Hello John and Doves,
I found Dr. Michael
Heiser's video on the Revelation 12 sign very interesting.
He talked about the Dead
Sea Scrolls, the Essenes, the Pharisees and signs in the
Heavens.
In using an astronomy
app he has found the date that the Revelation 12 sign
appears in 3 BC - a possible date for the birth of the
Messiah, Jesus.
Some scholars believe
that John the Baptist was an Essene. And he may have
lived in Qumran.
Dr. Heiser's video is
about ten minutes long -
Here are my notes for a
quicker look -
The calendar that the
Qumran people used, is the only calendar in the ancient
world that creates a time window for the Messiah's arrival
that matches Jesus. That's not a coincidence.
He shows a zodiac mosaic
that was in found in an ancient Jewish synagogue.
These aren't 'pagan' mosaics. A dozen of these Jewish
zodiac mosaics have been found by
archaeologists.
From these zodiac
mosaics, one can say that God is working a plan and His
plans are linked to time. We need to pay attention to
the sky because they may tell us what God is about to
do. The people really into this were the people at
Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. They
have a number of astronomical texts there.
The Essenes separated
from the Pharisees - because the Pharisees used a calendar
the Essenes didn't like. The Essenes were very serious
about their calendar. The skies were important - they
telegraph certain things to Revelation 12.
He suspects that what
Paul was thinking was recorded in Revelation 12: 1 -
5. What if John is keying this to astrological
signage. "A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon
under her feet and on her head a crown of 12 stars."
And near her is a dragon. His tail cast a third of the
stars to Earth. The dragon was ready to devour the
child. But the child is caught up to God.
This is reference to the
birth of the Messiah. Jesus is caught up to God in the
Resurrection.
He suspects that this is
what Paul was thinking about the Savior. Paul knew
Psalm 19 - and The Revelation didn't exists yet. He
quotes Psalm 19 in his letter to the Romans (Romans
10:18 "Yes, verily their sound went into all the
earth, and their words unto the ends of the
world.")
(Compare that to Psalm
19:1 -4: "The heavens declare the glory of God' the
skies proclaim the work of His hands. day after day
they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal
knowledge. Without speech or language; without a sound
to be heard, their voice has gone out into all the
earth their words to the ends of the world...")
Paul is associating the
knowledge of the Messiah King, His arrival with something
going on in the skies. And Rev 12 gives us
something very easy to track in an astronomy program.
He believes the Magi
realized something was going on - that told them something
divine was going to happen in Jerusalem. They believed
the God of Israel was capable of telegraphing stuff like
this.
The Dead Sea calendar,
that the Qumran people used, is the only calendar in the
ancient world that creates a time window for the Messiah's
arrival that matches Jesus.
He shows a picture of
Virgo, the Sun and the Moon as seen over Jerusalem from his
astronomy app.
This matches Revelation
12. His astronomy program shows Jupiter and Regulus at
her head. Jupiter is the King Planet. Regulus is
the King Star. They are super imposed on each
other. This would draw your attention as a Magi,
astronomer, a Jews, etc. as both are associated with
kingship. And these people were watching....
For 20 days, Virgo was
clothed with the Sun, but the exact day the Moon was at her
feet with Regulus and Jupiter at her head "this
could only occur during an 80 minute period within that
span of 20 days." Astronomy is linked to
time. So we can calculate.
Virgo is the only
constellation that represents a woman. The
constellation above Virgo is Leo - the Lion. To a Jew
the lion is the sign of the Tribe of Judah. Regulus
and Jupiter are intercepted/co-joined in the constellation
of Judah. The Messiah was to come from the Tribe of
Judah.
Below her feet in modern
astronomy are Libra and Scorpio. In the ancient world
they were one constellation with a scorpion with pinchers -
often refereed to as a dragon. Hydra, the dragon is
also below her. So either can be 'the dragon' in
Revelation 12. The dragon is ready to devour the child
when the Messiah is born.
There is a small
window of time when all of these things are present.
This date is September 11, 3 BC.
Sept 11, 3 BC also
corresponded to 1 Tishrei, Rosh Hashanah. New Year's
Day for Jews and the Day of Trumpets. 1 Tishrei is
also the New Year's Day of the civil calendar according to
the calendar accepted in Judah during the divided
monarchy. In other words, it marked the rule of the
first day of every Davidic King.
Pray for the peace of
Jerusalem!
Maranatha!
Chance