First Sunday of Advent

A testimony for the first Sunday of Advent…

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?  For we saw His star in the east, and have come to worship Him.”
(Matthew 2: 1,2 NASB)

I am a man of science; a scholar.  I love books and study the world around me.  One night, I was studying the constellations when I saw it:  A new star in the east that I had never seen before.  I pulled out all of my charts and maps and books.  There was no record of this star ever shining before.  I was puzzled by this.  What could it mean? Was this a message from God; the Creator of the stars?  I consulted my friends, also men of science and they too had seen the star.  So we did what we always do when our science fails us…we prayed.  And the Lord revealed to us that this was His sign and that it had been prophesied many years before.  For the prophet said:  “A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.”  (Numbers 24:17b NIV)
So it was decided that we must follow this star and find this newborn King of Kings.  After many days the star stopped and we rejoiced that we would soon meet this King.  Can you imagine our surprise when we discovered the baby, not in a palace as fits a King, but in a small humble dwelling!  The young mother at the door told us we could see the baby.  We entered the room and looked upon the child.  Immediately we were in the presence of God and fell down and worshipped Him.  We rejoiced that God should see fit to visit man and we gave Him our earthly wealth:  gold, frankincense and myrrh.
This all happened many years ago and now I am an old man; but being in the presence of God has changed my life forever.  I now look forward to the day when I shall see Him again face to face.  Once again I shall fall on my knees and worship Him.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  (Hebrews 13:8 NIV)
Have you worshipped Him lately?

First published November 29, 1998