The magi have watched Jupiter very carefully for 9 months while it danced with Regulus in a triple conjunction and was then kissed by Venus in the western evening sky… the brightest planetary conjunction in history!
Caesar Augustus might reign supreme over the Roman Empire and the puppet king Herod the Great rules ruthlessly in Jerusalem but that is not enough to stop these wise men from making their way to Judaea to boldly demand:
“Where is he that is BORN King of the Jews?...”
700 years before, the prophet Micah predicted:
“But thou Bethlehem Ephratah,
though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he
come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel..."
Perhaps the chief priests and scribes were wary
of telling Herod the rest of that prophecy:
“…whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
“…whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
Beat
that Herod! You weren’t born king and you aren’t from everlasting.
“Where do we find Bethlehem please? That sounds easy enough: just head south sou’west from Jerusalem 5 miles
(8 km). Herod has told us to search diligently - if only we had the address and
someone had come up with some sort of global positioning system.”
While the intrepid magi have been slowly making
their way towards Bethlehem that special ‘wandering star’ Jupiter has been moving into position in the constellation of Virgo that is now draped across the
southern sky with Leo. All of a sudden –
“There’s that
star again! Whoopee!”
Have the clouds just parted at the precise moment?...revealing Jupiter has now stopped in its tracks on
Virgo’s arm to histēmi ěpanō (stand up above) in the southern
sky!
 |
| Jupiter is now stationary in Virgo, SSW from Jerusalem |
The townsfolk of Bethlehem would know….
“Looking for a
mother with a 6 month old toddler? There’s a carpenter from Galilee with his wife
and kid in that house over there. Some shepherds
around here had some story about Him being some sort of a special saviour!”
Anyway, the time?...early morning, just before dawn on 25th
December.
Alleluia!!
So are the stars and planets the result of a
random uncontrolled ‘big bang’? ...or were they placed
precisely like the making of a Swiss watch?
Acknowledgements:
David Reneke, 'Sky & Space'
Rick Larsen / DVD The Star
Image credit:
thecatholicspirit.com
Stellarium
LORD Did Just Something Miraculous In Everything ^^ .
ReplyDeleteHe sure did, Reinard! The mind boggles trying to understand Him setting up the universe so that this would all synchronise.
DeleteYou are wrong! Jesus was in a house and was two years old when the wise men arrived. That is a fact. You deny what kind of star led the wise men because you prefer the naturalistic explanation and reject the supernatural, that it was Gabriel that led the wise men appearing like a star. As for the Jupiter explanation that is possible for the celestial event that notified the Magi of the Messiah's birth which Daniel had instructed them. You say I did not read your posting and said goodby. You give up too easily, like many materialists and evolutionists who do not have the truth.
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