Samuel the Lamanite made a one-of-its-kind prophecy. Matthew, half a world away, recorded the prophecy's fulfillment. (Matthew 2). The prophecy was that at the time of Christ's birth a new star would arise. (Helaman 14:5). The star was to be a sign that the event had happened. It was a sign looked for and anticipated by not only the Nephites, but by certain wise men who lived somewhere far to the east of Jerusalem.

This star was no little pinprick of light, but a bright light much brighter than Venus or Jupiter, the third and fourth most bright lights in the sky. The wise men, who were undoubtedly prophets, and possibly kings as well (judging from their possession of riches), were watching and waiting for the appearance of the star. They rejoiced to see it, loaded up their camels, and set off toward the west.

A star doesn't move at a camel's pace. This star did not lead the wise men except in a general fashion. Every 24 hours the star set in the west, as all stars do, because of the earth's rotation. The star was a sign of the Savior's birth which the wise men knew would occur in the land of Judea. Their destination, therefore, was Jerusalem, the capitol of the country. Being men of substance themselves, they were unafraid to go straight to Herod, the king of the land, to inquire where they would find the child.

The star was a sign that the birth had occurred, but the star was not able to show the wise men where the child was located. Herod knew nothing about the birth, and asked the wise men when the star had appeared. Based upon their answer he had all the children in Bethlehem of two years of age and under killed. This indicates that the star had been visible for many months, and that the journey had been a long one.

The wise men went to Bethlehem, and rejoiced to see the star again. It had probably been obscured by clouds. Matthew says that "it came and stood over where the young child was." (Matthew 2:9-10).

God would be able to make a celestial body stand still, but a star would not normally be able to designate which house of the many in the town contained the child that the wise men were seeking. My personal theory is that the clouds parted to allow the star's rays to shine down and to illumine a single house.

The star was undoubtedly a supernova. A supernova occurs when a star much larger than our sun explodes. All stars have a nuclear reaction taking place at their core. The heat of the nuclear reaction causes the star to expand. That expansion is limited and counterbalanced by the star's gravity. The two forces balance one another until the material feeding the nuclear reaction is used up. Gravity then gets the upper hand, and the star collapses in a giant explosion. The explosion releases vast amounts of light. The resulting supernova might last for days or for months. Depending upon how near the supernova was to the earth, and depending upon how massive the explosion was, the supernova might be visible even during daylight hours. Because of the earth's rotation, however, the new star that is the supernova would only be visible to any particular spot on earth for just half of a 24-hour period.

God plans ahead. Our sun is 93 million miles away from the earth. Light travels 186,282 miles per second. Light from the sun takes over eight minutes to reach the earth. All the other stars are light years away, meaning that they are so far away that a photon emitted by a distant star, traveling at the speed of light, takes years to reach earth. A supernova observed in 1987 was estimated to be 168,000 light years away.

God made a supernova appear precisely at Christ's birth. That took planning. That precise timing required unimaginable mathematical measurements and calculations.

Holding earth and the sun and the Milky Way Galaxy in their orbits also requires unimaginable calculation. It requires an understanding of physics, chemistry, and astronomy beyond the abilities of the brightest scientist or computer.

Earth is spinning on its axis at a speed of 1,000 miles per hour. It is revolving around the sun at 67,000 MPH. The solar system is revolving around the Milky Way Galaxy at 490,000 MPH. The numbers continue to get larger: the whole galaxy is hurtling through space at 1,350,000 MPH.

While we dawdle away our time, God is getting things done! He is busy creating new stars and new earths while caring for the innumerable ones that He's already created. He is busy preparing His faithful children for the time when they can become creators in their own rights.

His focus, in fact, is on that faithful individual. His whole purpose is to bring that individual to a condition and a time when he or she can be like Himself, and do the same things that He and our Mother in heaven do.

Mankind knows so very little. Before the 1990s it was only theorized that there might be other planets beyond our solar system. Now (2019) astronomers know of 5,000. They variously estimate that there are between two and four billion stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. Current thinking is that many or most of them have planets. They're wondering if there could be life on any of them. They're wondering if it could be intelligent life, and what those life forms would look like.

Latter-day Saints have had the answers to those questions since Joseph Smith translated the book of Moses in 1830-31. "Worlds without number have I created," the Lord told Moses, "and I also created them for my own purpose." (Moses 1:33).

"This is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." (Moses 1:39).

To Abraham He said, "Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them...So shall thy seed be." (Genesis 15:5).

"In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven. '

How many stars are there? Some of the stars that we see at night are actually distant galaxies containing many billions of stars. It is loosely estimated that there are as many stars as there are grains of sand upon every seashore and desert in the world.

Abraham was promised an unimaginably vast posterity. As his faithful descendants the same promise applies to us.

Our finite minds are incapable of comprehending the vast numbers that represent the sands and the stars and the distances between the stars. Neither can our minds begin to comprehend our individual potentials or the joy and the happiness and the glory that will be the lot of those who prove themselves steadfast, true, and faithful.