by Dr Chuck Crisco
Years ago, when we first started His House Church, one morning I woke up hearing a date in my heart. It was May 12, 1793. I thought it was quite odd, so I didn't know what to do with it. Eventually I looked up the date on the Internet and it was on that exact day that a star was discovered by an astronomer. What was even more interesting though was where it was found. They said they found this particular star in the belt of the serpent holder constellation. I had never heard of such a thing.
Now I’m not an astronomer, nor into astrology, but I love Star Wars and Star Trek, if that counts?! Apparently there is a whole series of constellations that teach the gospel through the stars. At first I thought someone was just making it up, until I did some more reading and sure enough it’s there.
We are in America very far removed from those cultures. In the ancient world and even in some places still today, people didn't have iPhones or televisions. At night, when they cooled off on top of the roof of their homes, or they made a pallet in the desert, they would look up into the heavens and gaze at the stars.
I remember looking at the stars as a child and it gave me a sense of awe of God… it did for them too, but there was something more than awe. The Bible tells us that Adam named the animals right? Jewish tradition says that it was his son Seth who with God named the stars. I can’t imagine naming the animals (zebra??? Is it a white horse with black strips or a black horse with white stripes?) Yet, to name the stars must have been a fascinating event!
ASTROLOGY?
Somewhere about now you are probably asking yourself the question, “Doesn't the bible forbid astrology? ” This is the same thing isn't it? Well, we are talking about the distinction between the psychic to the stars and the gospel in the stars. One is about like a fortune cookie in a Chinese restaurant that says, “help I’m being held prisoner in a Chinese bakery”
or “today is probably a huge improvement over yesterday”, and the other is a message about God proclaimed from the creation of the world. One is about trying to predict if you will have a good day today by being guided by the stars, the other is about a story of a star that guided to Jesus.
Were there times where they got the two mixed up? Yes. Sometimes they even worshiped the stars themselves, but the stars are created things designed to point us to God, not to point to themselves.
THE HEAVENS DECLARE THE GLORY OF GOD
See Psalm 19, “1 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. 2 Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world.
The psalmist said that the heaven’s, the stars above were uttering speech and revealing knowledge to everyone in the whole earth since the beginning. He says it doesn't matter what language one speaks, everyone has the opportunity to hear the message because God built it into the testimony of the heavens themselves.
The book of Job is generally agreed to be the oldest book of the Bible, even though Genesis records earlier material. Do you know what we find there? Not only dinosaurs, yes, in the Bible, before the flood, but we find God himself taking credit for the constellations:
Job 9:9, “He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.”
Job 38:31-33, "Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, Or loose the cords of Orion? Can you lead forth a constellation in its season, And guide the Bear with her satellites? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens, Or fix their rule over the earth?”
The zodiac is just the name the Greeks used, which simply means the path of the sun. It was known by every culture of the world by the same names (though pronounced in their languages). One can go back to Babylonian cuneiform tablets or even to cave drawings where the constellation Taurus, was drawn with the exact stars in them... in the Ice Age. In other words, these constellation names all seem to have a common source.
In Isaiah it says that he knows every star by name, but you never hear him saying that about trees, or rocks. Why? They are named for a reason, because they will tell a story. Each star within a constellation has a Hebrew name, and when you add up those names together, it tells a story. God didn't just create the stars, he designed them and created the constellations themselves to move across the heavens giving a message!
FOR EXAMPLE:
Let’s take Virgo, which means virgin.
The brightest star in the Virgo constellation is called in Hebrew Zera, which is the word for “seed”. It is the same exact word used in Genesis 3:15 that is the first gospel proclamation saying that the “seed” of the woman will crush the head of the serpent.
The second brightest star in the Virgo-virgin constellation is called Al Tzemech which means the branch, and is found in Jeremiah 23:5 and Zechariah 6:12 to describes the branch of the Lord the Messiah.
The third brightest star in the Virgo constellation is called Zavijaveh which is Hebrew for beautiful Jehovah (Is 4:2).
Then the fourth brightest star is called Al Muridin, which means in Arabic, the sent one. Same word that describes Jesus as our apostle, sent one. John 5:23, 36
In this one single constellation is a message: Within the virgin is the THE seed, the Branch, who will be the Sent One who is beautiful Jehovah, the seed of the virgin.
For more insight on this go to “The Gospel in the Stars” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCprgEtrEOk
In fact, Josephus the historian who lived in the first century, wrote this:
“He also appointed the breastplate to be placed in the middle of the ephod, to resemble the earth, for that has the very middle place of the world. And the girdle which encompassed the high priest round, signified the ocean, for that goes round about and includes the universe. Each of the sardonyxes declares to us the sun, and moon; those I mean, that were in the nature of buttons on the high priests shoulders. And for the twelve stones, whether we understand them by the months, or whether we understand the like the number of the signs of that circle which the Greeks calls Zodiac, we shall not be mistaken of their meaning.”
Not only that, but the 12 major signs of the zodiac were found in the synagogues etched into the floors and in paintings as well to represent ages of history. Paul even quotes from Psalm 19 to say that the Jews always had the gospel preached to them.
Paul in Acts 17 on Mars Hill quotes their philosophers and says, “in him we live and move and have our being”. This is a poem about the constellations.
So, the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ was preached in the heavens from day one!
Now it makes more sense what God was saying to ABRAHAM
Genesis 15: 3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4 And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and TELL the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6 And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Abraham, wasn't told to count the stars here, but to "tell". The Hebrew word has the meaning of recount, or retell the story, because "your story, Abraham is incorporated into that story. I've included you in that story because what has been pre-written in the stars will come to pass THROUGH your seed one day." His response to the gospel in the stars is to believe God...and it was accounted to him as righteousness.
So fast forward now to the story of the birth of Jesus. Wise men, magi , have been watching the stars, following the story, waiting for a very special event. These wise men were most likely from Persia, descendants of the school of Daniel, when Daniel was in the kings court. Apparently for generations this school of theology, so to speak, has been looking for the coming Messiah by watching the stars. We are uncertain of the exact origins, but the Magi were also called King-makers in their culture.
So they head out on their trek… Star Trek was in the Bible all along!!!! They see a unique sign…
They see the planet Jupiter, which is called the king planet, rising. They also see a star called Regulus which is called the king star. That is not unique. What was unique was that Jupiter, called a wandering star, makes 3 circles around the top of Regulus. The king planet, crowns the king star 3 times.
But wait, there’s more. Do you know what constellation that this is happening in? It is within the constellation of Leo the lion. Genesis 49:9-10 tells us ahead of time that Jesus would be the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Do you think that’s coincidence? I don’t think so.
Now let’s go to Revelation chapter 12: "1 Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth."
I encourage you to watch the documentary The Bethlehem Star (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPHKg0M3mEo) from which some of the following info comes. Today, we have computer programs that because of the mathematical formulas of Johannes Kepler, we can go back at any point in history and see the what stars were where from any place in the world. On the Jewish New Year of Sept of 3 BC what John describes happened exactly. The woman Virgo, as she rose in the east, was clothed with the sun, just like John says. This wasn't the birth though, it was the conception.
9 months later we can fast forward, and see that Venus and Jupiter were stacked so that they appeared to be the brightest star that had ever been seen by anyone living in that day! This was the birth of Jesus.
Then, on December 25, 2 BC the star that the Magi was following stopped in retrograde over the city of Bethlehem. Which means Jesus wasn't born on Dec 25, but the star DID reveal Christ to the Magi on December 25. It was the first Christmas celebration with people bringing gifts.
What does all this mean for US?
1. It means that God will do anything to get the good news to you, even if it means writing it unmistakably in the stars themselves. If you will open your heart, no matter where you are he wants you to know how much he loves you and gave himself for you!
2. It means that God is always exactly right on time. There is no way humanly possible to bring those events together with such precision than God. The bible calls this the fullness of time. But it also means God is right on time in your life too. Trust him… he’s never late to fulfill his purposes.
If you enjoyed this teaching, please share it with others and comment below. Thank you!
Photo courtesy of NASA
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