Covenant With Creation

Daniel Training Network Gospel Seminars

Gospel In The Stars Seminar – Session 2

DESCRIPTION

The heavens declare the glory of God as made known in the gospel of Jesus the Messiah (Ps. 19:1-4; cf. Rom. 10:16-18). In the last session, we looked at some of the ways that the moon functions as a prophetic witness to the Messiah, and how God uses the rising of the sun to communicate the resurrection, the Day of the Lord, and the coming judgment on the wicked. In this session we turn our attention to two of the constellations that the Bible mentions specifically by name – the Pleiades and Orion. Join us as we explore how these constellations – together with some of the others with which they were often associated in antiquity – proclaim God’s glory and covenant faithfulness.

< 1 THE SKY DECLARES

3 CONSTELLATIONS CARRY A MESSAGE >

NOTES

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Covenant With Creation

REVIEW

REVIEW

A. Last month, we began our study on the “Gospel in the stars.” The heavens declare the glory of God as made known in the gospel of Jesus the Messiah.

Psalm 19:1-4 (NIV)

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. ² Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. ³ There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. ⁴ Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.

Romans 10:16-18 (NIV)

¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” (cf. Is. 53:1). ¹⁷ Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message (the gospel) is heard through the word of Christ. ¹⁸ But I ask: Did they not hear (the gospel, cf. v. 16)? Of course they did: “Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world” (quoting Ps. 19:4).

B. Because all nations have access to the night sky, they are without excuse before God.

Romans 1:18-23 (ESV)

¹⁸ For the wrath of God (the coming wrath in the Day of the Lord) is revealed from heaven (in the constellations) against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth (the true message and meaning of the stars). ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them (when He entrusted the message of the stars to human beings in the beginning). ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature (God set apart as the only Creator), have been clearly perceived (in the night sky), ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made (the “work of His fingers,” sun, moon, stars, etc., cf. Ps. 8). So they are without excuse.

C. Last month, we focused on the sun and the moon. We looked at some of the ways that the moon functions as a prophetic witness to the Messiah, and how God uses the rising of the sun to communicate the resurrection, the Day of the Lord, and the coming judgment on the wicked.

D. Tonight we are going to turn our attention to two of the constellations that the Bible mentions specifically by name – the Pleiades and Orion – and how they demonstrate God’s covenant faithfulness.

THE NIGHT SKY AND THE COVENANTS OF THE BIBLE

THE NIGHT SKY AND THE COVENANTS OF THE BIBLE

A. In Scripture, God’s righteousness is inextricably bound to His covenant faithfulness. The covenants pertain to God’s plan of salvation and redemption. The gospel of our salvation is thus inextricably bound to His faithfulness to His covenants: Abrahamic, Noahic, Mosaic, Davidic, and New. Our blessed hope is a covenantal hope. In a covenantal context, God’s righteousness means God doing and being faithful to what He promised in the covenants.

Psalm 40:9-10 (NIV)

⁹ I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; I do not seal my lips, as you know, O Lord. ¹⁰ I do not hide your righteousness in my heart; I speak of your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal your love and your truth from the great assembly.

Isaiah 11:5 (NIV)

Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

Isaiah 56:1 (NKJV)

Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come, And My righteousness to be revealed.

Isaiah 1:26-27 (NIV)

²⁶ I will restore your judges as in days of old, your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.” ²⁷ Zion will be redeemed with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness.

Matthew 3:13-15 (NIV)

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. ¹⁴ But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵ Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness” (i.e. the Messiah must begin His mission for the promises of the covenants to be fulfilled).

Romans 1:16-17 (NKJV)

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live (then end-game of the covenants – the restoration of life in the resurrection) by faith.”

B. In Scripture, God’s “glory,” His covenant faithfulness, and the Messiah’s mission are intricately interconnected concepts.

Isaiah 40:1-11 (NIV)

¹Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. ² Speak tenderly to Jerusalem (because God faithful to His covenants), and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. ³A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. ⁴ Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. ⁵ And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it (cf. Ezek. 38). For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” ⁶A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. ⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. ⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God (in the covenants) stands forever.” ⁹ You who bring good tidings to Zion (LXX – euaggeliz? – “evangelize”), go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” ¹⁰ See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm (the Messiah, cf. Is. 53:1-2; Jn. 12:37-38) rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense (cf. vs. 2) accompanies him. ¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

C. The same three-fold reality – God’s glory, in context to His covenant faithfulness, executed through the Messiah’s mission – is what we see in the message of the stars.

Psalm 19:1-5 (NIV)

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands (saints remolded into God’s image through resurrection at end of the age, cf. Is. 29:23, 60:21-22; i.e. salvation). ² Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge (of God – His ways, His glory, His plans, His faithfulness, etc.). ³ There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. ⁴ Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun, ⁵ which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion (ESV, NKJV – “chamber”), like a champion (ESV, NKJV – “strong man”) rejoicing to run his course. ⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens (the East) and makes its circuit (the ecliptic – the perceived circular path of the sun through the stars) to the other; nothing is hidden from its heat (light drives back the darkness).

Isaiah 40:18-26 (NIV)

¹⁸ To whom, then, will you compare God? What image (patterned after the constellations for divination on the assumption that they control human affairs, cf. vv. 21, 26) will you compare him to? ¹⁹ As for an idol, a craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. ²⁰ A man too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot. He looks for a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not topple. ²¹ Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning (When God entrusted the true message of the stars to humanity, cf. Rom. 1)? Have you not understood since the earth was founded (when God put the sun, moon, and stars in the sky, cf. Gen. 1)? ²² He sits enthroned (has sovereignty and power over) above (on His throne in the highest heaven) the circle of the earth (the perceived circular path of the through the zodiac, or the ecliptic, located in the first heaven below His throne in the highest heaven), and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy (God is the Creator), and spreads them out like a tent to live in. ²³ He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing (God, not the stars and their representative images, is the One truly directing human affairs). ²⁴ No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither (cf. Dan. 2, 7), and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff. ²⁵ “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. ²⁶ Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. ²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God”? ²⁸ Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. ²⁹ He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. ³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; ³¹ but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

D. The point: story of the constellations is the same story as the Bible. Next month, we will look at the signs of the zodiac in more detail. The zodiac tells the same story as the Bible, in the same sequence.[1] Virgo represents the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant; Libra represents the Mosaic Law; Scorpio represents the wilderness wanderings; Sagittarius the archer represents the conquest of Canaan under Joshua; Capricorn represents the Davidic Covenant; Aquarius represents the Babylonian captivity; Pisces represents the return from exile; Aries represents the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world; Taurus represents the apostolic ministry; Gemini (the Twins) represent the One New Man in Christ; Cancer represents the anti-Christ empire; and Leo represents the Second Coming and the setting up of the Messiah’s kingdom.

E. Each month, the sun rises in a different constellation of the zodiac. The sun rising day after day, passing through each “house” of the zodiac year after year, is God’s statement that just as sure as the sun rises faithfully day by day, so I will be faithful to fulfill the covenants depicted in the constellations.

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[1] Tim Warner, Mystery of the Mazzaroth (Oakfield, Maine: Wild Olive Press, 2010).

THE COVENANT WITH CREATION (BRIEF SUMMARY)

THE COVENANT WITH CREATION (BRIEF SUMMARY)

A. When God created the heavens and the earth, He made a covenant with His creation.

Psalm 148:3-6 (NIV)

³ Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars. ⁴ Praise him, you highest heavens and you waters above the skies. ⁵ Let them praise the name of the Lord, for he commanded and they were created. ⁶ He set them in place for ever and ever; he gave a decree that will never pass away.

Jeremiah 33:19-21 (NIV)

¹⁹ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁰ “This is what the Lord says: ‘If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, ²¹ then my covenant with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne.

Psalm 89:35-37 (NIV)

³⁵ Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness— and I will not lie to David— ³⁶ that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; ³⁷ it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky.”

B. In the Garden, where there was perfection of life, perfection of government (the kingdom of God), and perfection of fellowship. These were lost in the Fall, and God promised that one day the Seed of the woman would crush the Serpent’s head (Gen. 3:15). The gospel in its most basic form is that one day the Seed of the woman, the Messiah, would come and restore all things lost in the fall. Life will be restored in the resurrection of the body. Perfect government will be restored when the Messiah sets up His kingdom at the Second Coming. Perfect fellowship will be restored as we walk with God again in the cool of the day.

C. The final end-game of the covenants is the restoration of all things. The restoration of the creation is accomplished through Jesus, God’s chosen Messiah.

Acts 3:19-21(NKJV)

¹⁹ Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, ²⁰ and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, ²¹ whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

THE PLEIADES AND ORION

THE PLEIADES AND ORION – THE FATHER’S MEANS OF ACCOMPLISHING THE RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS

A. There are two constellations in Scripture that are highlighted by name three times: the Pleiades and Orion (Job 9:9, 38:31; Am. 5:8). These two constellations are precious to the Father’s heart, because Orion represents the resurrected and glorified Messiah, and the constellation Pleiades represents the Holy Spirit.

Job 9:9 (NIV)

He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

B. Historically, Orion and the Pleiades are associated with the zodiac sign Taurus, the bull, or the ox.[1] As we will see next month, Taurus represents the ministry of the apostles. “Some have seen in Taurus a charging bull. Taurus is not a charging bull, but an ox straining as he pulls a very heavy load. An ox is a domesticated bull, trained since he was a calf to pull heavy loads and obey the commands of his driver. This is the perfect representation of the Apostolic ministry.”[2]

1 Corinthians 9:6 (NIV)

² Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. ³ This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. ⁴ Don’t we have the right to food and drink? ⁵ Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas ? ⁶ Or is it only I and Barnabas who must work for a living? ⁷ Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk? ⁸ Do I say this merely from a human point of view? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? ⁹ For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? ¹⁰ Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. ¹¹ If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? ¹² If others have this right of support from you, shouldn’t we have it all the more?

Taurus as depicted in Urania’s Mirror,

a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825.[3]

Taurus charges with head down towards Orion,

as depicted in the Atlas Coelestis of John Flamsteed (1729).[4]

C. Tim Warner, Mystery of the Mazzaroth: “The Temple of Solomon was designed by God to provide the same kind of symbolic imagery as the constellations. Its layout and furnishings all have symbolic meaning pointing to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The bronze altar of sacrifice just inside the eastern gate, where the blood of the sacrificial animals flowed and where their carcasses were burned, symbolized the cross of Jesus Christ. The next structure was an enormous bronze bowl supported by twelve cast bronze oxen, three facing east, three facing west, three facing north, and three facing south. The twelve oxen represent the twelve Apostles. That they are facing the four points of the compass indicates their mission of carrying the Gospel to all the nations. The three hundred small oxen cast all around the rim of the reservoir represent all those who follow in the footsteps of the Apostles, taking the Great Commission as their mission. The enormous reservoir of water on the backs of the twelve oxen represents the cleansing waters of baptism through which they make disciples of the all the nations. In Solomon’s Temple, the priests bathed in this water before they could enter the Temple to perform their sacred service. So too, the repentant sinner must come to the altar of sacrifice – the cross – and enter the waters of baptism before he is fit to enter the presence of God. Taurus is simply an abbreviated form of the symbol of Solomon’s bronze laver which represents the Apostolic ministry.”[5]

2 Chronicles 4:2-4 (NIV)

² He made the Sea (Heb. “yawm”) of cast metal, circular in shape, measuring ten cubits from rim to rim and five cubits high. It took a line of thirty cubitsto measure around it. ³ Below the rim, figures of bulls encircled it—ten to a cubit. The bulls were cast in two rows in one piece with the Sea. ⁴ The Sea stood on twelve bulls, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south and three facing east. The Sea rested on top of them, and their hindquarters were toward the center.

D. In the MUL.APIN – one of the most ancient Babylonian star catalogues – the Pleiades is called MUL.MUL meaning “The Star Cluster” or “Star of Stars.” The Hebrew word is Kimah, and can be translated as “the seven stars” (Amos 5:8, KJV). The Pleiades, according to Greek mythology, represent seven sisters turned to doves by Zeus, who then placed them in the stars.[6] “Alternatively, and possibly more likely, the name may come from the old Greek word pleos, ‘full’, which in the plural meant ‘many’, a suitable reference to the cluster. According to other authorities, the name comes from the Greek word peleiades, meaning ‘flock of doves’.”[7] In the Bible, the dove is a symbol for the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:16). Also, the Holy Spirit is sometimes referred to in Scripture as “the seven spirits” or alternatively the “seven-fold Spirit” (Rev. 3:1, Rev. 5:6, cf. Is. 11:1-4). Jesus holds the sevenfold Spirit in his hands (Rev. 3:1), and pours out the Spirit to wash the hearts of His people (1 Cor. 6:11, Tit. 3:5) and to empower them in preaching the gospel (Lk. 24:49, Ac. 1:4). The Spirit is given to us as a deposit and down payment (2 Cor. 1:22, 5:5; Eph. 1:14) of the completion of our redemption – the resurrection of our bodies – which will occur at the Second Coming (Rom. 8:11, 22-25; 1 Th. 4).

E. Orion is also closely connected to the story of Taurus in ancient traditions.[8] In a number of ancient traditions – Greek, Roman, and Mesopotamian – Orion is portrayed as a mighty hunter. In Greek mythology, he is often portrayed hunting the rabbit Lepus, and who fighting against the charging bull Taurus.[9] In Hungarian mythology, he is also portrayed as a hunter, and his name is Nimrod![10]

Orion as depicted in Urania’s Mirror,

a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825.[11]

F. However, the more ancient traditions tell a very different story and portray a much different picture. The ancient Babylonian star catalogue MUL.APIN predates the Greco-Roman civilization by hundreds of years. The MUL.APIN is written in cuneiform script, which originated in ancient Sumer. It reflects astronomical traditions that predate “Archaic Greece” (800-480BC)[12] by thousands of years. The MUL.APIN calls Orion SIPA.ZI.AN.NA “The Loyal Shepherd of Heaven,”[13] or “The Heavenly Shepherd” or “True Shepherd of Anu – Anu being the chief god of the heavenly realms.”[14] In ancient Egypt, the constellation Orion was associated with Osiris: the god of resurrection and the judge of the dead. Traditions concerning Osiris are very ancient, pre-dating the Old Kingdom (2650-2150 BC).[15] Osiris is usually depicted holding a shepherd’s crook and flail. These shepherd’s tools were symbols of divine authority, and the shepherd’s crook was the hieroglyph for the word “rule.” One of Osiris’ names was “Good Shepherd.”[16]

G. The Dendera Zodiac is the oldest surviving circular zodiac discovered to date.[17] It was discovered on the ceiling of a chapel dedicated to Osiris, in the Temple of Hathor in Dendera, Egypt. It depicts the night sky around 2300BC – the time of the flood.[18] In this Zodiac, Orion is represented as the Good Shepherd with authority to rule.

Orion as depicted in Dendera zodiac[19] Osiris in a tomb painting. The green is a symbol of rebirth[20] understood in terms of bodily resurrection and new life[21]

Judgment scene from Book of the Dead.[22]

H. British Egyptologist Sir E. A. Wallis Budge, From Introduction to his translation of the Book of the Dead – “It is, however, quite certain that even in the earliest dynastic times in Egypt the history of Osiris was legendary, and that all the main features of the story which Plutarch gave in De Iside et Osiride were then current; the scene on the plaque of Semti…a king of the First Dynasty, proves that the ‘god on the top of the staircase’ occupied a most prominent position in the religion of the country. The texts of the Heliopolitan Recension of the Book of the Dead assume throughout that Osiris occupied the position of chief of the cycle of the gods of the dead, and down to the earliest centuries of the Christian era the fundamental ideas expressed in every text which was written for the benefit of the dead rest on this assumption. It was universally believed that Osiris was of divine origin, that he lived upon earth in a material body, that he was treacherously murdered and cut in pieces, that his sister Isis collected the limbs of his body, and, by means of magical words which had been specially provided by the god Thoth, reconstituted it, that the god came to life again by these means, that he became immortal, and entered into the underworld, where he became both the judge and king of the dead….In the XVIIIth Dynasty it is expressly stated in Chapter CLIV of the Book of the Dead that Osiris neither decayed, nor putrefied, and that he enjoyed existence, being in the full possession of all the members of his body….And the king, and every other follower of Osiris, believed that he would enjoy everlasting life and happiness in a perfectly constituted body because Osiris had conquered death, and had risen from the dead, and was living in a body which was perfect in all its members; moreover, for countless generations Osiris was the type and emblem of the resurrection, and relying upon his power to give immortality to man untold generations lived and died. In the hymns which are addressed to him he is called the ‘king of eternity, the lord of the everlasting, who passeth through millions of years in his existence’ (see p. 18); and again it is said (see p. 67), ‘The dead rise up to see thee, they breathe the air and they look upon thy face when the Disk riseth on its horizon; their hearts are at peace inasmuch as they behold thee, O thou who art Eternity and Everlastingness.’ Still more remarkable are the words which were addressed to him by the god Thoth and which are found in the Papyrus of Hu-nefer (see p. 623); the scribe of the gods having enumerated all the titles of Osiris in a series of paragraphs, and shown how love for him permeates every god, says, ‘Homage to thee, O Governor of those who are in Amentet, who dost make men and women to be born again,’ the new birth being the birth into the new life of the world which is beyond the grave, and is everlasting.

All the pictures of the god Osiris known to us in funeral texts represent him as a being swathed in mummied form, and wearing on his head the white crown, and holding in his hands the emblems of sovereignty and dominion; but those which represent the deceased make him to appear in the ordinary garb of a man who is dressed in ceremonial attire, and he is seen in the Judgment Hall and other places in heaven in the form wherein he went about on earth. There is reason for thinking that pre-dynastic man believed that his dead would live again in the identical bodies which they had upon earth, i.e., in a material resurrection, and there is no doubt that the funeral offerings which they placed in their graves and tombs were intended to be their food in the next world whilst they were accommodating themselves to their new circumstances. In later times, although the funeral offerings were made as before, the belief in a material resurrection was given up by educated Egyptians, and in texts, both of the earliest and latest periods of Egyptian history, it is distinctly stated that they material part of man rests in the earth whilst the immaterial part has its abode in heaven….in a text of the Ptolemaic period it is declared to the deceased, ‘Heaven hath thy soul, earth hath thy body.’”[23]

More from Budge on the life of Osiris – “We find that the doctrine of eternal life and of the resurrection of a glorified or transformed body, based upon the ancient story of the resurrection of Osiris after a cruel death and horrible mutilation, inflicted by the powers of evil, was the same in all periods, and that the legends of the most ancient times were accepted without material alteration or addition in the texts of the later dynasties….The story of Osiris is nowhere found in a connected form in Egyptian literature, but everywhere, and in texts of all periods, the life, sufferings, death and resurrection of Osiris are accepted as facts universally admitted. Osiris was the god through whose sufferings and death the Egyptian hoped that his body might rise again in some transformed or glorified shape, and to him who had conquered death and had become the king of the other world the Egyptian appealed in prayer for eternal life through his victory and power. In every funeral inscription known to us, from the pyramid texts down to the roughly written prayers upon coffins of the Roman period, what is done for Osiris is done also for the deceased, the state and condition of Osiris are the state and condition of the deceased; in a word, the deceased is identified with Osiris. If Osiris lives forever, the deceased will live for ever; if Osiris dies, then will the deceased perish.[24]

I. Traditionally, Orion has also been depicted with a river flowing from under his feet. The river winds down until it disappears below into the regions of deep darkness below the horizon, out of sight. The Greeks called this constellation Eridanus. The Greek poet Virgil considered it to be one of the rivers of Hades – the abode of the dead.[25] In the Bible, Hades is Sheol, which is a place of shadow and deep darkness (e.g. Job 17:13), where the departed spirits of the righteous (Old Testament) and wicked are held to await the day of resurrection and judgment. Just under Orion’s foot, in Eridanos, is the star Cursa, derived from the Arabic Al-Kursiyy al-Jauzah – “the chair (or “footstool”) of the Central One.”[26] Some Greek traditions have connected it with fire.[27] The Greek poet Aratus (quoted by Paul in Acts 17) connects it with tears: “For yonder, trod by heavenly feet, Wind the scorched waters of Eridanus’ tear-swollen flood, Welling beneath Orion’s uplifted foot.”[28]

J. In Hebrew, the word for Orion is “Chesil.” It literally means “fat,” and can have either a positive or a negative sense. Applied negatively, it can figuratively mean “fool, stupid fellow, dullard, simpleton, arrogant one.”[29] Viewed positively, it could have the sense of “sturdy,”[30] “hero,” “giant,” and “strong one.”[31] Orion has been interpreted both negatively (e.g. Nimrod, or unbelieving Israel[32]) and positively (as a prophetic picture of the resurrected Christ).[33]

K. In Isaiah 13:10, it is used in the plural (kesiliim) and is translated generically as “constellations” in most translations. This, in my mind, is strong evidence for a positive or at least a neutral interpretation.

Isaiah 13:9-11 (NIV)

⁹ See, the day of the Lord is coming—a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger— to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. ¹⁰ The stars of heaven and their constellations (Heb. kesiliim) will not show their light (i.e. the time of mercy in which they witness is finished; for the kesiliim not to show there light is a negative thing). The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. ¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.

L. “It is possible that the ancient Hebrews saw in this constellation the figure of a man who was naturally regarded as extraordinarily tall and strong, exactly as the Greeks named it “Orion,” the Egyptians “Sahu,” and the ancient Hindus “Triçanka” (Schiaparelli, l.c.).”[34]

M. I am strongly convinced of a positive view, especially in light of the dream I had in 2009. I believe that Nimrod, as an anti-Christ prototype, in his arrogance and rebellion tried to claim Orion for himself, hence the later associations with the hunter. Ancient Egyptian Christians saw in Osiris – represented by Orion – as a picture of Christ, and they mummified their dead until the arrival of Islam.[35]

N. So what is God saying through this group of constellations: Taurus, the Pleiades, Orion, and the River Eriandus that flows from Orion? Through His chosen and resurrected Messiah, He is going to restore all things! Orion represents the resurrected Messiah who has conquered death and is now shining in resurrected glory at the Father’s right hand. The Pleiades represents the Spirit, and Taurus the apostles sent out with the gospel in the power of the Spirit. Orion represents the faithful shepherd, and the ox represents the apostles joyfully and humbly carrying the yoke of the cross as their Good Shepherd intercedes for them in resurrected glory at the Father’s right hand. As the gospel goes forth, from the Father’s right hand the resurrected Messiah pours out the Spirit on His people as a deposit, seal, and guarantee of the completion of our redemption in the resurrection of our bodies at the Second Coming. The resurrection will take place also through the work of the Spirit. Eriandus represents Jesus treading Sheol under His feet by pouring out the streams of living water – the Spirit of God unto life! – on His people.

Amos 5:8 (NKJV)

He made the Pleiades (the seven stars over Taurus, representing the Holy Spirit) and Orion (the faithful Shepherd, the Messiah); He turns the shadow of death (Heb. tsalmaveth; NIV – “blackness”; ESV/NASB – “deep darkness”; cf. Ps. 23:4, Is. 9:2) into morning (by pouring out the waters of the Spirit, cf. Is. 44:4) and makes the day dark as night (for the wicked, cf. vs. 9); He calls for the waters of the sea (Heb. – “yawm” – broad range of application, Rea Sea, Sea of Galilee, the Nile river (Is. 19:5, Nahum 3:8), the Sea in the Temple) and pours them out on the face of the earth (unto life! cf. Rom. 8:11) ; The Lord is His name.

Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV)

¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

Romans 8:11 (NIV)

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Isaiah 44:1-4 (ESV)

¹“But now hear, O Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen! ² Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you: Fear not, O Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen. ³ For I will pour water (the Spirit, cf. 3b – Hebrew parallelism) on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon your offspring, and my blessing on your descendants. ⁴ They shall spring up among the grass like willows by flowing streams.

John 7:37-39 (NIV)

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” ³⁹ By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

John 4:13-14 (NIV)

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give him (the Spirit, cf. John 7:38-39) will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

1 Corinthians 15:22-26 (NIV)

²² For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴ Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. ²⁵ For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. ²⁶ The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

Isaiah 9: 1-3 (NIV)

¹Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan— ² The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of deatha light has dawned. ³ You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder.

Isaiah 49:8-9 (NIV)

⁸ This is what the Lord says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances (cf. Dan. 12:13), ⁹ to say to the captives (imprisoned in Sheol), ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness (of Sheol), ‘Be free!’

O. Job, do you have the power to overcome death? “The Hebrew word “mosheka” is translated as “bands” in the King James Bible, and means, “to draw up or bind.” It also means “cord,” or “belt.” However, could Job have been referring to something other than an ordinary belt? Could he instead have meant the linen bands wrapped around mummies or, alternatively, the flax cords that crisscrossed, and bound up the mummified figure representing Orion/Osiris? If Job intended this when he said: “Canst thou…loose the bands of Orion?” he was asking his listeners if they could raise the dead back to life, and thus free them from the cocoon-like wrappings of a mummy!”[36]

Job 38:31 (NIV)

“Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords (Heb. “mosheket” – only used once; KJV – “bands,” NKJV – “belt” [but should be plural- belts]); of Orion?

• 5436 ????????? (m m??še?ô?): n.fem.pl.; cords, chains, fetters, i.e., that implement which is an imprisoning bond to the hands or feet (Job 38:31+), note: some sources question this meaning[37]

Song of Songs 8:6 (NIV)

Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousyunyielding as the grave (Heb. Sheol).

Psalm 18:4-9 (NIV)

⁴ The cords (Heb. “hebel” – “cord, rope, band, company”[38]) of death entangled me; ⁴ The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. ⁵ The cords of the grave (Heb. Sheol) coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. ⁶ In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.⁷ The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. ⁸ Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. ⁹ He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet (the answer to the cry for help in vs. 6).

Genesis 50:1-3 (NIV)

¹Joseph threw himself upon his father and wept over him and kissed him. ² Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him, ³ taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

Genesis 50:25 (NIV)

And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath and said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.” ²⁶ So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Hebrews 11:22 (NIV)

By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions about his bones.

John 11:43-44 (NIV)

⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

Matthew 27:58-60 (NIV)

⁵⁸ Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. ⁵⁹ Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰ and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock.

John 20:5-7 (NIV)

⁵ He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen (the “cords,” “bands,

possibly “strips” of Orion? cf. Job 38:31) lying there but did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter, who was behind him, arrived and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷ as well as the burial cloth that had been around Jesus’ head. The cloth was folded up by itself, separate from the linen.

“Osiris-Nepra, with wheat growing from his body.

From a bas-relief at Philae.

The sprouting corn implied resurrection.