The Heavens Declare: conclusion

The Heavens Declare: constellations as prophecy

Introduction

1. Virgo & Libra
2. Scorpio & Sagittarius

3. Capricorn & Aquarius
4. Pisces & Aries

5. Taurus & Gemini
6. Cancer & Leo

Conclusion

We’ve spent some time looking at the ancient constellations and their associated myths and meanings. The thesis of this study has been that, in their original form, these signs were composed by pre-Flood prophets of God, foretelling in graphic form the same story that the Bible tells in its verbal prophecies. Thus, non-literate cultures and individuals would not be left without a witness. Yes, this is a theory. But you have seen the evidence. The order and congruence with biblical truth seems beyond coincidence, and the harmony with orthodox theology seems too ancient to be fraud.

Briefly, the structure we’ve looked at can be out­lined like this:

I. Book One: First Coming

A. Virgo: Virgin and Child — proph­ecy of the Seed

1. Coma the Desired Child

2. Centaurus the Despised Sin-offer­ing

3. Arcturus the Coming One

B. Libra: the Altar and the Law — work ac­com­plished (in grace)

1. Crux the Cross

2. Victima the Victim

3. Corona the Crown

B. Scorpio: the Adver­sary — work ac­complished (in con­flict)

1. Serpens the Serpent

2. Serpentarius the Ser­pent-Hold­er

3. Hercules the Strong One

A. Sagittarius: the Archer — ful­fill­ment of the prophe­sied vic­tory

1. Lyra the Harp, sound of praise

2. Ara the Altar, fires of judgment

3. Draco the Dragon, cast out

II. Book Two: The Redeemed

C. Capricorn: the Sin-of­fering — prophecy of the deliverance

1. Sagitta the Arrow, pierc­ing

2. Aquila the Eagle, smit­ten

3. Delphinus the Dolphin, ris­ing

D. Aquarius: the Living Waters — re­sults of the work bestowed (in grace)

1. Pisces Australis, the Fish, receiv­ing life

2. Pegasus the Winged Horse, coming quickly

3. Cygnus the Swan, return­ing

D. Pisces: the Great Mul­titude — re­sults of the work received (in conflict)

1. the Band, of bondage

2. Andromeda the Woman Chained

3. Cepheus the Coming King

C. Aries: the Lamb of God — fulfillment of the deliver­ance

1. Cassiopeia the Woman Ruling

2. Cetus, Leviathan Bound

3. Perseus the Head-crusher

III. Book Three: Second Coming

E. Taurus: The Returning King — prophecy of the judgment

1. Orion the Coming Light

2. Eridanus the Fiery River

3. Auriga the Shepherd

F. Gemini: the Mediator — the Redeemer's reign (in grace)

1. Lepus the Serpent Destroyed

2. Canis Major, the Prince who Crushes

3. Canis Minor, the Prince who Completes

F. Cancer: the Fold — the Redeemer's pos­session (in peace)

1. Ursa Minor, the Lesser-fold, of Israel

2. Ursa Major, the Greater-fold, of the Nations

3. Argo the Return of the Redeemed

E. Leo: the Conquering Lion — fulfillment of the tri­umph

1. Hydra the Serpent Pierced

2. Crater the Cup, of wrath

3. Corvus the Raven, dis­posing

There are, of course, other obvious and natural ways to arrange these signs. For example, the Milky Way streams across the empyrean from southwest to north­east; twelve constellations rest on this heavenly path — the first six being assigned to the First Coming, and the latter six to the Second Coming. Thus, we find the lowly Cross and the se­vere Altar, the dead­ly Scorpi­on and the wounded Eagle, the Swan promising its return and finally the ruling king, Cepheus. Again, we find the Church enthroned (Cassiopeia), the mighty groom (Per­seus), the ruling Shep­herd (Auriga), the union of God with man (Gemini), the van­quisher of evil (Orion), and last, the assembly of the redeemed (Argo).

Regardless of any relative arrangement, when we analyze these constella­tions we find four broad categories: the Savior, the Redeemed, the Adver­sary, and various symbolic objects. Fitting­ly, twenty-four of the forty-eight signs — exactly half — represent the person of the Savior: Virgo the Seed of the woman, Coma the Desired Child, Centaurus the double-natured Avenger, Arcturus the Coming Guardian, the fallen Victim, Serpenta­rius the Ser­pent-Hold­er, Hercules the Strong One, Sagittarius the trium­phant Archer, Capricorn the Sin-offering, Aquila the Eagle, the rising Dolphin, Aquarius the Life-giver, Pegasus the Winged Horse, Cygnus the Swan, Cepheus the Coming King, Aries the Lamb, Perseus the Head-crusher, Taurus the returning King, Orion the Coming Light, Auriga the Shepherd, Gemini the Dual-natured God, Canis Major the Prince who Crushes, Canis Minor the Prince who Completes, and finally Leo the Lion. A sixth of the signs — that is, eight of them — deal with saved humanity: Pisces Australis the transformed saint, Pisces the re­deemed multi­tudes, Andromeda the Bride Chained, Cassiopeia the Woman Ruling, Cancer the Fold, Ursa Minor the Lesser-fold, Ursa Major the Greater-fold, and finally Argo the Returned. The Adversary is the subject of six signs, an eighth of the total: Scorpio the Enemy, Serpens the Ser­pent, Draco the Dragon, Cetus the Levia­than, Lepus the Serpent, and finally Hydra the Monster. As for the objects, there are ten signs (about a fifth of the total) of this type: Libra the Balances of atonement, the Cross of redemp­tion, the Crown of victory, the Harp of praise, the Altar of punishment, the Arrow of affliction, the Band of restraint, the Fiery River of damnation, the Cup of wrath, and finally the Raven of defeat.

Aside from the solar zo­diac, the night sky was also sometimes arranged by the ancients of Scandi­na­via, Ara­bia, Per­sia, India, the China of Emperor Yao, Burma, and even Mexico) into the lunar zodiac — the Mansions of the Moon. In this scheme, cer­tainly once as important as the solar zodiac, the fa­mil­iar circle of the night was divided into 28 sections, or mansions — one for about each day of the lunar month. The Arabic names and mean­ings of these Man­sions are summa­rized in the Ta­ble.[1] The signi­f­i­cance of these names — from a pa­tently non-Christian source — is too obvi­ous to merit explanation.

Ancient Mansions of the Moon
1	Al Awa	the Desired	Vir­go
2	Semak al Azel	Branch of the pow­er of God
3	Caphir	Atone­ment
4	Al Zubena	the Redeem­ing	Li­bra
5	Al Iclil	the Submission, or Or­na­ment
6	Al Kalb	the Wound­ing	Sc­or­pio
7	Al Shaula	the Sting
8	Al Naim	the Gracious	Sag­it­tar­ius
9	Beldah	Hasten­ing
10	Al Dibah	the Slain Sacri­fice	Cap­ri­corn
11	Sa'ad al Bula	Drinking In	Aqu­ar­i­us
12	Sa'ad al Su'ud	Outpour­ing
13	Al Achbiya	the Fountain of Pour­ing
14	Al Pherg al Muchad­dem	the Former Proge­ny	Pi­sces
15	Al Pherg al Muach­her	the Latter Proge­ny
16	Al Risha	the Band, United
17	Al Sheratan	the Wound­ed, Cut Off	Ar­ies
18	Al Botein	the Treading Un­der Foot
19	Al Thur­aiya	the Enemy Punished
20	Al Debaran	the Ruler	Tau­rus
21	Al Heka	the Driving Away
22	Al Henah	the Foot-Wounded	Gem­ini
23	Al Dirah	the Abused
24	Al Nethra	the Cher­ished	Can­cer
25	Al Terpha	the Delivered
26	Al Gieba	the Exalta­tion	Leo
27	Al Zubra	the Reckoning
28	Al Serpha	the Pyre

We noticed at the begin­ning of this chapter the cor­relation of the twelve ma­jor constel­la­tions with the tribes of Is­rael. A similar correspondence may be found between these signs and the most ancient patriarchs, from Adam to Arphaxad. Adam ("man" or "mortal") is that Seed of the virgin (Virgo), born a man so that He might conquer death; Seth ("ap­pointed") points to the sat­isfying of justice at the altar by substi­tuting righ­teous­ness for sin (Libra). The final Adam, Jesus, was appointed as the sacrifice for the Altar of the Cross. Enosh ("afflic­tion"­ — anash) re­calls the scourge of the enemy (Scor­pio), Kenan (both "sor­row" and "acqui­si­tion") sig­ni­fies the hardship and the victory of dual-na­tured Christ (Sagittari­us), and Mahalaleel ("the great or praised God") is our sin-offer­ing (Cap­ri­corn). Jared ("shall come down" — yaradh) re­minds us of the liv­ing wa­ters pour­ing down on us (Aqua­r­i­us), and Enoch ("teaching") points to that teaming throng so greatly in need of wisdom (Pisces). Methuse­lah ("his death shall bring" — muth and shalach) is the promise of vi­cari­ous and confi­dent leisure (Aries), and Lamech ("despairing" or "mighty" — cf. lament) is the harsh judg­ment and irre­sistible promise of God's justice (Taurus). Noah ("rest" — nacham) indi­cates the repose of the Church found only in the arms of the Lord (Gemi­ni), Shem ("name" or "renown") recalls the fold that answers to His voice and by doing so is honored and called by His name (Cancer), and Arphaxad ("strength") signifies the dignity and irre­sistible might of the Lord in his ultimate power (Leo).

In­teresting­ly, if we string to­gether the names of these first patri­archs, we have a perfectly clear annuncia­tion of the Gospel: To Man (Adam) is Ap­pointed (Shem) Afflic­tion (Enosh) and Sor­row (Kenan). The Great God (Mahalaleel) Shall Come Down (Jared), Teaching (Enoch). His Death Shall Bring (Methuse­lah) to the Despairing (Lamech), Rest (Noah), and his Name (Shem) shall bring Strength (Arphaxad).

Now, we may well ask why we must scrabble through the ash heap of pagan­ism — with its lascivi­ous myth and its impi­ous, fortune-telling astrolo­gy — to make an explanation of the similari­ties between the Gospel and the false religion of as­trology. Why is the corrup­tion we have explored in these pages merely de­nounced in the Bible, rather than being expli­cat­ed in detail similar to that which we have been consid­ering? Why does the Bible not record that the Gospel was taught by the stars?

Every book in the Old Testament was written specifically for Israel, with the exception of the book of Job, a gentile. Israel had the pure tradition of Noah and the sure prophets of God. Israel did not need the stars, since the Gospel was a living tradition — indeed, the very thing Israel was chosen for was to preserve the Gospel.

The relatively profound silence of the Bible regarding the zodiac is easily understood when we remember how readily Israel apostatized, chasing after the sabaistic worship of the pagans, where the stars themselves, as well as the gods behind them, were adored. “Whatever might tend to obscure or diminish the broad lines of separation between Israel and the other por­tions of the human family . . . was to be avoided by all true Israelites. In every pos­sible direction we observe the utmost precaution to keep Israel in com­plete isola­tion.”[2] The stars, more than anything else, were thus to be shunned — just as the Bible does. The Gospel is completely enunciated in the Bible, explicitly, with no appeal to the tainted traditions of the gentiles, and no dependence upon oral tradition or mnemonic devices.

At the same time, because of the divine authorship of the constellations, we find no condemnation of the images themselves — only of the corrupt, idolatrous byproduct. With this in mind, we understand that Job had natural revela­tion and whatever sanitary primeval teach­ing he had received from his ethnic source. Job had the stars. It is for this reason that in Job's book, more than any other of the Bible, we read of the Mazza­roth. Thus, it is Job who speaks of Orion, and the Bear, and the Pleiades of Taurus (cf. 9:9, 38:31,32), and also of Scorpio (9:9) and Hydra (26:13). He cites these signs because they were the primer in which he first read truth.

Consider the strength of the case I have made. We cannot have empirical proof. We can have only circumstantial proof, only histori­cal proof. But even with this nec­essarily indirect and subjective evidence, I am bold enough to say that the premise of this chapter is overwhelmingly confirmed. No matter what other interpretation may be given to the evidence, this interpre­tation is absolute­ly in harmony with the biblical teaching regarding the grace and atonement of the Messiah. If a skeptic thought here or there that I have stretched an interpretation, or read too much into some given data, yet even that skeptic must agree that, overall, I have been reasonable. It is clear that in the names of the stars and constellations as we have studied them, there is nothing lacking and nothing to be added, to reproduce the Gospel contained in the Bible. Given a pure stream of doctrine, the ancients could have perfectly known the way of the salvation of grace.

The intuitions of Aristotle, and of Nean­der too, were cor­rect — their zodiac was a caricature and a grotesque perver­sion of an origi­nal design. Mankind was not left without a wit­ness. The startling stars, so brilliant in the new heavens which ap­peared after the Flood, were made by some true prophet of God to tell the story of the Seed of the woman, Who would crush the head of the serpent. The message was clear, and known to all the first genera­­tions. Unfortu­nately, mankind “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Cre­ator, Who is blessed forever” (Rom 1:25). And even if God did not speak of his salva­tion through the constellations, He did reveal all necessary truth from the earliest days (Lk 1:68‑70): “He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up a Horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began.”

I have summarized these ideas be­cause they shed such clear light on the prostitution at Babel, which we will look at in the next chapter. As for the zodiac today, after having written this chapter I cannot help but know something of the signs, but I find little worth in knowing their names. Mount Rushmore is great, but I would rather meet Wash­ington, and Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt in person. Just so, we no longer need the mne­monic device of the Mazzaroth (zodiac): we have the ex­plicit words of God, in the Bible. And we shall, some of us, know Him face to face. In the mean time, the perversion has become so powerful that the only truth left in the zodiac is historic truth.

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[1].From Seiss, pp. 141-142.

[2].Seiss, p. 176.