Psalm 19 tells us, “The heavens declare the glory of God.” This may mean more than we realize. John 1:14 claims, “. . .we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father.” From the context we learn he is referring to Jesus Christ, the visible glory of the Father. Thus we could truthfully say, “The heavens declare Jesus Christ.”
Christ’s Testimony Corrupted
In a fascinating book entitled, The Witness of the Stars, author E.W. Bullinger traces the stars of the Zodiac from ancient history, long before Greek mythology corrupted their meaning. The word ‘Zodiac’ actually comes from a Hebrew root meaning a way or path. Modern reliance on the Zodiac for guidance is idolatry and forbidden in Scripture (Deut. 4:19). But is astrology a corruption of the testimony about Christ? Bullinger says it is.
To show where the circle of the Zodiac was to begin, the Sphinx of Egypt was built as a permanent bookmark. It has a head of a woman, depicting Virgo, and the body of a Lion, depicting Leo. Virgo speaks of the virgin birth of Christ and Leo of His ultimate reign as King of the earth.
Another really interesting fact is the part you’re going to read next! I would suggest not pausing or getting distracted with anything else until you’ve devoured the findings below. It’s really amazing what you can learn about the stars. Literally a lifetime could be spent studying different aspects of the stars and you still wouldn’t know everything about them. Anyway, enough about my excitement of this subject as an interlude. Check this out …
Stars Show the Future?
Virgo was pictured with a branch in her right hand, and stalks of grain in her left. The word ‘Branch’ is used prophetically of Christ, speaking of His four aspects as King (Jer. 23:5), servant (Zech. 3:8), man (Zech. 6:12), and God (Isaiah 4:2), the same four focuses of the four Gospels. The grain harks back to Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between thee (Satan) and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed”, speaking of the conflict with Satan and his ultimate defeat at the cross.
The first constellation in Virgo explains that this coming ‘Branch’ would be a child, the “Desired One.” The ancient name for this star is Coma and means ‘longed for, desired.’ (see Psalm 63:1) Haggai predicts the coming of Christ thus: “The desire of all nations shall come.” (2:7) The Persian name denotes a pure virgin, sitting on a throne, nourishing an infant boy, whose name in Hebrew is IHESU and in Greek CHRISTOS. Tradition said that when this “Desire of all nations” was born, a bright star would appear in the woman’s arms.
Did The Star Ever Appear?
Three hundred years ago Thomas Hyde wrote that Zoroaster was a pupil of Daniel and predicted a new star would appear, signaling the arrival of the child they were to adore. When the wise men saw that star, they took the long, dangerous journey to worship the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy (Matt. 2:10). They claimed, “We have seen HIS star (while) in the east and are come to worship Him.” (Matt. 2:2) This child is both the divine Branch, and the human seed (Is. 9:6). He is the God-man, Jesus Christ. As such He both could and did die for the sins of the world to provide eternal life for all who trust in Him.
*Image based on: http://ortzion.org/prophecy_type/jerusalem-assignment, p. 11 The picture of VIRGO and COMA was originally assembled from the illustrations in E.W. Bullinger’s book, “The Witness of the Stars.” Normally the constellation Coma is to the left of Virgo, between the constellations of Bootes and Leo. The entire book of Bullinger, with the map of constellations, is featured on http://philologos.org/__eb-tws/default.htm
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