This day commenced with me not
wanting to read Matthew chapter two. It was the Christmas story that I had read
so often, so how could I get anything from it? However, I did! This is what I
finally saw — the “Star” of the wise men:
Wise men, or kings, brought Jesus
three gifts from the East. The “wise” men were in the Greek, “magos.” In
English, they were “wizards” in the modern lexicon; they had extraordinary
power. Therein, their power was to see the truth; that Jesus was truly God and
should be worshipped! They were not wizards by their own right, like Simon Magus
the magician, but God gave them great insight.
So, what is insight? Seeing with
the mind’s eye what cannot be seen with ocular vision. Their gift was insight,
it was not magical at all, but supernatural from the Power of God. Nothing about
God is magical but had always been about insight. All the patriarchs of the Old
Testament, excepting a few like Moses and Jacob, did not see Jesus in the flesh
but Jesus in the Spirit.
Now, consider the stereotypical glass
of water question: Is the glass half empty or half full? It seems to be
either one of the other because the liquid inside has substance. It can be sensed
by at least one of the five basic senses. If it is rose water or putrid, it can
even be smelled!
Most people have sensory scotomas
[1]
— a spot in the objective field of vision that goes unnoticed. In psychology,
that “vision” would be the mental eyes and the object is something that goes
unnoticed.
Now consider the glass either
half full or half empty of liquid. If you are an optimist, you see the glass as
half full. If you are a pessimist, you see the glass as half-empty. If you are
a wizard, magi, or wise man, you see beyond what others can see; you may perceive that all space is occupied by
some thing.
That “emptiness” of the glass in a
natural state, is the atmosphere. To prove it to yourself, seal the glass with
cling wrap and turn it upside down. You can see that there is a bubble inside
that supports the liquid for a moment and then moves to a higher position.
There is indeed something else in the glass. Science reveals the constituents are
naturally occurring in the atmosphere. There are many other things in the glass
too small to see but it is still there.
I can “see” the air because I
understand gravity and fluid dynamics. It is not visible, but I know it is
there because I have c scientific insight that you may not have.
Now for the magi who tracked down Jesus.
When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the East, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. (Mat 2:9)
The pragmatic person would see a
star that moved in the sky with the magi following it. Indeed, the
English says that the “star went before them.” Stars move, of course, but
they appear to be stationary. If a person looks in the sky one month the
star is in the same place that it was in the previous month. The distance is so
great and the cosmos so expansive that stars appear to be stationary. That is
the basis since time immemorial for travel. The stars do not move but provide
direction.
The Greek for “went before them”
is “proago,” — to lead forth from a place in which it previously
has lain hidden from view. They did not follow a star but saw a vision that
they had not seen before. It is called correctly, “aster,” – a star. The
English version indicates that they “saw” a star, but did they? They “eido”
a star; they perceived that a star was there.
They may not have even seen
anything with the eye but realized that a “star” was over the child that had not
been there before. The star had not moved at all, perhaps, but revealed itself
to them. It had been there all the time and perhaps the patriarchs of the Old
Testament knew of it, because God had revealed it to them as well.
Balaam was a revelator in ancient days,
16 He hath said, which heard the words of God, and knew the knowledge of the most High, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open: 17 “I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth” (Num 24:16-17)
Now consider Balaam. In a trance,
“his eyes were opened.” Balaam was made a wizard by God. He saw a vision, not
an object. He saw into the future.
God’s plan, according to the Covenant with Abraham was a Star of stars (Gen 15:5). Abraham saw that vision as well, but the point is that the vision was there all the time since the foundation of the world. Jesus said that:
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I AM; that they may behold my Glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24)
“The Glory of God” therein was
Jesus. It was Him that was the Star among all the other stars that was promised
to Jacob. Balaam did not see stars in the sky when he was in a trance, but a “Sceptre”
that shall arise out of Egypt. Sceptre therein is a “branch.” That branch of
God and Abraham was Jesus. The “Star” of Balaam was the Star of Bethlehem, and
it was not in the sky but in a humble home.
Balaam did not “see” the Star but
beheld Him. He perceived in his mind’s eye in a trance that Jesus
was the “Star.” The Sceptre was a thing that was there all the time but then
God allowed Balaam to see it.
The same goes with the magi.
Jesus had been there, perhaps as long as two years, but when the time was ripe
for Herod to die, they beheld Him; they perceived that Jesus was the newborn
king destined to replace Herod.
That Jesus was is the “Star”
is for certain, it seems; Jesus said, “Be with Me where I AM; that they may
behold my Glory.” Where He was, was in Israel, and there the wise men beheld His
Glory (Greek; Doxa) — “splendour, brightness (of the moon, sun, stars); magnificence,
excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace; majesty”
His “Glory” was the “Star” that
Balaam beheld and that the wise men perceived.
So, there we go again. We are
looking for a Star in the sky, and the “scatoma” was that the “Star” was the infant
Jesus!
Balaam had seen the Substance of
God that others could not see, just as the air (pneuma) in the half-full
glass, and finally, the physical Substance of God was seen by the wise men.
The Substances of Jesus was Jesus
all the time and Balaam saw what others could not see. Even the wise men saw
what others could not see, nor what they could not see before.
It was not the “Star” that was
moving but their vision; they perceived what they had not before, albeit Jesus
was there all the time! Now, He was there in Spirit and the wise men saw what
was once missing from the “half-full glass.”
Jesus called that “glass” His “Cup”
or literally His Vessel (Mat 26:39-42).
The Cup of Jesus was there all
the time and the patriarchs of old saw the empty part of the Cup as full of
another Substance that most could not see. Jesus “fulfilled” the Cup when He
was made flesh for all to see. They saw Jesus as the Cup half full, but Christians
should be able to see the Spirit of Jesus that others cannot see — the full
Cup!
[1] For scotomas see my Daily Thought at https://kentuckyherrin.blogspot.com/search?q=scotoma.
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