02 Apr April 3,33 AD
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. Without speech or language, without a sound to be heard, their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. (Psalm 91: 1-4)
Last week I explained how the appearance of 333 has been used by God to communicate that He is the One Who says what He is going to do, and then He does it. Today I want us to contemplate the terrible beauty of the poetry God has written, marking certain events in Jesus’ life with the witness of the heavens.
In Rick Larson’s powerful documentary about the Star of Bethlehem (1) he presses the data points from Scripture to identify what the Magi saw that inspired their journey to Jerusalem, asking where the king of the Jews had been born. This caused no small stir in Herod’s court.. The Magi explained that they had seen his star rising in the East. What had they seen?
- In September of 3 BC, they had watched Jupiter, the king planet, pass Regulus, the king star, three times in close conjunction. “King, king, king.” This took place in the constellation of Leo, the lion. Genesis 49:10 prophesied that the Messiah would come from the lion of Judah. This was happening with the constellation of Virgo (the virgin) rising, clothed in the sun with the new moon at her feet. The virgin was Mary, the celestial mystery as seen in a vision John was given on Patmos, recorded in Revelation 12, where a dragon (Herod standing in for the evil one) waits for the child, seeking to destroy him. .(2)
- Nine months later, the biggest planet came into conjunction with the brightest planet in our night sky, to mark his birth, appearing like the brightest star men have ever seen.
- From the East, where the Magi lived, that star would have been poised over Jerusalem. The Magi headed to Jerusalem, asking where the king of The Jews had been born. The scholars of Herod’s court quoted Micah, telling the visitors that He would be born in Bethlehem.
- As the Magi headed south to Bethlehem, they saw that the star had stopped. The mathematics of planetary motion are exact and precise. Having put them into modern software, we can see the precise location of planets, moon and stars for any date we choose, from any vantage point. Our software shows that Jupiter went into a shallow retrograde motion in conjunction with Venus, causing the star to seem to stand still.. This starry dance taking place in the heavens, confirms the scriptures, even dating when the Maggi found the One they were seeking, to present him with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. It was December 25th, 2 BC,
God’s poetry takes on a terrible beauty of precision as we turn to our Savior’s death. We know from Scripture that he was crucified on the day of preparation (Friday) for the Sabbath (Saturday), that it was Passover. and that it was during Pilate’s administration in Jerusalem. This narrows the dating of his crucifixion down to two dates: April 7, 30, or April 3, 33. But only April 3rd of 33 had a lunar eclipse. This would be significant because seven weeks later, at Pentecost, as visitors crowded into Jerusalem, they heard the disciples speaking in their own tongues. There were some who accused them of being drunk, but Peter thundered before the unruly crowd,
Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen carefully to my words. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It is only the third hour of the day! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below: . . The sun will be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the coming of the great and glorious Day of the Lord … Men of Israel, listen to this message: Jesus of Nazareth was a man certified by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know (Acts 2:14-22)
Whether they had been inJerusalem on the day of the crucifixion or not, the events of that day were widely known.. At about noon the sun had gone dark. An earthquake had busted rock and opened tombs, and the veil in the tabernacle had been torn in two from top to bottom. On top of all this, two non-Biblical sources (3) record that a blood moon had risen that night. Peter’s use of Joel’s prophecy was telling the crowd that Pentecost morning the meaning behind the events they were experiencing. But it is the terrible beauty of the full lunar eclipse that took place at the moment of Jesus’ death, that convinces me that April 3, 33 is the date when God did what He had said He was going to do. (4)
Please watch this 2 minute video that captures what the heavens were declaring at the moment of Jesus’ death. https://youtu.be/J_z8thvpa18
That eclipse took place beneath the horizon, where no one in Jerusalem could see it; but the software we now possess reveals it to us. About 3 pm, right when the lambs were being slain for the Passover feast that night, the heart of the lamb of God went dark. The solar system is like a giant clock, mathematically precise. For these events to be recorded in the heavens means that God must have known the precise moment of Jesus’ death, before He spoke the galaxies into being. It means that God is a poet whose words go forth in the dance of stars and planets–marking the time when Jesus would enter the human race as a man, the day he would be found by the Magi, and the moment of His death on the cross for us. The heavens declare the terrible beauty of it all.
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(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7Oei8UQ_7c
(2) Rev 12:1-5
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and crying out in the pain and agony of giving birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars from the sky, tossing them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, ready to devour her child as soon as she gave birth.
And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne
(3) THE JEWISH CALENDAR, A LUNAR ECLIPSE AND THE DATE OF CHRIST’S CRUCIFIXION | Tyndale Bulletin
(4) Isaiah 53:3-6
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.