The stars' tale of Christ

'And He is before all things, and by him all things consist' (Col1:17).

Christ is the true Source of everything in existence. We therefore might expect the heaven's to scream his greatness. And it sure does.

It starts at his birth. On August 12, 3 BC, a bright star appeared in Leo, picture of the Jewish people, called 'the Lion of Judah' in Revelation 5:5. The wise men from the East, that had studied the skies for years, and who must have known its patterns, had somehow seen this coming. The 'walking stars', as they named the planets that we know under the names of Venus and Jupiter were expected to come in close proximity. How close and under what exact circumstances, they probably could not foresee. On August 12 they were astonished at the brightness they saw early in the morning directly above the horizon, more than an hour before sunrise. The closeness of Venus and Jupiter resulted in a star of unmatched brightness. After this event they were witness of Venus passing by Regulus, the brightest star in Leo, called the King Star. During the 8 months that followed, they saw, while on their journey to the West, three transits of Regulus by Jupiter, the second time with Jupiter in retrograde motion.

Once they reached the land of the Jews, with the jewel of the East, Jerusalem, as its capital and at its center an enormous temple, which was being built, they were quite disappointed by total ignorance about the born King of the Jews. The reaction of king and priest was one of complete disregard for any sign or prophecy about Messiah. After having received some suspicious instructions, they set off for Bethlehem. And while eagerly watching the heavens for what they expected to again happen, in the evening of June 17 of 2 BC, they were struck with an even greater brightness in the sky than they had seen while at home. This time being an evening star, at further distance from the sun than earlier, Venus again came in very close conjunction with Jupiter. As evening star, it was positioned in the West and visible until about two hours after sunset. While their search for the King in Jerusalem had been a tedious affair, that had kept them busy during the whole day, they approached the small village of Bethlehem while the sun was already down for about one hour. This gave them a unique vision of the phenomenon of the star which at times seemed to throw down a vague light cone as if guiding them toward the right place. The pureness of joy of the presence of the Almighty all around them was never matched anyhow near during the rest of their lives. No wonder, they were thrilled to meet the young Child, once they met it and they bowed down before Him, knowing that this was the One that had shown them the star and had guided them on their way toward Him. If only all of humanity would follow the example the wise man from the East have left to the world.

Would one of these wise man ever have revisited the land of the Jews in a quest for Christ, as the movie 'Ben-Hur' suggests? We do not know it. The Bible doesn't tell us. We will need eternity to figure out all correlations and relationships that have exited between followers of Christ and their Master, even if we only take the ones that were alive in those 33 years that He walked among us. As John states: 'I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books' (John  21:25).

Looking at two other events in the life of Jesus in connection with the stars, we first turn to Him being 12 years old on Passover, which must have been 11 AD. The full moon with the sun in the Lamb on 11 AD falls on April 4th in our calendar. The full moon is at the feet of Virgo, where she would be again at the crucifixion. It speaks of the perfect testimony of Jesus toward the people of Israel, starting with his mother. On the right side of the moon is Vesta (fire), picture of the Holy Spirit. On the left side is Mars, picture of war,  the anxiety which would squeeze the heart of Mary within a few days but much more in a few decades.

The festivities lasted for eight days, Passover one day and the feast of unleavened bread for seven days. On that eighth day, the moon was on the left leg of Aquarius. One day later Joseph and Mary discovered Jesus was nowhere to be found and had to walk for days in order to find Him. The moon stood at the other leg of Aquarius. It stood for their search for the Fountain of life, which was incorporated in their own Jesus. After three long worrisome days they found Him in the temple. The moon stood in Pisces directly under Venus. As 12-year old Jesus was already busy as Fisher of man, asking the right questions to the teachers of the holy scriptures, who were astonished at his understanding and answers. He was well on his road to becoming the Man of glory, the Bright and Morning Star, Who would become the great Fisher of men and in the coming ages would save millions from total misery for eternity of joy with Him.

The other event which could be see in the skies is Jesus' baptism in the year 27 AD. The event must have taken place while many Jews were in and around Jerusalem in expectation of the start of Israel's fall feasts. For it is said: 'Then went out to him (John the Baptist) Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan' (Mathew 3:5). We are not sure about the exact date but looking at the sky, it could very well have been somewhere between July 28 and August 9, Venus being at Regulus, the King Star in Leo, enclosed between Mercury and the sun and with Uranus at the mouth of Leo - the voice of the Father: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased' (Mathew 3:17). From July 28 until July 31, Mercury descends upon Venus 'like a dove' and from July 31 until August 9, Venus descends on the sun, the Son presented as the One Who eternally was in the bosom of the Father and in Whom all love of the Father is concentrated, also in his life on earth (John 1:18).

But the most important event in history of which the heavens bear testimony is the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior. Historically the most likely date for 'Good Friday' is April 4 or 5 of AD 30. We won't dive into arguments on this year or date but we see clear signs in the heavens that this indeed must have been the date. We look at the position of all heavenly bodies in order to back up this assumptions:

(1) The sun - In Aries, at the right foot of the Lamb, as 'the first of the months on which the Passover had to be celebrated. This is an argument for April 4 or 5 but not for the year 30 AD for Passover is celebrated with the sun in Aries in all years of the first centuries.

(2) The moon - Full moon, descending from under the bundle of wheat, at the knee of Virgo toward her feet and ending above the altar. Jesus was the perfect testimony and the 'corn of wheat' that had to fall to the ground - and to come upon the altar as the perfect grain offering in order to bring forth much fruit. Again this is only an argument for April 4 but not for 30 AD. Every Passover in the first century is celebrated with the moon in this position.

(3) Jupiter - at one of the cord's of Pisces, Jesus in humility and suffering, breaking the bonds of humanity, which has become entangled in the world empire (Cetus) that is under full control of satan. This is evidence for 30 AD.

(4) Mercury - Picture of God's angels at the Pleiades in Taurus, picture of the 7 lamps of  fire before the throne of God. From there Mercury starts a retrograde movement as if to strengthen Christ while standing before the great work of salvation (Luke 22:43). The lamps of fire mirror the eternal Spirit through Whom Christ offered Himself (Heb 9:14).

With with the sun in Aries in their midst, Jupiter and Mercury form a cross. Below the sun, at the foot of the cross, is constellation 'Fornax', that could also represent an altar.

Directly around this cross we find constellations that makes on think of Psalm 22, the Psalm that starts with 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'