The Biblical Astronomy of the Luni-Solar Eclipses of 2021-2022.

 Four Blood Moons

The current Four Blood Moons of 2021-22 have not gotten the media attention that its predecessors have, most likely due to a technicalityBlood Moon Tetrads are recognized as four Total Lunar Eclipses in a row, but the Nov. 21st , 2021′ Lunar Eclipse
was not total, just missing with only 97% of the lunar surface covered in Earth’s shadow. This makes it a partial Lunar eclipse and technically rules out being classified as a Blood Moon Tetrad. For this reason, it may sneak up on people as opposed to the Tetrads of 1949-50, 1967-68, and the most recent of 2014-2015, seen in the title banner above. This however, does not mean it should be ignored, as there are notable signs on Jewish Holidays surrounding them!

As we approach the end of the recent Blood Moon Quartet of 2021-22, the focus of this blog will be how these current Blood Moons relate to the previous tetrad in 2014-15 with the signs of 2016-17. To understand this, we must be aware what is known on the Hebrew Calander as the Shemita Cycle. The Shemita cycle includes both a Shemita Year and Week cycle which is a 7-year Sabbath release, where there was rest for the land with no sowing or reaping in the 7th year, and financial slates were wiped clean, with debts forgiven and real estate reverting to the original owners, [Levi. 25:1-7].

In Levi. 25:8-9 God spoke to Moses with “thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years, and seven times seven years; and the space of seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. 9 Thou shalt cause the trumpet of Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of Atonement, shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. [see Levi. 25:10-13]

It is key to realize that these seven-year cycles of Shemita years are related to both the Feast of Trumpets announcing the Jubilee on the Day of Atonement, concluding the sabbath year, as it did when Jesus was crucified in 27-28AD. A Shemita cycle would be one of the seven-year periods in the “seven sabbaths of years” that leads to the 49 years,” culminating in the 50-year Jubilee. Not only this, but even at the start of the Lord’s Earthly Ministry in Luke 4:18-19, he preached to them in the Acceptable year of the Lord, referencing that Jesus‘ laying down his life, was divinely approved by the Heavenly Father-Who anointed Jesus at this particular time and only by his sacrifice, to redeem mankindDr. Earnest Martin points out the links between the Acceptable Year of the Lord and Sabbatical years related to Luke 4:18-19 as follows. When Jesus announced that he was anointed to preach the Gospel to the poor, it was “a reflection of Sabbatical regulations that the poor and the stranger could eat from the fields without hinder.” 1

It is no coincidence that the Jubilee refers to these specifics in [Levi 25:10], as the 50th year was hallowed, and liberty was proclaimed throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereofGod sent Jesus to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and the recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. “This recalls the Sabbatical release laws and being free from debt as stated in Deut. 15: 1-6.” The Lord’s Release here was certainly fulfilled by Jesus as the Passover Lamb. This Acceptable Year is the kind of release Sabbath referred to in Isa. 58:6, which Jesus proclaimed at the Synagogue in Nazareth that always began on the Day of Atonement. The end of this Sabbatical year and seven-year Shemita cycle on the Day of Atonement in Tishri, ties not only to the birth of Christ on Tishri 1, 3 BC but also the cycle of regnal years from Tishri 1 to Tishri 1 for Kings in Israel and Judah, for the Priest-King of Israel and Lion of Judah, who also fulfilled the requirement of the Lamb of the first year. As a result, Jesus’ ministry could not have been longer than two years, as opposed to the 3.5 years many hold. Dr. Martin points out the influence of the Prophet Daniel on the Sabbatical Cycle as follows;

“These early opinions on the symbolic teaching of Sabbatical years were no doubt prompted by the Sabbatical periods recorded by Daniel. His 70 weeks Prophecy was an extension of the Sabbatical year’s theme, and this prophecy was the prime reference point for the Advent of the Messianic Age, that the Jews were expecting in the first Century.”Here are the verses detailing Daniel’s 70 weeks prophecy;

Dan. 9:24-27

24 Seventy weeks are determined concerning thy people and concerning thy holy city to finish the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy25 Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem until the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and until the end of the war, desolations are determined. 27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. And for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”

Rev. Jon Nessle teaches how this relates to Daniel’s prophecy… of the princes;

“The first use of the word, prince, [9:25] obviously is referring to the Messiah. However, the second cannot. How could the genuine Messiah destroy the city and sanctuary? So there must be two different princes in this context. Just like verses 25 and 26 speak of each, verse 27 alternates between the two. Jesus, the Messiah confirmed the covenant during holy week by becoming our Passover. When he was raised from among the dead, the covenant was sealed and the restitution of all things made inevitable. In the midst of that week, on a Wednesday, Messiah caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease. When he died, the veil of the Temple tore in two from top to bottom, clearing the way into the holy of holies without any more sacrifices or offerings, because the supreme one had occurred. The other prince was Titus the future Emperor of Rome, and his army desecrated the Temple with their abominations, so just as Antiochus IV was a type of the Anti-Christ, so also was Titus. Thus a first Century occurrence of Daniel’s prophecy is plausible.” 3

 Many students of this prophecy have acknowledged that the prince who causes the Abomination that makes desolate refers to the future Anti-Christ of the Great Tribulation, but most have not considered the historical figures of Antiochus IV or Titus of Rome, as forerunners of this Anti-Christ. The link above on Antiochus IV has a blog connecting a Blood Moon Tetrad with Antiochusdesecration of the Jerusalem Temple in 168-166 BC, just before the 1st Hannukah. History attests to the significance of the Shemita Cycle, as Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Jews Temple in 586 BC in the 1st year of a Shemita Cycle, as did the Romans under Titus in 70 AD, both on the 9th of AV.

Jesus reading scroll:

 Luke 4:18-19 also reflects how Jesus quoted the text from Isa. 61:1-2, stopping at the Acceptable year of the Lord, making sure not to include the Day of Vengence of our God,” which was and remains a future event. This Day of Vengence refers to our God, Who is the avenger and Judge, and Christ who treads the winepress of God’s wrath, as he treads the evil down in anger, whose blood will be sprinkled on his garments, [Isa. 63:1-4]. The wrath of God’s judgment is part of the Great Tribulation, which is preceded by the Age of Grace, arising by Christ’s ministry and proclamation of the Kingdom and King being rejected by Israel, resulting in the sacrifice of his crucifixion on Passover Wednesday, the 14th of Nisan in 28 AD, 30 years from 3 BC, followed by this nearly 2000-year period, including the Great and many Mysteries of the Church Age.

According to Mark Biltz, Jesus was crucified at the end of a Shemita week in Dan. 9:24-26, the 62+7 weeks=69 weeks leaving one week still to be fulfilled in Daniel’s 70-week Prophecy, or the last week” of the 7-year Tribulation. As Daniel was a Jew who upheld the dictates of the Judean calendar, and Jesus’ crucifixion was at the end of a Shemita Cycle, so the Great Tribulation would begin when a Shemita cycle left off in Dan. 9:25-26, to start a new Shemita cycle. This also falls on Rosh Hashanah-New Year’s Day. 4  Ten Shemita’s cover a 70-year period and 7 Shemita cycles equal 49 years, with the 50th year being a Jubilee, that was also the 1st year of the next 7-year cycle. 50 years ago a new Shemita cycle began, aligned with Yom Kippur and the Day of Atonement in 73-74′. Since Jubilee years are only declared on the Day of Atonement at Yom Kippur, the 6-day war in 1967 also started a Shemita cycle with a Blood Moon Tetrad in 1967-68‘, even as the Yom Kippur War also began the first year of a Shemita cycle in 1973‘.

Yom Kippur in 2015 was exactly 2,520 weeks from June 7, 1967 when Israel won back the Temple Mount, during the Blood Moon Tetrad of 1967-68. However, in counting these days, Yom Kippur 2015-16 was the first year of a Shemita Cycle that also fell 700 days before Elul 1, 2017, and the Season of Repentance. Another total eclipse on March 9, 2016, is linked to the signs of the 2014-15 Blood Moon Tetrad, in the first year of a Shemita Cycle, completing 7 years later in 2021-22.

The Day of Atonement, “Yom Kippur” is the holiest day of the Hebrew year, and provides prophetic insight into the Second Coming of Jesus Christ our Messiah, the restoration of national Israel, and the final judgment of the world. The Day of Atonement alludes to the two great atonements given by the LORDthe first for the Gentiles among the nations who turn to Yeshua (Jesus) for cleansing and forgiveness, and the second for the purification of ethnic Israel during the great Day of the LORD at the end of days.  (Rev. 6:15-9:21 & 11:15-19) “What Shall We Do?” Acts 2:36-47 Jn. 6:26-29, 10:22-33 Rom. 6, 7, & 8, Rev. 1:1-3. 5

Now in 2022-23′ we find ourselves opening another new 7-year Shemita Cycle. Since this year of 2022 wraps up the last Shemita Cycle, it is potentially pivotal as 22-23′ starts a new cycle. According to Mark Biltz-this Fall, the Nov. 8th, 2022 Blood Moon could begin the Tribulation week because it opens a new Shemita Cycle, that would pick up where the Crucifixion of Christ left off-at the end of a Shemita cycle in 28 AD. For this reason, if the current Shemita does not start the Tribulation week, it won’t start the Tribulation until the next Shemita Cycle in the fall of 2029-30′, [5790]. As Jubilee years can only fall on the [7th year of a Shemita Cycle], these Jubilee years are also always divisible in whole numbers of their Hebrew calendar numberby 49, and thus easy to identify. Biltz holds that every Rosh Hashanah, as Sept. 26th, 2022, including next month is thus
a candidate for the Lord’s Resurrection/Rapture event. He tells us that this event will align with the Day of Trumpets on the Hebrew Calendar, we just don’t know which year it will fall. When it does come however, it will activate the Gathering of the Church of the spiritual Body of Christ as we are raised to meet the Lord in the air, before the Great Tribulation and the revealing of the Anti-Christ. 6 [1 Cor. 15:50-53, 1 Thess. 4:13-18, 2 Thess. 1-14]

The Feast of Trumpets Rosh Hashanah” is known in Israel as “the day no one knows the day or the hour,” because the feast day begins, once a New Moon is sighted and that information is relayed. The Feast of Trumpets is actually a 2-day feast, and no one really knows “the day or the hour,” until it happens and they learn about it. There is biblical evidence the “gathering together” will take place on the Feast of Trumpets some year, “with the trumpet call of God.” (1 Thes. 4:16, 1 Cor. 15:50-53, Matt. 24: 30-31, Rev. 7:9-14) 7

April 15th2014 opening Blood Moon of the 2014-2015 Tetrad, near Mars in Virgo.

Illustration of Mars in our night sky.

The recent history of Isreal and the Blood Moon Tetrads when modern Israel was formed as a nation-state, were marked by the Blood Moon Tetrad of 1949-1950, as an initial key. This was highlighted by a triple conjunction of Mars-Spica in Virgo to open the 2014-15 Blood Moon Tetrad. What is fascinating is that Mars in retrograde not only marks the 2014-2015 Tetrad, but also the previous two Blood Moon Tetrads in 1949-50 and 1967-68! Added to this, the triple planetary conjunctions linked with Mars’ retrograde, also mark all three sets of modern Blood Moon Tetrads according to the pattern of the Celestial Sphinx, with these planetary conjunction signs in both the Alpha-Omega signs of the Mazzaroth, Virgo and Leo.

The 2014 Passover Blood Moon initiated a Blood Moon Tetrad, concluding in Israel’s Jubilee Year of 2015, as a summation of 7 Sabbatical cycles in the 50th year. According to NASAMars which was a week past its closest point to the Earth; [opposition] was 9 degrees NW of the Blood Moon in Virgo, very close to the celestial scene also in Virgo, on  4/13/1968. As the Red Planet Mars was bright in the sky, it rivaled the Blood Moon in Virgo, and considering Mars’ symbolism in Biblical Astronomy, this gets even more interesting. In Bible AstronomyMars can embody Michael the Warrior Archangel fighting for God’s people, as we find Mars here coming to Israel’s [Virgo] aid in time of crisis or war. However, the Red PlanetMars can also symbolize the sinless blood of Christ our Redeemer, who paid the incalculable price to save us from our sin. Throughout the OT, God Almighty used Israel as an example of His Power, Grace and Love as He delivered them from their enemies. We saw this in recent history of the Blood Moon Tetrads with 1949-50 and 1967-68, in Israel’s battles for statehood, and as they regained control of Jerusalem for the first time in nearly 2000 years, in fulfillment of prophecy.

img6

We will now consider the current Blood Moon Quartet of 2021-22 consisting of the following Solar and Lunar Eclipses;

1. May 26th, 2021 Super Blood Moon Total Lunar Eclipse-Sivan 15  [May 16th-18 Shavuot].

This Total Lunar Eclipse started at 4:47:39 a.m. EDT (08:47:39 GMT), according to NASA’s Eclipse Page(opens in new tab). That’s when the moon touched the penumbra. The partial phase of the eclipse started about 57 minutes later, at 5:44 a.m. EDT (09:44:57 GMT). The moon entered the total phase of the eclipse at 7:11:25 EDT (11:11:25 GMT) and completed exiting the umbra at 10:52:22 EDT (12:52:22 GMT). Last contact is at 13:49:41. [*]

The Total Lunar Eclipse of May 26, 2021, is uniquely positioned at a celestial center point between the Blood Moon Tetrads of 2014-15, and 2025-26. It holds down this singular spot in the heavens, in the center between two Total Solar eclipses on March 20th, 2015 & August 2, 20272259 days on either side of this May 26th, 2021, Total Lunar Eclipse. It is also stationed directly between two other Total Solar Eclipses 1904 days equidistant from this Total Lunar Eclipse, one on March 9th, 2016, and the other on August 12th, 2026. Thirdly, This May 26th, Total Lunar Eclipse also occupies the center point between two other Solar Eclipses, each 694 days on either side of May 26th, 2021, the first on July 12th, 2019, and the second, an Annular Solar Eclipse
on April 20th, 2023. These three sets of Total Solar Eclipses, being separated by accurate day counts, represents one level of precision for the placement of the May 26th Total Lunar Eclipse. It also has a more general position in two cases midway between two Total Solar Eclipses, the first on Dec. 14th, 2020, and the second covered below on Dec. 4th, 2021, both on Hannukah.

This Total Solar eclipse on March 20, 2015, was itself also positioned at the center point between the Blood Moon lunar eclipses of the 2014-15 Tetrad, seen above as the title banner of this month’s blog. The March 20thTotal Solar eclipse [on my birthday], in 2015 occurred a day before the sacred new year began on Nisan 1 (March 21). This eclipse was visible in the sign Pisces, that speaks of 
the Redeemer’s people consisting of Jews, Gentiles and the spiritual Church of the Body of Christ. Here there was a solar eclipse that occurred 888 days before the Season of Repentance 2017. 888 is the gematria number of our Redeemer’s name in greek– Jesus.

The March 20th Total Solar Eclipse @ the North Pole corresponds to the Portion of the Torah reading in Jewish Synagogues, contained a reference to Nisan 1 and the Dedication of the Tabernacle. An interesting Scriptural element of this story involves a pivotal craftsman of the OT named Bezaleel-whose name means in the “shadow or protection of God.” This provides a direct link with the Shadow of the Total Solar Eclipse at the North Pole, a highly unique event midway in 2014-15 Blood Moon Tetrad on Nisan 1, with key inferences in its purview. Bezaleel was also of the house of Judah [Ex. 31] sharing in the royal line of King David, to Christ, describing how “God had filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in under-standing, in knowledge,” as [Isa. 11:1-10] with the revelation to build the Tabernacle’s holy furniture. Isa. 11:9 tells how the earth [God’s Holy Mount] will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, [Ex. 25, Heb. 8:5] relating to aspects of this eclipse, that was not only seen over the ocean, but whose shadow was always in contact with these waters, symbolizing the earth’s population. [Hab. 2:14]

The Passover Blood Moon on April 4th, 2015 was the third Blood Moon in the Blood Moon Tetrad of 2014-2015, and was the 1st full moon two weeks after the Total Solar Eclipse at the North Pole, on March 20th, Nisan 1, and the Spring Equinox 2015. This marked not only the opening of the ecclesiastical year in Israel, but also the midpoint in both the Hebrew Sabbatical year of 2014-2015, and the Blood Moon Tetrad over the same period. When we consider that there has never been a Total Solar Eclipse at the North Pole in the history of timekeeping in the Hebrew Calendar, we can see that this Passover/Easter Blood Moon was certainly unique. As we consider the Total Solar eclipse on Nisan 1, we should recall that it also coincided with the Dedication of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. But, the April 4th, 2015 Passover Blood Moon, recalled not only, the first Passover of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, but also the Sabbath Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. This speaks loudly to the ministry of Jesus Christ designed to fulfill the OT Law, including every aspect of the Passover Lamb’s sacrifice, not only for Israel, but all mankind. With added perspective, we find the revelation of this plan for MosesTabernacle foreshadowing the blueprints for the Jerusalem Temple, as the ministry of the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek was energized in Christ. [Heb. 8:5]

Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the Tabernacle: for, See said He, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount. [Exod. 25]

A total solar eclipse at the North Pole on the Spring Equinox takes place about once every 100 centuries, but has never happened on Nisan 1 in Hebrew Timekeeping, especially when combined with a Supermoon, putting this Total Solar eclipse in a class by itself. The Almighty wants our attention focused on these unique heavenly signs like the Total Solar eclipse at the North Pole, at the center of this Blood Moon Tetrad, linked to the May 26th Total Lunar eclipse also placed midway in these Solar Eclipses! Heb. 8 points out that God was telling Moses in building the Tabernacle and its furniture, that he should stick to the pattern God showed to him, in the mount. It is key that God referred Moses to His Holy Mount Sinai, where He revealed the OT Law to him, mirrored in the earthly version of God’s Heavenly Temple, from the North Pole, the highest point of the physical heavens. [Job 26]

As the high priest after the order of Melchisedek, Jesus inherits his double square breastplate of 12 precious stones, symbolizing the authority of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah as Priest-King over Israel’s 12 [4 x 3] tribes [Ex. 28:15-30]. In keeping with the celestial symbolism theme, the breastplate, was designed with a niche holding the Urim & Thummim, or lights and perfections,
representing the two great lights of the Sun and Moon. As oracles of the High Priest, these two stones revealed the wisdom and glory of the Creator, even as the movements of the Sun and Moon in the heavens declare God’s glory: [Ps. 19:1].

Job 26 provides more detail on this intriguing subject.

Job 26:5-13 “The dead tremble, Those under the waters and those inhabiting them.
Sheol is naked before HimAnd Destruction has no covering.
He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth on nothing.
He binds up the water in His thick clouds, Yet the clouds are not broken under it.
He covers the face of His throneAnd spreads His cloud over it.
10 He drew a circular horizon on the face of the watersAt the boundary of light and darkness11 The pillars of heaven trembleAnd are astonished at His rebuke.
12 He stirs up the sea with His power, And by His understanding He breaks up the storm.
13 By His spirit He hath garnished the heavens; His hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

In Job Chapters 2-3 we find the record of Job, after Satan had afflicted him, speaking from the depths of his sufferings, he curses his day of birth.

Job 3:4-5, 8-10
Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. 5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. May those curse it who curse the dayThose who are ready to arouse Leviathan.May the stars of its morning be darkMay it look for light, but have none, And not see the dawning of the day10 Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother’s wombNor hide sorrow from my eyes.

These verses in Job make some notable connections with the shadow of death. Intriguingly, these links both carry reference to the darkening of daylight, first seen in cloud covering, and second with the blackness of the day which ominously resembles a total Solar eclipse. Here Job links terror to the “blackness of the day,” along with those who arouse Leviathan, [Job 41] who is another manifestation of the serpent as the sea monster. This again identifies the true source of the persecution, disease and death, from the author of death, the Devil and Satan. This imagery speaks loudly to the Biblical symbolism of Eclipses as negative celestial omens, indicative of the enemy’s persecution in the war for mankind in general and Israel specifically, as activity surrounding the Blood Moon Tetrads in history attests. The recurrent theme seen in the Blood Moon Tetrads however, is always deliverance of the Almighty GodWhose Love for His people is ever true and unfailing.

This Solar eclipse imagery is also found at the crucifixion of Christ, as seen in the apparent period of midday darkness on April 28, 28 AD, the day of Jesus’ crucifixion. There is no sign of an eclipse that I have found on this day, but the shadow of death that stained this day was more palpable than any other in history, and the blackness of this day was most evident spiritually in Jesus’  death. This was completely reversed three days later, however when Christ arose as the “first fruits from the dead.” Thus, the brightness of Lucifer’s day of apparent victory was turned into darkness the moment he turned away from the Almighty-the original and eternal Source of Light. We are reminded of this, looking at the April 4th, 2015Blood Moon in the 2014-15 Blood Moon Tetrad, which took place on both Passover and Resurrection [Easter] weekend.

As the third Blood Moon in this Tetrad, on Passover it commemorates not only the 10th plague of Darkness that consummated the 10 plagues of God’s judgment on Egypt leading to Exodus, but especially God’s protection and deliverance of Israel, which freed them from their Egyptian bondage. This is the dominant theme of the Blood Moon Tetrads, that no matter what persecution the enemy produces, it always works for God’s deliverance, always improving the overall situation of faithful in Israel, and Christians alike.

2. June 10th, 2021, Annular Solar Eclipse between the horns of Taurus the Bull.

Two weeks after the May 26th, 2021 Total Lunar Eclipse, the June 10th, 2021, Annular Solar Eclipse followed. The June 10, 2021, Annular solar eclipse began at sunrise in southern Ontario, Canada. The nearness of these two eclipses occurring back-to- back is called an eclipse season.

The path of this annular solar eclipse touches the North Pole, followed by a total solar eclipse on Dec. 4, 2021 over Antarctica, the first of two polar solar eclipses in 2021, [see #4 below]. Exactly six lunar months (six new moons) after this annular eclipse, another solar eclipse fell on December 4, 2021. Unlike in June 2021, the Dec. 2021 New Moon presented the closest and largest supermoon of the year. The graphic globe below depicts the Annular Solar Eclipse path over the North Pole, extending the polar theme of these eclipse signs.

The path of the June 10th, 2021 Annular Solar Eclipse over the North Pole8


3. Nov. 19th, 2021 97% Partial Blood Moon
on Kislev 15.

This Partial Lunar Eclipse belongs to Saros 126 and is number 45 of 70 eclipses in the series. All eclipses in this series occur at the Moon’s ascending node. The Moon moved south in respect to the node with each succeeding eclipse in the series. This eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node in Taurus. The Moon was placed near the famous Pleiades; the Seven Sisters – during the eclipse. The Partial lunar eclipse of November 19, 2021, is followed two weeks later by a total solar eclipse on December 4, 2021, also denoting an eclipse season.

 
The Beaver Moon lunar eclipse started at 1:02 a.m. EST (0602 GMT), and the moon was 97% covered by Earth’s shadow at its peak. The eclipse ended at 6:03 a.m. EST (1203 GMT). [*]


4. Dec. 4th 2021
, Total Solar Eclipse in Scorpius, during Hannukah week, 11/28 to 12/6/2021.

The Sun will appear to have a dark shadow on only part of its surface. Viewers in parts of South Africa, Namibia, South Georgia and  Falkland Islands, Chile, New Zealand, and Australia will see a partial solar eclipse on Dec. 4.

We referred to a link above with a Blood Moon Tetrad tied to Antiochus IV as a forerunner of the Anti-Christ, due to his desecration of the Jerusalem Temple. This Abomination in God’s Temple demanded that the sanctuary be cleansed by the Israelites, which it was on Kislev 25-at the end of a period of 2300 days [in Daniel’s Prophecy] in 12/16/164 BC; when the Jews instituted the first Hanukkah.

As Rev. Nessle states regarding these 2300 days: “In my analysis of the prophecies of Daniel, I showed that this time span very well could be the entire time span the sanctuary was trodden underfoot by the agents of Antiochus IV. We know in the Book of Maccabees that the end-point of the desecration of the Temple was on Kislev 25, December 13, in 164 BC.”9 This initiated the Hanukkah festival when the Temple was rededicated, due to the desecration of the abomination desolation at the hands of Antiochus IV, as a forerunner of the Anti-Christ.

There was an Annular Solar Eclipse that opened Christmas night to Dec. 26th, 2019 during Hannukah week, which was notable as pointed out by Christian Minister-Pastor Paul Begley, who stated this was the 3rd consecutive year that a solar eclipse appeared during Hannukah.

Israel has been viewed as the hands of God’s prophetic clock in Matthew 24, and Luke 21:24-33. In these gospel chapters, Jesus used Israel to tell us of a generation that will finally see all the prophecies fulfilled.” When Israel was reborn as a NationState in 1948, the “fig tree generation,” was also birthed. As Luke 21:32 says:This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.”  Jesus confirmed his words when He said, ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away’ (Luke 21:33). This generation that sees the fig tree shoot forth will not pass till all these things be fulfilled. 10

The 1948 generation is the generation that will not pass till all things prophesied by Jesus in Mathew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21 be fulfilled. There are faithful who refer to Psalm 90:10 as a determinant of the length of a Biblical generation.”

Psalms 90:10: The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they be eighty years, yet is their labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.”

 According to this position, the following conclusions were drawn. In 2018 this generation was 70 years old the same year that Israel marked 70 years of statehood on May 14th, 1948. But this generation has to attain 80 years for years of labour and sorrow”- [Great Tribulation], bringing us to the year 2028. So then according to them, from 1948 to 2028= 80 years, then this generation is soon cut off as prophesied in Psalms 90. This “cut off” happens when Christ appears at the Armageddon battle. 11

Therefore, since the ending point of this “fig tree” generation would conclude in 2028, and as Jesus said, ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled, they have concluded that means the latest for Jesus Christ to return is in the year 2028.

There are 7 years in the Great Tribulation period (the years of labor and sorrow) that must be fulfilled before the generation is cut off. Since we are already in the year 2022, and a new Shemita cycle starts this September, as Mark Biltz points out, we should be alert.

What I find interesting about this scenario is that 2028 stands out for a few reasons. First, 27-
28 AD
 is also known as the “acceptable year of the Lord,” the year Christ opened his earthly ministry. The crucifixion date of Jesus Christ was [Nisan 14], April 24th, 28 AD, and his res
urrection took place [Nisan 17], May 1st, 28 AD. This makes the year 2028 not only the 2,000 year anniversary of these events, but also wraps up the 6000-year period since Creation

With the conclusion of this final eclipse of 2021, Earthlings in 2022, will experience four eclipses: two of the sun and two of the moon. The first of these was a solar eclipse, a partial solar eclipse of April 30 involving the 2nd of two new moons in the month of April, what colloquially is known as a “Black Moon.”

 

5. April 30th, 2022, Partial Solar Eclipse – Nisan 29, 1 week after Passover.

A solar eclipse only occurs at a New Moon phase, when the Sun, Moon and Earth are aligned. If the Moon is new upon landing on the nodal crossing point, a solar eclipse results. Depending on the distances of the Moon to the Earth and the Earth to the Sun, the resulting eclipse will either be total or annular. But in the case of the April 30 solar eclipse, the Moon reached a new phase 23 hours and 26 minutes before reaching the node, which was too far away to allow the moon to pass directly in front of the sun, but still just close enough to allow the moon to cover a part of the sun. 12

During the eclipse, the Sun is in the constellation Aries. The partial solar eclipse of April 30 was visible from parts of the south-eastern Pacific Ocean and southern South America. It began at 2:45 p.m. EDT (1845 GMT) and ended at 6:37 p.m. EDT (2237 GMT), according to NASA’s solar eclipse page. [*]  The partial solar eclipse of April 30, 2022, is followed two weeks later by the Total Lunar eclipse [see below] on May 16, 2022, again denoting an eclipse seasonMay-Aug. of 2022 also witnessed four consecutive Supermoons.


6. May 16th, 2022 Total Lunar Eclipse on
  2nd Passover.  

This total lunar eclipse of May 16 was visible across North and South America, Europe and Africa. It began at 9:32 p.m. EDT (0132 GMT) and lasted about 5 hours and 18 minutes, according to NASA’s Eclipse website. The eclipse peaked at 12:12 a.m. EDT (0412 on May 17 GMT). [https://www.space.com/16830-full-moon-calendar.html] The Moon’s location is in the direction of the constellation Libra.

This lunar eclipse takes place 1.5 days before the moon reaches perigee, its closest point to Earth for the month.
So this full moon is a supermoon. The May 16th, 2022 Total Lunar Eclipse took place on the Second Passover, in the 14-15th Iyyar on the Hebrew Calendar, according to the stipulations in Num. 9:4-12 below, given to Moses by the Lord. However, these are considerations of the OT Law, that Jesus fulfilled as the embodiment of the Passover, who covered these transgressions where the Law was concerned.

Num. 9:4-12
4 And Moses spoke unto the children of Israel that they should keep the PassoverAnd they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at evening in the Wilderness of Sinai. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel. And there were certain men who were defiled by the dead body of a man, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day; and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day. And those men said unto him, “We are defiled by the dead body of a man. Why are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the Lord in its appointed season among the children of Israel?” And Moses said unto them, “Stand still, and I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you.” And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, 10 “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: ‘If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the Passover unto the Lord11 The fourteenth day of the second month at evening they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 12 They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.

 

Oct. 8, 2022: The Draconid Meteor Shower.

The Draconid meteor shower which is active Oct. 6-10, is expected to peak on Friday, October 8, and last through October 10, bringing with it a drizzle of meteors for dedicated stargazers, three days after Yom Kippur.

These dates are key historically from October 7th-8th we find 3 Sukkot/Tabernacle Blood Moons in 32 AD, 1949 and 2014, along with a Penumbral lunar eclipse on the Feast of Tabernacles/Sukkot in 70 AD. In 1949 Israel fought for and won their independence as a state, as in 2014 they were fighting Hamas. Both eclipses from October 7th-8th and those falling on October 18th, were all on the Feast of Tabernacles.

7. October 25th, 2022 Partial Solar Eclipse-Tishri 30-Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan


On Oct. 25, the second solar eclipse of 2022 will take place. As in April, this eclipse will be partial, but this time the Moon’s penumbral shadow will fall on the Northern Hemisphere. This partial solar eclipse on Oct. 25 will be visible from parts of Europe, northeast Africa, the Middle East and western Asia. It will begin at 4:58 a.m. EST (0858 GMT) and end at 9:02 a.m. EST (1302 GMT).  [*]

8. Nov. 8th, 2022 Total Lunar Eclipse

The total lunar eclipse of Nov. 8 will be visible across Asia, Australia, the Pacific Ocean and the Americas. It will begin at 3:02 a.m. EST (0802 GMT) and last about 5 hours, 53 minutes, with totality lasting 1 hour, 24 minutes, according to NASA. It will peak at 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT).  [*]


The total lunar eclipse of November 8, 2022, is preceded two weeks earlier by a partial solar eclipse on October 25, 2022. These eclipses all take place during a single eclipse season. An eclipse season is an approximate 35-day period during which it’s inevitable for at least 2 (and possibly 3) eclipses to take place.

According to Mark Biltz-this Fall, the Nov. 8th, 2022 Blood Moon could begin the Tribulation week because it opens a new Shemita Cycle, that would pick up where the Crucifixion of Christ left off-at the end of a Shemita cycle in 28 AD. For this reason, if the current Shemita does not start the Tribulation week, it won’t start the Tribulation until the next Shemita Cycle in the fall of 2029-30′, [5790].

This concludes our overview section of the 2021-2022 Luni-Solar Eclipses. I would also like to provide a preview of some of the action for next year. In 2023 we have another April-May eclipse season with a Total Solar Eclipse on April 20, 2023, followed with a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on May 5-6, 2023. On April 20, 2023, a “hybrid eclipse, or an eclipse that starts as an annular, transitions to total, then back to an annular before ending, will be visible from the Indian Ocean, western Australia, New Guinea and the Pacific Ocean. The October-Nov. eclipse season includes an Annular Solar eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023, and a Partial Lunar Eclipse on October 28-29. The Oct.14, 2023, an Annular Solar eclipse will sweep from the Pacific coast of Oregon to the Texas Gulf Coast. This map highlights the paths of the total solar eclipses of 2017 and 2024 and the Annular solar eclipses of 2021 and 2023.

Screen Shot 2019-12-17 at 2.07.23 PM.png

As the Total Lunar Eclipse of May 26, 2021, is uniquely positioned at a celestial center point between two Total Solar Eclipses, each 694 days on either side of May 26th, 2021, the first on July 12th, 2019, and the second Total Solar Eclipse on April 20th, 2023. The Annular Solar eclipse on Oct. 14, 2023 actually serves as the first eclipse that will be crossed over in Texas 6 months later, by the April eclipse in 2024 that also crosses over the path of the 2017 Pan American Eclipse, in the Carbondale area of Illinois. By crossing over the paths of both these eclipses, the message of these three eclipses are linked. The May 26, 2021, Total Lunar Eclipse also holds general midpoint position midway between the April eclipse in 2024 and the August 2017 Pan American Eclipse, forming an “X” in the midwest of North America.  

As we keep our heads to the sky, and our hearts and minds in God’s Word in view of these exciting celestial signs, we anticipate the soon victorious Return of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring us home.

We will see you here, there or in the Air…

God Bless!

Rene’

 

Footnotes

1. Dr. Earnest Martin’s study on Sabbatical Years.
2. IBID
3. “Analysis of Prophecies in Daniel.” [ppg. 15-16.] Jon Nessle
4. The Lord’s Soon Return-Mark Biltz [Youtube video-Jan. 2022]
5.  Courtesy of Paul Grevas: www.bloodmoonscoming.com
6. “Blood Moons Decoded-Mark Biltz [Tipping Point Youtube video]
7. Courtesy of Paul Grevas: www.bloodmoonscoming.com
8. Picture Credit. https://gms.gsfc.nasa.gov/4910
9. The Abomination of Desolation and other Prophetic Terms of Biblical Eschatology, Jon Nessle.
10. http://www.christiantruthcenter.com/the-fig-tree-generation-the-generation-that-will-not-pass/
11. IBID
12. Joe Rao@Space.com [https://www.space.com/partial-solar-eclipse-april-2022-what-to-expect]
13. [*] Space.com notes on these Solar and Lunar Eclipses.

Comments on Facebook

To those of you interested in commenting on this post please go to our Facebook Group Page 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/bibleastronomy

Biblical Astronomy of The Grand Celestial Alignment of June 2022

Biblical Astronomy of The Grand Celestial Alignment of June 2022  1

The heavens were revving up for some celestial fireworks in June of 2022, to be reflected on earth leading into our July 4th celebrations for Independence day!

The Grand Celestial Alignment in June of 2022, picks up on what we saw two months ago in the celestial signs in April of 2022, starting with a union of Mars and Saturn, as the two approached each other closer than a lunar diameter on April 5thApril opened with three bright planets massed low in our east-southeast sky just before sunrise. This was preceded by a triangular massing of Venus-Mars-Saturn in Capricornus on March 28th, 2022. In April 2022, these planets VenusSaturn & Mars are only 6 degrees, apart with Venus to the left, followed by Saturn and Mars in conjunction.

Figure 1.  Capricornus the Celestial Goat-fish. 2 
See the source image

The union of Mars and Saturn, represents interesting symbolism as the Red planet Mars can embody the blood of Christ, which is key during the Passover month of April, in light
of his perfect sinless blood, that he sacrificed for all humanityMars can also represent the Warrior Archangel Michael as he fights for God’s people, against Satan-embodied in Saturn or Satan’s planet. With this conjunction in Capricorn in April 2022, it recalls the same month our Lord was crucified on April 28th28 AD, with a series of planetary conjunctions within a Grand Alignment nearly 2000 years later.

As Christ embodies the Passover in Israel, seen in the celestial symbolism of Capricornus his death and resurrection fulfilled a prophecy of Isa. 53sacrificing his life for the sheep. As Bullinger eloquently put it; “the living fish proceeds from the dying goat, and yet they form only one body. [Eph. 4] That picture which has no parallel in nature, has a perfectly true counterpart in Grace, and the great multitude which no man can number, is redeemed unto eternal life through the death of their redeemer. 3 

Around the 8th of AprilJupiter, which was immersed below the horizon during the first week of April, makes an appearance, expanding this alignment with the other three planets to make it a foursome. By the morning of April 19, all four planets are aligned in a diagonal line of a little over 30 degrees; from lower left to upper rightJupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn, as seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2. The mid-April Alignment of 4 planets in Capricorn, 2022. 4

Passover, kicked off the Feast of Unleavened Bread or Pesach in the Hebrew Year, starting at sundown on Friday, 15 April 2022, ending nightfall on SaturdayApril 23, 2022. During this week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we saw the celestial events, including this planetary alignment in Capricornus following PassoverThe predawn sky on April 19, 2022 in Stellarium shows the alignment of Jupiter, Venus, Mars and SaturnThis alignment, preceded by two planetary conjunctions, the first was Jupiter-Neptune in Aquarius on April 12th, and the 2nd on April 18th with Mercury-Uranus in Aries. 5 

These two planetary unions that included the outer planets of Neptune and Uranus, show that these solar system giants were present in a Celestial Alignment even in April, just not visible to the naked eye, as their fellow outer planets Jupiter and Saturn.

Saturn presently rising before midnight, is visible to the naked eye shining as a bright, golden-white orb glowing in Capricornus. This sign pictured as a Goat-Fish reflects Jesus as he embodies one of two goats-Old Covenant sacrificial animals
on the day of Atonement
, the other of which was the scapegoat. Bullinger says of the two goats; the first of which is the sin offering, God gave it to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord.” [Levi. 10:16-17] The other goat, which was not slain, was released into the wilderness. [Levi. 16:22] Here is the death and resurrection of Christ.

On May 30th, a Jupiter-Venus union, started June’s alignment off, with a bang! Unions of Jupiter-Venus have been key in marking the birth of Christ in 3-2 BC, with other similar signs following. As a reminder, the unions of Jupiter-Venus the sky’s two brightest planets, was also one of the signature planetary unions marking the birth of Christ, with the Jupiter-Venus union on Aug. 12th 3 BC, about a month before the Rev. 12 sign on Sept. 11th, 3 BC. We have seen notable replays of these celestial signs with the Blood Moon Tetrad of 2014-2015, as referenced below in August of 2016.

Figure 3. August 15th, 2016 Jupiter-Mercury-Venus triangular union in Leo. 7

ven_jup_160815

This triangular planetary union in Leo is considered part of the signs of the Celestial Sphinx, which occur in Leo the Lion, or Virgo the Woman, the Alpha-Omega signs of the Mazzaroth, that have united these 12 signs in their thematic telling of the Celestial Gospel since their creation in Genesis. Celestial signs like planetary conjunctions and alignments, for example, are key in marking the birth and Return of Jesus Christ.

This spectacular Jupiter–Venus conjunction in 3 BC was marked again last year in the early dawn of Feb. 11th, 2021 is a precursor to the triple union of VenusMercury and Jupiter, with the Moon on the same day. Not only are the Jupiter-Venus unions significant in marking the birth and return of Christ, but also the unions of Mercury-Venus are noteworthy, as referenced by Dr. Ernest Martin.

In his book, The Birth of Christ Recalculated, Ernest Martin states; “On the morning of  September 1, Venus and Mercury came into conjunction only .35 degrees apart...”

Dr. Martin goes on to tell us how this Mercury-Venus conjunction set the stage for the Jupiter-Venus conjunctions around the birth of Christ, highlighted by their spectacular June 17th 2 BC union:

“After the Sept. 1 meeting with Mercury, Venus journeyed back into the light of the Sun, emerging in the West as an evening star about 20 December, 3 BC, and when this occurred, an observer would have noticed the planet just after sunset moving progressively higher in the sky (going more easterly) with each succeeding day. This movement placed Venus on a collision course with Jupiter which was moving westward. At the period when Venus had just passed its easternmost elongation from the Sun (the farthest east of the Sun that Venus ever reaches) on 17 June, 2 BC, the two planets “collided”. They were 0.04 degrees away from each other. This was a most uncommon occurrence. To an observer on Earth, the luminosity that each planet displayed made them look like one gigantic star. It was as if Venus had stretched herself as far eastward as she was able, in order to join with Jupiter as he reached westward to meet her. This conjunction occurred at the exact time of the full Moon. The whole of the evening sky was being illumined from the east by the full light of the Moon, while the western quarter witnessed the Jupiter/Venus conjunction. Professor D.C. Morton, Senior Research Astronomer @ Princeton University, said the conjunction of 17 June, 2BC, was a notable astronomical event [ZPEB, vol. I, pg. 398]. Such closeness had not been witnessed in generations. Roger W. Sinnott, writing in the journal Sky and Telescope, December, 1968, ppgs. 384-386, referred to this conjunction as a brilliantdouble star” that finally gave the appearance of fusing together into a single “star” as the planets drew nearer the western horizon. He said that only the sharpest of eyes would have been able to split them and that the twinkling caused by the unsteady horizon atmosphere would have blended them into one giant “star” for almost all viewers. “The fusion of two planets would have been a rare and awe-inspiring event” [pg. 386]. Here were the 2 brightest planets in the heavens merging together. This was happening at the period when Venus was approaching her time of greatest brilliance.” 9

Leo The Lion

Leo The Lion

The major signs marking the birth of Christ on September 11th 3 BC, are not only sealed with this triple union of Jupiter-Regulus in Leo, but also by this set of Jupiter-Venus conjunctions in Leo, including the June 17th sign of 2 BC. In addition, the greater majority of heavenly signs marking the birth of Christ were bracketed by 2 Jupiter-Venus unions in 3 and 1 BC.  The first Jupiter-Venus Conjunction marking the birth of Christ took place on August 31st 3 BC, in Leo with the last one occurring on August 21st, 1 BC in Virgo. Here we find an interesting variation on a Celestial Sphinx sign highlighting planetary conjunctions of Jupiter-Venus, taking place during the first fulfillment of the Rev. 12:1-2 prophecy relating to the sufferings of Christ in his ministry as the Passover Lamb. This alerts us that we should look for similar Celestial Sphinx signs as a precursor to Christ’s Second Coming. In this light, it is with great interest that we discover 3 Jupiter-Venus conjunctions that occurred in Leo, followed by Jupiter-Venus conjunctions in Virgo in both 2016 and 2017.

The following dates saw Jupiter-Venus conjunctions in Leo in the Hebrew Jubilee year of 2015:

June 30th, 2015
August 25th, 2015
October 26th, 2015 

Jupiter-Venus in Conjunction

jupiter-venus

The following dates, depict similar Jupiter-Venus conjunctions in Virgo in 2016-2017:

July 27th, 2016
Aug. 26-27th, 2016 [Jupiter enters Virgo] starting its retrograde in Virgo’s womb
Feb. 26th, 2017
Sept. 23rd, 2017 [Virgo clothed with the Sun/Moon @ feet]-Rev. 12:1-2
Nov. 13th, 2017

Now that we have an idea of the impact of celestial activity of Jupiter-Mercury-Venus, and some of their individual unions as signs of the Celestial Sphinx, we can get a sense of their key roles in the birth and return of Christ. These 2 brightest planets; Venus and Jupiter, teamed up to provide the closest planetary union of 2014, and the closest VenusJupiter conjunction until August 27, 2016, noted above. In the eastern dawn, starting in mid-August, these two dazzlingly-brilliant planets moved closest together around August 18, 2014. This notable Venus-Jupiter union, separated by only 1/3 a degree, was the only one
of 2014, between the first two Blood Moons of the 2014-15 Blood Moon Tetrad.

Returning to the June 2022 Grand Celestial Alignment of planets, we find these 5 visible planets appear in the sky as they are ordered in their solar orbits. Scanning from the east-northeast horizon up to the right, we find Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Adding the Moon, which marks Earth’s spot in the lineup from June 23 to 25, which spot is occupied by the outer planet Uranus as viewed from Earth in the banner above, explaining why it is occulted by Earth’s Moon on June 25th.

The June Moon appeared in a series of snapshots, paired to these planets in the order seen below. The Moon, which passed near all five planets in June, makes identifying each planet, on given mornings a lot easier. On Saturday (June 18), for instance, a waning gibbous moon was positioned 6 degrees to the lower right of Saturn, with Neptune.

Super Strawberry Moon-June 14th
Saturn- June 16th
Neptune-June 18th

Jupiter- June 22nd
Mars- June 23rd
Uranus
– Lunar Occultation; June 25th
Venus-June 26th
Mercury-June 27th

Incredibly, the last time this kind of alignment happened was March 5, 1864! The alignment of planets in this specific order last took place in Dec. 2004.

Jupiter the scepter and King Planet- an early morning object, rising in western Pisces,  shining at a brilliant magnitude over 2.5 times brighter than Sirius, the brightest star in Earth’s sky. The redeemed multitudes seen in Capricorn’s fish-tail, are also embodied in the adjoining fish decans of Delphinus the dolphin, and Pisces Australis, the fish of the south, and decan of the water sign Aquarius. This theme continues with Pisces, as the Moon pairs with Jupiter in this planetary alignment.

Mars finally comes to the fore as it continues to brighten in its approach to Earth. It rises in the east out of its previous conjunction with the slower moving Saturn, in early April, now shining at magnitude 0.5. The Red Planet Mars is distinguished by its crimson red-orange hue, emphasizing the stainless redeeming blood of Christ.

Venus the Bright and Morning Star rises around the time of dawn’s first glow. At magnitude -3.9, Venus outshines its nearest companion in brilliance, Jupiter, nearly fourfold. The Pleiades star cluster is 9 degrees left of Venus prior to being washed out in the sunlight of dawn. 

Contrary to its fleetness, Mercury was
a late arrival to this early planet party. On May 21, it appeared at inferior conjunction, much too dim to see, hovering just above the dawn horizon to open June. On June 16th however, Mercury was at max elongation, 23 degrees west of the sun, at magnitude 0.6, bordering naked-eye visibility, very low in the east-northeast 30-40 minutes before sunrise, not far to Venus’ lower left.

As we have seen, this Grand Celestial Alignment is a somewhat rare, Celestial sign with many implications for the First and Second advents of Christ. With activity like this, it’s easy to keep our heads to the sky, anticipating the Great Hope of Christ’s return for his saints, and the spiritual body of his church. It is great to be a partaker in this Hope with you all!!

God Bless!

Rene’ 


Footnotes

1.Grand Celestial Alignment of 2022
2. Figure 1 picture Credit-Witstars
3. Witness of the Stars, ppg. 76-77 E.W. Bullinger
4. Stellarium Astronomical Software.
5. [https://www.space.com/april-2022-morning-planets-jupiter-saturn-venus-mars]
6. Witness of the Stars, p. 76, E.W. Bullinger
7. 2016, August 27: Venus-Jupiter Conjunction | When the Curves Line Up
8. The Birth of Christ Recalculated, Ernest Martin
9. Ibid
10. Space.com

*Space.com was a general reference for this blog.

 

 

Comments on Facebook

To those of you interested in commenting on this post please go to our Facebook Group Page 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/bibleastronomy

Old Covenant Foundations for the Celestial Gospel

Old Covenant Foundations of the Celestial Gospel

There has been a good amount of debate over the validity of a Celestial Gospel over the years, the term referring to what E.W. Bullinger called the “Witness of the Stars” in his well- known book on the subject, published in 1893. A contemporary of Bullinger was Dr. Joseph Seiss, who published “The Gospel in the Stars,” during the same period in 1882. These two resources have provided a foundation for study in this important area of research, as they built on the earlier work done by Frances Rolleston who published her work in the book; Mazzaroth, or the Constellations in 1865. Bullinger credits Rolleston for her research as the first to generate interest in this important topic, in the reference below;

To the late Miss Rolleston, however, belongs the honor of collecting a mass of information bearing on this subject; but, published as it was, chiefly in the form of notes, unarranged and unindexed, it was suited only for, but was most valuable to, the student. It was she who performed the work of collecting the facts presented by Albumazer, the Arab astronomer to the Caliphs of Grenada, AD850; and the Tables drawn up by Ulugh Beigh, the Tartar prince and astronomer, about AD1450, who gives the Arabian astronomy as it had come down from the earliest times. (Bullinger 1893, pp.iii–iv).”1

Although Rolleston was the first among more modern writers to advocate the Celestial Gospel, that does not mean that there are no ancient texts supporting the Gospel in the Stars. For the most part, we need only consult the Biblical Text for all the needed proof, since God always protects the integrity of His Word, whether Spoken, Written in the Stars, or written in His Word. A goal of this research is to provide a solid Biblical and  spiritual foundation for The Gospel in the Stars, which as a specific topic of study has remained a bit cloudy and undefined up to now. I’m sure this was not the case for a renown and august group of scholars like this, but due to critics like Faulkner, a positive spotlight needs to be trained on this topic. This is the focus of our current study. In the context of Rev. Jon Nessle’s OT History Class, an overarching framework of Covenants between God and mankind, were presented starting with Adam and Seth, and progressing to Noah, Abraham, Moses, David consummated in Jesus Christ, the Promised Seed. Due to the topic size, my goal is to provide a solid basis, in tonight’s teaching, from which further research can detail other aspects of this subject more fully. However, teaching script, notes and references will be posted on my June blog for further study.

A primary modern critic of the Celestial Gospel is Dr. Danny Faulkner, in his published work in 1998, stated “I examined some of the factual and biblical issues involved in this theory, and found that the theory has serious problems.”2 Faulkner’s stated premise for his critique is that his initial study was based upon the books of Seiss and Bullingernot Rolleston’s original work. By confining focus to what Faulkner calls “theories,” he has largely omitted the weight of Scripture itself in support of the Celestial Gospel, which is our primary focus here. As we will show, the Celestial Gospel is an indispensable aspect of the historical Scriptural Covenants that highlight God’s Creation and dealings with mankind. It is the witness of Scripture alone that supports the validity of the Celestial Gospel, to stand or fall on the merit of these Godly Covenants, as the word of the Almighty requires no assistance from secular sources. This however, does not mean there is a lack of secular evidence in support of the Celestial Gospel, including archaeological history from ancient Egypt that appeared on this link, to my blog in April, 2020. This blog is part of a series of rebuttals against Faulkner’s critique of Frances Rolleston’s writings on The Mazzaroth, along with the works of Dr.s Bullinger and Seiss.

To understand the roots of the Celestial Gospel, we must first comprehend God’s Creation of the Heavens and Earth, and His Covenant’s with Man, beginning in Genesis. The Stars, Sun and Moon were not created till the 4th day of Creation Week. These lights in the firmament were organized, to divide the day from the night, and for signs, seasonsdays and years, as the Sun, Moon and Stars move in their ordained courses on the ecliptic, set in synchronized motion by the Almighty, in the beginning. [Gen. 1:14-19, Ps. 19]

Faulkner admits that; “Gen. 1:14 records that one of the purposes of the heavenly bodies is for man to mark the passage of time (seasons, days, and years), which has always been a function of astronomy. As the first man, Adam was in place to establish astronomy, thus Faulkner has no quarrel with this information provided by Josephus.”3

As we proceed in this study, we will see how Adam’s position as the first man in establishing astronomy and timekeeping based on astronomical calendars, is a key aspect of the narrative providing a foundation for the Celestial Gospel and Noah’s Covenant, that cannot be ignored. We will also see that the Celestial Gospel includes key topics in astronomy that are central and essential for the History of Astronomy, forming a basis at the origins of Astronomy as a category of Scientific inquiry. One example of this is the conception of the 12 constellations on the ecliptic as a unit. Another related concept is that of The Zodiacal Band, found documented below.

As Gen. 2:19-20 states:

19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them; and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a helper meet for him. [KJ21]

In v.19 what Adam would “call” the beasts of the field, and whatever he called them is the same Hebrew word [H7121-Qara] as in v.20 where Adam gave names to every beast of the field. Strong’s says Qara means “to cry out, to call aloud, to roar, proclaim, pronounce or preach, to summon, invite, call together, to appoint, praise, celebrate, or call by name. Its basic meaning is to enunciate a specific message addressed to a specific recipient, to elicit a specific response. The verb form of this word is used in the act of naming, that sometimes is an assertion of sovereignty over the thing being named; [Gen. 1:5, Ps. 147:4, Isa. 40:26]4
Even as God-the Father of lights asserts His authority and sovereignty over the division of Day and Night in Gen. 1:5, and over the naming of the stars in Ps 147:4, so Adam was asserting his sovereignty over the Animal Kingdoms of life, delegated to him by God.
We should note that Adam’s delegated sovereignty pertained to Earthly things, while God’s sovereignty ruled over all, with special emphasis on the things of the Heavenly Creation, as they shed their 3-fold light upon the Earth. When God calls the roll up yonder for the stars, they are present and accounted for His summons, to fulfill the reason and purpose He called and created them. The named Stars are fulfilling their part to proclaim the Celestial Gospel witnessing to the Coming Christ! This word [Qara] is also found in reference to the Seed of Abraham, namely Isaac, [Gen. 21:12b] “for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.”

Genesis 1:14-16
And God said,
Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: [15] And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. [16] And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also.

Gen. 1:14: “signs“- indicate first, the significance of the work wrought, and second, someone significant to come.[5] In context, the “work wrought” is God’s re-ordering  of creation in the 2nd Heaven and Earth, repairing the damage inflicted on the 1st Heaven and Earth as a result of Lucifer’s revolt in heaven, causing it to be “without form & void.” [Gen. 1:1, Rev.12:1ff] God’s repair job is divided into 7 spiritual administrations, or dispensations, each one bringing man’s relationship with his Creator back into increasing harmony, [Heb. 11:3]. This repair narrative is found in God’s progressive Covenants with Man, with each step bringing man closer to that perfect fellowship seen in Original Paradise with the Creator restored.

Secondly, it refers to the celestial narrative that “someone is coming,” the redeemer, the promised seed who is Jesus Christ. He is the central figure and subject of God’s Word. He is the one of whom the 12 Mazzaroth signs prophesy, the one who embodies the light of the world, who fulfilled all the Old Testament Law, and personifies the spiritual illumination of the world. The earth was thrown into Chaos between Gen1:1 & 1:2, but the effulgence of this light, the Sonrise of the ages, was framed between the two great lights of the Sun and the Moon on his birthday, specifically in the star Spica also called Al Zimach in Arabic (tsemach in Hebrew) in Virgo, on Tishri 1, 3 BC. Jesus’ birthday on New Year’s Day of the Hebrew calendar, celebrates the anniversary of Creation, revitalizing the social and spiritual structure of Israel according to the ruling standard and scepter of the King of kings. God had this date preserved in His omniscient foreknowledge since before the Creation and instituted in the Hebrew calendar, uniquely marked by the stars included in the story of Bethlehem this date in 3 BC. The complete reign of the Son of God and the prophecies of his utter defeat of the kingdom of darkness began its consummation at his birth.

The word for “lights” in the firmament [Gen. 1:14, 16maor“]6 is the same word used in reference to the lamps of the Menorah, (Exodus 20:27, 35:14). This word shares the same root of the word used for “light” in [Genesis 1:3-4], that God divided from the darkness, setting the universal standards of Day and Night. It should be noted that the Day was divided from the Night, and the light from the darkness prior to the creation of the Sun and Moon. This points to spiritual light vs. darkness [Jn. 1:5], as the reason that the Earth became without form and void, between Gen. 1:1-2. The perfection of the Almighty removes the possibility that God created the universe in Chaos, thus the context of Lucifer’s failed insurrection against the Almighty, is why the earth was thrown into chaos. Also, the foundational order of Creation seen in God’s command to divide the light from the chaotic darkness, was a response to the enemy in his overthrow of God’s original order in the First Heaven and Earth, precedes God’s reorganization of this light in the Second Heavens and Earth, during the Genesis Creation week. The verses above also exhibit how the Sun, Moon and Stars regulate seasons, days and years, in God’s created temporal order.

In Faulkner’s critique; “The proponents of the Gospel in the Stars hypothesize that God revealed His entire plan of redemption to Adam (or alternately, Seth) and that God ordained the constellations as the mechanism to perpetuate that plan, till the giving of the written revelation. However, this is entirely conjectured in that it is not clearly stated or even implied in Josephus, and is not clearly stated in the Bible. Furthermore, this approach underestimates the efficiency of oral transmission of information to reliably preserve truth due to the longevity and overlapping of generations in the early world...”7

Faulkner expands on this highly questionable line of reasoning in a comment in another of his written works called the “Universe by Design,” where he states; “Some Christians go
so far as to think that God gave Adam the complete story of Redemption in the form of the Constellations and star names that have been passed down to us, though garbled a bit. This idea has become known as the Gospel in the Stars,” 8 which he links to Rolleston.

First let me say that the Gospel in the Stars is not based on what “Some Christians Think.” It’s basis is on much firmer, and more solid ground of Scriptural truth. By associating the Gospel in the Stars with the obvious falsehood that God revealed His entire Plan of Redemption to Adam, before any of the other Bible Patriarchs, the prophets or even God’s only begotten Son-Jesus himself, Faulkner not only discounts God’s eternal plan and the purposes in His Covenants, but also contradicts Scripture in too many ways to count! Faulkner’s basis for his “strawmanargument against the Celestial Gospel, also ignores the truth that God kept the Great Mystery a secret as part of His master-plan of Redemption, [I Cor. 2:7-10].

A precept of this study documents how in truth, the Celestial Gospel is specifically and clearly stated in God’s Word, as part of God’s Old Covenants with His chosen people. The Hebrew word for “Covenant” [H1285-Beriyth] 9 is defined as “an agreement between nations; [Josh. 9:6], individuals and friends; [I Sam. 18:3, 23:18] or man and wife, [Mal.2:14]. The most important Covenant between God and Abraham [Gen. 15], was confirmed by Moses, [Ex. 24:7-8, 34:27, Deut. 5:2], was renewed and amended, after the exile, through the intervention of the prophets; [Isa. 42:6, 49:8] and the Messiah [Mal. 3:1, cp. Jer. 31:33]. It was a treaty, an alliance of friendship, a pledge, an obligation between a Monarch and his subjects, a Constitution. It was a contract accompanied by signs, sacrifices, and a solemn oath that sealed the relationship with promises of blessing for obedience and curses for disobedience.”10

The Celestial Gospel also documents the effectual means of Oral transmission of the Covenant tenets, not replacing their foundations in God’s perpetual Scriptural Covenants with man, but as an inseparable part of them, prior to their being recorded into the scrolls of the OT Scriptures by Moses. Man has always needed an external standard for Godly truth outside of himself, working in union with man’s inner compass and Godgiven conscience, that began with Adam & Eve in the Garden, before the giving of the OT Law. We will see more details of this in the record of the Abrahamic Covenant below.

Covenant Theology holds that God created humanity as one people, starting with Adam and Eve, who broke God’s only condition, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. After their fall from perfection, and rejection from Original Paradise, and with their seed in Seth, were led back to God via certain key Biblical Patriarchs with whom God made perpetual Covenants. This redemptive history, starts with God establishing His Covenant with Noah [Gen. 6:18] to bring him and his family into the Ark, with every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort, male and female. In Gen. 9, God established His Covenant with Noah and his seed after him [Gen. 9:9-17], with His token of the Covenant on levels, in every living creature with Noah, for perpetual generations, and with Earth itself, seen in the rainbow, not to destroy it by flood again.

Figure 1. Genesis Patriarch’s Table. 11 


By adding up the age of years in the genealogies of Genesis 5 and 11 we find the number of years from the Creation of Adam to the birth of Abraham as about 2000 years. Since there is almost universal agreement that Abraham lived around 2000 B.C., we can see the Bible teaching that the human race was created near 4000 B.C. and is thus, about 6000 years old.

Noah is a key Biblical Patriarch because he embodies the transition between the pre-flood and the post-flood world. Thus all the systems of Biblical timekeeping going back to Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph, after the flood, including the coordination of the luni-solar year, the year divided into 12 months of 30 days, giving a 360-day year relating to the 360 degrees of the circle, all are traceable back to Noah’s pre-flood days. Thus, the calendrical practices of the Biblical Patriarchs are summarized in Noah, combining the Lunar, Solar and Sidereal years in his standards of astronomical timekeeping. Since Noah was already 600 years old when the deluge fell upon Earth [Gen. 7:6], Noah continued to use this calendar leading up to and during the 120-year period (120 x 3= 360), wherein he built the Ark. The construction of the Ark was according to God’s revealed plan, that followed a consistent divine pattern, the same tripartite pattern found in the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple of David and Solomon, based on the 3-fold creation of man in body, soul and spirit. Noah’s Covenant basis for his 360-day calendar, is also found in God’s Covenant of Day and Night.

The Genesis record of Noah establishes the advanced astronomical practices of the Biblical Patriarchs, providing a basis from which, the roots of ancient Astronomy and studies in Archaeo-Astronomy are traced to their true context. Noah’s Covenant with God took place after his family came out of the Ark, and included the first burnt offerings on the altar that Noah built, [Gen. 8:20-22]. This initial and unconditional Covenant relates to the Earth, even as God’s Covenant with Abraham did, referring to Israel’s claim on the Promised Land.

The accuracy of these ordinances of heaven set the standard for truth, in the important area of calendars and timekeeping also, still applied today, according to the perpetual Covenant of Day and Night [Jer. 33:20-22]. This is a trait of “heavenly mandates” that their truth remains intact beyond the scope of their original Biblical Administration. In the record of Gen. 8 and Noah’s Flood, verse 22 certainly stands out as an ordinance of heaven that has remained a constant, governing the seasons [Gen. 1:14] after the flood. This is a key aspect of God’s Covenant with Noah where God’s Promises are made with Noah and his seed, that day and night shall not cease.

Genesis 8:22
While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

This verse opens with the words; “While the earth remains,” speaking to this Covenant being Everlasting and perpetual in nature because the Earth will be around forever. The connective “and” is found 7 times in verse 22, which according to Bullinger “pairs four sets of opposites, to express the completion and perfection of this perpetual Covenant,” that shall not cease. 12 In Gen. 9, as God further establishes His Covenant with Noah, and his seed and every living beast on earth, with His token or sign of an everlasting Covenant, listed 7x in Gen. 9; [Gen. 9:9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17], that The Almighty established with all flesh upon the Earth. Gen. 8:22 is a key aspect of the “Rainbow Covenant” with Noah, wherein the productivity of the earth’s life cycles in four seasons, in the 4 Kingdoms of life, perpetuate in the 2nd Heavens and Earth, in the Covenant of day and night, [Jer. 31:31-37]. Gen. 8:22 also reflects the biblical symbolism of the number four, as the first square number mathematically, witnessed pervasively in nature, as 4 elements of earth, wind, fire, and water, four points of the compass, north, south, east and west. Also, the 4 lunar phases, mirror the 4 Cherubim angels that quarter the 12 Mazzaroth signs. There are also four heads of the animal kingdom, witnessed in the four constellations at the celestial cardinal points; Leo the Lion-King of wild beasts, Taurus the Bull and king of domesticated animals, Aquila the Eagle, king of the bird kingdom, and the ManAquarius of the human kingdom. There are numerous other examples of biblical symbolism in the number four, like the four-fold ministry of Christ reflected in the Four Gospels, supporting this wisdom in God’s order of Creation. 13

Christ in the Center of his Mazzaroth Surrounded at the four corners by the Cherubim; The Four Celestial Signs at the four points of the Compass; Man, Eagle, Bull and Lion. [Ezek. 1, 10. Rev. 4:7]

The Four Cardinal Points

Let’s take a moment here to notice the impact of God’s Covenant with Day and Night and His Intelligent Design of the 2nd Heavens and Earth in spacetime. In scientific and
astronomical terms, this certifies what’s called the Earth’s obliquity cycle, as it defines  the scientific parameters of the Covenant of Day and Night to remain intact forever, as a perpetual promise from the Heavenly Father, that does not cease. The key to the cycle of obliquity, gives us an example of the Creator’s Intelligent Design, as it conveys the Covenant of Day and Night. The sun at the summer Solstice is vertical; 90 degrees overhead to one in the Southern Hemisphere, on the Tropic of Capricorn. At the same time, for those in the Northern Hemisphere on the Tropic of Cancer one would witness the Sun’s high point at only 43 degrees above the horizon. The tropics exist because the earth does not revolve vertically on its axis relating to its orbit around the sun. The axis is removed from vertical by an angle presently measuring 23 degrees and 27 minutes, which is formally known as the obliquity of the ecliptic, or the cycle of obliquity, relating to this varying degree of the earth’s axis tilt. This angle of the ecliptic not only governs the northern and southern limits of the sunrise on the earth’s horizon, witnessed on the winter and summer Solstice, but it also determines the points of the tropical borders, 23.5 degrees north and south of the Equator. The obliquity cycle refers to the range of just under 2.5 degrees, wherein the earth’s axis tilt varies, over approx. a 41,000-year period. 14 This cycle of variation related to earth’s obliquity is part of the pattern of mathematical harmony relating to the Solar and lunar cycles in God’s earthly Covenants.

 

Figure 2. Earth’s Obliquity Cycle15

Thus all the doomsayers predicting that earth would topple off the axis of their polar balance, their fearmongering directly opposes the promises of the Creator and Possessor of the Heaven and Earth’s promise here in Genesis 8:22. It is the tilt of the Earth’s axis, along with the revolution and rotation in Earth’s orbit of the sun, providing our seasons, and the 24-hour cycle of day and night, that set the tropical boundaries of Cancer and Capricorn. We will see added aspects of these truths, related to the Zodiacal band, and the Great Sphinx, a bit later. This daynight 24-hour cycle, based on God’s Covenant of Day and Night, is also known as an anthropic constant.[www.try-god.org]

These constants are finely tuned into Creation by the Hand of the Almighty, of which there are 200+, displaying His Intelligent Design of Creation, providing essential elements supporting life on Earth, because even if the length of days slightly exceeded their longer or shorter ranges, the temperature fluctuations between night and day would be too extreme to support life on our planet. Jeremiah 33:25-26 below speaks to this truth.

Let’s focus on one of the pairs of opposites in Gen. 8:22;Day and night.” Jeremiah put a special emphasis on this pair where he specifically states in 31:36 & 33:20 below, linking God’s Covenant Promises to the everlasting New Covenant of the Promised Seed Jesus Christ. The chapters of Jeremiah 31 & 33 also form brackets around Jer. 32,  providing a basis for further study of God’s signs and wonders.

Jer. 31:31-37

31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke[h]though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

Here we see in v. 32, how Israel broke their Mosaic Covenant with God, which was based on, and an extension of the Patriarchal Covenant. God’s Covenant Promises were broken in the wilderness in Exod. 32:13, in the golden calf incident, when Moses reminded God in his conversation with Him, of His promise to His people;

Ex. 32:13-15
Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of, I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.14 So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.

So God’s promises in the Patriarchal Covenant, to Israel to multiply their seed and set aside the Promised Land were upheld and fulfilled. As The Celestial Gospel is part and parcel, and an essential aspect of God’s Patriarchal Covenant with mankind, like all God’s Promises, they are yea and Amen! Its precepts remain in force, seen with Abraham in Gen. 15 & 17, and Moses as both Covenants co-existed together. As each advance to the next spiritual administration is made, the foundations are laid for the subsequent Age, until the basis for man’s spiritual transformation back into fellowship
with the Heavenly Father is completed.

Jer. 31:33-37
33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LordI will put My law in their minds, and write it on their [i]hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

[Jon Nessle taught in a previous session of class in Jer.31:34, that only part of this verse has come to pass, Israel is still blinded. Heb. 8:6-13 ]16 Jeremiah provides here a high-level overview not only of how these Godly Covenants link together, as their legal basis changes from one spiritual administration to the next, but also they are consummated and fulfilled in the coming Promised Seed Jesus Christ, in both of his appearances as the perfect Sacrificial Lamb, and the conquering Lion of Judah 

Jer. 31:35-36
35Thus saith the LORD, which gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name: 36If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me forever. [two lights /limits put on the spirit realm]

In session 6 of this OT History Class, Rev. Nessle referenced Job 26:8-10 to describe the ways that our Almighty Heavenly Father placed boundaries on the spirit realm of fallen angels. 17 In verse 10 we can see how the Covenant of Day and Night embodies part of the ordinances [H2710chaqaq] 18 of the spiritual aspects of these boundaries on the spirit realm via His Foreknowledge, symbolized in the “waters,” as the waves roar in Jer. 31:35 above.

Job 26:10 He hath compassed the waters with bounds until the Day and Night come to an end. [Rev. 22:5]

In Jer. 31:35 the root of the word [chaqaq] is used of the light of the celestial ordinances of the Sun by day, and the Moon and stars by night, [Gen. 1:14-18]. The ordinances of God’s Covenant with the seed of Abraham were first set in the Natural laws that rule Creation, before they were ever recorded in written form. Later these laws, as they applied to God’s Covenant with Israel, were written with the finger of God in the rock of His Holy mountain and entrusted to Moses the Lawgiver, [Ex. 24:12, 31:18, 32:16]. This verifies an inseparable link with God’s Celestial Gospel and His Word written in the Scriptures, [Gen. 1, Ps. 19]. We find close ties between God’s stellar witness of His ordinances fulfilled in His Covenant with the seed of Israel in verse 36 above. This Promised Seed is consummated in the Lord Jesus Christ. The word for “ordinances” in Jer. 31:36 above is [H2706] meaning “an appointment of time, space, quantity, labor or usage. It is a statute, appointed, bound, commandment, decree, law.” The root word for [choq-H2706] is [chaqaq-H2710].” 19

Job 19:23-25

23 Oh, that my words were now written! Oh, that they were printed in a book, 24 that they were graven with an iron pen and lead, in the rock forever25 For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth;

The word “graven” *H2710 [chaqaq]  in Job 19:24 means: to cut, carve, hew, square, quarry, mason. This refers to the Great Sphinx being carved out of stone as the same word for “lawgiver” in Gen. 49:10. This is the same root for the word “ordinances” in [Job 38:33, Jer. 31:35] as the ordinances or constants of God and nature, were many times engraved in stone, even as the 10 Commandments were carved by the finger of God. “Lawgiver“- [H2710-chaqaq], meaning; to engrave, inscribe, establish, ordain, to decree, leadership, a ruler, a lawgiver; a scepter.20 It occurs 19 times in the Hebrew O.T. Its main meaning is “writing or drawing in the sense of etching [Isa. 30:8; in a book] The root can mean to enact a decree [In Prov. 8:15 it’s used of a governor decreeing justice with wisdom.] This word [chaqaq] attests to the power of the coordinated decrees of God’s Covenants first written in the stars, confirmed in stone and in Scripture. [Gen. 49: 9-10].

There is no power that can halt these celestial cycles and seasons set in motion by God’s mighty Hand, thus the surety of the return of His promised seed is inevitable! We should also note in Jeremiah that he picks up on the order established on the first and fourth days of Creation, concerning the Sun, Moon and Stars, the three most widely used calendars in history.

37 Thus says the LordIf heaven above can be measured, [H4058] And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the Lord.

Here Abraham’s Covenant regarding the seed of Israel is directly linked to the Promised Seed of Jesus Christ, who has already delivered Israel and the Church, defeating the devil forever in the process. In our day, there is no more controversy in this matter, it’s a done deal! This tells us all God’s Promises linked in the chain of previous and future Covenants have been fulfilled in Christ-the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the promised King of the Davidic Covenant.

Jer. 33:20-22

20 Thus saith the LORD; If ye can break My covenant of the day, and My covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season21 Then may also My covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, My ministers. 22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: [H4058] so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.

God inspires Jeremiah to make an inseparable connection between His “covenant of the dayand My covenant of the night,” and Hiscovenant with the seed of David my servant.” Why? Because the Scriptures told of God’s covenant with the seed of David, in Gen. 49, as the Royal genealogy of Jesus Christ the Promised Seed, the Lion of Judah. This Royal Geneology is the Christ line that was protected by the Cherubim’s flaming sword, the Way of the Tree of Life, and the way of Holiness that embodies God’s plan of redemption for mankind.

Jeremiah 33:25-26
Thus saith the Lord, If My covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth26 Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for I will cause their captivity to return and have mercy on them. [Gen. 8:22]

This shows a direct relationship between the Godly designed anthropic constants of Creation that make life possible on earth, and the Covenant Promises of the Creator to mankind, regarding the seed of Jacob and David carried forward in faith. God is the One Who established the Covenant conditions and statutes that make life possible on earth, preserved and determined according to His purposes. Anthropic is from the Greek root [anthropos-(G444)] to be man-faced or a human being, whether male or female.” 21

In a previous blog we referenced a key astronomical function of the Great Sphinx, in its Pre-dynastic stellar role as a sighting device linked to its astronomical functions, to observe and record the horizon points of the sunrise, found not only in the Sphinx’ orientation facing due east, but also in relation to the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.

The Great Sphinx

Image result for Great Pyramids with satellite pyramids images

The Sphinx’s solar alignments relating to the borders of the tropics, depict ancient knowledge of the zodiacal band, within which the heavenly bodies named by God the Creator [Ps. 147:4, Gen. 37:9-11, Isa. 40:26, Job 9:7], shed their 3-fold light upon the Earth. God set the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, as boundaries wherein the Sun, Moon and Planets all move, above and below the celestial Equator. God created all the stars and numbered the celestial bodies, but He did not name them all. Thus, it is the stars within the Zodiacal Band that God marked to carry the message of His Celestial Gospel, and His eternal plan and purpose for mankind’s redemption. There have been few to realize the role of the Great Sphinx as the Alpha/Omega signs in the circle of the Celestial Gospel, but I have not seen it referenced as an early symbol of the Zodiacal Band anywhere else. We find added biblical evidence of this in Joseph’s 2nd dream [Gen. 37:9-11], in an astronomical context.

Gen. 37:9-11 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? 11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

The Zodiacal Band of 12 primary Constellations and their stars.

In Joseph’s second dream, we find evidence not only of the knowledge of the zodiacal band with the Biblical Patriarchssince Joseph’s 11 brothers appear as 11 stars with Joseph as the 12th constellation, summarizing the primary signs found along the path of the Sun and Moon, embodied in Joseph’s parents. We also see evidence of the ancient knowledge of the Precession of the Equinoxes, wrapped up in the idea that “the eleven stars made obeisance to me.” This idea that the other 11 Constellations of the ecliptic, bowed down, or prostrated themselves to Joseph’s sign/star, exhibits a figurative idea of precession, that is expanded upon in the link above. This ancient knowledge of the zodiacal band with the Bible Patriarchs, is an added astronomical proof, as a key aspect of the Celestial Gospel in concert with Scripture, astronomy and the Great Sphinx; the head of the woman-Virgo unified with the body of the Lion-Leo, as a prophecy of the promised seed in the birth of Christ.

We also find the perfection of divine order in the number 10 related to the genealogy of Biblical Patriarchs, where not only Noah was the 10th generation from Adam, [Gen. 5:1-32], but also Abraham was the tenth generation from Shem, son of Noah [Gen. 11:10-26]. Thus all Earth’s inhabitants, being preserved in Noah’s seed, are the focus of God’s singular purpose to redeem and save sinful man from every tribe, tongue, nation, and race, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, [Gen. 3:15]. Let’s see how God’s purpose is developed further in a series of Covenants building on Noah to Abraham’s and his seed. These Covenants provide the temporal and spiritual context of how the Almighty not only repaired the Ages or spiritual dispensations, but also revealed His plan and eternal purposes in Christ.

Contrary to Faulkner, Dispensationalism presents a framework to interpret Scripture as it lays out successive periods of redemptive history where God progressively revealed more and more about His plan of redemption. This corresponds to [Heb. 11:3] “the worlds [aion] or each of the ages [dispensations] were framed by the word of God… which also exposes the falsehood that God would reveal His entire redemption plan to Adam.

Psalm 19:1 – The Bible Wallpapers

To get a clearer idea of God’s Covenant with Abraham, let’s look at the specifics of God’s discourse with him, starting with the record in Gen. 13:14;

14 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: “Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see I give to you and your [c]descendants forever. 16 And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earththen your descendants also could be numbered.

Here God’s Covenants with Heaven and Earth are represented to Abram in God’s Promises regarding Abram’s seed, first relating to the Promised Land, then regarding the Stars. In Gen. 13:14 we find again the number symbolism of Four as God tells Abram that all the land he can see to the four points of the compass is promised to the seed of Abram, making his seed innumerable as an everlasting nation.

As we have seen, God also included the timekeeping aspects of the stars, as He numbered them, a key function of Astronomy. In the process of allowing God to speak via His revealed Word, we should note the figure of speech; polysyndetyn, or many (19) ands emphasizing each aspect of Gen. 15:1-6, and the Bible structure separated by the connective “ands.”[22] [cp. Gen. 13:14-16, 22:17, 32:12]

Genesis 15:1-6 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. 2 And Abram said, Lord God what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3 And Abram said, Beholdto 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. 7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be a God unto thee, and thy seed after thee. 8 And
I will give unto thee,
and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.
 

When God told Abraham to “tell the stars, if thou be able to number them,” He was not telling him to get out his abacus and start counting the stars one by one, because as we just read in Jer. 33:22the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me.

Thus God was referring to His promise of innumerable abundance in Abraham’s seed, since he was to be the father of believers. Another aspect of “telling the stars,” is God may have been referring to other aspects of the inherent celestial order which had appeared previously in Joseph’s Dream of [Gen. 37:9-11 & 12] 12 tribes in Joseph and his brothers– [see birth order of Joseph’s brothers at the dinner table in Egypt, Gen. 37;9-10 and 43:33-34.] 

Bullinger’s Companion Bible provides the structure of this part of Gen. 15;1-21 related to the Abrahamic Covenant, which is a Repeated Alternation as follows; 23

The Covenant Made: The Seed and the Land

v. 1 The Covenant Maker-the Word of Jehovah
vvs. 2-3 The Enquiry; What will you give?
vvs. 4-5 The Covenant Announced; The Seed-look to the Stars of heaven.
v. 6 Abraham’s Belief
v. 7 The Covenant Maker-an Everlasting Covenant with Jehovah [center]
v. 8 Enquiry; Whereby shall I know? Land as an Everlasting Possession
vvs. 9-11 The Covenant Prepared
vvs. 12-16 An Everlasting Covenant with all flesh
vvs. 17-21 Abraham and Sarah’s seed Isaac-an Everlasting Covenant with his seed.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the words divinely utilized in this section of God’s Word. The word “tell” in Gen. 15:5, is the Bible’s first usage of the Hebrew word caphar [H5608], meaning to “inscribe, celebrate, narrate, tell, make known, or praise.” It also means “a scribe, or writerwhen used in reference to a person.”24 This word is used in Psalm 19:1; rendered “declare” in the KJV; as The Heavens declare the glory of God… [Psalm 97:6]. God was telling Abram to look up at the heavens and recount, declare, or narrate the truth revealed in the Celestial Gospel, if he could. Abram not only knew of the existence of a Celestial Gospel, but knew it well enough to narrate its themes sufficient to please God. He also realized that despite the physical impossibility of child-bearing at Abram and Sarah’s advanced ages, his recognition of the Promised Seed, prophesied in the stars he  owned by realizing this seed would come out of his own loins. This was a major revelation to Abram that his promise to have a child at his advanced age would also fulfill God’s promise of the coming of His only begotten Son. Because Abram believed God in this personal realization, God counted [H2803] his believing act, to him as righteousness. This is the foundation of salvation by faith in the N.T. [Rom. 4:17-22], because God not only mercifully witholds the wrathful judgment we deserve, due to sin, but He also freely shares the Grace of His righteousness with us as we follow Abraham’s example to believe.

The word “counted” in verse 6 above, is chashab in Hebrew, meaning to reckon or esteem, meditate, combine or devise. [25It is also an accounting term used in the 7th Sabbath of years and the sacred 50-year Jubilee system of timekeeping in ancient Israel [Lev. 25:27, 50-52, 27:18, 23]. The Levitical Law shows us both cardinal and ordinal ways of “counting,” in this record, but it does not portray them as interchangeable. As we see in  this Bible record, the ordinal meaning of a number includes more than just a numerical sequence where a certain number occurs in a series. We find numerous examples of this, for instance when God names and numbers the 12 tribes of Abraham’s seed as they relate to the 12 constellations starting with the Alpha/Omega Zodiac signs of [Virgo & Leo] seen in The Great Sphinx, and His ordering of the Celestial Gospel in the Heavens.

The Hebrew word for “number“-(ed), “manah” [*H4487], means to “divide into parts, or arrange, allot or assign, appoint, or order.” [26] Here we start to see the difference between what mathematics categorizes as the function of Ordinal Numbers: specifying an order and succession in the elements or hierarchy of a group, which goes beyond Cardinal Numbers, referring simply to counting individual parts. As we recognize both mathematical categories, related to the Bible’s first usage of the Hebrew words “caphar” and “manah,” we find on one level, regarding the innumerable posterity of his seed, God was teaching Abram, the difference between simple counting of parts, with Cardinal Numbers, compared with the organization of Abram’s seed in groups related to the tribal celestial order, as found in Ordinal numbers, embodied in God’s Covenants contained in the Celestial Gospel, and ordering the tribal camping of 12 tribes under Moses in the wilderness.

God’s statement to Abram builds on an earlier promise in Genesis 13:16, where God would make Abram’s “seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.” This earlier promise from God to Abram established a relationship between Abram’s earthly/natural seed, or offspring, while the later promise in Gen. 15:5 links Abram’s heavenly/spiritual seed in the stars, with the Celestial Gospel. The truth of the Gospel in the Stars prophecy of the coming of Christ, rooted in Abram’s genealogy, not only hit Abram personally, but inseparably tied Abram’s seed to the stars of this prophecy, becoming the Father of many nations, as seen in Isaac, wherein Abram’s seed was called [H7121-Qara] and Jacob-Israel’s 12 tribes. This truth echos in Job 38;

Job 38:31-33
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? [32] Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? [33] Knowest thou the ordinances [H2708] of heaven? Can you set the [His] dominion thereof in the earth?

From a Bible perspective outside the books of Genesis and Job, God revealed His Word and Will to the Patriarchs in the stellar witness and Celestial Gospel of the Promised redeemer of mankind. When we consider the Hebrew word “mazzaroth,” we find a very early reference to the 12 Mazzaroth signs, occurring as a unit in Job. Later references to the 12 signs of the ecliptic in Scripture, are built upon what we find here in Job and the Genesis Patriarchs. This provides added evidence of the antiquity of this knowledge of the entire zodiac, in the context of the Biblical Patriarchs. In the graphic below we find the 12 Tribes of Israel linked to the Mazzaroth 12 signs, with 3 tribes camped on each side, 4-square and the Tabernacle in the centerwith Moses, Aaron and the Priests in the middle inside the square.

Image result for mazzaroth images

[Num. 2] illustrates the pattern of Isreal’s 12 tribes camped around the Tabernacle in the wilderness, seen also in the order of tribal names engraved on the 12 stones of the High Priest’s breastplate. The word or “ordinances” in Job 38:33 is [H2708-chuqqah] rooted in [H2706].27 In Ex. 28:17-21 below, we see 12 precious stones of the High Priest’s Breastplate in correspondence to Israel’s 12 tribes in their wilderness camping order.

Faulkner also has issues with Rolleston’s “claims that there are allusions to the twelve signs of the zodiac in Jacob’s blessing on his twelve sons in Genesis 49 (Rolleston 1865, part 1, p. 17). There are at least 2 problems here. First, one is hard-pressed to find a commentary on Genesis to support this interpretation. Second, the alleged links between the blessings for each son and the zodiacal signs are extremely creative. The only obvious possible connection is the one supposedly between Leo and Judah in that Judah is referred to as a lion. However, there is not even a hint of the other 11 connections that Rolleston makes to Gen. 49. Rolleston speculated that each son carried a symbol from one of the signs of the zodiac and that Jacob pointed to each zodiacal symbol in pronouncing his blessing. This is entirely speculation on Rolleston’s part, and I have found no commentary that mentions, let alone endorses, this idea.” 28

Again while Dr. Faulkner mostly limits his research to Commentaries, and Josephus, we go to the source to find the truth of Scripture teachings on these topics in the original languages. Some Commentaries can be good, but we always want to get back to what Scripture actually is saying, not man’s opinion of it.

And you shall enclose in it enclosures of stones, four rows of stones: the first row shall be a row of a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald; And the second row, a carbuncle, a sapphire, and a diamond; And the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; And the fourth row, a chrysolite, and an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be set in gold in their enclosures. And the stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to their names; they shall be like the engravings of a signet, each according to its name, for the twelve tribes. Exo. 28:17-21

The Israelite camp was divided into four parts according to the 4 points of the compass, with 3 tribes on each side of a square enclosing the TabernacleJudah; Leo, Issachar; Cancer and Zebulon; Virgo to the East toward the sunrise when camping around the Tabernacle. The 3 tribes matched with the 3 precious stones in the 2nd row [Ex. 28:18], of the High Priest’s Breastplate. On the South-Reuben; Aquarius, Simeon-Pisces, and Gad-Aries, matched the stones in the first row of the Breastplate, [Ex. 28:17]. The Tabernacle was in the center of the camp with the Levites-Libra the altar, who were not counted [v.33among the 12 tribes. The tribes in the West were Ephraim/ Manasseh;  the 2 horns of Taurus the Bull, with Benjamin-Gemini, matching the stones of the 4th row on the breastplate; [Ex. 28:20]. on the North the tribe of Dan, the serpent of Gen. 49:17, was substituted with the Eagle-Aquila [Ezek 1:10, Rev. 4:7], matched the stones of the Breastplate’s 3rd row [Ex. 28:19], with Asher-Sagittarius and Naphtali-Capricorn. The standards of each tribe are also included whereby their camp was pitched. [Numbers 2:1-34]. The pattern of the camp also reflected on the breastplate of the High Priest, was 3 tribes square on each side of the Tabernacle. 29

Recalling [Gen. 1:14] the lights in the firmament of Heaven were to be for “signsseasons, days and years.” The word for “signs” [H226-owth] 30 is the same Hebrew word that refers to 12 constellations of the Mazzaroth. These signs were afterward, [Gen. 15, 37, 49, Num. 2, Deut. 33] identified with God’s Covenant with Abraham and his seed in the 12 sons of Jacob, as the 12 tribes of Israel, supplying a direct link, to the Celestial Gospel in these Signs. Even as God called; [H2171-Qara] named and numbered the stars of the 12 signs of the Mazzaroth on the Zodiacal Band and the poles, with their decans that witness to the narrative of the Celestial Gospel, so He sovereignly called each of the Old Covenant Believers in the Royal Genealogy of the Christ-line leading to the Promised Seed Jesus Christ. Those of us in the body of Christ have also answered the call specifically from the Heavenly Father Himself, Who knew us before the foundations of the World, to share in the spiritual heritage of the New Birth, wherein we shine as the bright lights God has called us be-forever with Him, in Christ.

In Joshua 4, when the nation of Israel first crossed into the Promised land, there was a special sign” [H226] that occurred on this noted occasion, marked by the Hand of God, and 12 special stones symbolizing the 12 tribes of Israel were used to buildmemorial to honor God, who brought Israel through the wilderness. This sign was not astronomical in nature, as it pertained to the Promised Land, being claimed by the 12 tribes, through the river Jordan. The word referring to the stones of this altar, is the same Hebrew word with the 12 stones, [Eben-H68] 31 of the High Priest’s breastplate.

Joshua 4:5-9 Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man: And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of Jordan, and take you up every man of you a stone [H68-Eben] upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel: That this may be a sign [H226] among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of Jordan were cut off: and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel forever. And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the Lord spake unto Joshuaaccording to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them unto the place where they lodged, and laid them down there.
And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests which bare the Ark of the Covenant stood: and they are there unto this day.

In this record, the waters of the river Jordan also yield to God’s power and authority, in the Ark of His Covenant with Israel, clearing the way to take possession of the Promised Land. The Hebrew word for stone [H68-Eben] in Joshua 4:5 above, is the same word used for the 12 precious stones on the breastplate of the High Priest, both linked to the order of the 12 tribes [Exod. 28:10-11, 39:6-14] seen not only in the breastplate of the High Priest, but also in their order of the camp of the 12 tribes in the wilderness, [Num. 2:2ff] around the Tabernacle, in their Cardinal Directions.

Since Joshua 4 links the same word for 12 Sons and signs of the zodiac, with the 12 stones of their memorial entrance into the promised land, we see a biblical link between the 12 signs of the zodiac with the 12 tribes of Israel, each tribe with their own sign and stone. This is a dual recognition of the Covenants of the earthly/natural seed, or offspring, in Gen. 13:14, while the later promise in Gen. 15:5 links Abraham’s heavenly/spiritual seed in the stars, with the Celestial Gospel. Obviously, this is not my opinion or Rolleston’s conjecture, but only allowing God’s Word to speak for itself.

Furthermore, just as there were 12 main gates in the city of Jerusalem, so there are also 12 gates and 12 foundation stones in the New Jerusalem, (Rev. 21:12-14). The order of the tribes not only matched the order of their wilderness camp, [Num. 1:52] but also includes their own tribal Standard, [H1714-degel] 32,flag or banner, for each tribe.

Faulkner continues that; “Rolleston also claimed the same correspondence between the tribes of Israel and the signs of the zodiac is contained in the final blessing of Moses in Deuteronomy 33, (Rolleston 1865, part
2, p. 38). Here and elsewhere (Rolleston 1865, part 1, p. 12, part 2, p. 48) Rolleston further claimed that in the wilderness each of the tribes carried a standard with the tribe’s respective zodiacal sign inscribed upon the standard. It is true that the tribes had standards, or banners, (Numbers 2 and 10), but Scripture does not record what was on the standards. In the latter passage, Rolleston (part 2, p. 48), credits Josephus with this information. I searched Josephus’ Antiquities of the Jews & Wars of the Jews, but I have not been able to find this; I believe that it is not found in Josephus.” 33

The Biblical record of what is recorded on these banners is made plain in; Num. 2.

Numbers 2:1-2 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, [H1714] with the ensign [H226] of their father’s house: far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch.

Contrary to Faulkner’s opinion, there is no mystery as to what is depicted on each of these tribal banners or flags! Num. 2:2 tells us plainly that every man pitches by his own standard with the ensign [H226] of their father’s house. The word for ensign is the key being the same Hebrew word used in [Gen. 1:14, Josh. 4:5-9] linked to the 12 signs of the Mazzaroth, each of the 12 banners with the emblem of their tribal constellation. In Psalm 74 this point is driven home so there is no doubt;

Ps. 74:4 Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregationsthey set up their ensigns for signs.

Even the idolatrous enemies of Israel “pitched” under the colors of Israel’s tribal banners in order to infiltrate them. Both Hebrew words for “ensigns” and “signs” in this verse are the same word [H226].34 So they lifted up their banners or tribal flags emblazoned with their family sign of the 12 “signs” or constellations of the zodiac. So we clearly see how Scripture records what celestial images were evident on these standards.

Num. 24:2 Balaam saw Israel abiding in their tents with banners for each tribe according to their tribal order…

Numbers 23:21b-24.

The Lord his God is with himAnd the shout of a King is among them.

22 God brings them out of EgyptHe has strength like a wild ox.
23 “For there is no sorcery against JacobNor any divination against IsraelIt now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘Oh, what God has done!’ 24 Behold, the people rise up as a great lion, And lifts himself up like a young lionHe shall not lie down until it devours the prey, Andrinks the blood of the slain.”

The “Shout of a King” here is a direct Messianic prophecy of Christ in verse 21, in God’s Covenant with the seed of Abraham. The references to the 3 stages of the lion’s growth in verse 24, links into the next chapter in Numbers 24, relating directly to Gen. 49:8-10.

 Numbers 24:9-14

‘He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him?’[a]Blessed is he who blesses you, And cursed is he who curses you.”

 14 And now, indeed, I am going to my people. ComeI will advise you what this
people will do to your people in the latter days
.”

The union of the celestial signs of Leo the lion, with the woman Virgo in the female-headed Great Sphinx also depicts the life of Jesus, from birth, starting with the setting of Spica on September 11th, 3 BC. This is depicted in Gen. 49:9 as his human maturation from lion’s whelp, where his prey is provided for him, to stalking his own prey, unto his ultimate victory casting down and rending the dragon.

Lion of Judah Names of Christ Banner

Genesis 49:8-10
“Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s children shall bow down before youJudah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him? 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feetUntil Shiloh comesAnd to Him shall be the obedience of the people.

These verses break down the maturation of the Lion of Judah, from lion cub, to adult Lion, to aged Lion. The specific relationship of this prophecy with the triple union of Jupiter-Regulus in 3-2 BC was presented in the segment of my DVD Seminar on the Biblical Astronomy of the Birth of Christ included below. This lays out the astronomical and prophetic details of the Birth and ministry of Jesus Christ. 

The prophecies of Balaam in Numbers relating to Jacob’s prophecies in Genesis 49, deal with the destiny of Jacob/Israel in general, but they also prophesy of the Promised Seed Jesus Christ specifically.

 As we have already seen, the Celestial Gospel began with Noah before the Flood. Yet, according to Faulkner; “If the Gospel in the Stars was antediluvian as claimed, then there were two millennia to garble the message before any sources that we have regarding the names of stars and constellations. Not only are there no texts preserving the original knowledge of the gospel in the stars, but we know of no sources before Rolleston claiming that there ever were such texts, or that any ever lived who believed such things. The first source we know of to make this claim is Rolleston’s book. Let me be clear—it is obvious from Rolleston’s book that she had no texts that clearly taught her thesis. Instead, she created the meanings to support her thesis without reliance upon any older texts. The evidence we have is most consistent with the gospel in the stars thesis not being an ancient idea at all, but entirely the invention of Frances Rolleston less than 200 years ago.” 35 This exposes Faulkner’s total lack of recognition in the foundations of the Celestial Gospel, being rooted in God’s Old Covenant promises with the Bible Patriarchs after Adam. This also does not include extra-Biblical evidence from ancient Egypt, from artifacts like the Denderah Zodiac and the Giza Plateau.

With the Covenant linkage, we have set in the Covenants of Noah and Abraham, David all the way through the New Covenant in Christ, unbroken continuity in Old Covenant Scripture, including the foundations of the Celestial Gospel with no gaps! Faulkner’s assertion that there are no ancient texts thus falls by the wayside as we read and assimilate the Scriptures we find numerous instances where Hebrew words used in the Bible match the ancient star names in this presentation!  [Job 9, 38, Gen. 3;15, 37, 43-Joseph, Gen. 49, Num. 2, Deut.33, Ps. 19, Jer. 31-33] [Check Rolleston’s charts on Heb. Star names used in Bible.]

We are blessed in Abraham’s seed as the stars of heaven…

Gen. 22:17-18
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed My voice. [Num. 24:7]

The 89th Psalm uses celestial imagery to depict the glory of the throne of the Promised Seed.

Psa 89:36 His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me.
Psa 89:37 It shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

The 89th Psalm witnesses to the everlasting endurance of the true offspring of God, whose authority is symbolized in the soli-lunar cycles of day and night, commemorated in Israel’s calendar, and embodied in the regal reign of the King of Kings. Christ ultimately fulfills and supersedes the rule of these celestial bodies, as the object of their prophecy and witness. The authority and everlasting rule of his royal throne was first seen early in the Davidic dynasty. The throne of King Solomon had no equal in any kingdom, according to
I Kings 10.

God’s redemptive plan included His eternal purpose to save sinful mankind through the last Adam, Jesus Christ, announced first in Genesis 3:15. Thus the balance of Scripture records the working out of that promise, until the fullness of the return of Christ. And by his obedience, sacrifice, and resurrection, he saved humanity from their sins. Thus Covenant Theology blended with a biblical understanding of dispensations, helps us envision the glorious unity of Scripture. As it spotlights the graceful loving Hand of Almighty God our Maker, as He guides us back into fellowship with Him, through our redeemer, and Lord-Jesus Christ our Promised Seed!  AMEN!

God Bless!

Rene’


Footnotes

1. A Further Examination of the Gospel in the Stars, Faulkner [www.Answers in Genesis.com]
2. IBID
3. IBID
4. Strong’s Concordance, [H7121-Qara] James Strong.
5. [H226-owth] James Strong.
6. IBID [H3974-maor] James Strong.
7. A Further Examination of the Gospel in the Stars, Faulkner [www.answers in genesis.com]
8. “Universe by Design,” p. 134, Chapt. 1 FN. Dr. Danny Faulkner
9. Strong’s Concordance, [H1285-beriyth] James Strong.
10. Lexical Aids to the OT-Zodhaites-p.1583.
11. [www.pinterest.com]
12. E.W.Bullinger’s Companion Bible. Marginal note on Gen. 8:22.
13. “Number in Scripture.” ppg. 123-125, E.W. Bullinger
14. Fingerprints of the Gods. ppg. 242-243. Graham Hancock
15. [www.slideserve.com]
16. OT History Class-Jon Nessle
17. IBID-Session 6.
18. Strong’s Concordance, [H2710-chaqaq]. James Strong.
19. IBID, [H2706-choq] James Strong.
20. IBID, [H2710-chaqaq]. James Strong.
21. IBID, [anthropos-(G444)] James Strong.
22. “Figures of Speech Used in the Bible.” [polysyndeton], Bullinger.
23. E.W.Bullinger’s Companion Bible. Marginal note on Gen. 15:1-21 structure.
24. Strong’s Concordance, [H5608-caphar] James Strong.
25. IBID, [H2803-chashab] James Strong.
26. IBID, [*H4487-manah] James Strong.
27. IBID, [H2708-chuqqah] James Strong.
28. A Further Exam of the Gospel in the Stars, Faulkner [www.answers in genesis.com]
29.  E.W.Bullinger’s Companion Bible. Marginal note on Num. 2.
30. Strong’s Concordance, [H226-owth] James Strong.
31. IBID, [Eben-H68] James Strong.
32. IBID, [H1714-degel] James Strong.
33. A Further Exam of the Gospel in the Stars, Faulkner [www.answers in genesis.com]
34. Strong’s Concordance, [H226-owth] James Strong.
35. A Further Exam of the Gospel in the Stars, Faulkner [www.answers in genesis.com]


 

Comments on Facebook

To those of you interested in commenting on this post please go to our Facebook Group Page 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/bibleastronomy

The Celestial Signs of April 2022 and Passover

 

The Celestial Signs of April 2022 and Passover

Welcome to our monthly blog for April, 2022 which brings a month full of celestial signs, including planetary conjunctions, massings and alignments, many taking place in Capricorn during the month that brings us Passover, in recognition of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. From the opening of this busy month in the sky, the New Moon starts the show on April 1st. Many religious calendars use the New Moon as markers to open the months of their year, the Hebrew being the among the most familiar in Biblical Astronomy. For the Jews, the New Moon ends the month of Adar and starts the Passover month of Nisan which takes place on April 15, this year. April opens with three bright planets massed low in our east-southeast sky just before sunrise. This was preceded by a triangular massing of Venus-Mars-Saturn in Capricornus on March 28th, 2022. In April 2022, these planets VenusSaturn & Mars are only 6 degrees, apart with Venus to the left, followed by Saturn and then Mars. This was followed three days later according to the U.S. Naval Observatory, in the early dawn on the US east coast, with a close fly-by of Mars and Saturn, as the two approached each other closer than an apparent lunar diameter on April 5th, as seen in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Mars-Saturn conjunction in Capricorn on April 5th, 2022. 1

5 Thrilling Planetary Conjunctions Are Going To Take Place In April, And Here's How To See Each Of Them. 1

This union of Mars and Saturn, has some interesting implications as Mars can represent blood due to its redness, which is significant during the month of Passover in light of the perfect sinless blood of Christ, that he sacrificed for all humanity. Mars can also represent the Warrior Archangel Michael as he fights for God’s people, against Satan-embodied in Saturn or Satan’s planet. With this conjunction in Capricorn in April, it recalls the same month our Lord was crucified on April 28th, 28 AD, with a planetary conjunction series nearly 2000 years after Christ’s crucifixion, more on this later.

Figure 2. Capricorn the Sacrificial Goat

See the source image

We find all three planets in the constellation Capricorn, which is very notable with Passover taking place, as these 3 bright planets align in Capricornthe Mazzaroth sign that combines the Goat with a fish. Bullinger tells us that; “in the Goat we have the atoning sacrifice, while in the fish we have the people for whom atonement is made.”2  The redeemed multitudes seen in Capricorn’s fish-tail, are also embodied in the adjoining decans of Delphinus the dolphin, and Pisces Australis, the southern fish of the water sign Aquarius3 As Christ embodies the Passover in Israel, his death and resurrection fulfilled the prophecy of Isa. 53sacrificing his life for the sheep. As Bullinger eloquently puts it; “the living fish proceeds from the dying goat, and yet they form only one body. [Eph. 4] That picture which has no parallel in nature, has a perfectly true counterpart in Grace, and the great multitude which no man can number, is redeemed unto eternal life through the death of their redeemer. 4

This seems to link to the two miracles of the fish to open, and during the resurrection arrivals of Jesus’ earthly ministry. As nobody is able to number the great multitude of people redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ, perhaps it is fitting that the 153 fish netted in this miraculous catch, is not only a number in the infinite Lucas Series of numbers, but it also relates to the geometric growth of the Acts church via the infinite ratios of Pi, and Phi. This is Christ building the Temple of his body. [Gen. 15:5]

Starting around the 8th of AprilJupiter, which was immersed below the horizon during the first week of April, makes an appearance expanding this alignment with the other three planets to make it a foursome. By the morning of April 19, all four planets are aligned in a diagonal line of a little over 30 degrees; from lower left to upper right: JupiterVenus, Mars and Saturn, as seen in Figure 3.

Figure 3. The mid-April Alignment of 4 planets in Capricorn, 2022. 5

Passover, kicks off the Feast of Unleavened Bread or Pesach for the Hebrew Year beginning at sundown on Friday, 15 April 2022, and ends, nightfall on Saturday, 23 April 2022. Thus, during the week of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, we find the celestial events, including this planetary alignment in Capricornus following PassoverThe predawn sky on April 19, 2022 in Stellarium shows the alignment of Jupiter, Venus, Mars and SaturnThis alignment is preceded by two planetary conjunctions, the first with Jupiter-Neptune in Aquarius on April 12th, and the second on April 18th with Mercury and Uranus in Aries. 6

 

Since it falls during the Feast of Unleavened Bread, this planetary union of MercuryUranus bears a closer look. Mercury-Gabriel is the Messenger archangel who usually brings attention to what he may be introducing. In this case, Uranus is one of the outer planets of the Solar System, and since it was not visible to the naked eye, it does not carry as much press in the Hebrew tradition. However, on April 3rd, 2022, a Lunar occultation of Uranus, occurred which calls our attention, especially when we consider all the other lunar activity taking place with the planets during this time. The idea that the April 18th union of Mercury and Uranus took place in Aries, is also noteworthy, since the celestial chapter of constellations that opened with Capricorn, the dying Goat, closes with Aries the Ram, with life restored via the blood of the Lamb, who takes away the sins of the world, [John 1:29].

Figure 4. The Crescent Moon appears with each of the four aligned planets in Capricorn. 7

In the last week of April, the Crescent Moon takes a snapshot with each of the 4 aligned planets. (Image credit: Stellarium)

The Crescent Moon, looms below Saturn on April 25, Mars on April 26 and finally Jupiter and Venus on April 27. 8 This early morning view of the east-southeast horizon, is greeted the next day with yet another planetary conjunction of Venus and Neptune in Aquarius on April 28th. It is interesting to note that the two planetary unions involving Neptune on the 12th and 28th of April, not only bracket the Mercury-Uranus union on the 18th, but also all the lunar snapshots with each of the 4 aligned planets!

 At a glance, we find the three brightest denizens of the night sky: a 12% lit Crescent Moon, Jupiter 4 degrees top left, and Venus suspended 5 degrees over the slice of lunar light. Venus and Jupiter are separated by 3.2 degrees on the 27th, but only 2 degrees on April 28th, and 1.3 degrees on April 29th. On April 30-May 1, Venus and Jupiter stand together, separated by only .5 a degree in North America. 9 This event occurs during the final week of April with the approaching union of the King Planet Jupiter and Venus, the bright and Morning Star, in Capricornus.

Figure 5. This is the closest Venus-Jupiter conjunction since August 2016(Image credit: Stellarium) 10

The Hebrew name for Capricornus is Gedithe kid or cut off, the same as the Arabic Al Gedi. In Figure 6 below from Robert Wadsworth, we find the star of this name-Algedi in the goat’s horn, with a second star in the goat’sfish’s tail, named Deneb Algedi. This exhibits the unity of the Goat’s sacrificial atonement with the faithful of the spiritual body of his future church, both Jew and Gentile. Many times in Biblical Astronomy the King planet Jupiter plays a key role, as during this time in 28 AD, when we find the King planet in Capricornus, as Jesus finished his earthly ministry. On April 24th, 28 AD, Jupiter was in conjunction with the star Deneb Al Gedi in the fish-tail of Capricornus, as Jesusrulership over the redeemed multitudes seen in Capricorn’s fish-tail, is evident with the Jupiter-Deneb Algedi conjunction in Fig. 6, mirroring the Jupiter conjunction with Venus in Capricorn at the end of April, 2022.

Figure 6Jupiter-Deneb Algedi conjunction seen from Jerusalem on April 24, 28 A.D. 11

 

A key related point with this April 24th sign in Capricornus is this day on the Hebrew calendar was Aviv 10, also the day the Passover Lambs were selected, [Ex. 12:3]. Another meaning of Deneb Al Gedi is the sacrifice comes, which fits since this same day, on Aviv 10 Jesus entered Jerusalem riding a donkey as the perfect sacrifice to redeem all mankind, [Matt. 21:1-11, Zech. 9:9]. 12 

Another celestial sign related to Jesus’ Crucifixion involved the Southern Cross
According to the writings of Richard Hinckley Allen (1838-1908), an expert in stellar nomenclature, the Southern Cross was last seen on Jerusalem’s horizon at 31 degrees 46′ 45″ about the time that Christ was crucified. 13 But due to the Precession of the Equinoxes, a spiraling motion of the Earth’s axis-the Southern Cross shifted out of view further south over the ensuing centuries. The Hebrew name for the Southern Cross is Adom, which means the cutting off, from the prophecy of Dan. 9:26, referencing that the Messiah shall be “cut off.” This corresponds exactly to the Hebrew name for Capricornus as Gedithe kid or cut off, that we saw above in the meaning of the star Gedi. E.W. Bullinger again enlightens us regarding the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet — TAU, which was anciently made in the form of a Cross. 14

Aben Ezra gives the Hebrew name too, of the Southern Cross as Adom, which meanscutting off,as the angel told Daniel of the “cutting off of the Messiah.” And Christ was cut off by being condemned and crucified.”

Joseph Seiss, in his book on the Gospel in the Stars affirms that “the Southern Cross was visible on the horizon of Jerusalem about the time that Christ was crucified. It consists of four bright stars placed in the form of a cross, and is by far the brighest star-group in the southern heavens. Standing directly in the path of the second Decan of Virgo, the double-natured Seed of the woman, and connecting with Libra the price of redemption, it takes the same place in the celestial signs that the Cross of Calvary holds in the Christian system.” 15

Figure 6. The Decan of the Southern Cross. 16

The Southern Cross Constellation

Bullinger discusses how this sign has lost its original meaning of; “It is Finished,” which was Jesus’ last declaration on the Cross at Calgary. As our Lord’s dying declaration, as he gave up his life, for truly none could take it from him, he gave up his “physical” life of the flesh, to obtain eternal life for us all. Christ’s atoning work of redemption is utterly complete and finished when Jesus declared it so. The decan of the Southern Cross is also pictured below in Fig. 7, with Centaurus.

Figure 7. Centaurus with the Southern Cross below Centaurus. 17

See the source image

The Hebrew name for this constellation Bezeh-means despised, which is found in Isa. 53:3; He is despised and rejected of men. The brightest star in the horse’s foreleg; Toliman means the heretofore and the hereafter, marking him as the one which is, which was and which is to come. Sir John Herschell observed this star rapidly growing brighter, making it a possible variable star. 18

From Bob Wadsworth, our late brother in his Biblical Astronomy Newsletter, provided some key historical details on the visibility of the Southern Cross. He showed the “highest position of the Southern Cross seen from Jerusalem in 1000 B.C. At this time, the upper star of the Crux was 17 degrees above the horizon, and the lower star 11 degrees above the horizon. The whole cross was quite visible from Jerusalem around the time of King David.” 19 This links the genealogy of David to Christ through the royal line of Judah.

Wadsworth includes the coordinates of the Southern Cross, seen from Jerusalem on the day of Christ’s Crucifixion as follows; [Newsletter graphics shows] the highest position of the Southern Cross as seen from Jerusalem on April 28, 28 A.D., or the date of the Lord’s crucifixion. The upper star of the Crux was a little over 12 degrees above the horizon, and the lower star was a little over 6 degrees above the horizon. It is most difficult to say if the lower star was visible through atmospheric haze at that time. But it is safe to say that the lower star most likely disappeared from the Jerusalem skies some point between the time of the Lord’s crucifixion and 155 AD, when it was 5 degrees above the horizon at its highest position. Newsletter graphics shows the highest position of the Southern Cross in the year 1000 A.D. Here the upper star is about 6 degrees above the horizon, and the lower star is near 0 degrees. The upper star most likely disappeared from the Jerusalem skies sometime between this date and 1240 A.D., when the upper star was 5 degrees above the horizon at its highest point. This was during the time of the Crusades. 20

The Astronomer Bayer drew the Southern Cross over the hind legs of the Centaur, giving it in his text as moderis crux Ptolemaeo pedes Centauri.” He goes on to say that “it seems remarkable that it was only outlined over the Centaur in the Flamsteed Atlas.” 21

This is unlike the way it is pictured above in Fig. 7, but closer to the way it is found today in the southern hemisphere. Of special interest to our faithful brethren “down under” where autumn is approaching, and the Sun is setting earlier in the southern hemisphere, sunset was at about 6:48 p.m. on April 1, and in Melbourne, Australia it’s at 7:14 p.m. local time. In mid-southern latitudes, by 8:00 p.m. when it is fully dark the Southern Cross was high in the southeastern sky from Melbourne; it is about 40 degrees above the horizon on April 1 (the new moon there occurs at 5:24 p.m. local time on April 1st). The Southern Cross will be above Centaurus, near Alpha Centauri (Rigil Kentaurus). 22

Perhaps our intrepid Michael Toms and some of his “mates” can take a picture of the Southern Crossand post it on the Biblical Astronomy Fellowship Page, with their observations for the rest of us in the Northern Hemisphere? I also want to acknowledge and thank Joseph Damien Cooper for first alerting me to the celestial activity this month, which I’m very thankful for. I can’t always be on top of all the celestial happenings, and the help of wonderful & faithful believers like Joseph, is always much appreciated. He is a great example of how we are the spiritual body of Christ, and we work together to bless each other!

I believe the visible appearance on the horizon from Jerusalem, of the Southern Cross at the time of Christ’s crucifixion, far from chance, served multiple purposes of edification. First, it confirms the Celestial Gospel, reflecting Jesus’ brutal sacrifice on the Cross at Calvary, in a stellar prophecy of the finished work, represented in the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet – TAU,  made in the form of a Cross. A trait of the Gospel in the Stars shows the Creator’s hand in not only forming and making the stars in the skies of the heavens, as a precise timepiece, but also naming and numbering the stars according to His purposes; [Gen. 1:14-19, Ps. 147:4, Isa. 40:26]. This also links the Gospel in the Stars-God’s Word written in the Heavens inseparably with written Scripture. The entire record of OT Scriptural Messianic prophecies of his long-awaited ministry being confirmed, not only in Christ’s birth, ministry, resurrection and Ascension, also confirmed beyond a shadow of doubt in the Gospel of the Stars.

As we recognize Passover and Resurrection Saturday, we certainly have much to consider as we honor and praise our Lord Jesus Christ and his unmatched work of redemption, that freed us from our bondage of the flesh, even as the Jews were freed from their bondage at Passover. As we ever rise above the darkness of this world as the superconqueror we have been made in Christ, this is the only kind of “made man” with eternal rewards.

In Joyful Rejoicing-God Bless!

Agape’ Rene’ 

 

 

Footnotes

1. https://www.space.com/april-2022-morning-planets-jupiter-saturn-venus-mars
2. Witness of the Stars, E.W. Bullinger, p. 75
3. IBID, Footnote p. 75
4. IBID, ppg. 76-77.
5. Figure 3 picture credit; Stellarium
6. https://www.space.com/april-2022-morning-planets-jupiter-saturn-venus-mars
7. IBID, Figure 4 picture credit; Stellarium
8. https://www.space.com/april-2022-morning-planets-jupiter-saturn-venus-mars
9. IBID
10. Figure 5 picture credit; Stellarium
11. Figure 6 picture credit; Biblical Astronomy Newsletter, Bob Wadsworth.
12. Biblical Astronomy Newsletter, Bob Wadsworth.
13. Star Names their Lore and Meaning, p. 185, R.A. Allen.
14. Witness of the Stars, E.W. Bullinger, ppg. 48-50.
15. Gospel in the Stars, Joseph Seiss
16. Fig. 6. picture credit: https://www.space.com/29445-southern-cross-constellation-skywatching.html
17. Witness of the Stars, E.W. Bullinger, p. 40 Figure 7 picture credit on the Centaur with Southern Cross.
18. IBID
19. Biblical Astronomy Newsletter, March/April 1999, Bob Wadsworth
20. IBID
21. Star Names their Lore and Meaning, p. 185, R.A. Allen.
22. https://www.space.com/april-2022-morning-planets-jupiter-saturn-venus-mars

 

 

Comments on Facebook

To those of you interested in commenting on this post please go to our Facebook Group Page 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/bibleastronomy