By both Liaf and Morfessa
We are now up to the constellation Aquarius and there are neat things to be said about this constellation and its associates. If you remember, we are in the second main 'book' of the stars, and that deals with not only Christ, but the benefits His people receive. We shall see themes in these constellations dealing with both God's Earthly people Israel and the heavenly seed of Abraham in Christ.
This is the constellation 'those happy hippies' as we called them had a popular song about. Of course they were singing about the Age of Aquarius when because of the precession of the equinoxes the vernal equinox sun falls in the constellation of Aquarius (as opposed to Aries although someone born then is still considered an 'Aries' by astrologers). By Jesus' time, we were in the Age of Pisces. According to some people who believe in the pyramid dating, the Age of Aquarius began around 1953. When we look at this constellation, we have a man pouring endless supply of water from his urn that goes into the mouth of a fish (Piscis Australis). This fish constellation is the same one that has the bright star Fomalhaut, one of the 'four cornered' bright stars we talked about in previous messages. The fact that the water goes into the mouth of the fish explains how Aquarius is associated with this star and represented the 'man' part of the cherubim. The way the constellation of Aquarius is outlined in the map of the heavens, Liaf always thought it looked like a stick man running around the zodiac. That was thrown in for a chuckle.
Again, if we go over a few of the names, we find the meaning of this constellation and some of its stars. The zodiac of Denderah actually portrays him as a man with two urns and Piscis Australis comes out of one of them. The man is called Hupei Tirion, which means, "the place of Him coming down" or "poured forth". In some other zodiacs, the urn alone appears such as the case in Hebrew Deli, the "water urn" or "bucket". The star Alpha in the right shoulder is Sa'ad al Melik, or, "the record of the pouring forth". The star Beta in the other shoulder is called Saad al Sund, or "who goes and returns" or "the poured out". You get the idea. The names denote water being poured out.
The idea here is that atonement was made in Christ and now they can be 'poured out' on the redeemed. Now Bullinger does not believe this promise applies to the church per se, except by extension since there was no church back in the days of these constellations and the Old Testament (His contemporary Seiss does believe this promise applies to the church). However, it is interesting to note that Bullinger also does not believe in the Lost Tribes yet quotes the famous "populous" verse we've done a message about in Numbers 24:7:
He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.
Whether "his seed" is that of Jacob, or later Christ, either way they shall be in many waters. This denotes a vast population colonizing the Earth. As usual, Bullinger does what any good evangelist would do by applying this promise to the millennium. However, we discussed in MANY messages before why certain promises (such as this one) CANNOT take place in the millennium. If you want a more sound interpretation rightly dividing the Word, then read Capt's book on Aquarius. Bullinger is right in that it applies to Israel, but gets the manner and timing all wrong because he does not believe in the Lost Tribes. As usual, the interpretation confuses the reader.
We believe (and as Capt also quoted) that the verse Joel 2:28 summarizes Aquarius nicely:
And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
Yes, this does have an application in end times when all unbelieving Israel will finally come to their senses and receive God's Spirit, but it also has its preview in the gospel age (as confirmed by Peter) when the lost house of Israel became recovenanted in Christ to become the gospel preachers of the world. In other words, in these people rests the gospel base from whom ALL people may be joined to Christ as the seed of Abraham. Hence, this confirms what Bullinger stated only this takes place NOW as well as LATER.
This is not the same constellation as Pisces in the zodiac (the next one we will talk about), but another fish constellation located just below Aquarius with the bright star Fomalhaut (Arabic for 'the mouth of the fish'). If you want to find Fomalhaut (and hence Piscis Australis and Aquarius above it), go outside about 8:30 PM AS OF THE TIME OF THE YEAR THAT THIS MESSAGE WAS RELEASED in late October and you will find it about 20 degrees off of the South horizon if you live in the middle, northern latitudes. Aquarius will be right above it, but Aquarius does not have overly bright stars so you will need a map to trace the stars to that constellation.
We need not say much about this constellation as it is inseparably tied to Aquarius--- Aquarius being Christ and the Spirit poured out and the recipients being those on whom the Spirit is poured out. Earlier we also stated that fish represented procreation. What we find extremely interesting is that conservative, 'anti-cult' type Christian groups may frown on these messages about the stars as if to say they are some sort of New Age stuff, but these same people will not bother to question why the symbol of the fish is so heavily used in the Bible and Christianity displaying the same theme as the constellations!
Pegasus is a swift, winged horse. The name comes from two chief characters of the Denderah zodiac Pe and ka. Peka or Pega in the Hebrew means "the chief" and sus means 'horse'--- "Chief Horse". This constellation came down to us more preserved in meaning than many of the others. The star names also tell of it's meaning: The bright star Markab is Hebrew for "returning from afar". Another star Scheat means, "who goes and returns". The star Gamma has the Arabic name Al Genib, or, "who carries". The star Epsilon is called Enif, or Arabic for "the water". And yet another star is called Matar, or, "who causes to overflow".
As with other constellations in the other zodiac pointing to a return of Christ and victory, this one conveys the same idea. We can clearly see from the names the idea of Christ's returning (and even coming once and returning again) along with blessings (water and overflowing). Jesus said, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3).
This constellation is known by the asterism "the Great Square" seen in autumn skies virtually straight overhead in late October about 9:00 PM. The four predominant stars in Pegasus is a fairly bright square about 15 degrees in width that you should have no trouble seeing.
This constellation is also known by the asterism "the Northern Cross" since to the average beholder it looks more like a cross than a swan. It has the third star "Deneb" of the asterism "the summer triangle" we've discussed previously. Deneb is the trailing star of the triangle being lead by Vega (of Lyra) and the southern-most star Altair (of Aquila). If you look for Pegasus when it is near straight up, then the summer triangle will be high in the western sky and Deneb (and its cross-shaped constellation) will be the one closest (about 30 degrees) to Pegasus (the Great Square).
Unlike Aquila that is falling dead, this bird flies swiftly in the heavens. This bird is coming to the Earth not as a bird of the air, but one of the Earth and waters. The Zodiac of Dendarah calls this constellation Tes-ark which means, "this from afar". The bright star Deneb means, "the judge" It is also called Adige, or, "flying swiftly". The star Beta in the beak has a similar meaning. It has the Arabic name Al Bireo, or, "flying quickly". The star in the body (Gamma) in Hebrew is called Sadr, or, "who returns as in a circle". And lastly, the two stars in the tail, Azel and Fafage, mean, "who goes and returns quickly" and "gloriously shining forth" respectively. So we have here a swift bird, themes of going and coming along with shining glory. This portrays the Lord's coming again to fill this earth with blessing and glory "as waters cover the sea". Isaiah 11:9.
Whew! This was a bigger message than normal from us. And the next constellation Pisces and its decans will be just as long. We think we'll break that one into two parts next time! In the meantime, Liaf and Morfessa here recommend you get outside on a dark, clear night, take a red-filtered flashlight and a star map, and start learning your constellations and finding these things!