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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Balaam
Sees The Star It
was over 1400 years before Jesus was born when Israel
was preparing to enter the promised land of Back
in those days, all civilizations were polytheistic,
that is, believing in more than one God.
Israel
was distinct among all civilizations because they only believed in one
God, although from time to time they did stray into polytheism.
All of these old civilizations had men who claimed to be in
contact with the gods. They
were called by many titles, such as, prophets, sorcerers, or diviners.
Sorcery became a well developed mystical art, and those who
practiced it were very influential.
Balaam
was one of the most influential sorcerers in the middle east back then.
He lived near the Euphrates In
response to this request, Balaam, a pagan sorcerer, enquired from the
God of Israel if he should go to Balak and curse Israel. You must remember that
Balaam would have accepted the Israeli God as just one of a number of
gods. Miraculously, Yahweh
actually answered Balaam and allowed him to go to Balak with one
stipulation. Balaam was to
do exactly what God told him to do, and that included not cursing Israel. The
only reason why God used this pagan sorcerer as one of His prophets was
for the benefit of Israel. God can, and will, go to
any extreme to accomplish His will concerning His people, which today
includes both Christians and Israelis.
Balaam
gave Balak five prophecies. I'd
like to quote part of one that is found in Numbers 24:17.
These words spoken by this pagan sorcerer are astonishing.
"I see him, but not now; I
behold him, but not near. A
star will come out of Jacob, and a scepter will rise out of I'm
especially touched by these words during this Christmas season.
Here was a pagan sorcerer who lived some 1400 years before the
birth of Jesus. He saw Jesus
in a vision walking the paths of Balaam
did understand that the man he saw in the vision was very important to Balaam
prophesied that this ruler would "crush the forehead of This
Christmas, when I read, "a star will come out of Jacob",
I'm
reminded of the star that led other pagan sorcerers with their gifts to
the boy Jesus. They were
much like Balaam. Before
Jesus returns to earth with the scepter of authority, He first came to
earth as the humble servant, to be reduced to a common criminal.
The only true God of all there is, reproduced Himself into
humanity and died a disgraceful death to take away His anger towards us
because of our sin. This is
the real story of Christmas, and the story does not end here.
It ends when the suffering Jesus returns to earth, comes out of Israel, crushes the head of worldly nations, and rules on this earth for all
eternity. We who have
trusted our lives with Him will thoroughly enjoy our new existence on a
recreated planet. The one
single star that led three eastern sorcerers to Jesus will turn into
flashes of lightning as Jesus sweeps across the sky to appear in
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