By both Liaf and Morfessa
We are now at the seventh constellation of this series, and halfway done. Pisces is best understood when we see that Israel encompasses more than just the Jew, for the constellation depicts both the Earthly people of God and the heavenly people. What amazes us is that the "Jew" is seen as rejecting Christ and therefore the spiritual promises to the Gentiles come first, then the physical promises to the Earthly people later at the Second Coming of Christ, if some even believe in His Second Coming. That order is asteroid backwards (to put our cussing in astronomical terms). Even Paul clearly taught the order of that which is physical, and that which is spiritual: The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. Of course Paul was talking about the natural man vs. the regenerate man, however the same principal applies to a congregation first as a holy nation, and then the spiritual church. One is a type of the other, yet both are wholly separate. Indeed, Israel in their land was once a great empire under Solomon before the revealing of Christ. And again, the prophecies demanded they would become a commonwealth of nations before the spiritual reunion of Israel when the Victorious Christ would return again to unite the two sticks under one banner, and one national, spiritual and holy nation again.
After Aquarius comes Pisces the fish. There are two fish in this constellation--- one is pointing upward toward the pole and the other is horizontal along both the ecliptic and equator. We've already discussed and almost beaten to death the meaning of fish--- it's about procreation and God's people. However, why two of them? Well, the one pointing to the pole are the spiritual people of God heeding that call, and the horizontal fish represents the Earthly people of God. Again, as much as we love Bullinger, he does not acknowledge the existence of Lost Tribes, and as such this constellation would not make any sense regarding "heavenly" and "Earthly" people if one just has the Jew in mind (as much as Bullinger tried to make sense of it). After all, as he rightly pointed out, there was NO CHURCH (i.e. including Gentiles) back before it was revealed to Paul. The idea of "God's people" had Israel in mind and this is agreed upon if we turn to Capt's book. Since the Jew never became populous (as represented by the horizontal fish), then we have to look elsewhere for this prophecy to be fulfilled and this is where Lost Tribe theology fits quite well. For that reason, we will expand on Capt's interpretation detail with this constellation.
Pisces is fastened together by a band and is considered a separate constellation. However, this band really gives us additional detail about the two fish especially when we note that the band is fastened to the neck of Cetus, the sea monster.
The ancient Egyptian name for this constellation was Pi-Cot Orion or Pisces Hori which means, "the fish prolonged". This suggested the idea of many successive generations and posterity. The Hebrew name is Dagim, meaning, "the fishes". Other languages give the same meaning to this constellation--- so the theme of fish is unquestionably the case. The horizontal fish as we pointed out are the people who are inheritors of the physical blessings to Abraham as summed up in the Scripture: The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude [marginal note---"as fishes"] in the midst of the earth. This was Jacob's blessing on Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh.
The upward fish is the heavenly calling of Israel, something which the Jew has not fulfilled if one were to believe ALL of Israel is just the Jew. Rather, these are the spiritually called of the house of Israel (along with the Old Testament Saints) who, when re-covenanted in Christ would be the gospel light-bearers to the fallen world and their seed would be known amongst the Gentiles (many nations). As Capt pointed out, the gospel is compared to a net catching many fish. Before we think this is just the Gentiles, think again. We did Lost Tribe messages before where the Lord would send fishers (the gospel message) for the Lost Tribes, and then hunters later on (See Jeremiah 16:16). That's what Jesus meant when he'd make his disciples "fishers of men" (to the house of Israel). Therefore, the spiritual aspect of Pisces can be applied to Israel in this age, now! We do not have to do as Bullinger did and only apply it to a few select Old Testament Saints, or wait until the millennium occurs to fulfill this portion, which obviously must have a present counterpart (until all generations) along with the horizontal fish.
This constellation ties the two fish together and in turn, is fastened to the neck of Cetus, the sea monster. The Arabic name, Al Risha, means, "the band" or "bridle". It has a negative connotation in that being its attached to Cetus portrays Israel being bound and oppressed by her enemies and will not be remedied until the glorious and victorious return of Jesus Christ. We want to add one other thought of our own here. In spite of its negative connotation, notice that this band ties the fish together showing a present and ongoing existence with each other and inseparably tied to each other. That much is common sense. In spite of Israel's many blessings and age of Gospel enlightenment, she had to constantly endure many enemies throughout history and at times God punished her with slavery and exile. We had a preview of being freed from the band with the glorious gospel message along with our blessings, but an even greater liberation is yet to come in the millennium. That idea can be best summed up in Jeremiah 31:11 dealing with the end-time captivity (again) of Israel but her liberation when Christ returns: For the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.
Due to the subject length of this zodiac constellation and decans, we will stop here for now. But in the next message we will wrap up the subject of Pisces when we talk about Andromeda and Cepheus.