Virgin Birth
Sign of the Virgin
Gabriel Appears to Mary
Christ is BornStar of Bethlehem
The Magi Witness the Star
The Celestial Fanfare
The Age of Pisces
Bidelman/Mosley Timeline
Daniel's Prophecies
The Magi
The Clue of the Priestly Courses
Controversy Over the Star SignsConclusion
How to Receive Eternal Life
For in this way God loved the world, that He gave His uniquely born Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Gabriel was an angelic herald. He was sent to make announcements (Luke 1:26-27) and to teach (Daniel 8:16; 9:22). Gabriel communicated doctrine and explained it to Daniel and the the virgin Mary. The word, angel, means messenger. Gabriel, the mighty angel from God, was sent to Mary to teach and explain the virgin birth and answer all her questions. The virgin birth was of utmost importance in human history and in the history of the Angelic Conflict. The angel Gabriel was sent directly from God to announce the event to Mary.
The "angel from the Lord" is Gabriel because it is the exact same Greek angelos kuriou that is used to describe Gabriel in the context (Luke 1:11, 19). who appeared to the shepherds in the fields and announced the birth of the Christ child. He brought the "good news" (verse 10), which is the Greek eujaggelivzw (euangelizo), the verb that is also translated in its noun form as "the gospel." "Gospel" means "good news."
The angel informed the shepherds that there was a "sign" associated with the birth of the Savior: The baby would be "wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a feed trough." The "sign" meant that there was a symbolic meaning of this scene. The "swaddling cloths," Greek sparganovw (sparganoo) were symbolic because swaddling cloths were the burial garb for corpses. The word is Ionic Greek. Hippocrates, father of medicine used the word for bandages in 460-380 BC, and the bandages were used for wrapping a corpse. Here in His miraculous birth, there was already a symbol of the Savior's death. The purpose of the First Advent of Christ was to die for the sins of the world. The other symbol, "the feed trough," was foretold by Isaiah.
To see an angelic army of millions at night required light. The light from such a show would have lit up the night sky for miles around. Not only would such a sight have been visible to the shepherds, but it would undoubtedly have been visible to others in the area. The sight would have been as bright as the lights of big city or a night launch of the Space Shuttle. The guests of honor at this glorious celebration were not the religious crowd, but the lowly shepherds, who were believers.
The phrase, "in its rising" is a translation of the Greek preposition ejn (en), which means in and ajnatolhv (anatole), which means rising. This word can refer to the rising of the Sun in the east, but here it is used to describe the rising of a star. The Greek word for star, ajsthvr, (aster) is just a general term that could apply to planets as well as stars. After seeing the star that foretold the birth of the Savior, they were coming to worship Him. Thus, the birth of Christ was revealed to anyone who could apply Bible Doctrine, but there were only two groups in the world who are recorded as taking note of the event, the Magi and the shepherds. The Magi were Gentiles and the shepherds were Jews.
Prior to the birth of Christ, the heavens put on a star performance to herald the most important event in the history of the world. The heavenly show began in 7 BC with a Triple Great Conjunction of the Ringed Planet (nomenclature from Christ in the Solar System)8 (Saturn) and the Mighty Warrior (Jupiter). Three conjunctions of these two planets occurred that year, all in Pisces. The conjunctions of these two planets occur every 20 years and form the tic marks of one of the giant clocks in the sky. This clock returns to its starting constellation every 800 years. However, there is another clock in the sky, which cycles due to precession, the effect caused by the slow gyroscopic wobble of the earth on its axis. The precession clock completes a cycle in 25,800 years. This clock is used to signal an Age of History in the sky. During an Age the Sun rises in the same constellation on the Vernal Equinox each year. After approximately 2160 years, however, due to precession, the sign rising in the sky on the Vernal Equinox will be the previous sign of the zodiac.
The Ages of History4 according to the stars are:
The star clocks signaled the beginning of a new Age in 7 BC, the Age of Pisces. Now to the astronomers (or astrologers) of the day, the event in 7 BC was a magnanimous event like the discovery of a new world. For one reason, due to precession, the start point of the zodiac would have shifted backward an entire sign and would require resetting the coordinates so that the signs of the zodiac matched the actual constellations. In other words, at the beginning of a new Age, the astronomers (or astrologers) had to reset their star clocks. Otherwise, over the ages, the winter constellations would be appearing in spring.4
February 20, 6 BC Massing of Three Planets
Kepler proposed the massing of three planets, Mighty Warrior (Jupiter), Ringed (Covenant) Planet (Saturn), and Red Planet (Blood Sacrifice, Mars), which occurred on February 20, 6 BC, as the Star of Bethlehem.3 When these three planets came together, it was like a bright, new star (or nova) in the sky. This would have been an impressive sign to an astronomer.
5 BC - 4 BC Comets
There was a comet that appeared in 5 BC from March 10 to April 27 - i.e. 70 days. This comet had a visible tail and was in Capricornus. In 4 BC a tailless comet was noted in Aquila on April 24, but this may have been a nova.3 Incidentally, Halley's Comet appeared in 12 BC.
Comets are not signs of blessing. They are the wandering stars that symbolize a reversionist (Jude 13). They are generally harbingers of doom.
4 BC Eclipse of the Moon
An eclipse of the moon occurred on March 13, 4 BC and another on January 10, 1 BC.
3 BC - 2 BC Conjunctions of Morning Star and Mighty Warrior
There were two notable conjunctions of the Morning Star (Venus) with the Mighty Warrior (Jupiter). The first was August 12, 3 BC and the second June 17, 2 BC. The Mighty Warrior symbolizes the Lord Jesus Christ as the victor on the cross while the Morning Star symbolizes the Lord Jesus Christ in His Second Advent when He will return as conqueror. These two conjunctions are the most likely candidates for the Star of Bethlehem.1
The birth date of August 12 corresponds to the Jewish month of Elul, which is the 12th month of the Jewish civil year.14 The twelfth month symbolizes the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18). August 12 (Julian) corresponds to the 1st of Elul. The first signifies sovereignty. A guess of Christ's birth date would have been 1 or 12, and 1st of Elul makes good sense. His age at death, 31, symbolizes an evil king. The Lord Jesus Christ was not evil, but the counterattack that took his life was from an evil king, i.e. Satan. When Jesus died, there was nailed to His cross the inscription:
The Plan of God includes the Universe. Everything in all creation bears witness of its Creator.
Kepler attached spiritual meaning to the stars. So did Matthew and so did Daniel. Daniel was the greatest astrologer since Adam. Daniel also understood the star clocks and calendars better than anyone. He also attached spiritual meaning to dreams and talked to angels. We don't have a better word than astrology to describe the spiritual interpretation of the stars. So here are the defining principles:
God did not paint the canopy of the heavens in the sky to create confusion. He did it for a reason. One of the reasons is to tell time and make calendars (Genesis 1:14). The movement of the planets against the background of the stars are the basis for determining time. If we used the sun or the moon as the time standard, our calendars would drift so far off that we would be celebrating Christmas in July. Time on earth would have no meaning without a reference point outside the earth. Outside the Universe there is no time. In Heaven there is no such thing as time. So time is one of the parameters of Creation.
The most important event in the history of the world was the substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross. From the time of Adam all of history looked forward to this event. After the cross all of history looks back to it. It was considered so important that the calendars were reset from this event. Unfortunately the monk who researched the date missed it by a year and started counting from one like a Hebrew instead of zero like a Gentile. The absence of a year zero makes calculations that cross from BC to AD more difficult.
The timeline of the cross was so important that God chose Daniel to reveal this to mankind. As a teen Daniel was taken away into Babylon as a hostage. God's Plan for Daniel was to attend the university of Babylon (figuratively speaking) where he could learn astrology. The Chaldeans in Babylon were the most advanced scientists, mathematicians, and astrologers of their day. It was God's Plan for Daniel to study with the greatest minds of his day; to excel them in every way; and to publish the calendar for the remainder of the Jewish era (the period of the Mosaic Covenant).
Daniel learned the secrets of the heavens. He learned to calculate star dates and the meaning of the signs of the zodiac. He received spiritual revelation from God and was personally instructed by angels. Both Michael, the archangel, and Gabriel, the chief herald, were his teachers. He rose to high spiritual status in his day. When he prayed, angels brought the answer immediately from heaven. He was persecuted for his faith and thrown into a lion's den, but the angels of God protected him. He advanced spiritually and was promoted in a Gentile nation by the grace of God.
While a slave in Babylon, Daniel witnessed to his teachers and companions. He led his captors to the Lord. Among these were King Nebuchadnezzar and some of the magi. Through the teaching of angels, Daniel was able to chart the course of human history through his prophecies. He left behind for the magi the truth about the coming Messiah. He gave them a calendar of events that would reveal the time of the Messiah's coming and death on the cross. This information was passed down through the generations until the birth of Christ when the magi understood through Daniel's teaching the monumental significance of this event and traveled to Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth to worship the Christ child.
At the birth of Christ the stars foretold the significant event. However, it took educated people to understand it. The Jewish scholars did not have a clue about the message in the stars. However, the coming of a new Age of history, the Age of Pisces, with the Savior of the world was so significant that the magi traveled from Persia to see the Messiah. This was the focal point of human history as revealed by the witness of all Creation. The magi recognized this. They were so confident in their calculation that they traveled to Jerusalem and looked until they found Jesus, the King of the Jews.
The book of Daniel explains the rest of the history of the Jews. It explains the timeline for the cross, the Tribulation, and the Millennium. Of course, there is no mention of the Church Age because it was intercalated into human history. The Church Age was not predicted in the Old Testament.
Daniel prophesied that Messiah would come after 7 weeks and 62 weeks from the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 9:25). The weeks were weeks of years, i.e. seven year periods. The decree was by Artaxerxes Longimanus, 465-424 BC.5 The first decree was in his 7th year, i.e. 459 BC (Ezra 7:8). The 2nd decree was issued on March 5, 446 BC (his 20th year, Nehemiah 2:1-8). In the second decree, Artaxerxes granted the Jews permission to rebuild Jerusalem's city walls - not just the Temple (Daniel 9:25).6 Daniel further prophesied that Messiah would be cut off after 62 weeks (Daniel 9:26). This refers to the cross.
The calculation of when the Messiah would come and be cut off is as follows. Bear in mind that the Hebrews start counting with one. Therefore, seven years hence is the current year plus 6 years. Similarly, 7 + 62 = 69 weeks, but counting from 1, requires adding 68 weeks to the current year.
Daniel actually prophesied 70 weeks total left in the Jewish era (Daniel 9:24). Only 69 weeks had been used up when Messiah died on the cross. That leaves one week. The last week will be the Tribulation. Christ will return at the end of the Tribulation to set up His Millennial Kingdom.
The prophecies of Daniel are pivotal in that they establish the timeline for the coming of the Messiah and his death on the cross. They also establish the calendar for the remainder of the period of the Mosaic Covenant. It would last until the cross. Then there would be seven years left, which would be fulfilled in the Tribulation. Then Messiah would return in the Second Advent to establish Millennial rule.
There were not just three wise men as erroneously portrayed in song, but there may have been 20 to 50 of them. And since they were visiting from another country, they may have brought a military escort. Regardless of whether they also had an escort, Herod's army would have met them at the border and escorted them into Jerusalem. So the scene was that of a parade going through the streets of Jerusalem. It made an impressive sight, and crowds surely turned out to witness the event. The Magi were strange, mystical people to the Jews. They were on an official state visit and were met by King Herod.
The Magi Witness the Star
The Magi were so confident in their calculations that they entered Jerusalem; went to the King; and asked,
The
Magi had witnessed the signs in the heavens that predicted the Savior's
birth. They understood the meaning of the Triple Great Conjunction
that foretold the beginning of the Age of Pisces. They witnessed
the nova that appeared later due to the massing of planets. Then
they observed the conjunction of the Morning Star (Venus) with the Mighty
Warrior (Jupiter). They noticed these planets come together on August
12, 3 BC as they rose in the morning sky.1 This was the
sign of a birth because the Morning Star is the herald of the dawn, and
the dawning of a day is symbolic of the beginning, such as a birth.
Furthermore, it was the sign of a royal birth because the conjunction was
in the sign of Leo beside Regulus. Leo9, the Lion of the
Tribe of Judah, is the sign of a ruler, and Regulus,
the royal star, or prince, has been associated with the birth of kings
throughout history. They believed the Star Gospel as taught by Daniel.
That's how they knew the birth was the King of the Jews because Leo represented
the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
The animation11 centered over Kerman, Iran in former Persia shows the dance of the Mighty Warrior around Regulus for months after August 12th, 3 BC. The Mighty Warrior represented the Lion of the Tribe of Judah would will die on the cross, represented by the Great Red Spot, and who will return at the Second Advent to conquer the enemies of Israel. On August 12th, 3 BC, the Savior (Mercury) planet was near the conjunction, and the Ringed Planet and the Mediator8 (Uranus) were also lined up. This is shown in the second frame of the animation. The story in the sky on August 12th, 3 BC near dawn was:
The Magi believed the witness of the stars and traveled to Jerusalem. They made an official state visit to Jerusalem with a large entourage. They were escorted to King Herod through the streets of Jerusalem, and they asked Herod, "Where is He who has been born, King of the Jews?" This was news to Herod. He thought he was King of the Jews. But he didn't know the answer, so he had to take an action item.
Matthew 2:3-4, NAS
3 And when Herod the
king heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And
gathering together all
the chief priests and scribes of the people, he began to inquire of them
where the Christ was
to be born.
There was confusion not only in Herod's court but throughout the city because of this news. Herod immediately sent for the Jewish leaders and held a conference with them. In the meeting they reported to him that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem.
The Magi Go to Bethlehem
The Magi went to Bethlehem, but Mary and Joseph had already left. It would have required at least 40 days to reach Jerusalem from the region of Tehran, Iran via camel. Jesus was presented in the Temple 40 days after his birth, which was 33 days after circumcision on the eighth day (Luke 2:22-24) per the Mosaic Law (Leviticus 12:3-8). Following the Temple ceremony, Mary and Joseph returned to Nazareth with Jesus. In the Matthew narrative, all this is omitted. However, the story picks up when the star reappears. Where had it been? First, it was no longer a conjunction of planets; but secondly, it had been lost in the sun's glare.
When
they failed to find Jesus in Bethlehem, they needed additional guidance.
Then the star reappeared. This was the second conjunction of the two planets
- this time in the evening sky on June 17, 2 BC (10 months after the first
appearance). They were elated! They had traveled perhaps
1500 miles from Persia to greet the Christ Child, and they didn't want
to go home disappointed.
The animation centered over Nazareth begins with the reappearing conjunction
in Leo and continues through December, 2 BC. It begins with the conjunction
of June 17, 2 BC in the west in the evening sky. Note, on the star
charts east is on the left because they are from the perspective of a person
facing north. The center of the star chart is what is directly overhead,
the zenith. On June 17, 2 BC, the conjunction was still in Leo.
After the conjunction, the Morning Star quickly departed, but the Mighty
Warrior stayed behind and became the pointer that Matthew called the star.
The Star of Bethlehem, which was first the conjunction of the Morning Star
and the Mighty Warrior (Matthew 2:2), was secondly the Mighty Warrior (Matthew
2:9). In August, it was in the Sun's glare as represented by the
light background on the star chart. It came out in September in the
morning sky in Virgo, where it stayed.
Virgo is the picture of the Virgin who would bear a son (Isaiah 7:14). She is holding trident branch in one hand and ears of grain in the other. The trident is a symbol of blessing and production. The branch represents the ruling scepter of the Lord Jesus Christ (Numbers 24:17) and Jesus Christ as the Son, or Branch of David (Isaiah 4:2; Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15; Zechariah 3:8; 6:12; Matthew 11:7). The Magi saw the star of Bethlehem foretold by the prophesy of Balaam (Numbers 24:17) come into Virgo. The star the Magi saw was the Mighty Warrior planet, which is shown as the violet dot in the shoulder of Virgo on December 25, 2 BC. The ears of grain represent the impeccability of the perfect humanity of Jesus Christ who was uniquely qualified to bear the sins of the world.
Beside Virgo is Coma9, the Infant, or Child. The word, Coma, is Latin for hair, which is one of the lies of mythology, but the constellation is clearly of a woman nursing a child.
The Star Leads the Magi
An expanded translation from the Greek is given in verse 9. The
verb, proago, (imperfect active indicative), means to lead forward.
The Magi had gone to Bethlehem to look for the Child, and forward from
Bethlehem is north. Their method was to observe the relative positions
of Virgo and Coma. The Mighty Warrior was in Virgo, which represented
the origin of the axis for the azimuth. From the picture of Virgo
and Coma overhead, it became obvious that they were in Bethlehem where
the Virgin gave birth. But they were not looking for the Virgin.
They were looking for the Child, which was represented by Coma. If
the Mighty Warrior in Virgo were placed over Bethlehem, the child would
be forward, to the north. The progressive imperfect describes action
in progress in past time. The star (Mighty Warrior) kept leading
them forward, not because the star moved forward, but because Virgo kept
appearing with the star in it and Coma to the north every night.
The phrase, "until having come" is an aorist participle that precedes
the action of the main verb. The star came into Virgo. It had
been in Leo,
but it came into Virgo, where it stayed from September for the next two
years. The significance was that the star in Virgo pointed to Virgo
like the hand of a clock pointing to the number on the face. The
meaning could be derived from what was pointed out. With Virgo, came
Coma to the north. Both were part of the same scene. The Mighty
Warrior reached its closest point in Virgo on December 24th or 25th, and
then it began to move out again. From September, 2 BC through
December 25th, Virgo with Mighty Warrior in it kept pointing to Coma.
Coma was directly over Nazareth on December 25th as shown by Coma in the
middle of the star chart. This is shown in the animation centered
over Nazareth.
On December 25th, Coma stood directly overhead. Now, it wasn't just over Nazareth. In reality it was over all of Israel. Virgo is over Israel every December, but the Mighty Warrior is not normally there with it. The Virgo scene portrayed the Virgin in Bethlehem and Coma in Nazareth. But the verse says the star "stood over where the young Child was." This was true also. The star was overhead in Virgo, along with Coma, which was directly overhead. They were very close beside each other way up in the sky. The whole scene was over where the young Child was, but Coma was at the zenith. The scene at the right also shows the last planet, the Last Adam (Pluto), which symbolizes the perfect humanity of Christ, who was uniquely qualified to be the Mediator.
The Magi Find the Child in Nazareth
As
the Magi went north, they were able to find the house of Joseph and Mary
in Nazareth where Jesus was about a year old. The star "stood over
where the Child was." "Stood" is the Greek, histemi, which
means to stand or to remain firmly, to stay in a particular state.
The star, the Mighty Warrior, was overhead along with Virgo and Coma.
"Over" does not mean a laser beam from the star pin-pointed Nazareth.
It means the star was part of the picture overhead. They understood
the picture. The star represented the origin of the coordinate system
and the azimuth was north. They saw that Virgo represented the Virgin
Birth in Bethlehem, and the Child, Coma, was north (reference map).
They followed the direction from the star to Coma, and this led them to
the Christ child, who was in Nazareth about 60 miles north of Bethlehem.
In
summary, the Magi went to Bethlehem to search for the Christ Child, but
He had already gone back to Nazareth. Then the star reappeared on
June 17, 2 BC. After the conjunction of June 17, 2 BC, the Mighty
Warrior, which was in Leo,
began going toward Virgo. Leo represented the Lord Jesus Christ as
the King, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Virgo represented the virgin
birth. The Lord Jesus Christ was born under the sign of Leo and was
discovered by the Magi under the signs of Virgo and Coma. When the
Mighty Warrior reached Virgo, it appeared to stand in one spot because
it moved with Virgo in the sky. By December 25th, 2 BC, it was deepest
within Virgo, and Virgo and Coma stood in a geographical north-south alignment
from Bethlehem to Nazareth.
When the Magi found the young Christ, they had fulfilled their destiny. The Christ child was almost a year old, and they presented to Him gifts of intrinsic value. The gold represented the deity of Christ. The frankincense represented His anointing as High Priest (Hebrews 5:5). And the myrrh was an aromatic resin used in the burial of kings. The Magi paid the highest tribute to Christ; for they worshiped Him not with emotion but with truth. They understood the doctrine of the Messiah. They honored him as God (gold, deity) and man (frankincense, High Priest) who would die (myrrh) for the sins of the world.
Gold was used as a symbol for the deity of Christ in the Tabernacle. The furniture of the Tabernacle was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. The two represented Jesus Christ in hypostatic union, perfect humanity and undiminished deity. The Golden Lampstand was made of one piece of gold and represented Christ, our light. The Mercy Seat on the Ark of the Covenant was made of gold and represented Christ, our propitiation.
Frankincense was used in the ritual of the Tabernacle. The grain offering, which represented the impeccability of Christ and his qualification to be the sin bearer, consisted of fine flour, oil, frankincense, and salt (Leviticus 2:12). This was "an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD" (Leviticus 2:2). Frankincense was also placed on the table with the bread on the Table of Shewbread (Leviticus 24:7), which represented the "everlasting covenant" between God and mankind (Leviticus 24:8). The "everlasting covenant" was the promise of a Savior to provide everlasting life for mankind. The place of the Savior's birth, Bethlehem, means "house of bread." Frankincense with the aroma that rose to Heaven represented the acceptance of the offering to the Lord. The frankincense represented the ministry of the priesthood, who represented mankind before God. When the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled the symbolic type with the reality, He became a priest after the order of Melchizedek, who was a Gentile priest and king. The Lord Jesus Christ was disqualified from being a Levitical priest because he was from the Tribe of Judah and not the Tribe of Levi. Thus, the Lord Jesus Christ became the mediator of a New Covenant, not to Israel, but to the Church. As a mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ was acceptable to God just as the aroma of the frankincense represented.
Thus the sign of Pisces was fulfilled in the gifts of the Magi. The gold represented the deity of Christ, which was acceptable to the Father. The deity is revealed in the name, Lord, which is given to Christ. The deity of Christ satisfied all of the righteous demands of the Father and represented propitiation. The frankincense represented Christ, the High Priest not of Israel but the New Covenant to the Church (Hebrews 9:15). The Magi, who were Gentiles, gave the first symbol of this in the gift of frankincense. Through His substitutionary spiritual death (myrrh), Christ reconciled mankind to God. Thus, the two fish of Pisces, which represented propitiation and reconciliation, were revealed in the gifts of the Magi.
This is not a major problem, however, since the purpose of Christ in His first advent was to die. His birthday was not at all significant compared to His death, which provided atonement for the sins of the world. Jesus Christ came into the world to die as evidenced by His birthday gifts from the Magi. It is the cross that bears remembering, not the birth.
Of the three major contenders for the time of the birth of Christ, the 7 BC Triple Conjunction, the 6 BC nova, or the 3 BC Conjunction, the latter is the most plausible. However, in order to accept it, the death of Herod has to be associated with the lunar eclipse on January 10, 1 BC and not the one in 4 BC. Further, the registration of Joseph and Mary has to be associated with the silver anniversary of Augustus on February 5, 2 BC, which required an oath of allegiance by all Roman citizens to the Caesar as lord.3 To support the silver anniversary celebration the census was done prior to the anniversary date or after. If prior to the date, then Jesus would have been born in late Summer or the Fall of 3 BC. Much analysis has been done to support these contentions.
The calendar date in common use for the birth of Christ and the use of BC and AD, came from Dionysius Exiguus (Dennis the Little), a Scythian monk in 525 AD. He lived in Rome and through his scholarly research set the birth of Christ as 1 BC and selected December 25 as the date. The Christian Era then started six days later on January 1, 1 A.D. Since Dionysius did not include a year zero, calculations between BC and AD will be in error unless a hypothetical year zero is added.
From the time of the re-creation of the heavens and the earth for
man, the story of the Lord Jesus Christ has been in the sky. Adam
understood the gospel in the stars. The antediluvian civilization
created an astrology to deny it. Daniel comprehended it and was given
the secret calendar of world events for the remainder of the period of
the Mosaic Law. Adam waited for the Savior as predicted in the Adamic
Covenant. Daniel prophesied the coming of the Messiah and His
death on the cross. He led his teachers and fellow students to faith
in the preincarnate Christ while a hostage in Babylon. Through instruction
from the angels, Daniel documented the precise calendar dates of world
events such as the birth and death of Christ, the Second Advent, and the
Tribulation. The Magi were the remnants of astrologers that Daniel
led to the Lord in Babylon.
The Star of Bethlehem, which was first the conjunction of the Morning Star (Venus) with the Mighty Warrior (Jupiter) (Matthew 2:2), was secondly the Mighty Warrior (Matthew 2:9). This is compatible with the scripture. The Mighty Warrior is the planet that represents the victory of the cross. The giant red spot on the planet shows where the spear pierced the side of Christ after his death on the cross. One of the elective decrees was that God would provide salvation for all mankind. This was the everlasting covenant (Leviticus 24:8) that was reiterated to Adam after he sinned and to every succeeding generation. God was not surprised by Adam's sin. He foreknew it, allowed it, and provided a solution for it. The Lord Jesus Christ would pay for the sins of the world to provide salvation for all mankind. Adam had lost the rulership of the world when he sinned. When the Lord Jesus Christ paid for Adam's original sin on the cross and for the sins of the entire world, He handled the sin problem and provided the redemptive solution. This was the victory of the cross, which won back from Satan all that Adam had lost in the fall. The Mighty Warrior symbolizes the victory of the cross, which all of history waited to see.
The Morning Star is the herald of the dawn. In conjunction with the Mighty Warrior, it symbolized the birth of the one whose destiny would be the victory of the cross. The purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ in His first advent was to go to the cross, die a substitutionary spiritual death for all mankind, and provide the redemptive solution. The redemptive solution is the victory of the cross, which is the victory over sin and Satan. The victory of the cross is the vindication of the Righteousness and Justice and Love of God in sentencing Satan to the Lake of Fire.
The popular date for the celebration of Christmas on December 25th was not the birthday of Christ, but the time the Mighty Warrior in Virgo pointed to Coma, the Child. Because Coma was north of Virgo on December 25th, the Magi went north on the highway from Bethlehem and found the Christ Child in a house in Nazareth over a year after he had left Bethlehem. If they had not succeeded in locating the Child by the stars, we would never have been able to accurately date the birth of Christ. The sighting of the conjunction by the Magi foretold the birth of the King of the Jews. The event, which is recorded in scripture, establishes the most precise day of His birth. And the reappearing star in Virgo guided the Magi to the Child around December 25th, 2 BC, plus or minus 2 or 3 months. Virgo returns to Bethlehem every December, but without the Mighty Warrior. When all the clues are put together, the accuracy of the date of the Birth of Christ is very likely within a month or two of August 12, 3 BC.
God's timing is perfect. The Lord Jesus Christ arrived precisely on schedule around 4,000 years after He promised Adam a Savior. He was born and later died in the 62nd week after the 7 weeks of years as predicted by Daniel. Since 7 weeks of years is 49 years, this is sufficient to cover His life span on earth during the First Advent. Jesus Christ was born a human being and uniquely qualified to go to the cross and be the mediator between God and man. In His deity He was equal with God; and in His humanity, He was equal with man. As the God-man in hypostatic union, he was the "uniquely born Son of God" (John 3:16). In sinless perfection, He was qualified to bear the sins of the world. In His deity, He propitiated the Father. He satisfied all of His righteous demands. As a man He could be a priest; for a priest is one who represents himself before God. As a man He could die; whereas, deity could not die. Through living a life of sinless perfection and going to the cross in obedience to the will of God, the Lord Jesus Christ died as a substitutionary spiritual death on behalf of mankind. Having paid for the sins of the world, He reconciled mankind to God and opened the door for all who want to be saved.
The good news that the Lord Jesus Christ brought to earth as foretold in the stars and synchronized with all the clocks of heaven is the gospel:
Believe in the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved (Acts 16:31)
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12, NAS)
Salvation Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Revised July 5, 2007
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