Page 9 - Heavenly Signs II by Mel Gable

7

Christ said in Luke 21:25 “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth…..” This will occur during
the End Times. We shall use ancient interpretation for planetary signs and their meaning, and use Biblical text
wherever it is possible to explain the heavenly events as seen in the skies. Independent of the language (Hebrew,
Arabic or English) names given to these heavenly bodies and their meaning should stay the same. God’s naming
of the stars also includes naming the constellations and their star clusters as seen in the Book of Job.

Stars and Constellations

Most scholars believe the Book of Job is one of the oldest manuscripts of text ever written. In the Bible, it
predates the time of Abraham and the founding of the Jewish nation of Israel. Isn’t it intriguing to find this
oldest book is written about the stars and the constellations? It states that God himself put them in their place in
the heavens. It also references the same constellations we know today by their names. Other than the Bible, there
are ancient literatures (Babylonian) which appear to support the names as well. It appears the star configuration of
the constellations and what they represent may be the oldest surviving text of any language. Does this point to
some level of importance and significance to mankind? There must be significance to their names. Some
constellation and star names date back to the time of Job in the Bible such as “Bear.” The Pleiades star cluster
5
was given the Hebrew name הָמיִכּ Kimah (Kymh) cluster stars:—Pleiades in Job’s time and is still used today. We
will see the Pleiades stars cluster represent a crown of authority as a heavenly sign. Some of today’s present
names of stars and their meaning were recorded during the ancient times of the Babylonian Empire. A prime
example is the Star of Bethlehem. There are many passages which state that God arranged the stars.

Isaiah 40:26 “Lift your eyes on high, and see who created all these stars, The One who leads forth their
host by number, He calls them all by name. Because of his greatness of His might and the strength of
His power, not one of them is missing.”
6

The first time I understood there was meaning to “Heavenly Signs” was with the birth of Christ and how the Magi
saw the Star of Bethlehem in the East. The Magi understood that this was a sign of the Messiah, the King, and
they came to worship Him and give Him gifts. I wondered how they knew the star represented the King. It was
because of the heavenly bodies which made up the Bethlehem Star. It had meaning and significance to the Magi.

JOHANNES KEPLER (1571-1630) paved the way for rediscovery of the Bethlehem Star. He puzzled out the
math which drives the heavens. He even used his formula to search for the Bethlehem Star. But unlike us, Kepler
had no computer. With software incorporating Kepler's equations, we can animate ancient skies or the future
skies over the Middle East with great precision and accuracy.

JOHANNES KEPLER set out to show that a planet would travel in a perfect circular orbit around the sun,
called a solar orbit. This presented an easy mathematical model and simple view and beauty of his planetary
understanding. Nevertheless, he could not force the mathematical model of circular orbits to align with what was
observed in the night skies.
TYCHO BRAHE (1546-1601) made an invitation to Kepler to come to Prague and collaborate in the study of
the solar system. At this time, it was poorly understood even after following Newton’s work. It was thought, that
the planets were “Wandering Stars”. This was due to the fact that planetary movement across the skies didn’t
necessarily follow the normal path from east to west of the true stars in the night sky. Planets could retrace their
paths in the night sky based upon night time observation. Both men were brilliant and motivated to unravel the
mystery of planetary motion. Tycho Brahe died suddenly and Kepler found himself with full access to Brahe’s

5 Thomas, R. L. (1998). New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries : Updated edition. Anaheim: Foundation
Publications, Inc.

6 New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Isaiah 40:26). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.