HIS STORY IN THE SKY

    

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

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THE MAJESTY OF GOD

THE MAJESTY OF GOD

Tonight there won’t be much of a moon, so I’m planning to go out to look at the stars. Whenever I do that, it reminds me of how enormous God is. I experience a similar reaction when I read passages from Isaiah 42 and 40. 

 

“Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein” (42:5).

 

“I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare his praise in the islands” (v.8).

 

“The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies. I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools (vv.13-15).

 

“And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them (v.16).

 

“They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, ‘Ye are our gods’” (v.17).

 

Though God has a sense of humor and fun and delight, sometimes we need to look at the “no fooling” side of Him as well. We see it in Isaiah 40: “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God’” (v.1).

 

“Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

 

“The voice said, ‘Cry.’ And he said, ‘What shall I cry’? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

 

“O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!

 

“Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

 

“Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

 

“Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding?

 

“Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.

 

“To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?

 

“The workman melteth a graven image, and the goldsmith spreadeth it over with gold, and casteth silver chains. He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.

 

“Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning? have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in: That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.

 

“Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.

 

“To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

 

“Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

 

“Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

 

“He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

 

“Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Is. 40: 1-31).

 

These scriptures from Isaiah have magnitude and majesty, and although we do not understand all the details, we will undoubtedly be impressed by their impact. I read these verses several times this morning. They are powerful and inspiring.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

THE STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS SPEAK THE MESSAGES OF THE BIBLE

 

THE STARS AND CONSTELLATIONS SPEAK THE WORDS OF THE BIBLE

The human soul yearns to know the truth.

 

I could hear the hippos snorting in the river below as I looked to the great expanse of dark sky at the horizon and could see the large constellations Scorpio and the Southern Cross—brilliant, stunning like I’d never seen before! Pilanesberg, South Africa.

 

I’ve always been drawn to the sky ever since our family camping trips where we’d huddle around the last embers of the campfire and look up to see the stars. Sometimes we’d sleep out on the ground in our sleeping bags just to watch the sky until we fell asleep.

 

When I became a Christian I used to wonder how people before there was writing 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 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 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 end.

 

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 great 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