To know is not enough

It’s officially Christmas in Japan.  Sort of.

As I write this, stores everywhere are starting to put up Christmas decorations and sell them.

And it’s only November 2nd.

Actually, things were being put up two weeks ago.

Yesterday, I went to one store, and they had some really cool Christmas cards that played up to 16 Christmas tunes.  They cost about $20 or so.

I was almost tempted to buy one. Maybe I still will…in a month or so, anyway.

Anyway, Numbers is not a place where you’d expect to see a Christmas prophesy, but that’s exactly what you see here.

Balaam said,

I see him, but now now;
I behold him, but not near.

A star will come out of Jacob,
A scepter will rise out of Israel.  (Numbers 24:17)

It was perhaps this prophesy that the wise men remembered when they saw the star in the east, causing them to come to Israel.  (Matthew 2:1-2).

God revealed to Balaam that a ruler was going to come out of Israel.

Balaam knew this.  And yet, all the evidence points to the fact that he never turned his heart to the God of Israel.

He never turned his heart to the ruler who was to come.

Just to know about God is not enough.  Just to know about Jesus is not enough.

To know that he came to this earth and lay in a manger in Bethlehem is not enough.

To know that he died on a cross to take the punishment for our sins is not enough.

To know that he rose again three days later is not enough.

We need to open up our hearts to him.

The priests and teachers of the law knew the prophesies of the Messiah.  Yet they never bowed before him.

Herod knew the prophesies of the Messiah.  Yet he tried to kill him.

How about you?  What do you do with Jesus?

Have you given your heart to him?  Or does he remain just a piece of information in your head?

In John 1:10-12, it says,

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

Don’t be like Balaam.

Don’t be like the priests.

Don’t be like Herod.

Instead, recognize Jesus for who he is.

Believe in him.

And receive him.