Star of Wonder

In ancient scrolls the wise men read of a king to be born in Bethlehem. Searching the skies, the wise men beheld a luminous, burst of light…

Following the star, it brought them to the king’s palace on a dark and unsuspecting night…

Their mission, was to find the promised Messiah, so that they could bring him gifts and worship him.

For months they traveled as they followed the bright star, and finally arrived

To find the young child of divine royalty, happy, and alive!

The holy star led them to the place where they would bring…

Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh; prophetic things…

In ancient times, gold was used to build the dwelling place for God. And as the sacrifice was laid before the Lord, frankincense, permeated the atmosphere, a sweet savor to the divine! Myrrh; bitter herbs, used in preparation for His suffering, yes, these were given as signs.

Signs that the new born King had arrived!

The ruthless, paranoid, tyrant King Herod, sought to kill the babe.

So, the wise men would not return to the Palace, nor tell anyone where the baby stayed.

Herod’s wicked, black, heart was furious to hear the wise men would not return,

He would send a horrible lesson for Bethlehem to learn.

He sent soldiers to murder all the baby boy’s two years and younger.

A raging, bitter cry rang out that night…as a voice is heard in Ramah, weeping. Rachel weeping for her children refusing to be comforted because they are no more. (Matt. 2:16-18)

As the star was sited, on the fated night. Angel’s watched in bright star-light while wise men, found, Christ the Lord!

Holy writings of old foretold, a ruler of Israel, would be born.

An unusual bright star, signs in the skies; guiding wise men who would behold him with their own eyes…

Just as a star from long ago, reminds us of the story told, we see in the heaven’s and now we behold…a sign of magnificence, what does it hold?

Sons and daughters of the earth, who knows what this night will bring, will we see the Son of God return as King? Will we bring gifts of praise and worship, will we sing, Hallelujah? Only those who are wise knows, what the star bestows!!!

There’s a star in the east on Christmas morn…Rise up! Shepherd’s and follow!

~Marla Shaw O’Neill December 11, 2020

Matthew 2:10-12 New Century Version

¹⁰ When the wise men saw the star, they were filled with joy. ¹¹ They came to the house where the child was and saw him with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. They opened their gifts and gave him treasures of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² But God warned the wise men in a dream not to go back to Herod, so they returned to their own country by a different way.

(Matthew 2:16-18) Jeremiah 31:15 Good News Translation

The Lord’s Mercy on Israel

¹⁵The Lord says, “A sound is heard in Ramah, the sound of bitter weeping. Rachel is crying for her children; they are gone, and she refuses to be comforted.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

1. In the place of this mourning. The noise of it was heard from Bethlehem to Ramah; for Herod’s cruelty extended itself to all the coasts of Bethlehem, even into the lot of Benjamin, among the children of Rachel. Some think the country about Bethlehem was called Rachel, because there she died, and was buried. Rachel’s sepulcher was hard by Bethlehem, Gen. 35:16, 19; 1 Sam. 10:2. Rachel had her heart much set upon children: the son she died in travail of she called Benoni—the son of her sorrow. These mothers were like Rachel, lived near Rachel’s grave, and many of them descended from Rachel; and therefore, their lamentations are elegantly represented by Rachel’s weeping.

2. In the degree of this mourning. It was lamentation and mourning, and great mourning; all little enough to express the sense they had of this aggravated calamity. There was a great cry in Egypt when the first-born was slain, and so there was here when the youngest was slain; for whom we naturally have a particular tenderness. Here was a representation of this world we live in. We hear in it lamentation, and weeping, and mourning, and see the tears of the oppressed, some upon one account, and some upon another. Our ways lie through a vale of tears. This sorrow was so great, that they would not be comforted. They hardened themselves in it, and took a pleasure in their grief. Blessed be God, there is no occasion of grief in this world, no, not that which is supplied by sin itself, that will justify us in refusing to be comforted! They would not be comforted, because they are not, that is, they are notin the land of the living, are notas they were, in their mothers’ embraces. If, indeed, they were not, there might be some excuse for sorrowing as though we had no hope; but we know they are not lost, but gone before; if we forget that they are, we lose the best ground of our comfort, 1 Thess. 4:13. Some make this grief of the Bethlehemites to be a judgment upon them for their contempt of Christ. They that would not rejoice for the birth of the Son of God, are justly made to weep for the death of their own sons; for they only wondered at the tidings the shepherds brought them, but did not welcome them.

The quoting of this prophecy might serve to obviate an objection which some would make against Christ, upon this sad providence. “Can the Messiah, who is to be the Consolation of Israel, be introduced with all this lamentation?” Yes, for so it was foretold, and the scripture must be accomplished. And besides, if we look further into this prophecy, we shall find that the bitter weeping in Ramah was but a prologue to the greatest joy, for it follows, Thy work shall be rewarded, and there is hope in thy end. The worse things are, the sooner they will mend. Unto them a child was born, sufficient to repair their losses.