SCRIPTURAL LESSONS FROM THE STARS.
By S. N. Haskell
WHEN “God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night,” He also said, “Let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years.” These lights include the sun, the moon, and the stars. Not only does the mariner make use of these heavenly bodies in directing his course across the trackless deep, but they are God’s great timepiece for all men, and they are also for signs. Four thousand years later, when Christ would definitely mark the last generation that would live on this earth, He said, “There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars.” Other scriptures state definitely what appearance they would assume that would constitute them signs. They all were to be darkened. Joel 3:15. The moon would be turned into blood. Chapter 2:31. This darkening of the sun was to occur immediately after the great papal persecution (Matt. 24:29), but in the 1,260 years measured off by the Lord for that power (Mark 13:24). The days of papal persecution began in A.D. 538 and ended in 1798. The persecution closed about 1776. The darkening of the sun and moon occurred May 19, 1780. A great earthquake would also precede the darkening of the sun. This occurred in November, 1755, when nearly the whole earth felt the shock. The city of Lisbon was terribly shaken, and the ruins are seen unto this day. Rev. 6:12, 13. The manner of the falling of the stars is so vividly described that many living witnesses who saw the falling of the meteors of Nov. 13, 1833, have the event so fixed upon their memory that time can never efface it. Thus we have entered the period of which the Saviour said: “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away; but My words shall not pass away.” Luke 21:32, 33. The wise men also at the first advent of Christ, who had not the written Word, were studying the Gospel from the heavens, when a peculiar star appeared. It led them, instructed by the Spirit of God, to follow its guiding ray to the stable of Bethlehem, where Christ was born. They paid Him homage and made Him presents, while the proud Pharisees were as blind to the fulfilment of the prophecies as are the Pharisees of the nineteenth century. They professed to believe the Bible, but were not simple enough to believe that God meant what He said, and were too indolent to study for their own salvation. Of Himself, Christ said: “I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and Morning Star.” Rev. 22:16. Many other equally interesting lessons are also taught by the stars. Over 2,000 years after the creation, we have the next recorded instance of God making mention of the stars. He gave Abram a lesson in the stars which, if David had heeded, would have saved him and his people the terrible experience recorded in 2 Samuel 24. God gave it after Abram had questioned as to the manner of the fulfilment of the promise that he should have a son. “And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt Thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed; and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto4him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them; and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him for righteousness.” Gen. 15:2-6. To be impressed as Abram was, and get an idea of the lesson the Lord presented before Abram, and the one that has come down to us, it would be necessary to go out some clear, starry night, fix the eye upon some one point in the heavens, and begin to count the stars. After counting awhile, you will begin to question whether you counted that one or not. And in a moment or two you will find it is entirely useless to attempt to count them. First, the number is too great to count. Second, it would be impossible to tell whether you had counted particular ones or not. So shall thy seed be. Who can now or ever could tell who God’s people are? God alone reads the hearts, and He alone can number the faithful. Another very impressive lesson is found in Dan. 12:3: “And they who have instructed wisely shall shine as the resplendence of the firmament, and they who have made many righteous like the stars forever and ever.” (Spurrell’s translation.) To correctly understand this let us imagine God’s people are a missionary people (which they are), and are scattered among every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. You would see dotted over the entire world here and there one or more representatives of Christ; gathering around him or them, a few darkened souls that are learning of Jesus. Among these companies are some who shine almost like suns, revealing to darkened ones around them the light of God. Others are like planets, reflecting the light of the Son of God; while others are wandering, irresponsible, like meteors. And so the little centers, some larger than others, are gathering around themselves groups or companies, and these groups gather into conferences or larger groups, and these groups making still larger groups, according to organization of churches, conferences, and finally the entire world of groups, revolve around one grand Center, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is thus with the heavenly bodies. “For one star differeth from another star in glory.” Around our sun is a family of planets, some shining brighter than others. So this family helps constitute a larger family, and so on until the entire heavenly firmament revolves around one grand center. May not this be where God resides? Has not the spiritual world a firmament also? There will not be a single individual in the kingdom of God but will belong to some family, made so not by natural ties, but by the grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. “God setteth the solitary in families” [or “God seateth the beloved at home,” “but the rebellious shall abide in the weary land,” Spurrell]. Ps. 68:5, 6. See also Ps. 113:7-9; 128:1-6. And is there not one great family of which God is the father and to which when this speck of a world is redeemed, all will be united? Eph. 3:14, 15; 1:9, 10.