Some Stories Are Timeless

When Stars Sing

“Night to night reveals knowledge.” (Psalm 19:2)
Something wonderful is unfolding in the night sky right now. Seriously, you need to read this.

This Divine Appointments: Insights from God’s Calendar series started in answer to a question.

“In the beginning,” God created the sun, the moon and the heavenly bodies “to separate the day from the night, and… for signs and for seasons and for days and for years.” (Gen 1:14)

Signs of what?

I put forth one very important answer in my first post in this series. The Lord has set divine appointments with His people—the seven Feasts of the Lord. Each of them carries a crucial message—a key preview of prophetic events. The moon tells us when to keep them.

But there’s much more to say about signs in the heavens. Today, I have a fresh angle. And honestly, I think it will astonish you. It has astonished everyone I’ve shared it with.

A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. (Rev 12:1-2)

This coming September, this very thing is happening in the skies… for the first time in at least 6200 years!

Sorry, but I just have to say it. This post is full of really cool things I’m willing to bet most have never heard. I hadn’t.

NOTE: I’m adding this on September 4. At this point, you may have heard already about the Revelation 12 Sign. If not, or if you’d like more detail, read on. On the other hand, you may already know all about it but have questions as to whether it’s valid. If that’s the case, you might check out the follow-on post I just published, When Stars Sing (Reprise). It addresses some of the common questions about the Sign’s validity.

I’ve got a list of references a bit further down this post, but we’re told by Yeshua, Joel, Peter and John to look for signs in the heavens that will herald “the great and awesome day of the Lord.” Yes, there were the Blood Moons, and I’ll come back to that. But brace yourself for something even more astonishing!

Here is Virgo with the surrounding stars as they will line up this coming September 23:

Virgo and Leo on 9/23/2017. Source: Stellarium.

Look at the correspondence between the sky map in the picture above and the “great sign” mentioned in Revelation 12:1-2:

• A woman: The constellation Virgo is the Virgin in both the Hebrew Mazzaroth system and the Greco-Roman Zodiac. (More on that below.)
• Clothed with the sun: The sun passes through Virgo annually.
• Moon under her feet: The moon passes through Virgo regularly, but only once every 19 years at her feet while she is “clothed with the sun.”
• She was with child: Jupiter, the “king planet,” passes through Virgo every 12 years, but here’s the remarkable thing. Jupiter entered Virgo’s womb area last November and has gone into a state called “retrograde motion.” From our vantage point, it appears to remain in her womb for 42 weeks—the duration of a human pregnancy. (Yes, 42 weeks is a bit longer than average, but still within the range considered normal.) Only once in every 83 years does Jupiter circle around within Virgo for a period corresponding to a normal human pregnancy. On September 23, Jupiter will exit Virgo through her birth canal.
• Crown of twelve stars: The constellation Leo, always above Virgo’s head, has nine fixed stars. But having three heavenly bodies known to the Bible as “wandering stars” (Mercury, Mars and Venus) enter Leo to provide the crown of twelve stars… at the same time as the other three conditions are present… has not happened before during the past 6200 years. Nor will it happen again in the next 1200 years.

This “Revelation Twelve Sign” is a one-time event.

Kudos to Scott Clarke, whom I believe gets credit for discovering this incredible upcoming sign. For an in-depth look at the Revelation 12 sign and its implications, check out his YouTube channel.

But Is It Biblical to Look for Messages in the Constellations?

I’ve always heard that Christians should avoid astrology—and we should, as practiced by occultists and as featured in magazines and newspapers. But in fact from Genesis through Revelation, we’re told God Himself speaks through the stars.

• Gen 1:14: Then 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…”
• Ps 19:1-2: The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
• Joel 2:30-31: “I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.
• Matt 2:2: “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” (Note here that scholars from ancient Persia gained accurate spiritual insight—advance notice of the timing of Messiah’s first coming—by studying the stars.)
• Luke 21:11: “…and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”
• Luke 21:25: “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations…”
• Acts 2:19: “And I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come.” (Peter is quoting Joel 2, which Jesus also appears to reference.)
• Rev 12:1-3: A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems

I always assumed the Greeks identified and named the constellations. But according to the Bible, God named the stars!

• Ps 147:4: He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.
• Is 40:26: Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number. He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing.

God does nothing without a purpose. Today the idea of looking to the stars, if you are not dealing with the science of astronomy, is called astrology. The word itself means “the word about the stars.” But in our culture it is no longer that at all. It has become a reflection of our attempt to be as God, actually, and we think the astronomical signs are about us. This is entirely perverted. But you can’t have a perversion unless something was right and straight and true to begin with.
– Barry Setterfield, Genesis Science Research

In ancient Hebrew thought, the concept of “name” was much more than a set of syllables you call someone. A name reflects a person’s essential character. It’s fascinating to me to learn that, while what people have called the stars and constellations through the millenia has changed, the essence of what they are considered to depict is surprisingly consistent. The names of the constellations are different but in almost all cases the basic identity is the same!

Hmm… Very much as if this reflects some ancient knowledge imperfectly preserved for us. Could it be that this ancient identification of the pictures in the stars, so nearly universal across cultures, carries some essence of meaning God originally wrote in the skies?

The Bull as depicted in cave art at Lascaux, France, dating to 3000 B.C. This is a clear reference to the constellation! The series of dots above his back are the Pleiades. The dots under his eye are the Hyades, and the four dots to the left of his nose are Orion’s belt.

The division of the year into twelve segments, each identified with one of the signs in the swath of constellations we know as the Zodiac, was documented as early as 2500 BC in ancient Sumer. This knowledge spread throughout the ancient world—Mesopotamia, China, Babylon, Arabia.

The ancient Hebrews knew about this swath of constellations as well. They called it the Mazzaroth. Note how closely the Hebrew version compares to the Greco-Roman Zodiac we’re more familiar with:

Here’s just a little thing to think about. How did the ancients know that Jupiter should be the “King Planet”? It’s obvious to us—when you look at a map of the solar system, Jupiter dwarfs the other planets. But you can’t tell that by looking at the night sky! Venus appears bigger and brighter because it’s so much closer. How did the ancients know not to call Venus the “king”?

The following constellations are named in the Book of Job, which is the oldest book in the Bible, dating to around 2900 B.C.: Bear, Pleiades, Orion (all in Job 9:9), the “fleeing serpent” (Hydra—Job 26:13), Arcturus (Job 38:31), Ash (the Butterfly in the Mazzaroth, which we know today as Cancer—Job 38:32).

There’s a lot more to be said about the Mazzaroth. In fact the Gospel is written in the stars! Unfortunately it’s beyond the scope of this post. There’s a fascinating summary here if you want to learn more. And a more detailed rundown here.

So…. Back to This Star Thing in September…

If the facts we’ve covered so far aren’t intriguing enough, please note when the Revelation Twelve Sign ends. The “King Planet” exits the Virgin on September 23, 2017. This is the Shabbat that immediately follows the Jewish Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashana.

And check this out! How the Sign ends…. Please indulge me for a minute here. I just “happened” across this ancient frieze of a Roman woman with her widwife. Laying Virgo’s star map on top of it:

 

Ancient frieze of Roman woman on childbirth couch, with Virgo’s star map and Jupiter as they will appear on September 23. Source for the frieze: See page for author, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

I’m sorry, but tell me Virgo wasn’t created to communicate exactly this!

Just in case you’re not blown away yet…. Why is that September 23 date significant?

The Feasts of the Lord

On Sinai, God ordained a total of seven Feasts of the Lord—the number that in the Bible represents completion or perfection—with God’s lunar calendar determining the dates. The first four feasts, the Spring Feasts, are types of Jesus’ first coming. The Spring Feasts were all fulfilled, in sequence, in precise detail perfectly on their appointed dates on the Hebrew calendar.

• Passover: Fulfilled the night “Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor 5:7). “The Lamb of God” took away the sins of the world (John 1:29) when He gave Himself on the cross.
• Feast of Unleavened Bread: Leaven is a symbol for sin in the Bible and this feast was a call to the Jewish people to live in purity and sanctification. Praise God, this one was fulfilled by Christ’s sinless life. “Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed, Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us.” (1 Cor 5:7)
• Feast of First Fruits: This celebration of the earliest harvest, the barley harvest, happens three days after Passover. It was fulfilled when Jesus rose. “But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.” (1 Cor 15:20)
• Feast of Weeks: In Jesus’ day, this celebration of the wheat harvest was known by its Greek name—Pentecost. For three of the seven feasts, all Jewish males were required to travel to Jerusalem. Which explains why there was a tremendous crowd from all nations present when the Holy Spirit descended upon the new church in tongues of fire! (Acts 2)

The last three feasts, the Fall Feasts, have yet to be fulfilled.

But if the Spring Feasts were fulfilled precisely, in order, on their Biblically prescribed dates at our Lord’s first coming, is it not reasonable to expect that the Fall Feasts will also be fulfilled precisely, in order, and on their Biblically prescribed dates at His second coming?

The seven Feasts to the Lord–representation from The Prophetic Scroll. Menorah image by Luis Gonzalez on Unsplash 

Next up: The Feast of Trumpets. One hundred trumpet blasts sounded in the Temple on the Feast of Trumpets. “The last trumpet” shall sound before we’re caught up in the air. (1 Cor 15:50) Many believe Paul’s language in this key passage regarding the Rapture may also be a reference to this Feast. In Jewish idiom, the Feast of Trumpets is also known as the feast of which “no one knows the day or hour.” (There’s a good reason for that but I’ll have to go into it another time.)

So what do I think this Revelation Twelve Sign means? I’m not going to use it to “date-set”–although some people certainly do. But given that we’re specifically told about this “great sign” in the heavens, I’m convinced it has to portend something. And it joins a host of other signs that tell us we are indeed in the last days. Most notably, the rebirth of Israel.

Well, speaking of signs in the heavens… I anticipate that some might have this reaction:

But the Blood Moons Came and Went. Nothing Extraordinary Happened.

Did they really? Perhaps nothing of Biblical proportions appeared to happen on the exact dates of the Blood Moons. But remember that God’s perspective on time is rather different than ours! (2 Pet 3:8)

• The first Blood Moon took place on April 14, 2014. In June 2014, ISIS took its first significant city: Mosul, Iraq. Sadly, sitting in the Ninevah Planes, Mosul was one of the historic centers of Orthodox Christianity. Half a million people were displaced when Mosul fell.
• On September 23, 2014, just before the second Blood Moon, the U.S. began airstrikes into Syria.
• On September 30, 2015, two days after the final Blood Moon, Russia began airstrikes into Syria, thus involving the two superpowers in what many have viewed as a “proxy war.”
• Between them, the rise of ISIS and the Syrian Civil War created a Muslim diaspora which has changed the face of Europe.
• On September 28, 2015, China sent “military advisers” into Syria as well, in alliance with Russia–and from what I understand, the Chinese haven’t left. For an intriguing look at what these emerging alliances mean for Israel, look here.
• On August 28, 2014, between the first and second Blood Moons, Erdogan was elected President of Turkey. This constituted a significant milestone in the ascendance of an Islamist despot of Herodian proportions… in a nation with clear prophetic significance. (Ezek 38:1-9)
• On June 26, 2015, between the third and fourth Blood Moons, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage. This has provided a whole new opportunity to “litmus test” and persecute Bible-believing Christians here in the U.S.
• On July 14, 2015, between the third and fourth Blood Moons, the Iran Nuclear Deal was signed. Economic sanctions were lifted against one of the world’s leading state sponsors of terror–including Hamas and Hezbollah, two organizations committed to the destruction of Israel. Experts have estimated that lifting these sanctions enabled $100B in funding to flow to Iran’s jihadist regime.

It seems to me we’re a bit like the frog that’s boiled by degrees. We may be too close to see it as it unfolds, but I believe events will ultimately demonstrate that the Blood Moon tetrad of 2014/15 constituted a watershed point in human history.

What did Jesus tell us? “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves… But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:25, 28) Why should we lift up our heads? Perhaps to take note of these heavenly signs!

I used to wish that I could have been alive when Jesus walked the earth. How amazing would that have been? But I’ve come to realize that the days in which we live are just as prophetically significant. And what a privilege it is to be placed here now, “for such a time as this”! (Est 4:14)

Brothers and sisters, the signals continue to mount that we are in the last days. And you’ve been placed here at this time for a purpose–each of us has a job to do. Are you about your Father’s business?

Please, oh please, make sure you’re rapture ready!

If you’ve never opened God’s free gift of salvation through Jesus (Rom 3:23, 6:23), please please please be persuaded to do it now! It’s simple. Just tell God from your heart that you admit you’re a sinner that needs a Savior (“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Rom 3:23), that you’re done running your own life, and that you’re ready to make Jesus Lord of your life.

If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” (Rom 10:9-11)

The decision that saves you is that simple!

Simple… But no one said living it out will be easy. Especially now.

Horoscope image in banner by Quique from Pixabay
Torah scroll image by Lawrie Cate, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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