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Hello all,
I had heard in conversation, talk of the gospel "the good news of Jesus Christ" written or recorded in the lay out of the stars. As curious as it sounded, I found it hard to swallow..being something someone would dream up to make a good Sunday School lesson for 3rd graders. A Christian friend who owns a book store left some books, knowing my interest in astronomy and I was very interested to see a book written to that very point. It is written by James Nickel and is titled "Lift Up Your Eyes On High" subtitled "Understanding the Stars" published by Christian Liberty Press.
The gospel story is told by the North Circumpolar Stars And includes Ursa Major, Cassiopeia, Draco and Cepheus. The story is told by the ancient names given to each of the stars.Individual constellations then become characterized by their stars, the constellations becoming the "cast" of players on this "heavenly" stage.
I'll list the stars and the translation of their names along with the origin of the name by constellation where given.
Ursa Major- Al Naish "the assembled together" Arab
1. Dubhe, Dubh, or Dubb meaning "flock"
2. Merak, Merach, or Mirak meaning "purchased flock"
3. Phaeda, Phad, Phacda, or Phecda meaning "visited, guarded, numbered"
4. Megrez meaning "tail"
5. Alioth meaning "she goat"
6. Mizar meaning "separate or small"
7. Benet Naish of Al Kaid meaning "the daughters of the assembly or the assembled"
Casseopia- El Seder "the freed" Arabic, Set "set up as queen" Egyptian, Dat al Cursa "enthroned" Chaldean.
1. Three stars are called Schedir meaning "the freed"
2. Ruchbah meaning "the enthroned or the seated"
3. Caph meaning "the branch"
Draco- "trodden on" Greek derived from dahrach "to tread" Hebrew, Herfant "the serpent accursed" Egyptian, Rastaban "the head of the subtle who is to be destroyed" Hebrew
1. Thuban meaning "the subtle"
Cepheus- Pe-ku-hor "this one comes to rule" Egyptian,
1. Al Deramin meaning "coming quickly"
2. Al Phirk meaning "the redeemer"
As a student of the Bible, of particular interest was the discription of Draco and I immediately thought of the ancient curse put on Satan by God in Eden after he had persuaded Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God speaking to the serpent in Genesis 3:15 says ..I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers: he will crush your head, and you(serpent) will strike his heel.
Paul, speaking to the Roman Christians says in Romans 16:20 "The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet"
Jesus is often refered to as "the redeemer" (one who buys back), which speaks of his act as God incarnate (in the form of man), dieing sinless
and redeeming mankind from Satan. Christ's return will occur quickly "in a twinkling of an eye"
I Corinthians 15:52.
Those redeemed are often spoken of as sheep, Isaiah 53:6 "We all, like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all" The end of this verse refers to God laying the complete burden of our sin on Christ.
We have redemption through the work of Jesus Christ, now (Ephesians 1:7) and are protected from Satan by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30), a day when all sin will be ended.
It is at this point that the "flock" will be changed to a princess-enthroned with Christ.
These things intique me
1. These stars are always visible in the northern
night sky. The book is opened every evening.
2. Where man's recorded information can be destroyed, the stars have been in a constant place
for eons.
3. This story is grouped together in a "book" of constellations.
Nickels' description wasn't exhaustive. I would like to see a full description of all the stars
with as much historical information on them as possible.
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