Your Star may be different. In the nature, the trees are clapping their hands, the birds are singing, the waterfall roaring, Milky Way beaconing… the glory of God. Drawing you to come near. God may use your training, your hope and fears to guide you to him. The star may even be an difficult situation or tragedy when you hear God the loudest.
Follow the star and draw near to the Savior. Find him and you will worship him.
2. Not everyone finds Jesus. In fact, in Matthew, the magi were the only ones who came to find Jesus. They came by faith in responding to God’s revelation. Herod knew but he wanted to kill Jesus. The scribes and the priests showed no interests to find Jesus. Only the magi. The gentiles. Came to worship. It was so sad “the hope and fears of all the years are met tonight in Bethlehem. But the Jewish people, God’s people was no show. Could it be possible also we become so busy with ourselves that we have missed the Savior and are no show at worshipping Him? The Christmas story can become old to us. Same story. Same route. Buying presents. And we miss the Savior. Quiet yourself tonight. Come before God and listen to him telling you to draw near.
Tonight is the night when the stars lined up and danced for Jesus. To night is the holy night. Let come and worship Him.
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