THE RETURN OF THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM
by Kenneth Boa
Scripture: GALATIANS 4:4, LUKE 2:34-38, MATTHEW 2:1-12, MATTHEW 24:27, NUMBERS 24:17, REVELATION 19:11-16, REVELATION 21:23
The Return of the Star of Bethlehem
Dr. Ken Boa
Numbers 24:17; Matthew 2:1-12, 24:27; Luke 2:34-38;
Galatians 4:4; Revelation 19:11-16, 21:23
The Return of the Star of Bethlehem is an intriguing idea because the Star of Bethlehem is one thing, but what's this business about the Return of the Star of Bethlehem? Tonight I thought it would be fun for us to explore just what this mystery is, since virtually every planetarium in the country will traditionally look at the Star and ask that very question this time of the year. Everyone wonders about that around this time of the year, and yet, for some bizarre reason, there's only one account that describes it. It's the account in Matthew's Gospel.
It tells us in Galatians in Chapter 4,
"Jesus Christ came in the fullness of the times."
There was a perfect preparation politically, spiritually, economically, and religiously for His coming. But there was also a profound degree of Messianic expectation that concerned His first advent. The Luke 2 account records how Simeon and Anna believed they would actually see the coming of the Lord before they died. The Samaritan woman in John 4 had a deep inner feeling that she was living in the days just prior to the coming of Messiah. Even the Roman historian, Tacitus wrote this,
"The majority firmly believe that their ancient priestly writings contained the prophecy that this was the very time when the East should grow strong and that men starting from Judea should possess the world."
At the same period of time Setonius wrote,
"There had spread all over the Orient, an old and established belief that it was fated at that time for men coming from Judea to rule the world."
These are First Century historians. They also include Josephus in THE WARS OF THE JEWS, other Jewish literature such as THE BOOK OF ENOCH, THE SYBALENE ORACLES, and various others, which all converged together and intimated some kind of Messianic expectation.
In fact, pseudo ...
Dr. Ken Boa
Numbers 24:17; Matthew 2:1-12, 24:27; Luke 2:34-38;
Galatians 4:4; Revelation 19:11-16, 21:23
The Return of the Star of Bethlehem is an intriguing idea because the Star of Bethlehem is one thing, but what's this business about the Return of the Star of Bethlehem? Tonight I thought it would be fun for us to explore just what this mystery is, since virtually every planetarium in the country will traditionally look at the Star and ask that very question this time of the year. Everyone wonders about that around this time of the year, and yet, for some bizarre reason, there's only one account that describes it. It's the account in Matthew's Gospel.
It tells us in Galatians in Chapter 4,
"Jesus Christ came in the fullness of the times."
There was a perfect preparation politically, spiritually, economically, and religiously for His coming. But there was also a profound degree of Messianic expectation that concerned His first advent. The Luke 2 account records how Simeon and Anna believed they would actually see the coming of the Lord before they died. The Samaritan woman in John 4 had a deep inner feeling that she was living in the days just prior to the coming of Messiah. Even the Roman historian, Tacitus wrote this,
"The majority firmly believe that their ancient priestly writings contained the prophecy that this was the very time when the East should grow strong and that men starting from Judea should possess the world."
At the same period of time Setonius wrote,
"There had spread all over the Orient, an old and established belief that it was fated at that time for men coming from Judea to rule the world."
These are First Century historians. They also include Josephus in THE WARS OF THE JEWS, other Jewish literature such as THE BOOK OF ENOCH, THE SYBALENE ORACLES, and various others, which all converged together and intimated some kind of Messianic expectation.
In fact, pseudo ...
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