Days

On Augst 21^st of 2017 we witnessed the occurrence of an eclipse that was labeled as a ‘Great American Eclipse’.   And then to the amazement of many, thirty-three days later a significant astronomical alignment occurred—which appeared to point directly to the book of Revelation.

On September 23, 2017 a sign appeared in the stars that appeared to fulfill this description in Revelation 12:

Revelation 12:1-2:  Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.  

As news of this sign spread in 2017, and we grew closer to the date of its occurrence, the belief that the rapture and Second Coming would occur at the time began to spread—and obviously this did not happen.  Like the end of the Mayan Calendar in 2012 or the Y2K ‘Millenium Bug’ we have recently passed milestones that many saw as apocalyptic. 

If we go all the way back to 1988 there was a book predicting the rapture in that year (“88 Reason Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988”), which as part of its analysis assumed a Biblical generation as 40 years and added that to 1948, the year of the founding of the Nation of Israel (more on the length of a generation in a future chapter).

Repeatedly events have occurred the interpretation of which have led many astray.  So, let’s take a look at the night sky on September 23, 2017.   The chart shown above depicts the alignment and shows the following: 

The sun is in the constellation Virgo — “a woman clothed with the sun”.

The moon is at the feet of Virgo — “with the moon under her feet”.

The nine stars of Leo, plus three planets (Mercury, Venus, and Mars), are at the head of Virgo — “on her head a garland of twelve stars”.

Jupiter is known as the king planet and appears with Virgo — “She gave birth to a son, a male child, destined to rule all the nations with an iron rod”.

Jupiter is in the center of Virgo, and, in the weeks after September 23, Jupiter exits Virgo, traveling east past her feet — “Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth”.

It is also interesting to note that Rosh Hashanah – the feast of trumpets – was celebrated from the evening of Wednesday September 20^th to the evening of Friday September 22^nd in 2017.  Rosh Hashanah is a festival marking the Jewish New Year and begins with the blowing of the Shofar.  Rosh Hashanah is also known as the annual Day of Judgement – when man is judged for his actions – and also as the Day of Remembrance, as this is also the time when Jews commemorate the creation of the world.   The star sign depicted above occurred on September 23^rd, the day after Rosh Hashanah.

However, it is important to note that those doing even a quick check using astronomy software demonstrate that this sign has occurred four times in just the previous thousand years:  1827, 1483, 1293, and 1056 (Graney).   

So how do we view this sign in our time?

Author Joel Richardson makes the point that to understand the symbolism of sun, moon and stars you have to start with Joseph’s dream of Genesis 37:9 “Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, “Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me.”

Here we clearly see that the sun and moon were Joseph’s parents Jacob and Rachel, and that the stars are Jacob’s sons.  Jacob was renamed ‘Israel’ by God and would have twelve sons that would serve as the foundation of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.  As such, we should understand that images of sun, moon, and stars represents the nation of Israel.  If we look further at Revelation 12, we see that “the woman gave birth to a son” and then later we that the dragon (Satan) is thrown out of heaven and “hurled to the earth” where he persecutes the woman, but she flees into the wilderness where she takes shelter for 3 ½ years (time, times and half a time).  This time period is also stated as 1260 days.  Joel Richardson points out that the woman in this description is clearly Israel who birthed the Messiah.  Revelation 12 also shows us that at some point in the tribulation period the people of Israel actually flee into the wilderness to find safety, which might even be viewed as undertaking another Exodus. (Richardson).

Regardless, it remains a fact that an alignment of stars that appears to meet the Revelation 12 description did occur in 2017 and it is a curiosity that this occurred thirty-three days after the Great American Eclipse of that year.

But something else occurred in 2017 that we should consider as well.  A President hailed as a modern-day King Cyrus made history by proclaiming Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel—more on this in Chapter 16. 

The rebirth of Israel in 1948 and the end of Gentile rule of Jerusalem in 1967 are the key moments that mark our days as those of the ‘End Times’.  As such, we are living in the days that give us the timeframe within which visible signs gain much more significance…especially when more and more Biblically relevant End Time markers are occurring with each passing day.   From the viewpoint that we are now living in the last days and witnessing an intersection of events – seeing the September 23^rd alignment of stars in our time perhaps should not be simply dismissed, but is instead just one more thing to keep in mind as we look at the signs of times.

But…if we look even further back in time to 3 B.C., this alignment does appear to have occurred in association with another sign, when the stars announced that a new king had been crowned.