The Star Of Betlehem

Q

I was thinking about the so called Star of Bethlehem. Do you think it was really a giant star in the sky that the whole earth could see or was it something that only those who knew where to look would have recognized?

A

Imagine having to navigate a journey of several hundred miles on horseback with no map, compass, sextant, or other direction finder, only a single star in the sky. And imagine that star guiding you right to a specific building where it stopped, indicating that you’d found the right place. (Matt. 2:9) The Greek word is aster, it’s used 24 times in the New Testament, and is always translated star. I believe it was a star, visible to all, just like the Bible says.

Now, here’s a question for you. How many millennia in advance did the Lord have to program that star into the Heavens so that its light would reach earth at just the right time to guide those men to the Messiah? Visible neither before nor after, but just then.