September 23rd!

It started with a a link that I was sent, that took me to a YouTube video clip, that turned out to be one of many on the same theme! That theme was September 23rd and the claim that some momentous event is scheduled to take place on that date!

If you haven't viewed any of these video-clips, please permit me to save you the bother! According to those I have watched, on September 23rd, there will be the fulfilment of some of the prophetic words from the Book of the Revelation of Jesus:

"And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery." (12:1-2).

We are informed that, on that day, two constellations - Leo and Virgo - will be close to one another, with Leo being above the 'head' of Virgo. This is then interpreted as Virgo being the woman of the prophecy, and Leo being the crown of twelve stars. It is claimed - and I have no reason to disbelieve these claims - that on September 23rd, the sun will be at the head of Virgo, and the moon at the feet of the constellation. This will all be visible because there will be three hours of darkness, just as there was at the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus. That I find more difficult to accept!

The constellation Leo, with its nine stars, will form the crown on the head of Virgo. The three "missing" stars will be provided by Mercury, Venus, and Mars being in a conjunction with the constellation.

There will also be a star in the heavens that has only been seen twice before - at the time of Abraham, and at the incarnation of God the Son. This is the "Bethlehem Star", and it has allegedly been around for two years (well, since September 23rd, 2015!).

To be fair, none of the contributors to whom I listened specified exactly what would happen on September 23rd, 2017 - but they are all convinced that there will be a major, and cataclysmic, event.

Okay, let's look a little more closely at some of these claims. First of all, we are actually dabbling in the area of astrology, here. There is one fundamental problem with astrology - it is based, totally, on false premises! It is based on the ancient idea that the sky was a crystal semi-sphere upturned and sitting on a "flat" earth. All of the heavenly bodies moved on that sphere, and all were exactly the same distance from earth. Now, let me add that this is a totally unBiblical picture - but that is another story!

We know that this is not so. We know that, apart from our own Sun, the stars are all light-years away (a "light-year" for anyone who does not know, is the distance that light travels in an earth-year. As light travels at approximately 186,000 miles every second, that makes a light-year to be 186,000 x 60 x 60 24 x 365.25 - an amazing 5,869,712,600,000 miles! Actually, as the speed is a little above 186,000 mps, the light year is approximately 6,000 trillion earth miles!). The closest star to our solar system is a faint red dwarf star, Proxima Centauri. It is a "mere" 4.24 light-years away - that's well over 25,000 trillion miles!

When we look at what are called "constellations", we are the victims of a perspective-based optical illusion. Imagine yourself at one side of a very large field. You look at the other side, and you see a horse grazing beside a tree. However, when you walk over to the horse, you realise that it is actually much closer to you than the tree. So it is with the "constellations". The individual stars in any "constellation" are many light years away from one another, and all are many light years away from the Solar System.

That leads us to the next relevant point. Mercury, Venus, and Mars are not stars! They are planets that orbit our Sun. None of them ever "pass through" any constellation. They only appear to do so from our earth-bound perspective! So, if Leo is to have twelve "stars", then these three planets are non-starters! Nor, of course, do either the Sun or the Moon appear at the head, feet, or any other bodily part, of Virgo! We are also informed that Jupiter will be between the "feet" of Virgo, and that it will represent the child to whom she "gives birth".  Of course, Jupiter will not be within thousands of trillions of miles of any star in the "constellation" Virgo!

There is much more, but I hope that the above is sufficient to make clear that I do not accept these "prophecies" with regard to September 23rd. Of course, it may be that, on September 24th, I shall be obliged to "eat humble pie" - that is if I am still around to do so! Let me add a little more. I believe that, if there is indeed some significant event that is going to happen on September 23rd, that any "portent" in the sky will not be a simple alignment of current celestial bodies and/or "constellations" (that do not, in reality, exist). Whatever that sign is to be, I believe that it will be something totally new. However, I also believe that we will not receive any forewarning of it. It will come as a total surprise. Like the Rapture of the true disciples of Jesus, it will happen "... in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye ..." (I Cor.15:52);  like the Second Advent, when the Lord Jesus returns as King of kings, and Lord of lords, it will come "... like a thief in the night ..." (I Thess.5:2). 

A long time ago, I read some sound advice that I pass on to you: "Live as if He is returning today; work as if He will not return for a hundred years."! If we do that, we will not be sidetracked by attempts to "second-guess" the Omnipotent Creator and Sustainer of all that exists. We will also be ready to meet with Him, whether when He takes us to Himself in the air, or calls us home through that portal that we call physical death.

Power v. Pardon!

I have just looked at some amazing photographs of butterflies and some other insects, on Facebook.   The colours; the designs; in one case, the transparency; of those little creatures is beyond verbal description.  When we look at the world of nature is is, indeed, full of wise design.  The bird is a clever architect; the beaver a skilful builder of dams; the silkworm is a superb weaver; and even the spider is a remarkable net-maker!  There are also, in the natural world, many intricate checks and balances that speak of a great, directing, Intelligence.

But not only is there great beauty, and order in the world that we experience, there is also great power.  The earth quakes on the ocean bed - and a might tsunami surges towards land where it destroys all in its path, for sometimes miles inland.  A tornado rips through a town, and leaves only havoc in its wake.  Wind and wave have created many strange formations in the rocks that are all over the planet.

Of course, we may also look out from Earth, and marvel at the night sky - with its thousands of stars visible to the naked eye; and millions more that require optical assistance in the form of great telescopes.  We are informed of the mind-blowing distances between these stars, and from the Earth - distances so vast that they are measured, not in miles, or nautical miles, or kilometres, but in "light years".  A light-year, of course, is the distance that light travels in one earth year - at a speed of more than 186,000 earth miles every second!  That gives us a measurement of almost six trillion miles!

However, while God's grandeur, knowledge, and superior mind are displayed in the wonders of His creation, they reveal neither His heart nor His full personality - nor do they tell mere mortals like you and me, how we may ever make contact with such an all-powerful Being!  Nature, in all of its vastness, and beauty, and power says nothing about the need of sinners such as you and me - pardon; forgiveness; the removal of guilt.

I have a quotation in an old set of Daily Bible Reading Notes that reads: "Not a whisper of forgiveness comes to us from the blue heavens above us, or from any of the works of the Almighty around us.  His infinite, all-pervading Spirit cannot be comprehended.  The thought of this powerful Being brings fear to our hearts.  But when God comes near in the Person of the perfect Man, speaking of love, pardon, and adoption into His family, then the guilty dread flees away, and the love which casts out fear takes its place.  Now this is what we see in Jesus Christ - God manifested in the flesh." (Robert Boyd; emphasis added).

"Can't I worship God in the green fields, or on the rolling waves, or in the grandeur of the mountains?", someone might ask.  I suppose that you can - but it is unlikely that you will!  For centuries, the inhabitants of parts of the African continent sat at cannibalistic feasts surrounded by natural scenery that surpasses most of what you and I regularly experience, in beauty and in grandeur - yet nature, in all of its splendour did not lead them to the true God, the Creator, and Sustainer, of all that exists; the One Who, in the Persona (not a misprint - see my book on "Great Words", the chapter on The Trinity!) of the Son, came into this world, this planet Earth, this mere speck in the vastness of the universe, to die on a cross so that those who place their trust fully, and unreservedly, in Him, might be saved.  As I shared, yesterday morning, with some friends, "He made the Son of His love to be the object of His wrath, so that the objects of His wrath might become the sons of His love!"

Nature speaks of power; but it never speaks of pardon.  If you would know that forgiveness, you must come to Him, Who alone can meet your deepest need.