The Rising Light

 

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

THE RAISING LIGHT

Matt 2:7-12

7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

NIV

There are two stories here, one of Herod and one of the three magi. There is one more story here about this star, which the Greek word means a rising light. Whether that was really just a star, which we know today is a sun burning far off in the distant universe, or it was a special rising light in the sky of this earth, made especially for the occasion of the birth of Jesus as a man, the magi followed it. It is also interesting that if they came from the East, then they would have seen this star in the west, as they would have had to travel west to get to Jerusalem. So if they came from the East and followed the star the rose in the East they would have gone to China. No, this light, this was a special rising light, not a celestial sun million of light-years away as we know the stars in the night sky are. Why is this important to us? This is the birth of Jesus, the Savior of the world. This is the moment in time that God came down in the form of man to redeem His creation. This is the one moment in time when everything in the world and in the life of mankind changed forever. Why wouldn’t God create a special rising light to shine, to announce to the world that He has come to save us? This was not any star in the sky, for the Magi knew the exact time the rising light appeared. It was a light raising straight up over Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. This makes everything so special; it was the most extraordinary event on earth, and it had to be celebrated by God with this rising light over Bethlehem. Therefore, we need to see how incredible Jesus is, as he is divine, fully God, and fully man. We cannot take this moment lightly or for granted. Jesus cannot be just a part of our life; he is our life. We are more than a mere Christian. We are born again, spirit-filled, God-fearing children of God. This life of ours is always in the watchful and protective eye of our heavenly Father and Jesus is right there at His right hand forever making intercession for us. How can we do anything but devote ourselves to Him, to live exclusively for Him, to follow that rising light, for He is the Light of the world, in order that we might worship Him, not with material gifts as the magi did, but by giving Him ourselves, a living sacrifice, which is our spiritual act of worship? Let that rising light shine within us.