Are our eyes focused on the ground OR Are they looking to the sky for JESUS?
God reaches people in the way they will understand. Consider the truth of that statement, and if you are a believer, pause to recall your own testimony. How did you come to know Jesus as your Savior?
These men studied astrology and astronomy, so they looked daily into the sky; they knew the stars. Therefore, when God wanted them to see, they saw.
I often wonder if anything in life is of chance OR If everything in life is divine, as in God-orchestrated.
- Were the wise men taking a chance in believing the vision from God?
- Were they taking a chance with their own lives?
- Was God using a vision, a dream, to instruct these men?
- Would God use a vision, a dream, still today?
- When God speaks, do you listen? Do I?
- When God moves today, do we see Him move? OR
- Are our eyes focused on the ground rather than on the sky, looking to the stars?
“And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod,
(The Gospel According to Matthew 2: 12 NASB)
the magi left for their own country by another way?”
Without a doubt, two kings could not exist. One must die. The Jewish religious leaders knew the truth: that the Messiah was six miles away, born in Bethlehem, but they refused to believe, they refused to go. Do you find this ironic, as I do, that God would call men (wise men, the magi) from many miles away to walk for days and days to reach Herod, the current king, to inquire about the KING of the Jews?
I read the birth of Jesus with fresh eyes this Christmas, seeing the irony found in all of this, the way God moves heaven and earth to help us see the birth of His Only Begotten Son. Just as the LORD provided a pillar of fire for the children of Israel in the wilderness, He provided a star (a bright light in the sky) to lead these men to find the TRUE KING.
Although evil in his intent, Herod still was used by God to reveal the birth of His Son, to find Jesus. When the magi arrived, they brought gifts fit for a king: Gold, Frankincense, and (oddly) Myrrh. Then God warns them to go home, but go another way. Oddly enough, these men who did not believe in God obeyed. Really see this same verse, again, with fresh eyes of faith.
“And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod,
(The Gospel According to Matthew 2: 12 NASB)
the magi left for their own country by another way?”
The Bible is clear. These wise men knew they had found Jesus, the One who was to be born, and when they did, they worshipped Him. They knew Jesus was enough.
There is a spiritual warfare, whether we see it or not. There is a war going on, and the lives of those we love is at stake. Whether we fight with all our might, led by the Lord, or whether we stand by, idle and uncaring and unmoving, allowing Satan to win the war is totally our choice. Nevertheless, the war exists, and souls are at stake.
- God used strange men from the east to announce the Advent—the arrival of Jesus, the King of the Jews.
- God used strange men from the east to speak Jesus to Herod, current king of the Jews.
- God used strange men from the east to proclaim Jesus to the Jewish religious experts. &
- God used strange men from the east to tell the world that Jesus had come.
So, why do we think God won’t use us too?
He will (use us) if our eyes are focused on HIM.
So, I ask: Are our eyes focused on the ground, at what’s to be found here on earth? OR
Are we looking to the sky for JESUS?
From Genesis to Revelation, God communicates His will, and He speaks to those who believe and to those who do not yet believe.
- Mary had received a dream from the Lord about the miracle birth.
- Joseph had received a dream from God Himself about the Lord’s purpose for His Son Jesus to be born through the girl Mary.
- The magi had seen the bright star in the eastern sky.
Whether difficult to believe or easy to grasp, still the LORD GOD uses whatever means necessary to reach the lost, to proclaim His Truth, and to accomplish His mission to save the world of lost souls.
“Now when they had gone, behold, and angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.”
(The Gospel According to Matthew 2: 13-15 & 21 NASB)
So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt.
He remained there until the death of Herod.
This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
“OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.
. . .
So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel.”
In this current season of Advent, may we:
- Keep asking.
- Keep seeking.
- Keep knocking.
- Keep believing.
- Keep allowing God to open the doors of our heart and mind.
- Keep finding. &
- Keep receiving.
- May our eyes be focused on the sky (not the ground). &
- May our spiritual eyes be looking for the 2nd coming of Jesus.
May we share Jesus in this season with those who CANNOT YET SEE—NOR—DO NOT YET BELIEVE.