Adventist Adventurer Awards and Answers/Jesus' Star

Jesus' Star
Eager Beaver

Who created the stars and on what day?

Genesis 1:14-19 says that God made the sun and the moon and the stars on the fourth day, and placed them in the firmament. The sun and the moon were to rule the day and the night respectively, but day and night had already been created.

Genesis 1:14-19

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

How did the wise men know Jesus was born?

The Bible doesn’t tell us exactly where they came from; it only tells us that they were from a country to the east of Israel (where Jesus was born). Nor does it tell us if they rode camels—although they probably did, since they would have had to cross long sections of desert to reach their destination.

Many Bible scholars believe they probably came from the ancient country of Persia, hundreds of miles away. If so, they might have become familiar with the Old Testament’s prophecies about the coming Messiah, through Jews who had been forced to settle there centuries before. They may, for example, have known of the prophet Isaiah’s words: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders” (Isaiah 9:6).

What is certain, however, is that God revealed to them that the long-awaited Messiah had now been born, and they were determined to find Him and honor Him. When they finally arrived in Jerusalem, they asked where He could be found, and were told of the prophet Micah’s words that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. The sign God had given them in the heavens went before them, and they discovered Jesus. Immediately, the Bible says, “they bowed down and worshiped him” (Matthew 2:11).