We turn now to the Holy Scriptures, and I would like to read the Scriptures this morning from the Old Testament book of Numbers, reading from chapter 24, Numbers chapter 24. Let us listen then to the Word of God in this passage. Numbers 24, verses 1 through 19 will be our reading. God's holy and inspired word read as follows there, now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times to seek to use sorcery, but he set his face toward the wilderness. And Balaam raised his eyes and saw Israel encamped according to their tribes, and the Spirit of God came upon him. Then he took up his oracle and said the utterance of Balaam, the son of Beor, the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened. The utterance of him who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down with eyes wide open. How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel, like valleys that stretch out, like gardens by the riverside, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters. He shall pour water from his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters. His king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. God brings him out of Egypt. He has strength like a wild ox. He shall consume the nations, his enemies. He shall break their bones and pierce them with his arrows. He bows down, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion who shall arouse him. Blessed is he who blesses you, and cursed is he who curses you. Then Balak's anger was aroused against Balaam, and he struck his hands together, And Balaam said to Balaam, I called you to curse my enemies. And look, you have bountifully blessed them these three times. Now therefore, flee to your place. I said I would greatly honor you, but in fact, the Lord has kept you back from honor. So Balaam said to Balaam, did I not also speak to your messengers whom you sent me, saying, if Balaam were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord to do good or bad of my own will. But the Lord says that I must speak, and now indeed I'm going to my people. Come, I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the latter days. So he took up his oracle and said, the utterance of Balaam, the son of Beor, and the utterance of the man whose eyes are opened, the utterance of him who hears the words of God and has the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, who falls down with eyes wide open, I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. The star shall come out of Jacob. The scepter shall rise out of Israel, and batter the brow of Moab, and destroy all the sons of Tumult. And Edom shall be a possession. Seir also, his enemies, shall be a possession, while Israel does valiantly. Out of Jacob, one shall have dominion and destroy the remains of the city. So far the reading of God's holy word. May he bless it to our hearts. We'll be focusing on verse 17, the prophecy that is given there by the Lord through Balaam, where Balaam says, I behold him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob. A scepter shall rise out of Israel and batter the brow of Moab and destroy all the sons of Tumult. May God add his blessing to the reading and proclamation of his holy word this morning. Dear people of God, one of the striking phenomena of the universe and one that never ceases to amaze me is the multitude of stars in the heavens. Sometimes when you stand outside on a clear night and you gaze up into the sky, from one end to the other, as far as your eyes can see, you can't help but be struck by the innumerable stars out there. And those are only the ones that we can see, of course, with the naked eye. If you would look through a telescope, you could see many, many more. In fact, astronomers estimate that there are over 200 billion stars in each galaxy. And there are millions of galaxies. And they are vast distances removed from our small planet Earth. The sun, as you boys and girls here may know, is the closest star to Earth. It is just 93 million miles away. and its light takes only eight minutes to reach us. I say just 93 million miles, not because that is not an immense distance, but because did you know that you would have to travel 250,000 times that distance to the sun to reach the next nearest star to us? which is called Proxima Centauri and is 20 trillion miles from Earth. And then think of all the stars beyond that. Now, we as Christians know, of course, why and how those stars all came to be. It's because God created them and placed them in the universe. And he did it to impress on us a truth that many of the world's astronomers should see, yet don't see or will not see, but we as simple believers know it, those stars show us the infinite greatness and splendor of their creator. As David sings to God in Psalm 8, you have set your glory above the heavens. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, the stars which you have ordained, What is man that you're mindful of him, the son of man that you visit him? You know, I never feel quite as small as when I stand outside at night and look up at the multitude of the stars in the heavens. What is man? Now this morning, we want to look at another kind of star that has appeared in the universe. an even more brilliant shining star. But it's not one that we can see through an astronomer's telescope. Rather, we can only see this star through the telescopic lens of God's special revelation, His holy and inspired word. Because this morning, we want to look for a while at the star out of Jacob. And I'm referring here, of course, to our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to consider a very unique prophecy about that star's appearance and character and mission. It's contained here in the prophecy uttered by an evil prophet. Imagine that. But out of that evil man's mouth, God brought forth a message that was true and magnificent, a message that we celebrate in a special way during this Advent season. because this is one of the Old Testament predictions of the coming of the Messiah, who for us has now made his appearance. Now let me say first a little more about how this unique prophecy came about, and then I'll turn to the brilliant star that it speaks about. Now Numbers 24, from which we just read, we're in the middle of an account of how a prophet by the name of Balaam was called upon by King Balak of Moab to curse the people of Israel. It's a story, I think, that most of you are familiar with. The people of Israel were on their journey to Canaan, the land God had promised them. In fact, they were getting very close now to entering that land. They had reached the borders of Canaan. They were in the region or land of Moab, which is directly across the Jordan River from Jericho. When the people of Moab saw this large multitude of Israelites camped in their territory, it made them very nervous. They had heard what the Lord had done for Israel in the Exodus and on their wilderness journey, how he had saved them and given them victory after victory over their enemies. And now these Israelites were right among them, right in their territory. And the Moabites were not a strong nation. They could not defeat the Israelites in battle. And so, Bailey Clerk King thought of another plan as a pagan ruler and one who believed in such practices as divination and the power of sorcery. He thought, if I could get somebody to place a curse on Israel, a powerful curse, then they can be defeated. Balak wasn't all wrong on that, you know, because Satan, who was the prince of evil and the ruler of darkness, did have great power in the Old Testament to make bad things happen. He still does today, even though he's more limited today. And that's why God often warned his people not to practice sorcery or witchcraft or engage in other satanic practices. They were not to fall into that trap of the demonic world and bow before Satan. But anyway, that's what brought Balaam, you see, into the picture here. Who was Balaam? He was a false prophet living in that general region and well-known for his occultic abilities such as divination. And divination, incidentally, is the ability to foresee or to predict of what will happen in the future by the power of Satan. And so King Balaam summoned Balaam to come and to place a curse on Israel. And now you also know what happened, how God spoke to Balaam, to this evil prophet, first telling him not to go to Balaam. But then a little later on, he allows him to go there, but only to speak what God would put in his mouth to say. And so Balaam arrived in Moab, and that King Balak, and Balak took him to various heights, mountain heights, where he could see the Israelites camp below in the plains, so this prophet might then place a curse on Israel. Well, is that what Balaam did? No, he didn't. Numbers 23 and 24 record four oracles, four prophetic speeches of Balaam, which God had him speak about the people of Israel and about their future. And if you read them, we read only the third and the fourth oracles of Balaam here this morning, but if you read all of them, in every single case, Balaam blessed the people of Israel and spoke of their glorious future. Why did he say those things? Because he wanted to know, but because God made him do so. God took control over his mind and tongue. Here was a case, and how unique it is, where God put his word, his message, into the mouth of a wicked man, of a false prophet. And so every time Balaam hoped to hear a curse put on Israel, Balaam pronounced God's blessing on them instead, until finally Balaam angrily sent Balaam home. The king had failed in his evil plan. And you know, God demonstrated thereby that he has the power over Satan and all his henchmen. God would not allow a curse to be placed on His people, because they were His people, sinners to be sure, unworthy indeed. But God's grace rested upon them. Later on at Balaam's instigation, the Israelites did fall into serious sin by cavorting with the pagan Moabites, and God had punished them severely. And Balaam himself later died in battle as the judgment of God upon him. But in his oracles from the mountains of Moab, the words of God himself rang out over Israel. And so let me move on to our second main point then this morning. Because through this unique prophecy from the lips of an evil man, God revealed to us the glorious truth. of a rising star to appear, a star out of Jacob, instead of a curse. God would extend his greatest of all blessings on his people and on this dark world. Listen to what God proclaimed through Balaam in our text, Numbers 24, 17. I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. A star shall come out of Jacob. A scepter shall rise out of Israel and batter the brow of Moab and destroy all the sons of tumult. Now what is this prophecy all about? It's about a special star that would appear. And who is this star? Well, let's first of all note His glorious identity. And I've already indicated to you who He is. This is a reference to our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior who has now made His appearance on earth and has returned again to heaven. Balaam said, I see him. I see this star, but not now. I behold him, but not near. Yes, to Balaam and for all God's Old Testament people as well, this star was still in the future and was still far in the distance. Like the stars that we see in the night sky, Jesus Christ in the Old Testament dispensation was always a star that was still distant and dim. He had not yet appeared, though they could see something of His light, but not the fullness of His light. Perhaps a better analogy would be when it gets light in the morning. We don't see the sun right away, but we see something of its light as the sky gets brighter and brighter in the east. And then suddenly, we see the sun pop over the horizon to begin the new day. Well, that's how it was in the Old Testament dispensation. The sun was still below the horizon. But for us now in the New Testament, this star has appeared in all of its brilliance and beauty. For us, the light of the world has risen over the horizon. Listen to the beautiful description of Christ that he gives of himself to John in Revelation 22, verse 16. He tells John, I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star. What a blessing it is for us that we have come to see this bright morning star, Jesus Christ, not as a dim, distant light whom we can barely see. We can say with John in his gospel, chapter 1 verse 14, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. We have seen His glory. Yes, even though we haven't seen Christ physically, of course, We have seen the start of Jacob and what he is like in all his beauty, glory, and grace through the revelation of God's word. We can know how he came to this earth and what he did here on earth. We have the record of his life, of his words, of his works, which he performed when he lived here among us. We have seen how this star from heaven humbled himself even to death, the death of the cross, so that he might atone for our sins and earn for us forgiveness and eternal life. The wise men from the east who came to see Christ by following a special star God had sent to guide them, whatever kind of light that was, remarked when they arrived in Jerusalem, we have seen his star in the east and have come to worship him. Well, we have seen the real star. himself the star who is Christ our Lord. And we have seen him by faith to be sure, but we have beheld him as no saint in the Old Testament could ever see him. What a blessing that we know this star's glorious identity. If only more people on this earth would come to know him, and see him as that bright and morning star. You know, if you ask modern man, especially in our Western secularized society, who is your star? You know what they would say? They would mention some earthly personage, some individual or man on earth, most likely maybe a movie star, or a rock star, or a sports star, or somebody who's made a great name for himself on earth. Those are the stars of our world which people bow down to and worship. And yet, they are not stars at all. They're nothing compared to the star we worship. In fact, you know what I would call the movie stars and the rock stars of our age? I would call them, in the language of astronomy, black holes. Black holes. The stars of this world have added no light whatsoever to the lives of people on earth. None to speak of. They've only added the darkness. They've sucked them into black holes. So the people's lives are still lived in the night. But the star of Jacob, the star whom God has sent, has brought us eternal blessing of light, the light of joy and life and peace and truth. Let none of us hear, let none of us hear, whether young people or children or adults, let none of us idolize. The sinful stars, so-called, of this world, they will only lead us further into the darkness. But let us know and believe in Him and follow the only star worth following, our blessed Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the true and only light who has come into the world. Why? To give light. and life to our dark souls. As John also writes in his gospel, in him was life, and that life was the light of men. Without him, we have no life and no hope. And that's true for the billions living on planet Earth still today. Oh, may his glorious identity be made known more and more throughout our dark world, through the church, through its missionary endeavors and outreach. as well through your and mine own personal testimony and walk of life. Now let's go back to our text from Numbers 24 verse 17 and notice a second truth about the great star Balaam saw in his vision and prophesied about because it should not escape us that God through Balaam also brings out the human appearance or character of this star. How does he do that? Well, in two ways. First, listen again to exactly what Balaam said. I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. The star shall come out of Jacob. Balaam doesn't say, I see it. I behold it, with reference to this star. No, he uses the personal pronouns, I see him, I behold him. He's speaking about a person, a human being. God gave Balaam a vision here of a star, of a shining light with the form and the appearance of a man. And of course, that's exactly who our Savior was. He came into this world as a man. He was born of a woman and was seen as human nature through a woman, the Virgin Mary. That truth was already revealed, of course, in the Old Testament through the prophet Isaiah. who wrote in chapter 7, verse 14 of his prophecy, Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and she shall call him Emmanuel. In chapter 9, verse 6 of Isaiah, we read the familiar prophecy, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Indeed, this star would have to be a man like us if he were to save us. He would have to come bearing our infirmities, our finiteness, our diseases. Indeed, He would have to come as a slave, and He would have to become obedient to death, the death of the cross, that He might deliver us from eternal death and make us to be children of God. You know, that's what the Jews and even the disciples of Jesus found hard to understand. when the star out of Jacob came to earth, that he had to come here as a humble man. And here in ancient Israel, when the Israelites are about to enter Canaan, God reveals through Balaam that the star to appear would come as a man. I said a moment ago he does that in two ways. At first he uses the personal pronouns to describe what he saw. I see him, but not now. I behold him, but not near. And then Osphalim continues, a star shall come out of Jacob, a subject will rise out of Israel. That indicates the star to come would come from the people of Israel. Jacob was the forefather of Israel. In fact, his name was changed to Israel. And so here the name or word Jacob refers not just to the person Jacob, but as is common in many places in the Old Testament, the name here stands for the people who descended from Jacob, the nation of Israel. The star shall come out of Jacob, out of God's Old Testament people. It's from that human lineage that the star would one day come, who would be a king, a ruler, wielding a royal scepter. Well, that brings me lastly this morning to note one more great truth indicated here in Balaam's prophetic utterance. And it's again not a truth that was immediately or fully grasped. by God's Old Testament people, even by those among whom he came and from whom he was born into this world. It is that this star out of Jacob would be God himself. Yes, he came as a man, but he was, in fact, God in our flesh. He was Emmanuel, God with us, a divine Messiah, a divine ruler, a mighty deliverer who would come to bring a great victory. You see, that was the great irony in Balaam's words here. He'd been hired by King Balak to curse Israel so that that nation might be defeated and destroyed even by the power of God himself. But instead, Balaam prophesied that the power of God would save Israel and would defeat her enemies, sending them a mighty star. Indeed, that star out of Jacob will be the divine son of God himself. And therefore he was able to gain the victory over sin and Satan and all the evil powers. Because listen once again to what we read in our text, a star shall come out of Jacob, a subject shall rise out of Israel and batter the brow of Moab and destroy all the sons of Tumult. Those last words of the text are a little difficult to translate from the Hebrew original. The English standard version translates them as it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth. The idea, I think, is clear. The star out of Jacob will crush all Israel's enemies like Moab and break the foreheads or the skulls of those who are their adversaries. Indeed, the star of Jacob would defeat the greatest enemies of God and His people, Satan and his hosts. As God assures us in His very first promise of a Savior in the Bible in Genesis 3.15, the serpent may bruise the heel of the seed from the woman, but He would crush the head of the serpent. Yes, the star of Jacob would not only save his people from their enemies of sin and of Satan, but he would then become a divine king over them and over the universe. The star would wield a scepter. Boys and girls know what a scepter is? A scepter is a small stick or staff held by a king or a queen, usually made out of gold or silver. And the king or the queen is the only person who may hold that scepter. No one else, because like a crown, it belongs only to royalty. The scepter is a symbol that the ruler holding it has all the power over his or her subjects, even the power of life and of death. And that's what is true. our Lord Jesus Christ. He now holds the scepter of the universe. He is Lord of all. He has conquered Satan. He has defeated death and hell. He has dominion over heaven and earth. Balaam continues to say, as we read in verse 18, and Edom shall be a possession, Seir also, his enemies, that is Israel's enemies, shall be a possession, while Israel does valiantly. The nations belong to Christ. They shall become his possession, as the church is his body. And then in verse 19, Balaam continues, out of Jacob, one shall have dominion and destroy the remains of the city. And some interpreters here say that these words may be referring to King David, who one day rise up as a mighty king in Israel and conquer Moab, and he would conquer Edom and the nations around Israel. But even if these words were initially fulfilled in part in David, They point us finally to the great son of David, the divine king who will come to sit on David's throne, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will one day conquer all of God's enemies and have dominion over all the universe. As he's the one before whom every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth. Christ shall have dominion over land and sea. What a glorious truth was revealed here by God and uttered through the voice of an evil prophet. A star shall come out of Jacob. A scepter shall rise out of Israel. And we rejoice to know this morning that He has come and He now reigns. And we know from his word that this star will come again when every eye will see him and all will behold him when he comes in all his glory. May we be among those who worship him already today. May we already adore him and serve him and live for him now. Oh yes, dear people of God, make sure this star out of Jacob has shone with his light in your hearts and in your lives and is shining through you today. Then one day you can be among those about whom the star out of Jacob himself once said, then they, his people, shall the righteous shall shine. like stars in my heavenly kingdom. Amen. Let's pray. We are grateful, Lord, for your word this morning. We are thankful that you have spoken to us through that word, even as it was originally spoken through an evil prophet, yet proclaiming the great and glorious truth that the star out of Jacob has appeared. We have seen his glory. We have tasted his salvation. Thank you, Lord, that we can know and rejoice in his coming and know that he continues to shine in a dark world where so many are caught up in all the things of darkness and evil. But may we be light bearers, may we indeed reflect His light. Help us, we pray, to be faithful in our reflection of Him, the great and glorious and majestic Christ. And so we rejoice again in Him and receive now our thanks for all Your grace to us in Him. In Jesus' name, amen.