How Did The Wise Men Know To Follow The Star?

I was reading the Christmas story a couple years ago when the thought struck me “How did the wise men know to follow the star? How did they even know of a coming Messiah?”

I’ve read that story so many times before yet had never taken the time to really understand the importance of the magi searching for Jesus. I decided to dig a little deeper into God’s Word on the subject and what I discovered blew me away.

How Did The Wise Men Know To Follow The Star?

So how exactly did the wise men know to follow the star of Bethlehem? Scripture says that wise men traveled from the east. This means that they weren’t Hebrew locals who had copies of some Old Testament books lying around. Nor was it likely that they’d grown up Jewish and memorized large portions of Scripture including the verse in Numbers that speaks of a coming star (Numbers 24:17).

So how was it that these men from a faraway land were drawn by a strange star in the sky in search of a Savior?

Where Did the Magi Come From?

The more I studied this topic the more intrigued I became. Most scholars believe that the wise men (or magi) in the Christmas story were descendants of the wise men mentioned in the Old Testament book of Daniel.

Our English words “magic” and “magician” were derived from the Latin word magi. These men were experts in the sciences, including astronomy, and even some occult practices.

There was a time in history when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon (modern day Iraq) demanded to know the interpretation of a startling dream he had.

He informed all of his magicians and wise men, the highest ranking officials of the court, that they had a certain amount of time to interpret this dream. If they failed to do so he would have every last one of them killed. Daniel, a Jewish exile who had found favor in the eyes of the king, prayed that God would grant him understanding of the dream. God graciously answered that prayer thereby saving all of the wise men from their death sentence.

The Wise Men Followed The Star Because of the Good News They’d Been Told

It is believed to be during this time that these men began to take notice of the God of Daniel.

It is very likely that the wise men knew to follow the star on their search for a Savior because of the faithfulness of a certain Hebrew exile hundreds of years prior who had the compassion and boldness to share his faith and the hope he found in the one true God.

Daniel, a young man taken from his home and family, exiled to a foreign country, educated and indoctrinated in a pagan culture, remained faithful to his God and courageously stood firm in his faith, while at the same time sharing the love of God with all of those around him.

This realization hit me hard.

If Daniel, even in his difficult life circumstances, was still able to praise God and share Him with the world around him why can’t we?

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AM I REALLY SAVED?

It is the job of every believer, not just the pastors and gifted speakers, to “go into all the world and preach the gospel”.  No, it is not always comfortable to do so and we won’t always know exactly what to say. And, yes, we may be rejected or misunderstood.

But if we truly believe what we say we believe then the absolute most loving thing we can do is to share the truth and hope found in Christ with those God places in our lives before it is too late. Our lives here are so short.

Believer, this Christmas I pray that each of us would wake up and realize the precious gift of salvation we’ve been given. And then get out there and lovingly share the gospel and the hope that is only found in Christ with a lost and dying world.  

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

The truth is that we are all broken people in desperate need for a Savior. The magi knew of a coming Messiah because someone at some point took the time to share a story of hope with them. The true story of an amazing grace and redeeming love that we come no where near deserving.

May we faithfully share that story of hope with the world around us too.