The Light That Shines Our Way To Him

 Matthew 2:9-11


9 When they heard the king, they departed; and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. 11 And when they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to Him: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.


When the Magi left Herod, the star that had been leading them reappeared. Earlier it signaled the birth of the Jewish king (Matthew 2:2), prompting the far-off Magi to travel to Jerusalem. But now it was a guiding star, directing them to Jesus. The star’s movement indicated it was low in the sky, suggesting it was a supernatural phenomenon. When the Magi arrived, they bowed before Jesus and worshiped Him with their gifts. 


This episode has a foreshadowing function in Matthew’s Gospel. The Magi, Gentiles from a distant land, responded to God’s revelation, rejoiced when they saw God’s appointed king, and worshiped the infant Jesus. In contrast, Herod and all Jerusalem were “alarmed” (2:3) and did not go to Bethlehem to worship Jesus. Though Herod was an Idumean by birth, he was a practicing Jew. His response foreshadowed the nation’s eventual rejection of their Messiah. The contrast between the Magi and the leaders in Jerusalem illustrates an irony we find in Matthew’s Gospel. Those who were seemingly close to God and should have recognized their Messiah were actually blind, rejecting Jesus, and were eventually rejected by God. But those seemingly far from God, including a leper, a Roman centurion, blind men, and a Canaanite woman, saw the light (see Isaiah 49:6), received God’s mercy, believed in His Son, and entered God’s new covenant community. 


When I share the gospel, I often use the Pocket Testament League’s whiteboard video, because it vividly and memorably pictures the gospel message. As the video unfolds, it reveals a picture of the fire of eternal punishment, separated from the light of God’s glory by a dark chasm. But there is a cross-shaped bridge connecting the two. Christmas reminds us that Jesus, through His death and resurrection, has built a bridge for far-off, doomed sinners, who are alienated from God. Crossing this bridge will save you from God’s wrath and bring you near to God. You cross by renouncing sin and embracing by faith Jesus’s offer of salvation. If you haven’t done so, there’s no better time than now!

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