January 9
"The wise men had seen a mysterious light in the heavens upon that night when the glory of God flooded the hills of Bethlehem. As the light faded, a luminous star appeared, and lingered in the sky. It was not a fixed star nor a planet, and the phenomenon excited the keenest interest. That star was a distant company of shining angels, but of this the wise men were ignorant. Yet they were impressed that the star was of special import to them. They consulted priests and philosophers, and searched the scrolls of the ancient records. The prophecy of Balaam had declared, "There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel." Num. 24:17. Could this strange star have been sent as a harbinger of the Promised One? The magi had welcomed the light of heaven-sent truth; now it was shed upon them in brighter rays. Through dreams they were instructed to go in search of the newborn Prince."
Desire of Ages, page 60 from the chapter, 'We have seen His star'
The star of Bethlehem
is still of interest today. During January there will be an astronomy lecture on the Isle of Man asking the question, “Was the star of Bethlehem visible in the Isle of Man?”
Those early scientists knew there was something special about the star. True, it wasn’t actually a star but when all you have to see with is the Mark 1 eyeball you make your assumptions based on what you can see and know.
Yet they weren’t naïve enough to just leave their exploration to drawing a picture and pondering the heavens wondering what the sign meant. They looked up all their resources, formulated theories, tested their concepts and made many enquiries. We could guess that they exhausted their earthly assets. What could happen next? “The magi had welcomed the light of heaven-sent truth; now it was shed upon them in brighter rays.”
I won’t say that a dream is something to rely on, but when God speaks to you in a dream you should listen. I would, of course check the source if I had such a dream. Did I eat cheese last night? Was I over-excited? These wise men checked their sources, they discussed their findings. We imagine that they prayed. They came to a conclusion, “we must follow the star.”
What do you do when you have a decision to make? If we simply take this reading as a guide we should do our research. We might create a plan, we might test the plan. We should, at a very early stage let God know that we would welcome God’s guidance.” It would appear that God wants to communicate with us, but He won’t force Himself upon us. We should ask God to shed His light upon our needs.
The picture at the start of the blog today is of a selection of stars from the constellation of Orion. You can see Orion very clearly at about 9:00 tonight (if the skies are clear). Look to the south, gaze up at a 45o angle. You should see three stars in a line. That is the belt of Orion. How about finding out something about the spiritual significance of the constellation of Orion?
While you are out tonight, how about finding a very dark place and accustoming your eyes to the dark. There is a solar storm predicted for tonight. There is the possibility that you might see an Aurora Borealis - one of the wonders of the night sky. Rarely seen in the Midlands, tonight might be your lucky night. Look for green curtains in the sky way up in the north. Readers in Scotland have an advantage over us southerners.
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Housekeeping details for you
The point of this short blog will become clear if you decide to use this reading in the way we intend it. Netherfield Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in healthy churches. You can see what that means if you head to the relevant Healthy Churches page of the website. We also want other churches to be healthy. That means you can join in our campaign to create healthy churches, with healthy people serving the people in those churches.
A healthy church is one where Jesus comes first. A healthy church is one where the people work together to put Jesus first. One thing we are doing is to join people together to spread that news. I would like you to look at our prayer partners page. This will explain how we want you to use this short devotional. Very basically we want you to find a like-minded Christian friend who you will join with to : choose to pray together every day, decide together on a way to serve other people together, to help them grow as Christians - and to invite the Holy Spirit into your life every day. This blog that you will receive every day simply gives a common spiritual purpose. If you are a newcomer and want to join the blog with this object in mind click here
