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I have been reading a very old book, The Star Evangel written by George Aldridge in 1904. Aldridge suggested that the constellations contained a message older than the Bible. His premise was that God revealed the gospel message to the early humans who preserved that message through the constellations. That way, the message could be preserved throughout the generations even without a written alphabet.

I have to admit, the idea is intriguing. Aldridge (and others whose research he drew upon) does a masterful job of seeing gospel truths in those old star connections.  He probably over-stretched his point on some of his conclusions, but the general impression I have is that he’s got something there.

To Aldridge, there is a reason that the star charts begin with a virgin (Virgo) who bears a seed and also a branch. The charts end with a lion (Leo) who rules. Aldridge sees Christ in the stars. He also sees significance in the ancient names of the stars.

And why not? If God has gone to all the trouble to give modern humanity his infallible word in scripture, who’s to say he could not have given a glimpse of this revelation to the ancients?

Here is Aldridge’s book in a nutshell:

Christ, the Redeemer	The Seed of the Woman Redemption Conflict with Satan Victory over Satan	the virgin the scales the scorpion the bowman
Christ, the Life-Giver	Life by Sacrificial Death Water of Life Life and Dominion The Ever-Living Conqueror	the goat the waterman the fishes the ram
Christ, the Rightful King	The Advent in Power Unity in Rule and Redemption Gathering the Ransomed The Enemy’s Overthrow	the bull the twins the crab the lion

I appreciate two things that Aldridge stresses. He sees the message in the stars as emphasizing the hope of the ages as a kingdom that is to come. Amen to that.

Also, he calls on his fellow New Zealanders who have visual access to the Southern Cross to get the message, and trust in the One who died on the cross for them – and for the rest of us.

My only caution is that we are far removed from these ancients, so much of what we might see in the constellations would probably be hopeful eisegesis, rather than careful exegesis.

My … other only caution is that shared by Aldridge. He warns against those who have taken the stars and turned them into means of controlling human destiny: the field of astrology. That is a demonic corruption of what God intended the stars to do for us.

In spite of this, it would do us all no harm to contemplate whether there is a message in the night sky. As long as we keep our hope set on Christ.

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If you are interested in looking further into this idea, these links are a good start. Not all of them support the idea, and please don’t assume I agree with everything the links say:

Is the gospel spelled out in the stars?

The Gospel Message—Written in the Stars?

Summary of the meanings of the Constellations from “Gospel in the Stars” by Joseph Seiss

Review of Gospel in the Stars

The Star Gospel

The Gospel Before The Bible

The Gospel In the Stars

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P.S. Thanks, Ernie

John 17:14-23 ESV

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

821393. Do you know what that number is? No, it’s not my cellphone number. It is the patent number for a “flying machine” granted to Orville and Wilbur Wright on May 22nd, 1906. When we see and hear jets flying overhead today it is a monument to the ingenuity of the Wright brothers and aviation pioneers like them. But those jets also remind us that human flight has changed a lot in 104 years. The attitude has always been “how can we make a good thing better?” The Church of Jesus Christ also has that attitude. It is spelled out in the Latin phrase Ecclesia semper reformanda est. It means the church must always be reforming

Jesus prayed a high-priestly prayer for us which is recorded in John 17. In that prayer, he anticipated all the challenges that we would face as a church while he is physically away at the father’s side in heaven. Today’s text is taken from that prayer. It highlights four particular challenges that will always be ours until our Lord comes back. These challenges are also reasons why the church of Jesus Christ must always keep trying to improve ourselves. We cannot afford to believe that we have “finally got it right.”

Jesus prayed that his church would be sanctified in truth. Not just any truth – the truth of God’s word. One of the reasons the church has to be semper reformanda is that the word of God is not simple. It is very complicated. Sometimes in our zeal to proclaim on part of God’s truth we wind up rejecting another part of the same truth. We have a responsibility to compare texts and debate issues until what we are proclaiming is the whole counsel of God.

Jesus prayed that his church would be one. He wanted our unity to be such that it reflected the same kind of unity he has with the Father. Reformation is not complete if all it does is separate us from one another. We need to keep striving to be both doctrinally correct, and united in that correctness. Disunity among ourselves can be just as dangerous as false teaching. The reason for this is that unity is supposed to support our testimony. Disunity is a reason for the world to ignore us.

Jesus prayed that the Father would keep the church from the evil one (15). The evil one is the devil. The devil wants to turn the church into something that does not promote God’s kingdom or preach the Gospel. He has four means by which he attempts this: temptation, deception, accusation, and intimidation. These are all means that Satan uses to distract the church so that we fail to do what we were called to do. We have to take this aspect of God’s truth seriously, because if you do not realize you are at war, you will become a casualty of war.

Jesus prayed for the church so that the world may know the truth of the Gospel (21,23). We are not doing what God has called us to do if the world around us is not hearing the Gospel in words that they can understand. We are not being faithful to God unless our efforts are resulting in a world which understands God’s grace and has an opportunity to accept that grace. Semper Reformanda in terms of evangelism means that we need to keep trying new ways of getting the Gospel out of the four walls of the church and into the lives of the people in our community. It also means missions is a priority because our responsibility goes beyond our community to the world.

The church must always be reforming. We must keep nailing our problems to the door so that people notice. We must have the courage to stand for the truth when the truth is the minority position. We must have the will to change even when it means getting out of our comfort zone. We owe it to ourselves to seek what Jesus wants for us. He wants us to stand for the truth, to be one with one another, to be free from Satan’s control, to reach the world with the Gospel.

I started a new blog last month, and everyone is invited to follow it. It is a daily devotions site. Just like a daily devotions booklet, it begins with a text reference, and has a devotional thought based on the text.

These are based on my daily devotions. I begin each day with a cup of coffee, and a prayer for about 30 or so of my Facebook friends.

[ If you are on Facebook, and would like to be prayed for once a week, you can follow my Devotions blog from within Facebook. If you are not one of my friends on Facebook yet, then do a search for Jefferson Vann, and request that I add your name to my friend list.

But you do not have to be on Facebook to read the blog. You can follow it by using a bookmark on your browser, or RSS feed, of choose to follow it at the site. ]

Then I go to the ESV Bible online and read the four passages from scripture assigned to that day. Actually, I click on the word listen, and let the passage read itself. That’s a much easier way to read a lot of text first thing in the morning!

From one of the passages, I identify a key text, and write a short devotional about it. I conclude the devotional thought with a prayer. I post the text to my Devotions blog, and it is immediately reposted to Facebook. By that time I am usually out of coffee, and ready to face the world.

So this is your invitation to join me each day for Devotions. See you in the morning!

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 ESV

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. 2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8 For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9 For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

In today’s text, the apostle Paul described the work that the church at Thessalonica was doing after they turned to God from idols. He specifically said that the church was doing two things: serving God (vs. 9), and waiting (vs. 10).

For the Thessalonians, it was not the serving part that was the problem; it was the waiting part.

You and I may have the same problem. We need waiting lessons.

The Bible is filled with stories of saints who proved their commitment to the LORD by waiting for him to save his people. Noah waited for God to bring the judgment of the flood, and then waited for God to rescue him and his family from that judgment. Moses waited for God to rescue his people from Egypt, then waited patiently for his people to prove that they were worthy of the miracles God did on their behalf. The prophets waited for God to bring judgment upon their own people for rebelling against God, and waited for the restoration and blessing that God promised when their people repented. For generations the Israelites waited for the promised Messiah, and he came quietly to a little town called Bethlehem.

Seen in the light of biblical history, our long wait seems perfectly consistent with how God works in the lives of his people. In fact, there appear to be some lessons God is teaching his church that are only learned through the slow process of waiting for what he has promised.

The early Church had only been waiting for a few years when they began to be discouraged by the fact that the Savior they were proclaiming had not returned. Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians responds to that feeling of discouragement. In these five short chapters, Paul reveals some important lessons for those of us who find ourselves waiting.

 

Merely longing for “pie in the sky by and by” is not a Christian thing to do. We are right to expect an eternal life, because the Bible promises it. But part of the significance of that eternal life is the relationships with others that we will have then – relationships that can begin now. This is what Paul was getting at in 1 Thess. 2:19-20, when he said “For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.” For Paul, the joy of eternity consists of the chance he had to win people to Christ, so that they could share eternity with him. The Thessalonians were important to Paul because he had befriended them, enjoyed their friendship now, and looked forward to the mutual eternal relationships they could give each other.

In light of this, Paul explained in chapter 4 that the believers in Thessalonica who had already died were not going to miss out on the great reunion. He explained that Jesus was going to return visibly, publically, and gloriously. When he returns, the first thing he will do is raise the believing dead (4:16). Then the reunion begins “in the air” (4:17). What makes this event so special is not just that you or I as individuals will be “with the Lord” but that all believers will be together with the Lord, and that that eternal togetherness will never end.

The friendships we enjoy with believers today are destined to be eternal relationships. This is all the more reason for us to pray for our friends regularly, to invest ourselves in their lives. We may have encountered these people “by chance” but God was working behind the scenes, bringing about those chance meetings. He has a plan for us, and his plan includes our being part of each other’s lives. So, while we wait, we have an opportunity to invest ourselves in these eternal relationships.

Often a long wait causes people to get distracted, and forget matters that were important to them at the beginning of the wait. Many of the New Testament epistles were written because the churches had gotten sidetracked by false doctrines, or internal conflict, or fear of persecution, or things like that. That appears to have been part of the problem in Thessalonica.

Paul encourages the Thessalonians with this prayer: “and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints” (3:12-13). The prayer reflects a key idea in the theology of Paul: that true faith produces reciprocal love which in turn produces holiness.

Look anywhere in the writings of Paul to the churches and you will see this theme.

Paul tells the Romans of being justified by faith (5:1), and then tells them that because of our faith “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (5:5). He tells the Corinthians “if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2). He tells the Galatians that what counts is “faith working through love” (5:6). He commends the Ephesians because “because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints” (1:15). He prays that the love of the Philippians “may abound more and more” (1:9). He praises the Colossians for their faith in Christ and their love for all the saints (1:4). As for the Thessalonians, Paul is grateful that Timothy has informed him of the good news of their faith and love (1 Thess. 3:6).

Christians between the two advents should be people who allow the Holy Spirit to transform them. Our long wait should not be spent on selfish pursuits or mindless ritual. Instead, we should concentrate on loving one another, and loving the watching world. This is what it means for the Master’s servants to “occupy” until he comes (Luke 19:13 KJV).

In chapter 5 of 1 Thessalonians, Paul described the time we are living in as a long night, in which Christ may return at any time suddenly as a thief. Paul encourages the Thessalonians to live in such a way that they would never be caught off guard by the Lord’s return. The world around them will be lulled into sleep by a false sense of security, or distracted by drunkenness. But the church of Jesus Christ is not to live in that darkness. The day of Christ’s return should not surprise us like a thief.

As we wait for our Savior, believers have the opportunity to learn how to live soberly. We should “stay alert and be clearheaded” (5:6 NLT). By doing so, we testify to the world around us that the second coming of Christ is a serious matter, and should be prepared for. Sadly, for most of the world Christ’s second coming will not be a day of joy and praise. It will be a day of destruction and pain (5:3).

The world around us is busy entertaining itself into a state of drunkenness – or drug induced deadness, unaware of this tragic destiny that awaits them. They are the walking dead. Believers should live differently. We should live intentionally, not just from weekend to weekend. Every day of our lives should be invested in eternity. While we wait for justice from on high, we should be sowing justice and kindness in our personal fields. While we wait for the restoration of all things, we should be seeking broken things and broken people to reconcile and restore ourselves.

 

These are just a few of the waiting lessons found throughout the word of God.

If we have to wait for another 150 years for our Master to return, may he find us living by these lessons. May he find us waiting faithfully.

LORD, teach us how to wait for your Son from heaven, whom you raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. Help us to live soberly, and to invest ourselves in eternal relationships by loving others.

 

Hosea 2:18-23 ESV

And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. 21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, 22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, 23 and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.'”

The prophets had a very difficult job. They had to say what God wanted them to say. It was tempting just to say what the people wanted to hear. There were plenty of “prophets” who did that. The Bible calls them false prophets. Jesus said that this age in which we are living now would have a lot of false prophets. The false prophets are big on good news, but never get around to the bad news.

True prophets, like Hosea, said both. It was usually bad news first. For Hosea, the message was that God’s people were going to divorce themselves from them. The good news is that God was going to bring them back to himself.

Hosea prophesied during the reigns of several of the southern kings (from Uzziah to Hezekiah) and Jeroboam II of Israel, so that puts him in the 8th century BC. His message fits within the first period, before Israel fell to the Assyrians.

 

Hosea was instructed to marry a lady named Gomer, who bore him three children. The marriage was a testimony from God to his people. Gomer was a prostitute, and remained unfaithful after her marriage to Hosea. Hosea loved her anyway, and that dysfunctional relationship mirrored the one of the people (who went after other gods) and the LORD.

Hosea was the last to prophesy to Israel in the north. They were a prosperous and arrogant people who were certain that God wouyld never judge them. They were happy to claim the name of the LORD as their God, but they also wanted to fool around with the gods of the other nations as well.

Hosea’s message was that things were about to get really bad, and then they would get better. The names of his three children serve as a testimony from God about both the bad news and the good news.

Hosea 1:4-5 And the LORD said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel. And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”

The name Jezreel means “God will sow.” God was going to sow his judgment upon Israel for its former violence. The result will be that the northern kingdom will come to an end.

Now, skip into the future and look at God’s good news:

Hosea 2:21-23 21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, 22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, 23 and I will sow her for myself in the land.”

The blessing matches the judgment. God’s plan is that judgment will bring repentance, which will bring restoration.

Hosea 1:6-7 6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all. 7 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the LORD their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”

God’s patience with unfaithful Israel had given out. That’s the bad news.

Hosea 2:23 “And I will have mercy on No Mercy.”

God will restore his patience with the people of the north after a period of punishment.

 

 

Hosea 1:9 And the LORD said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”

The bad news is that the people had forsaken God, so he forsook them.

Hosea 2:23 and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.'”

The good news is that after the punishment God has a plan to not only bring his people back to the land, but also to restore their relationship with him.

Hosea 1:10-11 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.” 11 And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head.

God’s plan includes reuniting all his people again under one head, and that is Christ.

Now let’s hear the apostle Paul on this text:

Romans 9:22-26

“What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory- 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.'” 26 “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.'”

God’s message to both Jew and Gentile is the same: Repent, and I will restore the realtionship!

Today’s text is God’s covenant vows to us – as if he is marrying us as his bride. Notice the “I will’s” in the text:

1.In vs. 18, God promises to restore our dominion over the animals. In an agrarian society, that is the same as restoring our dominion over our bank accounts. The same idea is reflected in vs. 22, where the earth will restore the grain, wine and oil.

2.In vs. 18, God promises to abolish war from the land and make us safe. This safety will allow us to return to the promised land (vs. 23a).

3.In vs. 19-20, God promises to restore a right relationship with us. The same for vs. 23.

LORD, give us a heart like the heart of Hosea. Help us to call people to repent of their sins, and be faithful to God, so he can restore them.