Thoughts From the Bible

Read Matthew 2: 7- 12 - The dichotomy in this short passage is i nteresting.  Verses 10 through 12 say this, “When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.  And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary His mother, and they fell down and wor shiped Him. The, opening their treasures, they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh. And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.” T he joy of seeing Jesus was great for the wise men.  They offered great gifts but rejoiced in seeing Jesus.  This is a good picture for us to etch in ou r minds, the joy we should feel in knowing Jesus. The next thought is no different from our world today.  The wise men knew Herod did not have good intentions toward Jesus and left the country without Herod knowing because they kn ew Jesus was very special . We have events and things that happen in our lives that cause us distress and cause ...

Read Matthew 2: 1- 6- Many of us know the Christmas story, the birth of Jesus, very well. One of the interesting things, is how a person can read the Bible and find something in a passage that may have been read many times before but jumps off the pages as something new.   We know the wise men followed the star that was evident when Jesus was born.  We knew Herod was troubled by all of this.  It was a threat to his position.  In verses 1-3 we read this, “Now after Jesus was born in Bethleh em of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw His start when it rose and have come to worship Him.’ W hen Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.” We know the shepherds in the field saw the angels proclaiming Jesus’ birth. We know about the wise men following a new star.  We kne w Herod was concerned.  Did we fully realize al...