The wise men and the star

The wise men are considered to be astronomers and priests.   They studied the skies and the planets long before we had the technology of today.  During this time period they found something very interesting in the sky.  A huge star indicating the King of the Jews was to be born.  The likely place to find out where this would happen was the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.  It is important to note that the wise men were not Jewish. God loves and can use anyone for His will.

Matt 2:1-8
2 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2 saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
5 So they said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet:
6 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
Are not the least among the rulers of Judah;
For out of you shall come a Ruler
Who will shepherd My people Israel.'" (Micah 5:2)

From these verses we can see that people believed the prophecies before the birth of Christ.  And even knew them by heart.  Sadly Herod did not know, and he was the current King of the Jews.  All of Jerusalem was troubled.  You would think the coming of the Christ would be a good thing in the temple- that it wouldn't be a huge surprise.  It took wise men from the east to point this out, they were the ones who worshiped Jesus.  This shows the deterioration taking place in the Jewish leaders since the time of King David.  David did everything for the glory of God.  When he sinned, he was forgiven, and went on to bring God glory again.

7 Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise men, determined from them what time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also."
NKJV

Herod was a wicked King.  His desire was to destroy the competition, it was all about his glory.  So he lied telling the wise men he wanted to worship Jesus. 

Here's how God worked it out with the wise men:

Matt 2:12
12 Then, being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way.
NKJV

One of my hobbies is astronomy.  You can imagine how excited I got when astronomers wrote they had figured out the star over Bethlehem in my "Astronomy Magazine".  It is documented that a very rare and unusual incident happened during this time period where Venus and Jupiter were in the constellation Leo.  Here is a quote from SPACE.com: 

"Perhaps the signal for their star was to be a sign in the constellation of Leo, the Lion.

To the early Israelites, Leo was a constellation of great astrological significance and considered a sacred part of the sky. A very close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter would have been visible in the eastern dawn sky of the Middle East from about 3:45 to 5:20 a.m. on Aug. 12, 3 BC.

When they first emerged above the eastern horizon, the two planets were separated by only about two-fifths of the Moons apparent diameter or 12 minutes of arc. As a comparison, the separation of the stars Mizar and Alcor in the handle of the Big Dipper is also 12 minutes. Planets this close are very striking, if they don't differ too much in brightness.

Incidentally, St. Matthew wrote that the Magi stated in their meeting with King Herod: "We have seen his Star in the East and have come to worship him." It has never been clear if they saw the star in the eastern sky, or if they saw it from the East. The fact that the Aug. 12, 3 BC conjunction of Venus and Jupiter occurred in the eastern sky and may have also started the Magi on the journey (from the East) to Bethlehem means that both bases are covered with their statement -- reported by St. Matthew -- to King Herod.

Venus ultimately vanished into the glare of the Sun, but Jupiter and Leo remained in the night sky during the next ten months. During this time a number of additional planetary conjunctions took place, all of which would have been of great importance to the priest-astrologers of the time."  Full Article Space.com

Here is another exciting archeological find.  If Jupiter truly did reverse itself, this could only be the hand of God.  It's important to note that these sources aren't from Christian publications.  I wanted to see what the scientists have found, unbiased.
Ancient Roman Coin

I read in my research that this phenomenon has never occurred again in over 2000 years.  One of the proofs that God exists is the orderliness of the universe.  There have been many theories, over the years, as to how the universe will end.  However no one can truly explain how it has lasted this long.  The constellations we see in the sky today, are the same as when Jesus walked the earth.  The earth has changed through war, storms, earthquakes etc.  But the constellations have not.  What a grand entry for the Son of God!  When we are in Heaven we'll know the truth.  For now, we know nothing is impossible for God.