Chapter 3 | Table of Contents |
Book 2
The Witness of the Stars
E. W. Bullinger
The First Book The
Redeemer (His First Coming) "The sufferings of Christ"
Chapter IV The Sign Sagittarius The Redeemer's
triumph
12. Sagittarius (the
Archer)
This is the concluding chapter of the
first great book of this Heavenly Revelation; and it is occupied wholly
with the triumph of the Coming One, who is represented as going forth
"conquering and to conquer."
The subject is beautifully set forth in
the written Word (Psa 45:3-5)--
"Gird Thy sword upon Thy
thigh, O most mighty, [Gird Thyself] with Thy glory and Thy
majesty, And in Thy majesty ride propserously, Because of truth,
and meekness, and righteousness; And Thy right hand shall teach Thee
terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's
enemies; Whereby the people fall under Thee."
John, in his apocalyptic vision, sees the
same mighty Conqueror going forth. "I saw (he says) a white horse, and He
that sat on him had a bow,...and He went forth conquering and to conquer"
(Rev 6:2).
This is precisely what is foreshadowed in
the star-pictured sign now called by the modern Latin name
Sagittarius, which means the Archer.
The Hebrew and Syriac name of the sign is
Kesith, which means the Archer (as in Genesis 21:20). The
Arabic name is Al Kaus, the arrow. In Coptic it is Pimacre, the
graciousness, or beauty of the coming forth. In Greek it is
Toxotes, the archer, and in Latin Sagittarius.
There are 69 stars in the sign, viz., five
of the 3rd magnitude (all in the bow), nine of the 4th, etc.
The names of the brightest stars are
significant:
Hebrew, Naim, which means the
gracious one. This is exactly what is said of this Victor in the same
Psalm (45), in the words immediately preceding the quotation above:
"GRACE is poured into Thy
lips; Therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever."
Hebrew, Nehushta, the going or
sending forth.
We see the same in the Arabic names which
have come down to us: Al Naim, the gracious one; Al Shaula, the dart;
Al Warida, who comes forth; Ruchba or rami, the riding of the
bowman.
An ancient Akkadian name in the sign is
Nun-ki, which means Prince of the Earth.
Again we have the picture of a
Centaur as to his outward form, i.e. a being with two natures. Not now
far down in the south, or connected with His sufferings and sacrifice as
man; but high up, as a sign of the Zodiac itself, on the ecliptic, i.e. in
the very path in which the sun "rejoiceth in his going forth as a strong
man."
According to Grecian fable, this
Sagittarius is Cheiron, the chief Centaur; noble in character,
righteous in his dealings, divine in his power.
Such will be the coming Seed of the woman
in His power and glory:
"The sceptre of Thy kingdom
is a right sceptre. Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness;
Therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness
above thy fellows." Psalm 45:6, 7
In the ancient Zodiac of Denderah he is
called (as in Coptic) Pi-maere, i.e. graciousness, beauty of the
appearing or coming forth. The characters under the hind foot
read Knem, which means He conquers.
This is He who shall come forth like as an
arrow from the bow, "full of grace," but "conquering and to conquer."
In all the pictures he is similarly
represented, and the arrow in his bow is aimed directly at the heart of
the Scorpion.
Thus ARATUS said of Cheiron:
"'Midst golden stars he
stands refulgent now, And thrusts the scorpion with his bended bow."
In this Archer we see a faint reflection
of Him who shall presently come forth, all gracious, all wise, all
powerful; whose arrows shall be "sharp in the heart of the King's
enemies."
"God shall shoot at them with
an arrow; Suddenly shall they be wounded. So they shall make their
own tongue to fall upon themselves; All that see them shall flee away.
And all men shall fear, and shall declare the work of God; For
they shall wisely consider of His doing. The righteous shall be glad
in the LORD, and shall trust in Him; And all the upright in heart
shall glory." Psalm 64:7-10
"Christ is coming! let
Creation From her groans and travail cease; Let the glorious
proclamation Hope restore, and faith increase. Christ is coming,
Come, thou blessed Prince of peace."
This brings us to the first of the three
constellations or sections of this chapter, which takes up this subject of
praise to the Conqueror.
1. LYRA (The Harp) Praise prepared for the
conqueror
13. Lyra (the
Harp)
"Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion"
(Psa 65:1). And when the waiting time is over, and the Redeemer comes
forth, then the praise shall be given. "We give Thee thanks, O Lord God,
the Almighty, which art, and which wast, because thou hast taken to Thee
Thy great power, and didst reign" (Rev 11:17, RV). "Let us be glad and
rejoice and give honour unto Him" (Rev 19:7). The Twenty-first Psalm
should be read here, as it tells of the bursting forth of praise on the
going forth of this all-gracious Conqueror.
"The King shall rejoice in
Thy strength, O LORD; And in Thy salvation how greatly shall He
rejoice!... Thine hand shall find out all Thine enemies; Thy right
hand shall find out all that hate thee... Their fruit shalt Thou
destroy from the earth; And their seed from among the children of men.
For they intended evil against Thee; They imagined a mischievous
device which they are not able to perform, Therefore shalt thou make
them turn their back (Heb. Margin, "set them as a butt"), When
Thou shalt make ready Thine arrows upon Thy strings [And shoot
them] against the face of them. Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine
own strength; SO WILL WE SING AND PRAISE THY POWER." Psalm 21:1,
8, 10-13
Beautifully, then, does the harp
come in here, following upon the going forth of this victorious Horseman.
This Song of the Lamb follows as naturally as does the Song of Moses in
Exodus 15:1--"I will sing unto the LORD, for He hath triumphed
gloriously."
Its brightest star, a, is one of
the most glorious in the heavens, and by it this constellation may be
easily known. It shines with a splendid white lustre. It is called
Vega, which means He shall be exalted. Its root occurs in
the opening of the Song of Moses, quoted above. Is not this wonderfully
expressive?
Its other stars, b and g,
are also conspicuous stars, of the 2nd and 4th magnitude. b is
called Shelyuk, which means an eagle (as does the Arabic
Al Nesr); g is called Sulaphat, springing up, or
ascending, as praise.
In the Zodiac of Denderah, this
constellation is figured as a hawk or an eagle (the enemy of the serpent)
in triumph. Its name is Fent-kar, which means the serpent
ruled.
There may be some confusion between the
Hebrew Nesher, an eagle, and Gnasor, a harp; but there can
be no doubt about the grand central truth, that praise shall ascend up "as
an eagle toward heaven," when "every creature which is in heaven, and on
the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that is in them," shall
send up their universal song of praise: "Blessing, and honour, and glory,
and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for
ever and ever. Amen" (Rev 5:13,14).
And for what is all this wondrous anthem
of praise? Listen once again. "Alleluia *: Salvation, and glory, and
honour, and power, unto the Lord our God; for TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS ARE HIS
JUDGMENTS...And again they said Alleluia" (Rev 19:1-3).
With "that blessed hope"
before us, Let no HARP remain unstrung; Let the coming advent
chorus Onward roll from tongue to tongue, Hallelujah, "Come,
Lord Jesus," quickly come.
* This is the first time
that the word "Alleluia" occurs in the New Testament, and it is praise
for judgment executed.
Where is its first occurrence in the Old
Testament? In Psalm 104:35, where we have the very same solemn and
significant connection:
"Let the sinners be consumed out of the
earth, And let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the LORD, O my
soul, HALLELUJAH (Praise ye the LORD)."
This brings us to--
2. ARA (The Altar) Consuming fire prepared for
his enemies
14. Ara (the
Altar)
Here we have an altar or burning pyre,
placed significantly and ominously upside down! with its fires burning and
pointing downwards towards the lower regions, called Tartarus, or
the abyss, or "outer-darkness."
It is an asterism with nine stars, of
which three are of the 3rd magnitude, four of the 4th, etc. It is south of
the Scorpion's tail, and when these constellations were first formed it
was visible only on the very lowest horizon of the south, pointing to the
completion of all judgment in the lake of fire.
In the Zodiac of Denderah we have a
different picture, giving us another aspect of the same judgment. It is a
man enthroned, with a flail in his hand. His name is Bau, the same
name as Hercules has, and means He cometh. It is from the
Hebrew Boh, to come, as in Isaiah 63:1--
"Who is this that cometh from
Edom, With dyed garments from Bozrah."
This is a coming in judgment, as is clear
from the reason given in verse 4--
"For the day of vengeance is
in Mine heart, And the year of My redeemed is come. And I looked,
and there was none to help; And I wondered that there was none to
uphold; Therefore Mine own arm brought salvation, And My fury, it
upheld Me." Isaiah 63:4, 5
The completion of judgment, therefore, is
what is pictured both by the burning pyre and the Coming One enthroned,
with his threshing instrument.
In Arabic it is called Al Mugamra,
which means the completing, or finishing. The Greeks used
the word Ara sometimes in the sense of praying, but more
frequently in the sense of imprecation or cursing.
This is the curse pronounced against the
great enemy. This is the burning fire, pointing to the completion
of that curse, when he shall be cast into that everlasting fire "prepared
for the devil and his angels." This is the allusion to it written in the
midst of the very Scripture from which we have already quoted, Psalm 21,
where we read in verse 9 (which we then omitted)--
"Thou shalt make them as a
fiery oven in the time of Thine anger: The LORD shall swallow them up
in His wrath; And the fire shall devour them."
This brings us to the final scene, closing
up this first great book of the Heavens.
3. DRACO (The Dragon) The old serpent, or the
Devil, cast down from Heaven
15. Draco (the Dragon cast
down)
Each of the three great books concludes
with this same foreshowing of Apocalyptic truth. The same great enemy is
referred to in all these pictures. He is the Serpent; he is the Dragon;
"the great dragon, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan" (Rev
12:9). The Serpent represents him as the Deceiver; the Dragon, as
the Destroyer.
This First Book concludes with the
Dragon being cast down from heaven.
The Second Book concludes with
Cetus, the Sea Monster, Leviathan, bound.
The Third Book concludes with
Hydra, the Old Serpent, destroyed.
Here, at the close of the First
Book, we see not merely a dragon, but the Dragon cast down! That is
the point of this great star-picture.
No one has ever seen a dragon; but among
all nations (especially in China and Japan), and in all ages, we find it
described and depicted in legend and in art. Both Old and New Testaments
refer to it, and all unite in connecting with it one and the same great
enemy of God and man.
It is against him that the God-Man--"the
Son of God--goes forth to war." It is for him that the eternal fires are
prepared. It is he who shall shortly be cast down from the heavens
preparatory to his completed judgment. It is of him we read, "The great
dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which
deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out and his angels with him. And I
heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength,
and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ; for the accuser
of our brethren is cast down" (Rev 12:9,10).
It is of him that David sings--
"God is my king of old,
Working salvation in the midst of the earth... Thou brakest the
heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou brakest the heads of
leviathan in pieces." Psalm 74:12-14
Of him also the Spirit causes Isaiah to
say, "In that day, shall this song be sung in the land of Judah";
"In that day the LORD, with
his sore, and great, and strong sword, Shall punish leviathan the
piercing (RV, swift) serpent, Even leviathan that crooked serpent;
And he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea." Isiah 26:1; 27:1
This is exactly what is foreshadowed by
this constellation of Draco. Its name is from the Greek, and means
trodden on, as in the Septuagint of Psalm 91:13--"The dragon shalt
thou trample under feet," from the Hebrew Dahrach, to tread.
In the Zodiac of Denderah it is shown as a
serpent under the fore-feet of Sagittarius, and is named Her-fent,
which means the serpent accursed!
There are 80 stars in the constellation;
four of the 2nd magnitude, seven of the 3rd magnitude, ten of the 4th,
etc.
The brightest star a (in one of the
latter coils), is named Thuban (Heb.), the subtle. Some
4,620 years ago it was the Polar Star. It is manifest, therefore, that the
Greeks could not have invented this constellation, as is confessed by all
modern astronomers. It is still a very important star in nautical
reckonings, guiding the commerce of the seas, and thus "the god of this
world" is represented as winding in his contortions round the pole of the
world, as if to indicate his subtle influence in all worldly affairs.
The next star, b (in the head), is
called by the Hebrew name Rastaban, and means the head of the
subtle (serpent). In the Arabic it is still called Al
Waid, which means who is to be destroyed.
The next star, g (also in the
head), is called Ethanin, i.e., the long serpent, or
dragon.
The Hebrew names of other stars are
Grumian, the subtle; Giansar, the punished enemy. Other (Arabic)
names are Al Dib, the reptile; El Athik, the fraudful; El Asieh, the
bowed down.
And thus the combined testimony of every
star (without a single exception) of each constellation, and the
constellations of each sign, accords with the testimony of the Word of God
concerning the coming Seed of the woman, the bruising of His heel, the
crushing of the serpent's head, "the sufferings of Christ, and the glory
which should follow."
"From far I see the glorious
day, When He who bore our sins away, Will all His majesty display.
A Man of Sorrows one He was,
No friend was found to plead His cause, As all preferred the
world's applause.
He groaned beneath sin's
awful load, For in the sinner's place He stood, And died to bring
him back to God.
But now He waits, with glory
crowned, While angel hosts His throne surround, And still His
lofty praises sound.
To few on earth His name is
dear, And they who in His cause appear, The world's reproach and
scorn must bear.
Jesus, Thy name is all my
boast, And though by waves of trouble tossed, Thou wilt not let my
soul be lost.
Come then, come quickly from
above, My soul impatient longs to prove, The depths of everlasting
love."
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Book 2
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