This morning I want to share two Christmas stories with you. These stories illustrate how God works in unexpected ways to bring hope. The stories are more deeply related than you may imagine, and may radically change the way you’ve thought of both stories. I wonder how many times you’ve sat in the darkness of night, wondering whether there is any hope for this human life. God speak! God show me whether you’re true. God give me a sign, give me any indicator that you’re working your good purpose out in my life.
For our first Christmas story, let’s go WAY BACK to a place called Mesopotamia. Located just north of the Persian Gulf, many believe it was the cradle of humanity. A number of great rivers (The Tigris, Euphrates) converge there, depositing fertile soil, watering the land, making it ideal for all varieties of human flourishing.
It was in Mesopotamia that certain men conspired to build a tower, with the top penetrating the sky. Their ambition was to make a name for themselves, greater than that even of God! God confused their speech, turned them into babblers, and scattered them throughout the earth. Thus, their city came to be called Babylon. It was also in Mesopotamia, in a city named Susa, that Daniel advocated for Yahweh and the cause of Israel with King after King. In Susa, Daniel received vivid revelations of the coming Son of Man, the Christ, the Messiah… the coming Kingdom of Christ… a Kingdom that would rise like a mighty mountain eclipsing the Assyrian, Babylonian, Persian, Greek, Roman kingdoms of men.
Mesopotamia was also location of a city named Ur, of the Chaldeans. One of the most prominent residents of Ur was Terah, who lived there with his son Abram. At end of Genesis 11, Terah leaves Ur and sets out for the land of Canaan. But his journey is cut short, and he settles just north of Ur in Haran. It’s in Haran than God calls Abraham to go out from Mesopotamia, far from his relatives, to another land that God would show him (The land of Canaan! Israel, the Promised Land). In the new land God promised Abram everlasting hope. Genesis 12:1-3. God spoke, and promised to make Abram into a great nation, to bless him, to protect him, to make his name renown and great. God promised a son to Abram, an heir, through which all nations on earth would be blessed.
By his Word, God has declared great, extraordinary promises to all who might believe. But some don’t know God’s word. Some have heard it, but have chosen to reject it as rubbish. For Abram, God’s promise of hope was too great, too unimaginable, to trust.
In Genesis, God has to reiterate the same promise to Abram over again. God has to keep reassuring Abram that He is with him, guiding him, blessing him, keeping his promise, that his purpose and plan is unfolding, that hope is real. Abram doesn’t trust God’s WORD so much—and he reminds God repeatedly that he still has no son, heirs, nor posterity. I know you say there is hope God, BUT. . .
One night as Abram doubts God, Genesis 15:5 says, “God took Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” Then God said to him, “Your offspring will be that numerous.”
Now you’ve read or heard it a million times. Why did God tell Abram to look at the sky and count the stars? God had already declared his Word to Abram. But there is more to this text we may not understand. Just who were Terah and Abram? What do we know about Ur? Or the Chaldean folks who lived there?
The Chaldeans were Mesopotamian Easterners—they were considered wise men, renown in astrology. They subscribed to a mystical form of Astrology, not unlike those, who turn to their daily horoscope. The Chaldeans or Ur believed the heavenly bodies had a kind of mystical power over life. They believed the alignment of the stars (and planets) affected everything from moods, to personality, to environment, to present and future events. Like astrologists today, they would assign all manner of meanings and predictions to things they saw. They would use magic in an attempt to control people and events in the names of the supernatural forces they observed. They’d call upon these forces by means of ceremonies, the recitation of spells, charms, incantations, and other rituals.
We can take it on good authority that pagan Abram, in all likelihood, before God called him, would have been ensnared in Mysticism and Astrology. If you are interested to know…
1) An ancient, Babylonian text says of Abram… “In the tenth generation after the flood there lived among the Chaldeans a just and righteous man who was great and versed in celestial lore.”
2) The Jewish Historian Josephus describes Abram “a man of extreme wisdom – gifted not only with high intelligence but with power to convince his hearers on any subject which he undertook to teach – he introduced [Egyptians] to arithmetic and transmitted to them the laws of astrology. For before the coming of Abraham, the Egyptians were ignorant of these bodies of knowledge. In this way, these bodies of knowledge travelled from the Chaldeans into Egypt, from which they passed to the Greeks.”
3) According to the Talmud, Abraham was a great philosopher and astrologer. He held great astrology in his heart, and all the kings of the east and west arose early at his door.
Whatever we make of Abram’s connection to pagan mysticism and astrology—everything changed for Abram the day God spoke hope into his star-filled, but very dark world. An Ancient commentary on Genesis says pagan Abram would often sit up “through the night on the new moon of the seventh month to observe the stars from evening to morning, in order to see what would be the character of the year with regard to the rains, and he was alone as he sat and observed. And a word came into his heart and he said: ‘All the signs of the stars, and the signs of the moon and of the sun are all in the hand of the Lord. Why do I search (them) out? If He desires, He causes it to rain, morning and evening; and if He desires, He withholds it, and all things are in his hand’”
Abram looked to mysticism, astrology, and the stars for answers, but no answers were found. This Christmas, people still look to mystical astrology for answers today. Hope will come from above. If only we could build a tower high enough (or spaceship great enough thank you Musk and Bezos) and bring hope down on our terms. Or maybe aliens on spaceships will come bring it to us. Mystic Hope.
If not Mystical Astrology, people look to Materialistic Astronomy (purely natural sciences) for hope. Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. Astronomy uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, galaxies, meteoroids, asteroids, and comets.
There are four main fields of study in Astronomy. ASTROPHYSICS is applying the laws of physics in space; ASTROMETRY is about Mapping celestial bodies; ASTROGEOLOGY: Examining rocks, terrain, and material in space; ASTROBIOLOGY: Searching for life outside Earth. Bezos said this week our hope is to one day live in space, and earth will just be a vacation destination.
Whether is Mystical Astrology, or Materialistic Astronomy—people are still peering into the dark sky for hope. In Genesis 12, God unexpectedly gives hope to Abram by his WORD! God revealed Himself to Abram—and Abram learns that his fate isn’t determined (deterministically) by the stars but by the One who created the heaven, the earth, the stars! And quite unequivocally, Abram (this wise man, astrologist, Chaldean from the far east) is told the hope of nations would come in the form of a child, a flesh and blood heir, a son.
One way you can think of Abram’s conversion is that God rescued him from futility of Mystical Astronomy. But neither did God lead Abram into a Naturalistic Materialistic God-denying variety of Astronomy—the Astronomy of the Atheistic Richard Dawkins and his ilk.
In Genesis 15, God brings Abram from Mystical Astronomy, past Materialistic Astronomy, deep into Messianic Theology. In Genesis 14:19-20, God speaks through a priest named Melchizedek, to give Abram a theology lesson. Melchizedek meets Abram and blesses him saying, “Abram is blessed by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and blessed be God Most High who has handed over your enemies to you.” In other words, Abram there is a higher power than the stars—and it’s the Creator of the Universe. It’s this Creator God who blesses you, and guides you, preserves you, and saves you! There are no profound answers to be found within materialistic astronomy or its wayward cousin mystical astrology. . . but if we’d listen, we’d hear voice of God speaking hope into our lives by his Word!
In Matthew 2 we have a strange replay of Abram’ story. Some “Magi” from the East are searching the stars for hope. Like Abram… these wise men, these star gazers, these mystical astrologists… like the modern materialistic astronomer… these Magi are looking for hope. And quite unexpectedly they observe a star.
Matthew 2:1-3 “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.” 3 When King Herod heard this, he was deeply disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.”
Notice that the star doesn’t contain truth… it’s only a sign. For true spiritual understanding, both the Magi (wise men) and evil Herod must like Abram turn to, and trust in God’s WORD. Matthew 2:4-6, “4 So he assembled all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah would be born. 5 “In Bethlehem of Judea,” they told him, “because this is what was written by the prophet: 6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah: Because out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”
Do you realize that God has always held out the same exact hope to humankind from the beginning of time? Whether is Ancient Abram, of Mesopotamia. Whether it’s these mystical astronomers from the Far East. Whether it’s materialistic astronomers today. God uses unexpected means (signs, wonders, stars, planetary phenomena) to point us not just into his Word, but to point us to look quite specifically for a child born in a manger!
Now Herod is of the variety of evil king, like those of Babylon Daniel contended with in Suza and Mesopotamia. But the Magi were of the character of Abram… believing, and obeying God’s Word… receiving hope of the ages and the nations that’s come in form of baby in manger.
Matthew 2:7-12, “7 Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and asked them the exact time the star appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report back to me so that I too can go and worship him.”
After hearing the king, [The Magi (wisely!)] went on their way. And there it was—the star they had seen at its rising. It led them until it came and stopped above the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11 Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and falling to their knees, they worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And being warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another route.”
Modern astronomers think the star of Bethlehem was the chance alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, the moon and the sun in the constellation of Aries. Others argue the star was an unprecedented astronomical event, such as a supernova, comet, or a spectacular alignment of the planets. The star is only of utility in that it brings these Magi face to face with God. The Son is the one we must now learn to follow—for hope is found in Christ.
Hear the testimony of Hebrews 1:1-4: “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2 In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 4 So he became superior to the angels, just as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs.”