Bible Words & Terms

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Bethlehem's Star

● Matt 2:1-10 . . Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the
days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to
Jerusalem, saying: Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have
seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

. .When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all
Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and
scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be
born. And they said unto him: In Bethlehem of Judaea [Micah 5:2]. After
they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen
in the east went ahead of them.

* Bethlehem of Judea is approx +/- six miles south of Jerusalem.

As the Earth spins on its axis, stars appear to move across the sky from the
east towards the west. The wise men's star moved south, and it also came
to a stop; which should alert planetarium managers that it wasn't an
astronomical object.

● Matt 2:9 . . It stopped over the place where the child was.

Normal celestial objects are so far out in space that it's nigh unto impossible
to tell the exact spot on earth where one of them is directly overhead at any
given moment without special instruments; so I think we can be reasonably
confident that this star was low enough that there was no mistaking the
exact location where young Jesus was lodged. In other words; this star
wasn't a star, rather, it was an apparition.
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Predestination

Webster's defines predestination as the doctrine that God, in consequence of
his foreknowledge of all events, infallibly guides those who are destined for
salvation.

A very key element in the proper understanding of biblical predestination is
God's ability to see the future. In other words: biblical predestination isn't an
arbitrary selection process, rather, it's based upon knowing ahead of time
how people are going to react in a given situation; for example:

● Rom 8:29 . . For those whom God foreknew, He also predestined to be
conformed to the likeness of His son.

"those whom God foreknew" pertains to all the folks that God was fully
aware would pay attention to the gospel and buy into it.

● Eph 1:13 . . In Christ, you also, after listening to the message of truth--
the gospel of your salvation-- having also believed, you were sealed in him
with the Holy Spirit of promise.

That particular sealing takes place in real time. However, by His knowing
ahead of time who would believe and undergo the sealing, God was able to
put them on a track that He planned for all such in the distant past.

● Eph 1:4-5 . . For He chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to
be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted
as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.
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