HIS STORY IN THE SKY
The human soul yearns to know the truth.
Last night I went out to Red Rock Canyon where the
Astronomy Club were setting up their telescopes and inviting the public to join
them in looking at the sky. It was super cold, but the event was packed. People
have always been fascinated by what they see when they look up. Our God made it
that way, and He wrote His Story in the night sky. Light in the darkness.
When I first became a Christian, I used to wonder the people
who lived before there was the written Word of God, or people living in
isolated cultures would be able to hear about Jesus if there wasn’t anyone
around to teach them. Then one day someone taught me that the whole history of
the universe is written in the stars. All anyone needed to do was look up!
The phenomenal thing is that the same message of the
stars and constellations was across all ancient cultures. As far away as China
is from Egypt, both cultures interpreted the constellations in the same way.
The names for the constellations, the numbering of the stars within them, and
the names of the individual stars had the same meaning across all the ancient
cultures. The Chinese, Chaldean, and Egyptian recordings go back more than 2000
years B.C.
Over time, the stories got corrupted, but the original
meanings remained. God’s plans, purposes, and promises were written in the sky
before they were ever spoken or written down. And remember that before all the
big cities and indoor living, people were either nomadic, or if they lived in
villages or cities, much activity took place outside or on the roofs, so
watching the heavens was a normal part of their lives.
Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylonia taught people how
to read and interpret the stars the way God put them there. Psalm 147:4 says:
“He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.” There
are references to the constellations and their messages throughout the Bible.
They tell the story of Jesus, from before his birth to His life on earth, to
His coming back in glory. That’s how the Magi knew to go to Bethlehem to
find Jesus. They were taught how to read the heavens from their ancestors. The
stars also tell about the devil and his ways, and his ultimate obliteration!
The Constellation Draco (the Dragon) circles around the
Polar Star which is at the tip of the tail of the little dipper, Ursa Minor.
One of the stars in the dragon’s head is named “Ethanin”, which means
“the long serpent, or dragon.” Another star in the head is called “Al
Waid” in Arabic, which means “who is to be destroyed.” The Hebrew
names of the other stars in the dragon’s head mean “the subtle, the punished
enemy, the reptile, the fraudulent.” Isaiah 21:1 says: “The Lord with his sore
and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even
leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the
sea.”
I learned the most about the true meaning of the
constellations from a wonderful book by E.W. Bullinger called WITNESS
OF THE STARS.
There are twelve zodiac signs. Between each zodiac
sign, there may be several smaller constellations. Each constellation tells a
part of the story of God's plan. For example, Virgo (the virgin) is a woman
holding a branch. The brightest star in Virgo is Al Zimach, meaning
“the branch.” The branch in the Bible is Jesus the Messiah. Zechariah
prophesied: “Behold I will bring forth my servant the branch” (Zech. 3:8). And,
“Behold the man whose name is the branch” (Zech. 6:12).
Another star in Virgo is Zavijaveh, (I pronounce it java
java). It means “the gloriously beautiful.” It’s in Isaiah 4:2: “The Branch of
the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious.” In Virgo’s arm is a star whose name
means “he shall come down and shall have dominion.” When the ancient people
looked up at the constellation Virgo, they understood that there was going to
be a promised branch of God who would be born of a virgin and come down on
earth to have dominion.
The Egyptians recorded the zodiac in a circle on the
ceiling of the Temple Esneh. You wouldn’t necessarily know where to begin and
where to end except that the figure of a sphinx connects the two signs of Virgo
and Leo. The word “sphinx” means to bind closely together. The sphinx has the
head of a woman and the body of a lion. The story of Jesus’ birth on earth
begins with a virgin and ends with the King of Kings, the Lion of God.
The constellations are rich with meaning. And no man can
change their placement or their true meanings.
Psalm 19:1-6 says: “The heavens proclaim the glory of
God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known. They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.”
In all the turmoil of the world today, it’s still a
privilege to have the assurance of heaven. When all else is dark, the glorious
stars show brightest and their message is everlasting: Jesus Christ is the
Messiah and the message of the ages.
Love, Carolyn
