Hungry to Know Christ as the Living Star and Guided by His Living Word to Enjoy Him

We believers in Christ need to see the star of Christ and be in the living word of God to see the Lord, enjoy the Lord, and follow the Lord as the living Star, for He is shining on us and in us both as the living star and as the word of God in our hands.

Amen, Lord Jesus, we open to You! Unveil us to see You. Remove any preconceived notions of who You are and what You are. May we see You in a new and living way. We want to know You, enjoy You, and experience You as the living star. Shine on us in and through Your word. Lead us into more enjoyment and experience of Christ! Amen!

This week we come to a new morning revival book, still on the book of Matthew; our general topic is: The All-inclusive Christ as Revealed in Matthew. This first week we want to see, The Up-to-date, Instant, and Living Vision of the Heavenly Christ as the Living Star.

May the Lord have a way to meet His need in the churches, and may He have a way to speak something to each one of us to take us on with Him.

There are many wonderful aspects of the all-inclusive Christ in the gospel of Matthew, and in the following six weeks we will enjoy some of the most crucial ones.

In particular, in Matthew 2 we see the story of the magi, the wise men from the east, seeing the star of Christ and following it until it led them to where Christ is.

After the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, Where is He who had been born King of the Jews? It doesn’t say, Who will become King of the Jews, but He who has been born King of the Jews.

They saw His star and came to worship Him. When Herod the king heard this, he was not ecstatic; rather, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him was troubled.

He gathered together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where Christ was to be born, and they pointed him to the right verse in Micah 5:2.

It was written through the prophet, And you, Bethlehem, land of Judea, by no means are you the least among the princes of Judah, for out of you shall come forth a Ruler, One who is to shepherd My people Israel.

So Herod, secretly calling the magi, determined accurately from them the time that the star appeared, and then sent them to Bethlehem, asking them to come tell him when they find the child, so that he may also go and worship him.

After they heard the king, they went on their way, and the star which they saw rising led them until it came and stood over the place where the child was.

And when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy; they came into the house and worshipped the Lord.

The Lord Jesus was already born and was in a house, no longer in the manger; when He was born, the shepherds came to see Him, at the angels’ request, in the manger.

But here He was in the house, and the magi offered gifts to Him: gold and frankincense and myrrh.

And because they were divinely instructed in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed by another way to their country. Whenever we see Christ and meet Christ, when we encounter the heavenly living Christ, we go back by another way, for we become a different person.

Being Saved from Self-Complacency to be Hungry to Know and See Christ as the Living Star

In Luke 1:53 we are told that the Lord fills the hungry with good things, but the rich He sends away empty. May we be those who are hungry for more of Christ. May we be emptied again and again to see Christ, know Christ, enjoy Christ, and experience Christ in our daily living.

We need to pray for ourselves and for all the saints that the Lord would make us hungry for more of Christ, so that we may be filled with the good things of the kingdom of the heavens and of Christ as the centrality and universality of God’s economy.

Thank the Lord, those who are hungry will be filled with good things by the Lord! Watchman Nee has a message entitled, The Hungry He has Filled with Good Things, where he expounds on this verse.

If we want to have spiritual progress, we must feel dissatisfied with our present spiritual condition and have a demand for a better one. It is from here that spiritual progress starts.

If we presume that we are already good enough, if we are self-complacent, failure comes in. All the failures and decadence are due to no other cause than our presumption that we are already good enough.

When we are self-complacent, failure comes in. May we ask the Lord to save us from self-compacency.

May we ask Him to save us from thinking we are full, we know everything, we have need of nothing, and we are all right. We need to be saved from being self-contented.

There is such a vast unexplored territory of Christ before us for us to gain. We need to gain more of Christ.

As we come to Matthew 2, we want to see, know, enjoy, and experience Christ as the living star.

May we be poor in spirit (Matt. 5:3) so that we may enjoy Him as the kingdom of the heavens, even as the reality of all the positive things.

To be blessed is to be happy; to be happy, we need to be poor in spirit. We need to be poor in spirit; this means not only to be humble but also to be emptied in our spirit.

We may know that we need to be poor in spirit, but are we emptied in the depths of our being? Do we hold on to the old things, or are we unloaded to receive the new things, the things of the kingdom of the heavens with Christ as the centrality and universality of God’s economy?

We need to open to the Lord and ask Him to shine on us, unload us, and empty us to see Christ, enjoy Christ, and experience Christ as the living star.

In Numbers 24:17 we see Balaam’s prophecy; he was a gentile prophet, and he was asked by Balak to come and curse the people of Israel, but he could not but bless them.

The Lord spoke through Balaam and he uttered some amazing prophecies and blessings over the people of Israel. In this verse he said that he sees God, but not now; he beholds Him, but not near; there shall come forth a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and He shall crush the corners of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth. Wow! This is Christ.

Christ is the Star out of Jacob. He is the living Star.

No matter how many years we have been a Christian, no matter how many years we have been in the church life, we need to have a spiritual hunger for the Lord, and we need to have an up-to-date vision of Christ as the heavenly Star. He is the living star.

The magi saw His star and followed it until they found the Lord Jesus. He was born the king of the Jews, and when He was put on the cross, a notice was put above Him, Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.

At the beginning of His days, He’s pronounced the King of the Jews, and at the end on the cross, He is also pronounced the King of the Jews. He is the King. He is the Living Star.

And we follow Him as the many stars of the heaven, the spiritual descendants, as seen in Galatians 3, where we are told that we who are of faith are sons of Abraham.

He is the Seed of Abraham, the descendant of Abraham, and we who believe in Christ are in Christ, so we are sons of Abraham.

On the cross, Jesus Christ was killed by all mankind and for all mankind so that He may gain many from mankind for His kingdom, even many who know, see, and follow Him as the living star.

The notice put above His head on the cross was in Hebrew (representing the Hebrew religion), Latin (representing Roman politics), and Greek (representing the Greek culture); when we put all these together, we realise that He died for the whole world and was put to death by all mankind.

The Lord Jesus, as the Lamb of Go,d was killed by all mankind and for all mankind; He was put on the cross and died because of our iniquities, for all our iniquities were laid on Him on the cross. May we be unveiled to see this One and enjoy Him!

Lord Jesus, unveil us to see You. We do not want to be self-complacent. We acknowledge that we did not yet arrive at the full knowledge of Christ; we want to gain more of You today! Amen, Lord, make us the hungry ones! May we be hungry for more of Christ. May we be filled with Christ as the good things. Empty us. Unload us. Remove anything that fills our inner being. We want to have more room in our heart for You. Empty us and unload us so that we may have an increased capacity to be filled with God! Oh Lord, save us from self-complacency! We want to forget the things behind and stretch forward to gain more of Christ! Oh, may we gain more of the all-inclusive Christ as the centrality and universality of God’s economy! Amen, Lord, may we be the blessed ones who are poor in spirit today! Shine on us. Grant us a vision of Christ as the living star! May we see You, enjoy You, and experience You as the living star! Amen, Lord, appear to us! Make us living stars like You as Your reproduction today!

Having the Living Star and the Lord’s Living Word to Lead us to Christ to Enjoy Him

In Matthew 2 the magi did not say “we saw a star” or “we saw the star” but they said “we saw His star”; the Star is the heavenly Christ. It is very interesting to see that the star was shown to these learned men, who were from the Gentiles; it did not appear to any of the people in Israel.

The Jews had the Scriptures concerning Christ and knew where He would be born (Matt. 2:4-6), the magi saw the star of Christ. The magi had the living star and the Jews had the Scriptures.

The Jews had the knowledge in letters concerning where Christ was to be born (Micah 5:2), but these learned men from the east received a living vision of Him, and eventually the star led them to the place where Christ was (Matt. 2:1-12).

What we need is both: we need the living star of Christ and the Lord’s living word. May the Lord save us from having the Scriptures in our hand and Bible knowledge in our head, but no living touch with the Lord.

When the Lord Jesus was born and the magi from the east came, being led by the living star of Christ, they went to Jerusalem, and the whole city with the king was troubled. They even knew the Scriptures and the prophecies, but none of them went to see the newborn King.

But the magi went, and they followed the living star which matched the written Word in the Bible, and they found the Lord Jesus. May we have both.

May we have both the living star of Christ and the living word of God.

It is a sad thing when millions of Christians come to the word of God and do not exercise their spirit to come to the Lord in His word; they think that it is in the word they find life, but they are not willing to come to the Lord and receive life (John 5:39-40). Oh Lord!

It is easy to come to the Word of God trying to find the Lord, but not coming to the Lord Himself as the living star so that He may give us life!

At the time of the Lord’s birth, He had to go to some pagan men in the east to appear to them as the living star, for the children of Israel had the Scriptures but did not come to the Lord to find Him.

Later when the Lord Jesus as the light of the world was among the Jews, He told them that the Jews come to the Scriptures trying to find God and receive life, but they are not willing to come to Him to receive life.

May we be those who come to the Lord in His word day by day. May we not only search the Scriptures but come to the Lord, the living person, to receive a fresh revelation of His being.

As we pray the word of God, prayerfully muse on God’s word, and even when we just read the Bible according to our habit, we need to come to the Lord.

We need to ask Him, Lord Jesus, I come to You in the Word; give me more life, shine on me, and grant me to gain more of Christ in the Word!

In this way we will find Him in His word. Christ is the real Sun (Mal. 4:2), but strictly speaking, He does not appear as the sun during the age of night; rather, He shines as a star (Rev. 2:28); a star shines at night, but it indicates that day is coming (Rom. 13:11-14).

On the one hand, He will appear as the Sun, but He wants to appear as the Morning Star to His overcoming believers.

May we allow Christ as the morning star to rise up in our hearts. May we be awakened from any sleep, both physical, psychological, and spiritual, and may we see Christ.

The day is drawing near, and we want to know Christ, see Christ, and enjoy Christ as the living star according to His living word.

When Christ came the first time, He appeared openly as a star, but when He comes the second time, He will be the morning star (Rev. 2:28; 22:16) to His overcomers, who watch for His coming; to all others Christ will later appear as the sun (Mal. 4:2; cf. Matt. 13:43). May we be His overcoming ones today!

Lord Jesus, appear to us today. Appear to us as the living star. We come to You in Your word with the exercise of our spirit to contact You and enjoy You. Shine on us through Your word. Rise up in us as the morning star. May we be unveiled and unloaded to receive a living revelation of Christ as the living star! Amen, Lord, we fully open to You today! Hallelujah, Christ is the real Sun shining with healing in His wings! Amen, Lord, may You shine as a star in the dark night of this age! Rise up in us as the morning star. Keep us in Your living word so that we may have Your shining. Amen, Lord, make us Your overcoming saints who watch for Your coming! May Your word be so living and full of life and light to us. Grant us to have a living vision of Christ. May You shine on us through Your word, and may You rise up in us as the morning star. Amen, Lord, we want to know You and experience You as the living star rising in our hearts as we come to Your living word with the exercise of our spirit!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks on this topic, and portions from, Life-study of Matthew, msg. 7, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The All-inclusive Christ as Revealed in Matthew (2025 Thanksgiving Blending Conference), week 1, The Up-to-date, Instant, and Living Vision of the Heavenly Christ as the Living Star – day 1.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – I heard the voice of Jesus say, / “I am this dark world’s Light; / Look unto Me, thy morn shall rise, / And all thy day be bright.” / I looked to Jesus, and I found / In Him my Star, my Sun; / And in that Light of life I’ll walk / Till trav’lling days are done. (Hymns #323 stanza 3)
  – I come to His presence afresh / Ere the night has passed into morning; / And His face I see as it shines on me— / The Lord within is dawning. / And He speaks to me and reveals to me / All His riches for me today; / And with sweet delight I partake of Him, / My hunger has passed away. (Hymns #554 stanza 1)
  – Soon our Lord will come, the Morning Star appear; / Night is deep, and soon will dawn the day. / Never with the current of the age we go, / That from trials we’ll be kept away. (Hymns #956 stanza 2)