The Celestial Prelude
The controversy surrounding the "Star of Bethlehem" has been a hot topic of conversation annually around the holiday season, for a long time. There are those who don't believe that there were any special astronomical signs marking the birth of Christ as it was clearly spoken of in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Popular opinion has it that there was some unique miraculous manifestation only witnessed by the Magi. Then there are always the astrologers who, while promoting their fatalism, ramble on about half-baked superstitions muddying the facts at hand. Over the last thirty years or so, however, there has been a steady increase in the volume of the voices of reason. There are a handful of professional astronomers all who have pointed out the importance of the celestial signs during the period of 3 to 2 BC. Some of these include John Mosley [see link below] and Roger Sinnott of Griffith Observatory, Professor D.C. Morton Senior Research Astronomer at Princeton University, noted Biblical Historian Jack Finegan of Berkeley, CA, author and Minister V.P. Weirwille and Dr. Earnest Martin of the Association of Scriptural Knowledge. Their combined study of this period and the time encompassing the birth of Chist, has revealed a vast treasure trove of celestial events that has finally uncovered the true nature of the so-called "Star of Bethlehem." This is the subject of the following study, which appears as part of a larger and more detailed work on the Celestial Signs surrounding the birth of Christ called: The Season of the Morning Star. This work is designed to provide a new awareness of the Biblical Astronomy that marked the birth of Jesus Christ the promised seed.
God marked the holy feast days on the Hebrew calendar marking of the birth of Christ from before the foundations of the world, according to His vast omniscient foreknowledge, in concert with the temporal cycles He installed in His Creation. In this way His handiwork would show forth praise and worship of His wisdom, exhibited in the eternal purpose of His plan of the ages. As the Creator and God of the Heavens and Earth, our Heavenly Father saw fit to mark mankind's long awaited deliverance, written in the circle of the stars, by the celestial transition at the vernal point, which started the Age of Pisces in the precession of the equinoxes. He also marked the signs surrounding the birth of the Christ, the embodiment of the Morning Star, with a unique series of triple planetary unions, involving a series of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions.
As a genuine "mandate from heaven," these celestial signs ordained from the Hand of the Creator, mark the decisive epoch of the coming of the promised seed, near the inception point of the Piscean Age. As the heavenly signs of the birth of Christ unfold in the true extant of their scope and structure, we can only stand in humble awe and reverence as they testify to God's omniscient Power and Love. The Power and Glory of His creation reveals His three fold light as He shed it forth abundantly, in the heavens and in the Scriptures, enlightening the Earth. What follows are some primary excerpts from my aforementioned unpublished book. This work expands on the work of many of the experts in this field, spoken of earlier along with others of no less brilliance, but perhaps lesser fame. Many modern astronomers have not deemed to make any judgments on the celestial phenomena of this period, while other historians and theologians have. Perhaps it is beyond the realm of modern scientific Astronomy and astrophysics to seek out the meaning and symbolism of these heavenly signs. This job may best be left to the historians and theologians who should apply no less scientific principle or zeal while seeking out the truth. The science of our method is described in the section of our web-site on the Research Principles of Biblical Astronomy.
Let's take a brief overview of both the general and specific aspects of the Celestial Prelude. Its general sign, as we will see below, was visible for over 200 years, while of signs from 7-5 BC, focus on the triple Conjunction of Jupiter-Saturn during this time. These signs allowed the Magi to recognize the stellar details of the long awaited prophecy of the coming of the promised seed.
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