Blood Moons Rising (CHR) by Mark Hitchcock

Author:Mark Hitchcock
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: RELIGION / General, RELIGION / Biblical Studies / Prophecy, RELIGION / Eschatology
ISBN: 9781414397108
Publisher: Tyndale House (eBook)
Published: 2014-03-31T21:00:00+00:00

Halley’s comet passed overhead in 12 BC—but this is too early, since Christ was probably born in about 4 or 5 BC.

Johannes Kepler held that the conjunction of the planets Saturn and Jupiter in 7 BC in the zodiacal sign of Pisces would have shined brightly and that Pisces was connected in ancient astrology with the Hebrews. This, too, seems too early to fit the chronology of Christ’s birth.

A supernova.

Many other planetary conjunctions have similarly been suggested.[61] The word star (aster in Greek) can be used figuratively to represent a great brilliance, shining, or radiance. Jesus refers to Himself figuratively as “the bright morning star” (Revelation 22:16). The view I hold is that the “star” that appeared was not a heavenly body or natural phenomenon, but a supernatural shining created by God to guide the wise men to the Savior. R. C. Sproul supports this view:

The other possibility is that the star that led these men to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem was a specific creation by God for this particular event, something like the shekinah glory cloud that led the people of Israel in their wilderness wandering. . . . I think it would be very difficult to follow the tail of a comet, or even an inordinately bright conjunction of two planets, to Jerusalem and then from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. I suspect that this is another account of a miraculous work of God to guide the men to the proper place.[62]

Whatever the star was, it led the wise men to the very house where Jesus was living with his parents (see Matthew 2:9). No literal star in the distant heavens could provide such precise guidance. John MacArthur notes, “The Shekinah glory of God stood over Bethlehem just as, centuries before, it had stood over the Tabernacle in the wilderness. And just as the pillar of cloud gave light to Israel but darkness to Egypt (Ex. 14:20), only the eyes of the magi were opened to see God’s great light over Bethlehem.”[63]

Dramatic cosmic events were associated with Christ’s birth and His death. But, again, I believe the “star” that appeared over Bethlehem was a supernatural event, not a natural event like a lunar eclipse. Likewise, the darkness that enveloped Calvary for the final three hours of Christ’s suffering on the cross was supernatural. The Bible never tells us how far the three hours of darkness extended from Calvary. The darkness may have been limited to the area around Calvary, or it may have extended to the entire city of Jerusalem or even to all of Israel, and possibly to the entire globe. We simply don’t know for sure, but whatever its scope, there was no natural explanation. In the same way, the cosmic signs that portend Christ’s return will also be supernatural phenomena. (We’ll look at this in more depth in the next chapter.)

Some might argue that the Bethlehem star—like the blood moons—was limited in its visibility to only the wise men, just as the blood moons will be visible only to some part of the world.

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