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.
Of course 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 big 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.
I learned the most about the true meaning of the constellations
from a wonderful book by E.W. Bullinger called WITNESS OF THE STARS. Also there are some awesome works
on-line at www.lcmi.org .
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
Volume 1 of WINGS: A
JOURNEY IN FAITH is available for only $5.00. Get your copy today for a
better tomorrow!
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