Matthew 2:1-8 Led by a Star
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: January 8, 2019, Matthew 2:1-8
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’” Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”
(Understanding the Text) The SDA commentary tentatively sets the birth of Jesus as happening in the fall of five B.C. It also gives several other interesting details. Jerusalem was troubled because Herod was troubled. The people well knew what atrocities Herod was capable of if he felt his power threatened, and it worried them. The priests and scribes tried to evade Herod’s questions at first, so he had to keep asking them. One of the reasons that they were vague is that they could not accept that God had bypassed them and gone to less acceptable people to announce the birth of the Messiah. “They were by no means as ignorant as they pretended to be, either of the prophecies themselves or of recent events that pointed to their fulfillment. They knew, no doubt, of the vision of Zacharias (Luke 1:22), of the report of the shepherds (see on Luke 2:17), and of the prophecy of Simeon (Luke 2:27, 28, 34, 35). But pride and envy closed the door of their hearts to light, for obviously God had passed them by in favor of uncouth shepherds and uncircumcised heathen, as they thought. They branded the reports as fanaticism and unworthy of attention (see DA 62, 63)” (SDA Commentary).
How did the wise men know that the star indicated the birth of the king of the Jews? Had they been studying the time prophecies of Daniel and knew that the time of Messiah was near? Did they have their own books where God had given them revelations? Did they have a prophet? Had one of them dreamed dreams? My guess is that they had studied numerous books of prophecies and found that Daniel was the real deal, so they studied the Hebrew scriptures in more depth than the Hebrews themselves. As a result, they knew when the Messiah was to come and were watching. At the same time, they studied the heavens in an unrelated study and saw the star. They calculated the area where the star was and they saw that it was in the area of Judea. They put two and two together and saw the star as an indicator that the Messiah was born. They may not have had a complete book of Hebrew scriptures, so they were not sure where the King would be born. The SDA commentary says “They studied the Hebrew Scriptures, and there found a clearer transcript of truth. In particular the Messianic prophecies of the OT claimed their attention, and among these they found the words of Balaam: “There shall come a Star out of Jacob” (Num. 24:17). They probably also knew and understood the time prophecy of Daniel (Dan. 9:25, 26), and came to the conclusion that the Messiah’s coming was near. See pp. 62, 63.” The SDA commentary then goes on to say that after studying the scriptures, they received dreams that told them to go search for the promised Messiah. At first they just followed the star not knowing where it was leading them.
(Understanding the Text / Application) Matthew skips over the details of how and why Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem. His objective was to prove that Jesus was the Messiah through the fulfillment of OT prophecies. He is also trying to show that the Jewish people should have known that Jesus was the Messiah. All of Jerusalem was troubled by the wise men from the east. Jerusalem and Herod and the scribes and chief priests were all made aware of the prophecies of the Messiah. They should have been prepared thirty years later when Jesus appeared. Why did they assume that there was no Messiah from this prophecy? Because they believed that evil had triumphed in Bethlehem. They believed that the baby that the wise men were seeking had been murdered by King Herod. How many times do we give up hope and faith that God can triumph because we see evil occurring all around us and feel that evil is victorious. We give up hope and faith in God’s ability and desire to act.
I don’t believe that Herod thought that he was acting against God. I think that Herod was a kind of atheist or agnostic who only believed in himself and his own desires. He feared other men who had higher worldly power than himself, i.e. Caesar. He feared situations that could take his worldly power away, like a baby born in Bethlehem that his people believed fulfilled a prophecy, but he did not fear God. God had not spoken and acted on the people in anyone’s memory, in fact not for 400 years as far as Herod could see. Herod believed in the power of Rome, the power of force, but not the power of God. Many people today, even those who claim to follow Jesus, have the same belief system. They claim to believe in God, but they have more faith in worldly political power and worldly ways than they do in God. God has seemingly not acted for thousands of years, so why would He interfere with the world now? The Christians who believe this way conclude that it is up to them to stop the evil of this world since God is not acting to do so.
(Revelation of God) I understand now why prophecy is so important. It allows me to see that God is acting to stop evil. I can see that God is in control of the ultimate destiny of this world and that God has said that He will allow evil to exist for a certain time, but in the end, He Himself will destroy all evil. Understanding prophecy lets me get out of God’s way and keep within His plan instead of being used by Satan to further evil plans. Through an understanding of Revelation and Daniel, I understand that God is working on this world even though I don’t see it. I view the history of the world in a different light and realize that I should not expect that I can see all of God’s subtle ways in turning us to Him. God is not a Thor or Zeus hurling lightning bolts and shouting thunder. That is power with limited intelligence and self-control. God is much more intelligent and controlled than our popular stereotypes. We need to accept God as He is rather than trying to squeeze Him into our own ideas.
(Understanding the Text) Matthew’s evidence 3: Jesus was born in Bethlehem. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ Jesus not only fulfilled the prophecy of coming from Bethlehem, but His being born there was unusual because His parents were not living there and the situation that called for them to be there was outside of Jesus’ control. While Mary and Joseph could have tried to fulfill this prophecy on their own, Jesus Himself had no control over it. Furthermore, there was no way that Mary and Joseph could have arranged the census that made it mandatory for Joseph to be in Bethlehem at this time.
The wise men had good intentions. They had come a long way to worship the Messiah. They had brought their best gifts and made their preparations. They wished only the best for the new King. However, in spite of their good intentions and their innocent desire to worship God, their actions brought horror onto many innocent people. They could have no way of knowing that their desire to find the prophesied King would hurt others. In this, they were not guilty; it was Herod and the people of Jerusalem who were guilty of the evil that resulted. It was their use of the honest worshipers’ desire that was to blame, not the worshipers’ attempt to serve God.
(Application) My application for myself is not to accept blame for evil results perpetrated by evil men when I have honestly only tried to follow God. I should not take on a guilt that is not mine to take. I have enough guilt of my own. Satan will try to accuse me and make me feel bad as though I should have prevented his own evil actions, but God does not accuse me. God does not lay a burden on me that is not mine. He promises me rest, not burdens.
Another application for myself is that I need to trust God even when I don’t see His actions. My God is much more subtle and intelligent than I am, so I need to trust that He is working even when I am not aware of it. I need to have faith and know the scriptures so that when He does act overtly, I can recognize it. I also need to listen to the Spirit’s leading so that I can clearly see the right path before me.
(Prayer) When Satan accuses me, give me the vision to see myself as You see me rather than the picture that Satan tries to make me see. Help me to remember that just because I do not understand what You are doing and I do not see even a small fraction of Your workings, You are still active. Guide me through Your Spirit living in me to walk in the path that You have placed before me and to look at You rather than all the cruel and inane activities around me.