Through the prophet Joel, God spoke of astonishing signs in the heavens before “the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.” God gave this message to Joel for those living in the last days, saying: “I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD” (Joel 2:30-31).
It’s difficult to talk about signs in the heavens, because immediately people associate stars and constellations with astrology.
Astrology is a perversion of something God, in fact, meant for the heavens. Mazzaroth is the Hebrew name for the signs of the zodiac. As Chuck Missler puts it in his book, Heavenly Signs, “The Mazzaroth has nothing to do with astrology or any attempt to tell our futures based on the stars. Rather, the Mazzaroth is a tool that uses the stars to tell a story.”
That “story” is the Gospel. Bible scholars of old, and until recently, pointed to the zodiac as another way God communicated the Gospel to those who haven’t heard. Men like Dr. Henry Morris, a Christian who was the father of modern creation science; and conservative pastor Donald Grey Barnhouse.
They pointed out that when God said, “the heavens declare the glory of God,” it meant more than just the majesty of creation. The heavens do declare the magnitude of God’s marvelous power, His vast creative abilities beyond anything we can begin to comprehend. But the heavens, the constellations, also declare God’s plan of redemption – from Virgo, representing the virgin birth, all the way through Leo, representing the lion of the tribe of Judah, Who is Jesus.
Regardless the Mazzaroth, Joel and other prophets spoke of end times signs in the heavens; and so did Jesus.
Are there signs – unusual signs – in the heavens?
A few updates ago, I introduced you to what is being called the Revelation 12 Sign. It has to do with the actual alignment of the stars and planets that are presented in Revelation 12:1-5.
Rev 12:1 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.
Rev 12:2 Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
Rev 12:3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads.
Rev 12:4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.
Rev 12:5 She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne.
From my research, I told you that this alignment wasn’t so rare; but it turns out that the source I used, the Catholic Observatory, wasn’t accurate.
You may have heard of a computer program called Stellarium. With it you can input any date – in the past or in the future – and see the precise alignment of stars and planets in the sky.
Multiple astronomers say that the Revelation 12 Sign turns out to be very rare. It has occurred only once before – on August 5th, in 3915BC, which young-earth creation science says is right around the early days of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Using Stellarium to look more than a thousand years in our future, the only other time this precise alignment will appear is this year on September 23rd.
Adding to the prophetic significance is that September 23rd of this year just happens to be the beginning of the Jewish Feast of Trumpets.
Stellarium has only been available since 2001 – meaning it would have been unlikely anyone would even look to see if the alignment of stars and planets in Revelation 12 had ever occurred, or would ever occur.
BTW: After many years without total eclipses, the mainland US will be getting TWO in the space of less than seven years. The first one is this year, on August 21st. There will be another one coming along seven years later, in 2024.
The Bible says there will be unusual signs in the heavens. I think these definitely qualify.
While we recognize the signs of the times, we’re not looking for any particular sign before the Lord can return. Jesus promised He’d come in the clouds to resurrect the dead in Christ, and rapture living believers.
There are no prophecies needing to be fulfilled prior to the rapture. It is presented in the Bible as an imminent event.
Are you ready for the rapture? If not, get ready, stay ready, and keep looking up. Ready or not, Jesus is coming!