The Great Mystery Of The Star Of Bethlehem

The Celestial Wonders That Appeared Over Israel

And Persia 2,000 Years Ago

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us - John 1:14

- Matthew 2:1-11     

          "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod

     the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where

     is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising

     and have come to worship him.' When Herod the king heard this, he was

     troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and

     scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

     They told him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:

          And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

          are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

          for from you shall come a ruler

          who will shepherd my people Israel.'

          Herod then called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact

     time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, 'Go and

     search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I

     too may go and worship him.' After they heard the king, they went on their

     way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it

     stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they

     were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother

     Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him."

                                                                                                The Magi (otherwise known as the Wise Men) traveled hundreds of

                                                                                        miles to see and worship the young Child. Amazing too is the fact that they

                                                                                        knew 1) it was His Star, 2) He was a King and 3) He was to be worshipped.

                                                                                        How did an assemblage of pagan astronomers from a foreign country know

                                                                                        these things?

                                                                                                The Magi were of Persian stock and kin to the Hebrews through Elam,

                                                                                        son of Shem (Gen. 10:22), a son of Noah (Gen. 10:1). This made them

                                                                                        Semites, who were well-schooled in Jewish history and Jewish prophetic

                                                                                        writings and the Babylonian captivity of the Jews 500 years earlier.

                                                                                                 Daniel, one of the captives, and later chief of the Babylonian magi (Dan.

                                                                                        2:48), prognosticated a number of prophecies regarding the Messiah and the

                                                                                        Messianic Age (i.e., the church age). He predicted the time of Jesus' birth, His

                                                                                        baptism, His crucifixion, the conversion of the gentiles, and forty years later,

                                                                                        the destruction of the Hebrew nation, Jerusalem, the Temple and the Jewish

                                                                                        sacrificial system, as Jesus foretold in Mat. 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. Daniel also prophesied that every one of the Messianic prophecies—i.e., at His first coming—would be fulfilled, and 'visions and prophecies' would cease (Daniel 9:24). Five centuries later, the Apostle Paul affirmed the cessation of prophecies and miracles, saying: "Where there are prophecies they shall cease" (1 Cor. 13:8). Remember this the next time a televangelist, or someone in your church, tells

you he or she's a prophet.

        Another Jewish captive, Ezekiel (also a prophet), paints a majestic picture of Jesus following His Ascension and Enthronement:

High above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be His waist up He

looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and from there down He looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him.

Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around Him - Ezekiel 1:26-28

     A similar image is given in Rev. 1:12-15:

I turned I saw seven golden lamp-stands, and among the lamp-stands was Someone like a Son of Man, dressed in a

robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on His head was white like wool, as white

as snow, and His eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and His voice

was like the sound of thunder.

     Balaam, also a Mesopotamian seer—a gentile—predicted that Jesus' Star would someday arise over Judea:

I shall see Him, but not now: I shall behold Him, but not nigh: there shall come forth a Star out of Jacob,

and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel - Numbers 24:17).

(Important side note: The 'Deir Alla Inscription,' discovered in Jordan in 1967, contain the words "Bala'am,

son of Be'or," the same words found in Numbers 22:5)

     These are just a few of the Jewish writings the Magi would have been acquainted with.

     According to Matthew's gospel, the arrival of the Magi in Jerusalem caused great fear, perhaps for a number of reasons:

     1. The Magi were warrior-priests, numbering not three, but possibly dozens, with a sizable army and countless attendants.

     2. The Magi were also topplers of kings. They were not to be trifled with and Herod knew it.

     3. A coming new King in Judea without Rome's approval would have led to serious problems, perhaps a military invasion.

     4. Rumors of collusion between the Magi and Herod might have driven the ongoing Roman-Persian war into Judea.

     5. Herod was violent and unstable when facing such difficulties. His own wife (one of nine), as well as his mother-in-law, his uncle

         and three of his sons were executed on his orders. Caesar Augustus said of him: "I would rather be Herod’s pig than his son."

     6. The Jews most likely feared that their Messiah's birth would set in motion the end of their nation, their Temple and their

         sacrificial system, which were prophesied by their own prophet, Daniel, hundreds of years earlier.

     Daniel's prophecy is given below. The day-to-year interpretation will be used, gleaned from Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:4-6.

The command "to restore and build Jerusalem" in 457 BC by Persian King, Artaxerxes, will start the prophetic clock. The multi-

year miscalculation between the Julian and Gregorian calendars will be corrected, and the omission of year '0' will be factored

in. This will date Jesus' birth at around 4-2 BC, the beginning of His ministry (i.e., His baptism) around 26-28 AD

and His age, at "about thirty" (Luke 3:23). My notes are in parentheses.

     - Daniel 9:20-27

          "And while I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of

     my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the

     holy mountain of my God; Yea, while I was speaking in prayer, even the man

     Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly,

     touched me about the time of the evening sacrifice. And he informed me, and

     talked with me, and said, 'O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and

     understanding. At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came

     forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore under-

     stand the matter, and consider the vision.

          Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish trans-

     gression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting

     righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.

          Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment

     to restore and build Jerusalem (457 BC, by order of Artaxerxes) unto the Messiah

     the Prince, shall be seven weeks (7x7 = 49 years - the day-to-year rule), and three-

     score and two weeks (62x7 = 434 years, totaling 483 years: 457 BC - 483 = 26 AD,

     Jesus' baptism and the beginning of His ministry); the streets shall be built again,

     and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after threescore and two weeks (i.e., during Jesus' ministry) shall Messiah be cut off

        (slain), but not for himself (He was slain for others): and the people of the prince that shall come (the Roman armies & General

        Titus) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary (the Temple); and the end thereof shall be with a flood (total destruction), and unto

        the end of the war, desolations are determined.

          And He (the crucified Messiah) shall confirm the covenant (the New Testament) with many for one week (7 years, from

     Jesus' baptism to the conversion of the gentiles - Acts 10:44-48, 11:15-18): and in the midst of the week (3 1/2 years, Jesus'

     crucifixion in 30 AD) he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease (the end of the Jewish religion & sacrificial system

     - Eph. 2:14-15; Gal. 3:13; Romans 10:4; Heb. 7:19), and upon the overspreading of abominations (i.e., When you see

     Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know its desolation is near. - Luke 21:20), he shall make it desolate, even until

     the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.'"

     Daniel's prophecy would have alerted the Magi in Persia that: 1) Daniel's 490-year time span was about to end, 2) the birth of the Christ Child was upon them, 3) Balaam’s Star would soon appear 4) and it was time for their thousand-mile journey to begin.

IT WAS TIME!

     In the video below, entitled His Star, astrophysicist and creationist, Dr. Jason Lisle (PhD), makes the compelling case that the Star of Bethlehem may have arose, not in the East, but in the West, an impossibility due to the earth's rotation, making the Star of Bethlehem a miracle. Also important, the Book of Matthew, from which our account is taken, was originally written in Greek and did not have a word for ‘East,' which is why in some translations Mat. 2:2 is rendered: "We saw his star AT ITS RISING.” Balaam's prophecy, you'll recall: "There shall come forth a Star out of Jacob,” suggests the Star would rise over Judea (in the West), a celestial phenomenon that would have certainly caught the Magi's eye.

     Also around this time there were other notable events taking place over Persia: two single conjunctions and a triple conjunction. A single conjunction is when two celestial bodies conjoin, or meet so closely, that they appear to be a single object with immense brightness. A triple conjunction, extremely rare, is when two planets, or a planet and a star, meet three times in a prograde, retrograde and a second prograde motion. A good example of this is when our sun-orbiting earth passes an outward orbiting planet, the planet will appear to stop, reverse direction, and then continue onward again. The Magi would have understood these conjunctions (coupled with the Hebrew prophecies) to be a prelude to the rising Star in the West that would send them westward.

     With the advent of astronomy software in the 1980s, computers are now able to locate and probe ancient celestial phenomena at any time in the past, from any point on the globe. Thus, by zeroing in on Persia around 4-2 AD, we can see exactly what the Magi saw, in the heavens, around the time of Christ's birth.  

                                                                                                    For example, on Aug. 12, 3 BC, there was a conjunction of Jupiter

                                                                                            (known as the king planet) with Venus (known as the mother planet) in the

                                                                                            constellation Virgo (Virgin), which certainly brings to mind Rev. 17:14's

                                                                                            depiction of Jesus as the “King of Kings,” and Mat. 1:23: "Behold, a

                                                                                            virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and shall call his name

                                                                                            Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

                                                                                                    Then, on three later occasions: Sept. 14 (3 BC), Feb. 7 (2 BC) and May

                                                                                            8 (2 BC), a triple conjunction took place when Jupiter, the “King Planet,"

                                                                                            circled (or crowned) Regulus, the “King Star," reminding us again that Christ

                                                                                            is the "King of Kings.” However, this conjunction took place in the

                                                                                            constellation of 'Leo the Lion,' an indication that Christ is "the Lion of the

                                                                                            tribe of Judah" (Rev. 5:5). More still, the time between the Aug. 12th

                                                                                            Jupiter/Venus conjunction and the May 8th Jupiter/Regulus conjunction (the

                                                                                            following year), was nine months, the period of the Savior's gestation from

                                                                                            conception to birth, which might also call to mind Psalm 139:13-14: “You

                                                                                            formed my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I

                                                                                            praise you, because I am fearfully and wondrously made; how wonderful

                                                                                            are your works! My very self you know.”

     Many years later in 70 AD, when news of Rome’s destruction of Jerusalem reached Persia, the Magi then living may have

recalled a story by their forefathers of a mysterious third conjunction taking place a few days later, on August 26, 2 BC, which they didn't understand at the time: the merging of Jupiter (the King Planet) and Mars (The God Of War). Was this conjunction an omen of the coming Jewish-Roman War, and the destruction of the Jewish nation (including all Jewish genealogies) foretold in the latter part of the aforementioned prophecy of Daniel, and that predicted by Jesus Himself in Mat. 24? The Persian Magi would not have missed it.

     Josephus, the noted Jewish historian and a contemporary of the Apostle Paul, wrote that when Titus Vespasianus, the Roman Commanding General, entered Jerusalem after the war and looked at the ruins, he stated the following to his commanders:

     We have certainly had God for our assistant in this war, and it was no other than God who ejected the

Jews out of these fortifications; for what could the hands of men or any machines do towards

overthrowing these towers?

- The Wars of the Jews, Chap. 9: 6.9.2

     The General's words strangely echo the Parable of the Vineyard told by Jesus in Mat. 21, 33-44, which foresaw how God the Father would destroy the Jewish nation and bring it “to a wretched end” and give it to a people who would “respect His Son” and “produce its fruit.” This a direct reference to Christ’s church and its explosive growth in the 1st Century through the conversion of the

gentiles [and the Jewish remnant] recounted in Daniel 9.

     To sum up, our generation is the first in history to be endowed with astronomy software and thus the means to unravel the

mystery of the Star of Bethlehem. WE’RE THE FIRST! The implications are staggering beyond human comprehension. In the beginning God must have wound the entire universe up like an enormous clock, with every particle and atom in place and set for action, folded and furled in such a way that the sun, moon, every planet and star, including gravity, elliptical orbital motion, the rotation of the Milky Way and all galaxies, visible light, the speed of light, the electromagnetic force, the sub-atomic weak and strong forces, and “all things sustained by his powerful word” (Heb. 1:3), would immaculately emblazon the announcement of the birth of Jesus Christ, thousands of year later, at just the right time, over the skies of Persia. Only an Infinite, boundless, limitless Being could do such a thing.

     This should silence forever all mockers and scoffers of Christianity.

(Conjunctions in the chart below were taken from Bretagnon and Simon's 'Planetary Programs and Tables,' Peter Scott's

Apple II program for computers and Roger Sinnott's "Sky and Telescope.")

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the

Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were

made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” - John 1:1-5

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many

times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us

by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom

also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and

the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his

powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down

at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” - Hebrews 1: 1-3

"He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like

grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads

them out like a tent. He brings the princes to nothing and makes the

rulers of the earth meaningless. To whom will you compare Me, or who

is My equal?” asks the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high: Who

created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls

each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength,

not one of them is missing." - Isaiah 40: 22-23, 25-26

                                                                                                   To be saved from your sins you must:

                                                                                                       - Believe in the Lord Jesus (John 8:24; Acts 16:31)

                                                                                                       - Repent of your sins (Acts 3:19; Luke 13:5)

                                                                                                       - Confess Jesus publicly (Mat. 10:32-33; Roman 10:9-10)

                                                                                                       - Be immersed (baptized) into Christ for the remission of sins and the

                                                                                                         gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; Matt. 28:18-20)

                                                                                                       - Live faithfully unto death (Rev. 2:10; James 1:12)

                                                                                                     When Christ Appears, Or When You Take

                                                          Your Last Breath, Nothing Else Will Matter

Sources

Articles

     - Daniel’s Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks (Christian Currier)

             ttps://www.christiancourier.com/articles/14-daniels-prophecy-of-the-seventy-weeks

     - What Was the Christmas Star? (AIG)  https://answersingenesis.org/holidays/christmas/what-was-the-christmas-star/

     - The Star of Bethlehem  https://countingtogod.com/the-star-of-bethlehem/

     - The Real Star of Bethlehem  http://www.askelm.com/star/star004.htm

     - Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture (Old Testament XIII), Thomas Oden, Gen. Editor "... the vision of the prophets would end..."

             (p. 266), The Book of Promises and Predictions of God

     - Deir Alla Inscription  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_Alla_Inscription

     - What Year Was Jesus Actually Born?  https://reasonabletheology.org/year-jesus-actually-born/

     - Holy Hebrew Arithmetic: What Age was Jesus when he became Teacher-Priest?

             https://www.jpost.com/blogs/truth-beyond-price/holy-hebrew-arithmetic-what-age-was-jesus-when-he-became-teacher-priest-542343

     - Constellations in the Bible  https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Constellations

Videos

     - Let The Bible Speak, The 70 Weeks Of Daniel Part 1  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgzUqGpTmY0

     - Let The Bible Speak, The 70 Weeks Of Daniel Part 2  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r5AzOx7ZSk

     - His Star, Dr. Jason Lisle  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsI5LmALqDg