What is your star sign? Is it Aries? Gemini? Capricorn? Whatever your sign is you may feel that your horoscope is a good tool for guidance in life. Perhaps, then, you would like to connect with the path that some ancient astrologers took when they sought self-awareness and guidance.
About 2,500 years ago, Babylon was the multi-cultural centre of the ancient near east. It was renowned for its astrologers and particularly for a class of wise ones known as the Magi. The Magi were distinguished for lining up the births of significant people with major heavenly signs.
Nebuchadnezzar was Babylon's most famous King. At a crucial point in his reign he had a mysterious dream but its interpretation eluded his advisors. It was at this time that the Magi were joined by a spiritually gifted Jewish exile named Daniel. Daniel had a wide reputation for being prophetically gifted and understanding dreams. When Daniel counselled Nebuchadnezzar he said:
“No wise men, enchanters, magicians or diviners can show to the King the mystery that the King is asking, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has disclosed to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen at the end of days.”
Daniel unfolded the truths the King sought and he was appointed the chief of the Magi. Under Daniel's influence the Magi came into contact with the Jewish sacred writings. These books recorded ancient predictions about Israel. One of these, known as the Oracle of Balaam, forecast the coming of a spiritual master whose presence would be known by a heavenly sign:
“The oracle of one whose eye sees clearly... I see him, but not now... A star will come out of Jacob: a sceptre will rise out of Israel.”
The Star of Jacob was the heavenly sign that the greatest Jewish spiritual master had been born. Balaam's prediction was so widely known, even Tacitus the official Roman Historian knew about it.
Several centuries elapsed before the Magi could positively identify Jacob's Star. They travelled from Babylon to Jerusalem to find the master whose birth was indicated by this star. The Magi knew when to go there because of the precise predictions made by their mentor Daniel who had predicted the timeframe within which this Jewish master would be born.
So the Magi sought and found him:
”In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking: "Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we have observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage. "
The Magi's quest brought them to Jesus. Later, Jesus explained very clearly who He was and why He came:
“I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty... For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”
The Magi invited Jesus into their lives and we can do this too. Jesus Christ wants to give you life. Could you trust Jesus whom the Magi found?
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© 2003 Philip Johnson