Editorial by John Mackay
On 21st December 2020, the planets Jupiter and Saturn will pass so close to one another they will appear as one. The expected increase in brightness has people making all sorts of claims about the original Christmas star. Three thousand years ago King David also wrote about the then yet to come Christmas star when he penned: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained” (Psalm 8:3 KJV)
According to experts the last time Jupiter and Saturn had such a close passing was some 800 years ago, shortly after the Normans invaded England and brought their Latin-based language with them, the word ‘consider’ included.
This word found its way into the English language Coverdale Bible (1535) and thence to widespread usage via the 1611 King James Bible, as the translation for the Hebrew word ‘raw-aw’, meaning to look and think about, which in the case of Psalm 8 means to view and ponder the lighted objects in the heavens.
The connection is fascinating for the old Latin word for star is ‘sider’. Have you considered that because the word ‘con-sider’ actually means ‘with the stars’? Present day astronomers state this latest Christmas star event happens once every 800 years. Therefore, it should have been seen in the 1200’s, then before that in the 400’s and also around 400 BC, so it can’t have been the real Christmas star from two millennia ago that heralded Jesus birth.
But the predictable regularity of even this ‘Christmas star’ is an example of what Psalmist David labels ‘ordained’ i.e. there is a plan built into star motion and star time. Ordained means set aside for a holy purpose, and we first read about such an ordination back in Genesis 1:14-19 where God made the stars for signs and times and seasons.
The wise men who visited Christ certainly con-sider-ed the stars – and 2,000 years ago they set out in faith because of a star sign that somehow meant go to Israel. But when they arrived in Jerusalem the priests told them the written Word of God stated the King they sought would be born in Bethlehem. (Matthew 2:4-6 quoting Micah 5:2) The Magi, or wise men, had believed in faith, firstly the star sign and then the Scriptures, and they obeyed.
Those wise men came to worship the Christ who is King of Creation, so let us do the same as we recognise it was this same Jesus who had set the planets and the stars in motion on the fourth day of creation, and given them such a motion that they would be in the right place at just the right time to message the wise men that the King was coming. The Christmas star was ordained, i.e. set aside for holy purpose form the beginning.
You and I need to con-sider the stars just like the wise men did, and then proclaim with the Psalmist ‘O Lord Our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth’ (Psalm 8:1).and never forget that this same Jesus also warned us that in the last days the stars will begin to fall (Matthew 24:29). Make sure you trust Him as the sovereign all-knowing all-powerful Creator Lord, and as your Saviour and King, and be in awe of the One who built the end into the beginning.
Editorial by John Mackay
Creation Research news 16 December 2020
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