God's Word in the Stars
(Our Series: Part II)
God's Word in the Stars (Our Series: Part II) |
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By both Liaf and Morfessa
Christians generally are not aware that the Bible mentions the Zodiac and stars names. Of course astrology is considered something "pagan" and "dates back to Babylonian times." For sure, there is some truth to both of these statements. However, from earliest times when Adam and his generations after him were inspired to name the stars and constellations (or I should say proclaimed the names in which God already called them-- Psalms 147:4), deviant sons twisted this revelatory knowledge into something of fortune-telling and worship. These deviant people (e.g. Babylonians) were famous for building ziggurats, towers that were for observing the heavens. We perceive these things to be something like a "planetarium" and observational structure with instrumentation used for predicting astronomical events. The tower of Babel may not have been something "whose top may reach unto heaven" as in a high tower as we are often taught. Rather, that may have been a tower "whose top was of the heavens" so that observations, calculations and predictions could be made. You are encouraged to study these fascinating structures which had other functions as well including being a meeting place for civic events, cities, and centers of worship with the priests. We just want to give a general overview here. However, by virtue of the names of the stars and constellations, God intended them to be signs telling a story of God's redemptive purpose for mankind. This was a Bible in the sky so-to-speak.Nothing states this truth more clearly than Psalms 19. The first six verses state that the heavens declare the glory of God. After the incarnation, the New Testament speaks of Christ when it was stated "we beheld his glory" (John 1:14). Thus, the glory in which the stars speak is of Christ. Theologians are often baffled or uncertain as to why the subject of the stars abruptly changes in Psalm 19 to that of the Law. If the first six verses meant that the stars declare the glory of God by virtue of their beauty alone (passive revelation), then indeed this would be a mystery when the subject switches over to the specific topic of the Law. However, if we consider that this revelation of the heavens is very specific as illustrated by the verse that says, Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge, AND the same is said of the Law in verse 7, The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple, then the so-called sudden switch in the topic makes more sense. In short, the heavens have a specific story to tell, as do the Scriptures. They are TWO witnesses declaring the same thing! We will not go into detail here, but there is no absence of scholarly weight supporting the idea that the first six verses of Psalm 19 do indeed indicate that the stars have a specific and detailed message. Liaf's favorite theologian (amongst others) is E.W. Bullinger from whom we get our highly respected and studied "Companion Bible". Of course just because a scholarly heavyweight believes something does not necessarily make it true. However, just in case there are critics out there who believe we are trying to slip in subtle new-age stuff, we quote such sources because they feel more comfortable if something of a theological figurehead is included. In other words, this is not the prime interpretation of some two measly men who run this site. As a matter of fact, we dreamed up nothing on this site alone--- somebody thought of what we said before. We just researched and "put it all together" to make what we believe is the most conducive Bible story told. After all, we all have to learn what we teach from someone or somewhere, right? Who doesn't?
The Zodiac was mentioned in the book of Job, considered the oldest book in the Bible by many. The Zodiac was called Mazzaroth as stated in Job 38:32: Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? In other words, the rhetorical question was asked if one could change the seasons or "turn the clock" as we'd say today of the Zodiac. It has to progress according to the times. In addition, notice the star Arcturus mentioned. This star is one of the brighter stars in the constellation Bootes. In addition, Job stated this star and other constellations in other passages: Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. AND again, Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Due to the immense age of this book, there is no doubt the great antiquity of the zodiac, the star names, and the constellations. They antedated even the pagan times we believe albeit the pagans modified the intent of God's message in the stars to suit their ends.
The Cherubim in Ezekiel chapter one (the famous "Biblical UFO" passage according to some) and the arrangements of the tribes with their standards (banners) all had zodiacal significance. Do you want an easy way to remember the four faces of the cherubim in Ezekiel's vision? All one has to do is remember the zodiac. The four faces were that of a man, bull or ox, lion and eagle. These correspond to the four zodiac constellations quartered in Aquarius (the man), Taurus (the bull), Leo (the lion) and Scorpio (the Scorpion but called an eagle by Abraham). You KNOW the zodiac constellation names now don't you? Ahhh, don't lie now! They are:Notice that we included the tribes of Israel associated with each and every zodiac constellation and the side of the camp that each tribe resided around the center of worship (the tribe of Levi). The four bold-typed constellations are the same ones as the cherubim faces. Notice there is one bold constellation for each direction. In addition, four bright stars are associated with these constellations which represent the four corners of the heavens. In addition, the association of each tribe with their zodiac constellation follows the prophecies of Jacob and Moses in the latter part of Genesis and Deuteronomy. For example, the tribe of Judah had the heraldic symbol of the lion (Genesis 49:9) and Joseph was compared to a bull or wild bull (Deut. 33:17). Reuben was a man "unstable as water" (Aquarius and water) since as the firstborn he forfeited his birthright because he defiled his father's bed. Dan was considered a "serpent by the way" who "biteth the horse heels" hence the association with Scorpio (which as we shall see in the later lessons bites the heel of Ophiucus, the strong man wrestling a serpent). You get the idea--- these four examples are the highlighted constellations dealing with the cherubim. However, the constellation names and the associated tribes also go off on the tangent of heraldry which we shall save for perhaps another time. For now, we are going to focus our interest on the star and constellation names themselves and the story they tell. The whole idea of what was stated thus far is just to show the Scriptural mention and allusions to the zodiac.
One question arises about the zodiac. If the zodiac is a circle that never begins or ends, where do we begin the story they have to tell? Can the "pagans" even help us with that? They sure can! Even though they twisted and contorted the meanings, thank God above they preserved the clues that turned into figures of worship! (As I always say, Satan imitates, not innovates truth or supposed truth.) This brings us to the well-known Sphinx. We do not believe there is something evil in the nature of the Sphinx itself--- only the treatment of it as an object of worship. Besides, you can now start to see an additional connection to the Great Pyramid and the stars. (Beforehand we had shown the connection of the Pyramid to the stars by measurements and stellar angles). But there were lots of these sphinxes floating around--- so they must be strongly symbolic of something. The definition of the word sphinx is to "bind closely together". This mythical creature has the head of a woman and back parts of a lion (some say the head of a man such as a Pharaoh but we believe it's just an ugly woman). The tail end thus represents LEO and the head end VIRGO. How do we know this? The zodiac was depicted in the portico ceiling of the temple of Esneh in Egypt (See the diagram below). Between figures representing Leo and Virgo is a sphinx. Hence, the sphinx was associated astronomically with the merging of these two constellations. Much like a metallic ring or washer that has a weld point, the sphinx "binds together" the "beginning" and "end" so that we now have a continuous circle. Thus, unlike modern day astrologers who start at Aries, if we want to have a beginning point of this zodiac circle, we consider the proliferation of the sphinx everywhere to be significant and consider the starting point at VIRGO and ending in LEO. The third message will start off our study of Virgo with her three associated constellations and their prophetic meaning.
