Matt 2:4 And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. (5) And they said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written through the prophet.
The wise men saw the vision and, realizing that it indicated the King of the Jews, they assumed that they should go to Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish nation, where the King of the Jews was presumed to be. Their decision to go to Jerusalem did not come from the light of the star. They went to Jerusalem because they were distracted from the right track by their natural concept....It was the capital and the city where the temple was located, but it was not the place where Jesus was born. Because the wise men were misled, they caused a serious problem and nearly caused the young child Jesus to be killed....Their error cost the lives of many young ones (vv. 16-18). Many times you have the vision, but when you consider the matter in your mind, you are distracted and misled by your natural concept. Your human concept distracts you from the right track. Whenever you are distracted like this, you need the Bible....After the magi had gone to Jerusalem, the wrong place, they were corrected through the Scriptures. From the Scriptures they learned that the right place was Bethlehem, not Jerusalem. If they had not been misled by their natural concept, the star certainly would have led them directly to the place where Jesus was in Bethlehem....When the magi had been corrected by the Scriptures, had departed from Jerusalem, and had been restored to the right track, the star appeared again (v. 9). Living vision always goes along with the Scriptures. [continued tomorrow]
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of Matthew, 1986, pp. 82-83. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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