WRITTEN IN THE STARS FOR SIGNS AND TIMES
Genesis 1:14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years.
Ancient Egypt and Babylon were the first civilizations to study the stars, and in Babylon around the time of the birth of Jesus, some wise men called Magi, who were scholars and astronomers noticed something extraordinary in the heavens. For centuries the Magi (where our word magic comes from) had studied the Jewish prophecies passed down during Israel’s captivity in Babylon, and those prophesies included the foretelling of a Messiah. When an unusually bright convergence of planets began to shine as an apparent brilliant star in the eastern sky, they interpreted it as the sign of a great ruler’s birth.
The Bible says that the stars speak forth the knowledge of God, and we see that that includes the birth of Jesus.
Psalm 19:1-4 The heavens declare the glory of God and his splendour is written in the stars. Day after day utters knowledge and the night sky unveils knowledge to us all. Their instruction (qaw - rule) has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. - The life of Jesus, as the Word astonishingly revealed in the heavenly stars.
And God said to Job, ‘Can you lay out Mazzaroth (from Nazar – divine purpose - Strongs Concordance says the 12 signs of the Zodiac- the path or the way) Do you know the ordinances (prescribed arrangement) of the heavens? Can you ordain their authority over the earth? (Job38:32)
The Godly significance of this cannot be ignored or dismissed. But this knowledge was corrupted in ancient times, firstly through idolatry to the Egyptian sun god Ra where calculations of the positions of the stars was used for the building and usage of the pyramids. And the popular use of the zodiac in today’s world is associated with superstition and fortune telling. Counterfeiting is robbery - robbing God of glory for the trickery of man.
But in the Babylonian main temple depictions of the zodiac reveal archaeological findings that the zodiac was associated with the biblical Tower of Babel. indicating that the current naming of the constellations was of Babylonian origin thought to be around 500 years BC – this roughly coincides with Daniel’s ministry to the king during the captivity of Israel and the Bible says that Daniel was ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm(Daniel 1:20). I am only joining Scriptural dots there and inferring the Daniel connection, and there is no solid historical documentation of various other cultures and constellation names.
Remarkably however, the original twelve Babylonian constellations start with the sign of Virgo and end with the sign of Leo. The depiction of Virgo is a sphinx, with the face of a woman and the body of a lion, a clue to the beginning and end points of the life of Jesus, representing the virgin birth and Jesus returning as the Lion of Judah to complete the message of the Gospel - because remarkedly again the 12th zodiac sign is that of Leo the lion. The constellations in between tell the astounding story of the life and ministry of Jesus for humanity. The second sign is Libra, the scales that weigh humanity in the balance after the creation of Adam, followed by Scorpio, denoting the fall of mankind through the attack of darkness upon humanity. We may look at the compelling story of the other constellations more closely at another time. Back to the Christmas story.
The Magi (and the Bible doesn’t say how many) set out on a long journey westward to where this bright star shone. The Gospel of Matthew says In the days of Herod the king, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it arose and have come to worship him (Matthew 2:1).
Their inquiries about the “new king of the Jews” reached the ears of Herod the Great, the local ruler appointed by Rome, and he feared that this child might threaten his dynasty, a potential Messiah heralding a kingdom that could upend his tenuous grip on power. He called in his scribes, demanded answers, and they pointed to the ancient prophecy of Micah, which pinpointed Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah. pretence, Herod craftily met the Magi, urging them to locate the child and report back so he could “worship” him too.
The Wise Men continued following the radiant star, and Matthew writes ‘And when they were come into the house (oikia – family house – there is no mention of a stable in the bible, only a manger – feeding trough), they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him:’ (Matthew 2:11). Inside, the wise men found the child, Jesus, with Mary and Joseph. And they reverently knelt and worshipped him, presenting gifts of profound spiritual significance:
Gold – Godly stewardship of material and entrusted with the spiritual. (Luke 16:11)
Frankincense - prayer and presence and spiritual devotion. (Psalm 141:2)
Myrrh - sharing the sacrificial suffering of Jesus for self and others. (Philippians 3:10).
Warned in a dream by an angel not to return to Herod, the Magi quickly departed, and then the same angel appeared to Joseph, instructing him to flee with Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod’s wrath. Herod was furious at being outwitted, and he ordered the massacre of all the male children in Bethlehem under the age of two, just as Pharoah ordered the massacre of all male children at the time of the birth of Moses. Pharoah, like Herod feared for his own dynasty, and Moses became the deliverer/saviour of Israel and here Jesus became the deliverer/saviour of the world.
But Herod died soon after, and an angel appeared to Joseph again, instructing him to return to Israel. But learning that Herod’s cruel son, Antipas, ruled Judea, Joseph was wary, and was guided by the angel to lead his family to Nazareth in Galilee.
The journey of the Wise Men is prophetic of the precision of how God’s purposes unfold in our lives also, even in the midst of our own mistakes and frailties and suffering and attacks of darkness. Just as the life of Jesus was written in eternity, God has eternally written the narrative of our lives also. David said in Psalm 139 ‘Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! (Psalms 139:16).
God told Abraham that his descendants would be as the sand of the sea and the stars of the sky (Genesis 22:17). The sand represents Israel, of the earth, and the stars represent the Holy Spirit in the lives of multitudes of believers. So just as the witness of the stars was a witness of the life of Jesus, the Bible says that the witness of the brightness of the stars is a witness to the measure of the life of God on display in our lives as well.
Daniel 12:3 Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the expanse of the heavens, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
1 Corinthians 15:40 There are also heavenly bodies (soma - entities or things) and earthly bodies; but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star
differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The bodily state of being is sown in decay and raised in immortality, it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory.
The Sun is seen symbolically as the Father, and the Moon is seen as Jesus who reflected the light of the sun. The stars are seen as the Holy Spirit within our lives, from one measure of transformation into the likeness of Jesus to the next – from glory to glory.
2 Corinthians 3:18 All of us, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
The more we consciously behold Jesus by faith, in our lives here on earth, the more we become transformed to become like him. The way we are told to measure our faith in this life involves how much we know and understand the love of God for us, and how much we live a life of his love to others (1John 3:17-18).
Paul describes the transformation process for our lives.
Ephesians 3:22 put off your old self, which belongs to your former way of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds (repentance), and to put on the New Creation self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
This process is one of moving from our old self reality which is based on our idea of who we are to moving to our new creation reality in Christ, which is God’s idea of who we are. We will feel insufficient in ourselves and our own strength as we go through times of trial and suffering, but his loving presence is always with us, and that depends on our faith in God’s idea of who we are not on our idea, or how we feel.
2 Corinthians 4:6-7 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the presence of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; That new mindset of faith in being partakers of the divine nature of God is the good news of the Gospel. And knowing that and believing that is our salvation.
Paul OSullivan - pauloss@me.com
