Page 8 - Heavenly Signs III by Mel Gable

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Genesis 1:14-15 “Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day
from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be for
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lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth” and it was so.”
It states that the heavens were created to be used for “signs.” The sun, moon and stars, which include planets,
were in the divine scheme of things, intended to be “for signs and for seasons.” A star map can be used to pinpoint
the exact day and year. The final usage is in Revelation 12.. It is referred to as a “great sign” in the heavens because
it symbolizes God’s chosen people, Israel. It is used in Joseph’s dream of his eleven brothers bowing down to
him. It is a sign of Israel and its twelve tribes, which includes the sun and the moon with a crown of stars.

Revelation 12:1 “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under
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her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;”
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.Psalms 147:4 “He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them.”
A crown of stars is known as a star cluster. We also know through scripture God has named all the heavenly
bodies. God’s naming goes on to the present time; even though he uses man to do this. As an example is the
dwarf planet Ceres, which was named in 2006, once it was determined not to be an asteroid, but a true planet.

Ceres is the smallest dwarf planet in the inner Solar System. Goddess of the seasons; Demeter Ceres means "Earth Mother”.
Ceres' name may derive from the hypothetical Proto-Indo-European root *ker, meaning "to grow", which is also a possible root for
many English words, such as "create", "cereal", "grow", "kernel", "corn", and "increase". Roman etymologists thought "ceres" was
derived from the Latin verb gerere, to bear, or bring forth.

The planet of “Ceres” was seen in the sky above Bethlehem during the Birth of Christ our Lord; and it is the last
object in the heavenly cluster to come down to earth as part of the Bethlehem Star. The choice by man of the
name “Ceres” was not based upon the fact that it was associated with the Birth of Christ by a virgin. The planet’s
name, Ceres, has the Latin meaning of “to bear” or “bring forth” from an “Earth Mother.” How appropriate it is to
Christ’s birth. Both the Old and New Testaments assume what happens in the heavens matter and are given by
God as signs of events on the earth. We should follow the guidance and counsel of the Bible on the use of signs.
Astrology assumes that the stars are the direct cause of personal events in one’s life and can be used as
predictions based upon an individual’s birth date. The Bible lets us know that they are to be used as messages
about earthly events either in the past or in the future. It may be useful to think of them as Road Signs and
Warnings. Christ said in Luke 21:25 “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth…..” 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. The Book of Job contains written
passages 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 in the star configuration of the

3 New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Gen 1:14). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.

4 New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Rev 12:1). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
5 New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995 (Psalms 147:4). LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.