“Where is the one who
has been born KING of the Jews? We saw is STAR in the east and have come to
worship him”
-The 3
wise men
1‘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,
2Saying ‘where is He who has been born King of the Jews?
For we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship him’ when Herod
heard this he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him’
Imagine!
What if Bill Gates had never made it till today, if his star had stayed dimmed?
Who would have discovered Microsoft Windows? What if Benjamin Carson’s star was
beclouded long time ago, I strongly believe that those samese twins would have
died! And John Hopkins Hospital along with all those he had help saved their
lives would not have benefitted at all. In fact there may never be a book
called ‘Gifted Hands’. What about Micheal Faraday-the young man who discovered
electricity, we could have been walking around today with candles! Above all,
what if Herod was successful in his plot to choke the baby Jesus’ star believe
me there would have never been salvation which is the greatest gift to the
world!
It’s
disheartening that inspite of all these narrow escapes and good lucks, many
people have lost their stars, their dreams, their future! Many people’s life
had been cut short and nose dived. This is really painful. A recent occurrence in
took place in the University of Port Harcourt validates my point. On the 5th
of October 2012 where four hefty and future-promising undergraduates of the
University of Port Harcourt in cold blood. This future promising young men had
stars shining over their heads craving for limelights, but their stars were
beclouded and plundered. A gory incident that earned them the name ‘the unfortunate four’
Whenever
every child is born there is a bright shining star that shines over the head of
that child. This star can not help itself than to shine brilliantly everywhere.
That star is symbolic to the child’s destiny, his future, what God has ordained
and declared that the child would become. This is called predestination.
THE
2 KINDS OF VISITORS:
1 WISEMEN VISTORS
This
same star which shines over a person’s or child’s head provokes or stirs up
mixtures of feelings in different individuals. In vs. 2 the wise men saw the
star, the glory over Jesus’ life and said ‘where is He who has been born king
of the Jew? For we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship
Him’. In spite of how far Bethlehem was from Jerusalem, the wise men saw the
star of Jesus and traced him to where he was located. Parents may not clearly see
the star in their children but people do see this star very clearly. And this
same star may cause various reactions in the mind of those who see them.
To
the three wise men, the star over Jesus head made them happy and wanting to
celebrate they had no evil intention whatsoever against Jesus. Matt 2:10 says ‘when they saw the star, they rejoiced with
exceedingly great joy’ they said ‘we have seen his star from the east and
have come to worship him’. Also little wonder in vs. 11, when they came into
the manger where the child Jesus was laid, they fell down and worshiped him.
And they opened their treasures and presented him gifts of gold, frankincense,
and myrrh. They did not just saw an infant child who was wrapped in a manger,
they saw a great king and savior of the whole world, they did not just saw a
carpenter’s child, they saw a sovereign being seated at the right hand of his
father with angels bowing down at his command.
So
they came to support and to make this great destiny and dream to come to
fruition. Likewise there are people who just like the 3 wise men who want to
see us become what we have been destined to be. So they would go the extra mile
to care and give the support they can. Do you know people like that?
2.
HEROD VISITORS
Vs.
2b of Matthew chapter 2 says ‘when Herod heard this he was troubled and all
Jerusalem with him’ Just like Herod, there are many people who are not happy
about the star shinning brightly and brilliantly over our heads. Whenever they
see such a child they are always ‘troubled’. Their agenda is to frustrate and
impede the dreams of our children to becloud the radiance of their stars and to
totally terminate their mission in life. Mike Murdock recounted ‘our dreams
reveals our enemies making them defeatable’
Countless number of people are
not comfortable because they have envisioned and realize that our children have
a bright future and like Herod they are determined to go any length to hamper
their progress in life. These people are not easily detected; they are
professional pretenders. Just like Herod they would say ‘go and search
carefully for the young child and when you have found Him, bring back words to me
that I may come and worship Him also’ (matt 2:8)
Now
if Jesus Christ, in spite of his exceeding greatness could still face
persecutions and threats of death in the hands of a wicked king like Herod.
Then we in these contemporary times have a whole lot of work to do as regards protecting
the life and stars of ourselves, children, brothers and sisters
b.
JOSEPH: THE SAVIOUR OF HIS FAMILY
Every
father, mother, guardian should learn valuable lessons from the life of Joseph.
He became the savior of his endangered family. What was the reason? How did he
achieve this?
Looking
closely at the life of Joseph I observed a few attributes
1.
He was a principled man (a clear reason
why he almost divorced Mary when he discovered she was pregnant. He was a kind
of man who will not tolerate infidelity or unfaithfulness in marriage)
2.
He was an upright or just man (matt 1:19)
3.
He was obedient to God’s word (matt1:20)
and above all,
4.
He was able to hear from God.
Joseph
was a man filled with the Holy Spirit. He was a man who could listen and hear
clearly the direction which God was LEADING him. As a father, you are the
director of the affairs of the family and the savior of your family. God
communicates with us by speaking to us in spirit and dreams and any man whose
spiritual ears are closed will lead his family into the hands of evil men.
We
learnt that God instructed Joseph to leave Bethlehem and run to Egypt because
Herod seeks the life of the child Jesus. Thanks to Joseph as we was attuned to
the leadings of the Holy Spirit. The lessons we can draw from this passage is
that a carnal person cannot lead a family. Parents who are not walking
according to the leads of the voice of the Holy Spirit will lead their family
to disaster, frustration, difficulties and even death.
CYPRIAN henry
08088733350
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