I’m going to share with you a vision that I have, because I love you. And you know it. You know all the money that we spend on nuclear weapons and defense each year, trillions of dollars, correct? Instead- just think about this -if we spent that money feeding and clothing the poor in the world- it would pay for itself many times over, not one human being excluded. We can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever in peace. Radical you think well Jesus didn’t think so I got that from a good source.
In this New Year, may we Christians, together with all people of good faith, work to find a solution to the discord that currently reigns in our society and not simply mourn its presence.
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Does 7-11 deliver?
Push me Pull you
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Seven Wonders
When the past isn't present (How to read the Bible for fun and Prophet)
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What your father never learned and your Pastor never taught
What is needed today more than ever
You need a laugh and so do I!
A New Years wish and Prayer
"The Dance"
We follow the "Star"
The Star of Bethlehem
God's has the "Last Word"
God's Real reason behind His Unspeakable gift
Once upon a time in a land far, far away.......
Why, have you . . . ?
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The "real" meaning behind The Story of Christmas
What is the truth behind Christmas?
The 4th wise guy (a story of time for Christmas)
What if there were no Christmas?
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Gentle readers,
the Feeding of the 5000 -Did the Apostles buy food at a 7-11?
“And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, "I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way." The disciples said to Him, "Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?" And Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" And they said, "Seven, and a few small fish." And He directed the people to sit down on the ground; and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and giving thanks, He broke them and started giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large baskets full. And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children” [Matthew 15:32-38].
Oh, how the apostles forgot? And the similarities are astounding of an earlier time. How could the apostles do such a thing? Yahshua fed four thousand men. How many was that again? Four thousand men! Man, what a large crowd that was. Oh, I forgot about all of the women. Probably some women who were there were single or just alone or some who had lost her spouse. But the same would also be true of the men, all four thousand of them. But, if they were the same, both men and women, that would be a large crowd of probably eight-thousand people. Oh, I forgot about the children, both toddlers and the young teenagers who their parents wanted to see the master – somewhere probably between one and eight in a family. Let us see now, is that possibly around four thousand to maybe sixteen thousand children? Could that be a total of twenty-four thousand people? Man, what a large group of people that was!
But I forget how strong the master’s voice was in speaking to such a large crowd. Remember that they did not have computers or electricity in those days. Maybe, like the early days, Yahshua was sitting on a rock and could see all of the people. Or do you think that he was standing all of the time? He was there three days, so do you think that he and the apostles slept? I am sure that the apostles and the lord did not get very much sleep for those three days, do you? Another thing that we might notice is that they were in a very deserted area. So I am sure that they did not go to the Seven-Eleven and buy food. After three days the crowd was out of food, or maybe they did not even have any in three days. In fact, it was probably very cool weather at night, being on the mountain, even if it was summer time. And it had to be a coming and going time to allow bathroom breaks.
Yahshua said that he had “yearning of the bowels (splagchnizomai),” which says that, in our language, means that he had “compassion” for the people. He was about to send them away and thought that some would faint along the way. Most had come, bringing their friends who had some sort of physical problems, in order for Yahshua to heal them. Do you think that they would desert him when everyone was healed? Who were healed? Matthew records that, “dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see.” Maybe they did not even have a cold when they left. Anyway, he did not want to send the thousands away hungry, so he fed them all
All of the way through the bible we have special numbers of “seven” and “twelve.” Maybe that is why the master used those two numbers in reference to the feeding of 4,000 and 5,000 men and the numbers used when the apostles on one occasion picked up twelve baskets of food and on the second group, seven baskets of food. Maybe even the five loaves and two fish represent seven. Or maybe you know something that we have not figured out yet.
But we wanted to know what the antitype was – right? Let us look at the story of the five thousand men.
“As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand” [Acts 4:1-4].
It will be easy to see the five thousand men, will it not? There was the exact number of men who ate the physical food as there were who partook of the “spiritual” food - believers. Why is it that people could figure that out and miss the very important feature that Yahshua talked about? Well, let us look at the passage again when he fed the people with loaves and fish.
“Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world" [John 6:12-14].
So that was a “sign” to the apostles, a sign of the five thousand. After Pentecost they were to see the sign put into action real-time! The ekklesia (church) actually saw the multitude “grow into five thousand men”! But that is not the story yet – so let us see the end of the feeding of five thousand men.
“And they had forgotten to take “bread,” and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. And He was giving orders to them, saying, "Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod." They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? “Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?” "HAVING EYES, DO YOU NOT SEE? AND HAVING EARS, DO YOU NOT HEAR? And do you not remember when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?" They said to Him, "Twelve." "When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?" And they said to Him, "Seven." And He was saying to them, "Do you not yet understand" [Mark 8:14-21]?
Yahshua had to ask the apostles twice, “do you not yet understand?” He was talking about the “bread” or leaven of the Pharisees. What was the story that led Yahshua to talk about the bad religious Jews? The story of feeding the 5,000 men. Read it right here at Acts 4:3-15. It really happened to the apostles after Pentecost. Where is the anti type? Read closely now.
“And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the message believed; “and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.” On the next day,” their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem;” and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent. When they had placed them in the center, they began to inquire, "By what power, or in what name, have you done this?" Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead — by this name this man stands here before you in good health. "He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, “they had nothing to say in reply” [Acts 4:3-15].
One more point, please. There are points in the “old testament” that have a type and their fulfillment in the “new testament,” just like the five thousand men that we studied. Look at the 3,000 that “fell” in one day and the 3,000 that were “justified” in one day.
“So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day” [Exodus 32:28].
“So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls” [Acts 2:41].
Yep, fed all of them.
Next time we be meeting ot my brunch place
Gentle readers,
In the light of the revelation that one of our Hopeful presidential candidates is a serial adulator we suggest that we might review our principles of sin and forgiveness from god's perspective. Given that fact than we know man's opinion will be less likely to change for the better we present this wee study.
Hope this will help a wee bit if not helping you choose the next republican candidate at least you'll know how to understand how weak we are and how we need to hold up one another in prayer.
Denis
Dear Gentle reader,
It's time for you to start wearin "long pants" and to stop being just a three legged stool in church! So we are writing this for those who want to "grow up!"
THE IMPORTANCE OF BIBLE STUDY
Anyone who claims to be a Christian and bases that claim on a knowledge gained from the Bible will also have a desire to be pleasing to the One Who has provided the salvation promised in the Bible.
The desire to be pleasing to our Lord is not only something which we may wish to do in appreciation of what has been done for us, but primarily should be the result of what God has asked of those who believe His Word. (Ephesians 4:1-3)
The question of how to be pleasing to our Lord is one that should be considered very carefully.
Nowhere in the Word of God do we find a statement such as, "Do the best you can, and God will be pleased."
God does say in Hebrews 11:6, "Without faith it is impossible to please God." So, then, it is most important that we find out how to have faith. God answers in Romans 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." Since God has declared faith necessary in order to please Him, and that this faith must come from His Word, then it follows that we must spend much time with the Word of God in order to be pleasing.
Many times we have heard Christians make the statement, "I would read and study my Bible more if it wasn't so hard to understand." Others, who do not claim to be Christians, will point to what they see as contradictions in the Bible as an excuse for not reading it.
The difficulty common to both of these groups is found in the approach taken when reading or studying the Bible.
In the first place, the Bible was not written as a novel. It is the inspired record of God's dealing with man since the foundation of the world. The Bible omits many of the details, but consistently maintains a word picture of the condition, as well as relationship, of man to his Creator. The Bible is used of God as a means of revealing Himself to men. Much of the Bible is a God-breathed history of His dealing with man. This history covers many thousands of years. It is written in the setting of the periods which it covers. Since the past ages differ so radically from our present, it is many times difficult to understand the setting of certain Scriptures. Just because we have never experienced certain events does not make them false. We human beings have a tendency to question any record of events which are outside the realm of our own experience. This is the point where faith must suffice. We must take God at His Word and believe it, even though we have never personally experienced anything of a similar nature.
Of course, there are those who go to an extreme and say, "There is no need for Bible research, for God has spoken and we must believe what He has declared without trying to understand." This statement is in direct disobedience of II Timothy 2:15, which states, "Study to show thyself approved unto God...."
Then there are those who insist that everything in the Bible is spoken directly to them, and therefore must be applied to their lives. Usually these give up in despair, or turn to pretense after a short period of diligent effort.
Faith is not reason, but God most certainly desires that our faith be reasonable enough to apply in our everyday Christian life. If we are clinging to some belief that cannot be made to fit into a practical Christian life, then it is possible that we are in error. (CAUTION) Do not spiritualize any portion...
...of God's Word in order to make it apply. Leave it in its own context and let God mean exactly what He says.
We maintain that the key to reading the Bible with understanding is found in the dispensational approach. Sometimes this method of Bible study is referred to as "Right Division" (II Timothy 2:15).
There are several types of Dispensational Bible Study. Differences arise over the definition of the term, "dispensation." (The subject, "What is a Dispensation?", is examined in the companion article under this same cover.)
We believe the Greek word oikonomia (translated dispensation) is most nearly expressed in English by the term "household with its management." Therefore, when we speak of dispensational Bible study, we are referring to that principle of Bible study which insists that any Scripture being considered must be related to the specific household being managed at that time. The context and setting in which any Scripture appears will establish the household under consideration.
One very important point to remember is that God may alter His management with any specific household many times, but if the same household is being managed, then it is still the same dispensation. In other words, there is a change in "household managements" only when there is a change in the household that is being managed. The word "management" alone will not fulfill the requirements necessary to be synonymous with "dispensation." There must be a "household" also. Many Bible teachers overlook this very important fact when they seek to define the term "dispensation."
As we read or study the Word of God, we will enjoy and understand it in direct proportion to how clearly we relate any specific Scripture to the specific household under consideration at that time.
By this method of Bible study we are able to determine which Scriptures are addressed to our household and thus relate them to our Christian life. In doing this we not only have a practical application for interpretation of Scripture, but are more pleasing to our Lord.
If we are guilty of trying to apply Scripture to our household which belongs to some other household, then we are disobedient children of God.
The joy which comes to the Bible student as he studies the Bible with this "dispensational" view will be most gratifying. Many Scriptures which have been a puzzle will glow with new meaning. Many Scriptures which could not be made to apply in our present-day Christian life will take their proper place in their respective household, and we find ourselves out of difficulties. We will enjoy a freedom from religious decrees which will be amazing. The Bible will truly become a new Book. Those apparent contradictions will simply fade away. We will have the answer to give to the skeptic as well as the religious fanatic. We will experience a joy in living the Christian life before others that we never thought possible. We will appreciate much more what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. We will see our position and its relationship to the overall purpose of God. We will understand, probably for the first time in our lives, the true meaning of our HOPE in Christ.
The fact that we won't have to distort or explain away certain Scriptures will give us an added incentive to discuss Bible Truth with others.
Dispensational Bible study will have a stabilizing effect on the personal testimony of any Christian. The better we understand what God requires of us, the greater the possibility that we will meet that requirement and be more pleasing to Him.
Dispensational Bible study will cause us to become more interested in God's Word and thereby foster spiritual growth. As we mature from a knowledge of the Bible, the less likely we are to be led astray by the traditions of men.
When we read a portion of Scripture and relate that Scripture to its respective household, we are "rightly dividing" the Word of Truth. When the principle of "right division" is not observed, many Scriptures are contradictions. For example, God told Moses that unless the nation Israel kept the Law, they would not receive God's blessing (Deut. 28:13), but God says many centuries later, when speaking to the Gentiles through Paul, that the Law had no effect and that the blessing of God came only by Grace, not works (Col. 2:13-16). By the principle of "right division" we see that God was dealing with the household of Israel in the first instance, but with a saved household of Gentiles in the second.
The importance of dispensational Bible study cannot be stressed too strongly. It is the only answer to the confusion which exists in the Christian world today. Anyone who has a desire to study the Bible can use this method. He does not have to join any church, perform any rituals, pay any dues, serve on any committees, sign any doctrinal statement, or conform to any man. All anyone needs is a sincere desire to know what God has said to His different households.
The importance of dispensational Bible study can be summed up in the statement: If we study the Bible...
...dispensationally we are more pleasing to our Lord, more stable in our testimony, have stronger assurance, greater joy, faster spiritual growth, better understanding of the Bible, and greater ability to withstand the traditions of men.
WHAT IS A DISPENSATION?
AN EXAMINATION OF THE BIBLICAL USE OF OIKONOMOS AND OIKONOMIA as presented by Russell H. Schaefer
Introduction
One's conception of a dispensation largely determines one's convictions regarding the divisions of Scripture and regarding the question of what specific truths of God's Word are addressed directly to us for our present-day practice, position, and hopes, and these in direct contrast to the practice, position, and hopes of others.
We shall seek, therefore, to determine the precise meaning of this important concept in Biblical usage. Such a search demands answers to at least three questions: What constitutes a dispensation? What constitutes a change of dispensations? What constitutes changes within a dispensation?
Some definitions of the word "dispensation." The Scofield Reference Bible (page 5) defines a dispensation as follows: "A dispensation is a period of time during which man is tested in respect to obedience to some specific revelation of the will of God." Charles H. Welch, Alphabetical Analysis, Vol. 1, page 20
states: "The Greek word rendered dispensation is oikonomia and refers to the act of administering." On the same page we read: "When we refer to the different dispensations we refer to those subdivisions of the ages, in which the revealed will of God, carrying differing obligations, has been made known and put into force...." In comparing these two definitions, we see that the latter has gained an advantage over the former (as will be evident from our examination of Biblical usage) by the addition of the words "and refers to the act of administering."
Welch further elucidates: "...and in practically every case, the administration or stewardship of these separate and differing administrations are found to have been entrusted to some chosen servant of the Lord."
Considering the above, we surmise that in the view of these two scholarly men of God a dispensation has to do (1) with the revealed will of God, (2) man's responsibility, (3) specific truths which are related to ages or time, and that a dispensation (4) has definable limits, boundaries, or frontiers. Furthermore, Welch has deduced from the root of the second element of the Greek word oikonomia ( ‘nem-, nom-, law, rule) that these administrations are associated and/or identified with certain stewards, administrators, or chosen servants of the Lord.
Premise for a change of dispensation. When we seek to discover just what constitutes a change of dispensations, we find the answer difficult to assess. Scofield, at least, is inconsistent.
While both Scofield and Welch state that a dispensation has to do with revealed truth and man's responsibility to it, no sooner does the Scofield Bible state this than it departs from it, as, for instance, in giving the names "Innocence" and "Conscience" to the first two "dispensations." Scofield has created an inadequate conception of what a dispensation is composed of or what a dispensation comprises. Innocence may well describe the state of primal man and conscience his mental processes of weighing the merits of truth (Romans 2); but neither title fits Scofield’s definition.
On the other hand, Welch makes the change of stewardship (oikonomia) the test of a change of dispensations (oikonomias) along with the truth these stewards (oikonomoi)...
...ministered. This has a great element of truth in it, and Welch is to be highly commended for pointing out the union between the ministers and their respective ministries in the Word of God.
If the Word is seen to bear out this distinction, this represents a great advance in the discovery of truth. We do voice an objection to Welch's definition, however, giving rise as it does to an endless, and, to us, needless, number of dispensations. For, by this approach, each new revelation of truth (along with the agent or administrator of that truth) would constitute another or a new dispensation. Welch states: "Every single believer who has been entrusted with stewardship (oikonomia) of truth adds to the number of dispensations (oikonomiai)." It is to be wondered at that Welch comes up with only eighteen major dispensations and the Scofield Bible, seven.
Changes within a dispensation. We affirm, as the remainder of this study we trust will bear out, that what these men of God define as new or different dispensations are in reality merely changes within a dispensation. In contrast to each stewardship (oikonomia) of truth's bringing forth a new dispensation (oikonomia), we suggest that a dispensation may have more than one stewardship of truth, more than one minister at or over a specific time, to a particular people, in order to secure the purposes, promises, covenants, etc., given to them. Both of these men assume minor changes and ministries within their respective dispensations. We humbly suggest that these changes are greater, more inclusive, less divisive, and more far-reaching than hitherto allowed, considered, or conceived.
We propose that, along with the information given by Welch and Scofield, another premise be added to the primary concept of the make-up of a dispensation. We feel that a...
...broader concept would eliminate some of the dispensational divisions now currently confusing this great subject. This simplification would in no wise detract from the truth of the Scriptures.
The English word "dispensation" in the translations. The A.V. translates the Greek word oikonomia by ''dispensation" four times. While repeatedly using this word in this study, we do so only to identify the subject, not to sanction "dispensation" as a correct translation of oikonomia. "Dispensation" comes from the Latin dispensatio, and that from the verb dispenso, distribute, spread or deal out; lay out money, administer, manage; dispose. This word was used of the art and practice of dispensing medicine, pardons, and forgiveness. A steward in Latin parlance was a rerum domesticarum curator, "caretaker of domestic affairs," and not a dispensator. The majordomus was a later formation. It is unfortunate that the common conception of a Biblical oikonomia has been conditioned by the Latin derivative dispensation.
That stewardship should have been used to translate oikonomia (three times in A.V.) is not surprising, since a stewardship, trusteeship, or management is very definitely conceived of in the Greek word. While stewardship is an improvement over dispensation, still this lacks the force of the Greek word, which has the identifying element oikos, "an inhabited house," in view. While we agree that a stewardship is essential in order to identify a dispensation, no less essential is the fact that a Biblical oikonomia has to do with certain households, and that usually of God. We maintain that under divine inspiration this Greek word was chosen to convey to us precisely what household is being administered the things of God at a given time.
In I Tim. 1:4, instead of edifying (which follows the Western reading oikodomian, Vulgate aedificationem, edification) we prefer the reading God's oikonomian (which seems to have better manuscript evidence in its support).
The English word economy is, on the face of it, an anglicizing of the Greek word. It is unfortunate that this word has come to mean "saving" (a connotation resulting from a semantic position keeping in view the wise handling of affairs), whereas, as Welch points out, true economy might mean the expenditures of great sums of money.
The LXX translation (from which nearly all N.T. quotations are taken, rather than from the Hebrew text itself) uses this Greek word oikonomia in Isa. 22:19-21. The A.V. has in these verses "station" and ''government," respectively. Bagster translates it "stewardship." A look at the context will readily identify the house and rule. (However, it ought to be pointed out that the LXX oikonomia represents in these instances the Hebrew ma'amadh, "station, standing," from ./'amadh, he stood, in verse 19; and memsheleth, ruling, government, from /mashal, he ruled, in verse 21).
The Greek words oikonomia and oikonomos and the lexicons, oikonomia is compounded from oikos (an inhabited house) and nomos (which is a derivative from the root /nem -, nom-, with the idea of administering, ruling, legislating, and which means law, when it is used judicially.
This word was used by Plato, Xenophon, and by the common people of that day whenever the great dynastic, opulent households then existing were spoken about. At the...
...time of the writing of the N.T., it meant "the management of a household or of family affairs. "
We wish to cite the following authorities as they give the first and primary meaning of this word oikonomia (and its related word oikonomos, the house steward). That the "management" element in these words should lead to secondary meanings is to be expected, since what is done by the steward may in our minds overshadow the reference to the persons with whom the thing is done. It is a common fault of all of us to delight in the promises of the Word of God without considering to whom and with whom they were made.
Before citing these authorities on the Greek words, we wish to state that a household steward in the Hebrew is not expressed by a single word but by a circumlocution, asher al habbayith, "who is over the house," bayith indicating the" household and the other servants (the steward himself being a servant or a freed man), a usage seen in Gen. 43:16 and 44:1. See also I Kings 4:6, 16:9, 18:3; II Kings 10:5, 15:5; and Isa. 22:15, where the reference is not to one over a private household, but to one who was superintendent of the king's household at large, approximately equivalent to a court marchal, a marechal du palais. The former is well illustrated in Gen. 24:2, where Abraham's servant ruled over all that Abraham possessed. The setting in which we see Joseph in the house of Potiphar as overseer provides the three elements involved in the term: the house with its honor, position and wealth, the steward, and the management.
In the items below, we list under (1) the definitions of oikonomia and under (2) those of oikonomos.
Parkhurst, Greek Lexicon: 1. Properly, a dispensation, administration or management of family affairs; a stewardship
2. A person who manages the domestic affairs of a family; a steward.
The Analytical Greek Lexicon 1. The management of a household, a stewardship. 2. The manager of a household, a steward.
Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon 1 From Xenophon and Plato down, the management of a household or of house-hold affairs. 2. The manager of a household or of household affairs; esp. a steward, manager, superintendent (whether free- born, or as was usually the case, a freed man or slave) to whom the head of the house or proprietor has entrusted the management of his affairs, the care of receipts and expenditures, and the duty of dealing out the proper portion to every servant and even to children not yet of age. Cf. Luke. 12:42,
I Cor. 4:2, Gal. 4:2.
Robinson, Lexicon of the New Testament 1. Economy, management of a household or of household affairs. 2. A house-manager, overseer, steward. One who had authority over the servants or slaves of a family, to assign their tasks and portions: with which was also united the general management of affairs and accounts.
Skeat, Concise Etymological Dictionary (under economy): 1. The management of a household. 2. One who man-ages a household.
Lidell and Scott, Greek-English Lexicon 1. The management of a household. 2. One who manages a household.
Robert Young, Analytical Concordance To The Bible (under dispensation) 1. Law or arrangement of a house. 2. A house manager (steward).
Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance 1. Administration of a household or estate. 2. A house-distributor, i.e., manager or overseer.
Vine, Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words
1. Primarily signifies the management of a household or of household affairs. A dispensation is not a period or epoch (a common but erroneous use of this, word), but a mode of dealing, an arrangement of administration of affairs.
2. Primarily denotes the manager of a household or estate.
Green, A Greek Lexicon 1. The management of a household. 2. The manager of a household.
Universal Dictionary (under "economics"): 1. The science of the management of a household or of domestic concerns. The management, regulation, and government of a household or household affairs.
E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance Of The New Testament 1. Administration of a household. Actively, the administrative activity of the owner or steward. Passively, that which is administered. 2. A house-manager.
Some deductions. From the above data we gather that involved in a Biblical dispensation (oikonomia) are the following:
1. A household (households) with its honor, position and wealth.
2. The management or government of that household or family.
3. The manager (oikonomos) or steward of that family’s affairs.
On the basis of these three points, we would define as one dispensation (oikonomia) all that has to do with Abraham's household, i.e., Israel and those Gentiles blessed in Abraham and made his seed (Rom. 4:13-18; Gal. 3:7-9, 14, 29) or those who share his hopes and promises either in the land (Gen. 15:7), with Israel (Gen. 17: 4-14), or in the kingdom of heaven (of, from) with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Matt. 8:11), or as joint-heirs with Abraham of the world (Rom. 4:13), the New Jerusalem with its new earth (Heb. 11:8-16). We would place together and as a different dispensation that household of believers spoken of in the post-Acts letters of the Apostle Paul, those who are blessed "in Christ," in the "super-heavenlies" with all spiritual blessings that the wealth and riches of grace can bestow without any reference to Abraham, Israel, the New Covenant, the land, the old earth, or the New Jerusalem.
The household of Abraham in its varied history has had many stewards of truth. In an effort to gain Israel's repentance, Christ sent out twelve at one time (Matt. 10) and on another occasion seventy. The Apostle Paul's early ministry was to Abraham's personal seed, then to those Gentiles (having no dispensational position of their own) during the period of the Acts, who were made Abraham's seed and grafted into Israel's Olive Tree (Rom. 11 and Gal. 3).
The stewardship of truth for this present out-calling, this household of the mystery, has had its stewards first of all, that "prisoner for Gentiles," the Apostle Paul, then those seven or eight "grace" apostles associated with him in his prison ministry as he unfolded the secret will (Eph. 1:9, 10), the secret dispensation (Eph. 3:9), God's hidden dispensation (Col. 1:25, 26), God's dispensation of grace (Eph. 3:2). In conjunction with this household and directed to it, is a secret concerning the person and position of the ascended and seated Christ of Glory, "far above all." This mystery concerns a Gentile...
company or family "placed as sons" in the Son and their being seated, glorified, and filled with God's own fullness in the Son of His Love (cf. Eph. 3:1-8; 1:22, 23; 4:13; and Col. 2:9). There is no "Israel of God" or Jews blessed as Israelites today. Any saved Jew is of "one body" (Eph. 2:14-16) with Gentiles, "in Christ" apart from all prior affiliations: with Abraham's position, promises, covenants and hopes.
From Adam to Abraham? After the advent of the family of Abraham it is easy to see the varied events, programs, etc., as working out God's ultimate destiny for that great and complex family household. A natural question comes to mind, and that is: What about those living believers before Abraham? Where do they fit in?
Deut. 32:8 pre-dates Israel's kingdom thus: "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel." The author of the book of Hebrews joins together in one bond and one hope all those from Abel to those to whom he writes (cf. Heb. 11:4-40). In the book of Romans (2:26), Paul speaks of a time when certain Gentiles were counted for Circumcision if they by nature (though ignorant of the law of Moses) kept the righteousness of the Law. No Gentile is being thus counted today. That God dates Abraham and Israel's things from the foundation of the world is seen in considering the following scriptures:
From - secrets of the prophetic kingdom (Matt. 13:35)
From - the kingdom "sheep" nations appraised of their future inheritance in relation to Israel (Matt. 25:34)
From -God's rest and invitation for Israel (Heb. 4:3-
From - the Lamb slain in relation to the kingdom people (Rev. 13:
From - the book of life in relation to the kingdom People
From - the restitution of all things (Acts 3:21)
It is interesting to note that all that pertain distinctively
to this present dispensation has been:
Kept hidden from ages, from generations (Col. 1:26), Untrackable (Eph. 3: , In other ages not made known (Eph. 1:5),
From the beginning of the world, hidden in God (Eph. 3:9).
God has been pleased to use two terms in connection with the "foundation of the world" (see Greek texts) and places those in Abraham's calling on this side ("from…") and those in the household of the Secret (those in the dispensational position of Paul's post-Acts epistles) on the other side ("before the foundation").
Besides those verses that deal with the glory of the Son (before …, John 17:4), the Father's love in the Son (before …, John 17:24), and Christ, the Wisdom of God and Christ foreknown (before..., I Cor. 2:7; I Pet. 1:20), we have those verses of Scripture directly addressed to us that deal with a people chosen in Christ (before…, Eph. 1:4), a people of God's own purpose and grace given before the world began (II Tim. 1:9), an elect of a promise before the world began (Tit. 1:2). If this concept is borne out in Scripture, then God has given us an insight into His great purposes respecting (1) a household for the earth (old and new) -- Abraham and his family; and (2) a family of sons in Christ for the heavenlies, along with the Princes and Magistrates of that realm, and in Christ over them (Eph. 1:21-23).
Conclusion. We would therefore conclude that there are two vast Bible dispensations, that these have to do only with those who are of God. We agree that while some things are common to both, the great areas of differences are so very extensive as totally to change the character, hope, practices, and destiny of those receiving truths pertaining to the one or the other.
Whereas just two vast dispensations may seem like an over-simplification to some or not, nonetheless we would ask that this great subject be restudied and reevaluated, considering the three elements we have isolated as characteristic of the Biblical oikonomia-concept
1) the household; (2) the house-management; and (3) the household manager, or steward.
CONCORDANCE OF THE TWO TERMS
The Hebrew text relating to Steward and Stewardship should be consulted in the following verses:
I Kings 1:2, 4 (sokhen: fem. sachan)
Isa. 22:15; 51:18 (mehahel: under nahal)
Oikonomia
Luke 16:2, 3, 4
I Cor. 9:17
Eph. 1:10; 3:2, 9
Col. 1:25
I Tim. 1:4
Isa. 22:19, 21 (LXX)
Oikonomos
Luke 12:42; 16: 1, 3, 8
Rom. 16:23
I Cor. 4:1, 2
Gal. 4:2
Titus 1:7
I Pet. 4:10
Oikonomeo (verb)
Luke 16:2
Learning without thought is labor lost. Thought without learning is intellectual death. - Confucius (551-479 B.C.)
Dear Gentle reader,
I know that in the past I have asked you to do several things, what have perhaps been hard for some- to think and not only to think but to think outside the box- to share (some still feel that this is extremely hard to do) and to talk with a modicum of respect to walk as it were in anothers shoes:
ANOTHER MAN'S SHOES
I met a man walking, on a long dusty road;
he seemed to be burdened, with life's heavy load.
His hair was kind of shaggy, he'd been sleeping in his clothes;
his shoes were old and weathered, not pretty, heaven knows.
I said, "hello Sir, how do you do";
he looked at me and said, "how'd do".
I said, "Where are you going, on this hot sunny day";
he said, "I'm looking for heaven, and leave here I pray".
I said, "Come on now, don't be a fool";
he said, "This world is just too cruel".
I said, "Please explain your reasons to die;
before you leave this world and say good-by".
Then he said, "I'll tell you and maybe you'll see;
but promise me that you won't judge me".
Promise me that you won't condemn;
cause you just don't know, the condition I'm in.
You won't know me, or understand my blues;
until you have walked awhile in my shoes.
Until you have read every line in my face;
until you have stood awhile in my place.
You won't know me, until you have carried my load;
and struggled along this old dusty road.
Until you have felt, my pain and rejection;
and felt my sorrow, and felt my affliction.
He said, "I was born into dire poverty;
as rough a life, as ever can be".
My dad ran away, and my mother was cruel;
and everyone else, called me the fool.
I wandered the streets, when I was only nine;
getting into trouble and wasting my time.
I've been in many jails, throughout the years;
had a lot of heartache, shed a lot of tears.
I've felt cold eyes, staring at me;
by upper class people, and high society.
I've met people who won't, give me the time of day;
who went into a big fine church, and kneeled down to pray.
I've been cheated out of money, by everyone I've known;
I've been hated and despised, down to the bone.
I've felt hatred as cold, as an ice house floor;
from total strangers, that never met me before.
My whole life has been, filled with pain;
sometimes I wonder, if I'm insane.
But if I am, out of my mind;
why am I hated, most of the time.
Don't people have compassion on the mentally ill;
or be concerned, as to how do they feel.
Don't misunderstand me, I've done wrong too;
I'm not perfect, but neither are you.
People have tricked me, and slandered my name;
and talked behind my back, then smiled just the same.
I'm weary and tired, of life's heavy load;
not too many more days, will I walk this old road.
By my outward appearance, I know I'm not much;
But how can you judge me, by clothes and the such?
If anyone loved me, or cared at all;
they'd give me some help, this burden to haul.
Only God Loves me, this I believe;
from this whole world, nothing I receive.
If I were rich, and had plenty of money;
everyone would adore me, and call me honey.
But I am quite poor, from my presence they flee;
I've heard their cruel whispers, and slanders of me.
He now had stopped speaking, and he looked at my face;
I saw a tear on his cheek, leaving it's trace.
I was speechless and astounded, I spoke not a word;
he slowly turned, and walked down that old road.
I stood there just thinking, of the man I had met;
and suddenly I loved him, my eyes were then wet.
another human being, I'll never judge nor condemn;
cause he may have walked, where I've never been.
How can I judge or condemn any man?;
until in his shoes, I walk and I stand.
A conversation is an exchange of ideas between people. It’s not shouting our opinions or beliefs at one another. A conversation requires listening, hearing, and being heard. It does not require agreement with or even affinity for the other parties in the dialogue.
But in order for conversation to take place, civility must be its guiding principle. Civility is more than superficial politesse. It does not mean saying, “excuse me” or “thank you” and then driving a metaphorical knife into the other person’s back as soon as they are out of earshot.
Not only is civility necessary and right, it is also the loving thing to do. (Jesus did say his followers would be known by their love, not by the soundness of their arguments or their witty repartee.)
Civility means listening respectfully, hearing honestly and genuinely, and creating a safe space where all may trust that they genuinely are being heard.
For Christians, it means recognizing that conversations are sacred encounters and that God is literally present in them.
I am just saying...
Denis
May the lilt of Irish laughter lighten every load. May the mist of Irish magic shorten every road... And may all your friends remember all the favours you are owed! Here's to the land of the shamrock so green, Here's to each lad and his darlin colleen, Here's to the ones we love dearest and most. May God bless old Ireland, that's this Irishman's toast! May the luck of the Irish Lead to happiest heights And the highway you travel Be lined with green lights.
Prayer for the New Year
Grant me the strength from day to day to bear what burdens come my way. Grant me throughout this bright New Year more to endure and less to fear. Help me live that I may be from spite and petty malice free. Let me not bitterly complain when cherished hopes of mine prove vain, or spoil with deeds of hate and rage some fair tomorrow's spotless page.
Lord, as the days shall come and go in courage let me stronger grow. Lord, as the New Year dawns today help me to put my faults away. Let me be big in little things; grant me the joy which friendship brings. Keep me from selfishness and spite; let me be wise in what is right.
A happy New Year! Grant that I may bring no tear to any eye. When this New Year in time shall end let it be said I've played the friend, have lived and loved and labored here, and made of it a happy year.
We come to the end Gentle Reader of our investigation of the "Star of Bethelem"
AND THERE IS YET MORE TO THE DANCE—THERE IS AN ENDING. And not a pleasant one. If Biblical clues have led us to the sky of Messiah's birth, they now lead to a celestial dirge floating over Jerusalem. The bookends of a life. If the Almighty did orchestrate these signs of Messiah's coming and those at his death, then we are seeing more than stars in the skies. We are seeing a poetry of terrible beauty, of silent awe...
Yes, there is more in the sky which declares "Messiah has come." But to see these things, we must know when to look up. Peter used the sky as a proof that Messiah had come, but which sky did he use? A body of scholarly work addresses the date of the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. This body of work, together with Roman and Jewish histories, archaeoastronomy and the words of the Bible allow us to identify the day and almost the moment of his death. That is an extraordinary claim. You must judge it for yourself. Consider the evidence.
What can we learn from the Jewish calendar?. Quite a lot, if we assemble the puzzle pieces. By law and custom, the Jewish people of Jesus' day took the Sabbath as a day of complete rest. Because no work could be done on the Sabbath, which we call Saturday, Friday came to be known as Preparation Day. It was a day when food and other things needed for Saturday were prepared in advance. This is our first clue to the date of the crucifixion, because all four Gospels state that Jesus was crucified on Preparation Day, a Friday . This is also the common consensus of the Church Fathers and scholars throughout church history .
The Gospels also record that the crucifixion occurred the day before the Passover festival . This is a second important clue, because it gives us a solid connection with the ancient Jewish calendar system. Passover always begins on the 14th day of the Jewish lunar month of Nisan. (Nisan 14 is in the Spring, which is why Easter is celebrated then). By Judean tradition, Passover begins at twilight, the dividing line between Nisan 14 and 15 .
On the Jewish calendar (and on ours) a numbered day of the month may fall on any day of the week. For example, in one year your birthday might fall on Tuesday, in the next year it might fall on Thursday. This "float" among days of the week is why this second clue is so powerful. Putting these two Biblical puzzle pieces together, we see that the crucifixion must have occurred in a year when Nisan 14 happened to fall on a Friday, Preparation Day. That narrows things down considerably.
The Year. Ancient non-Biblical historians record that Jesus was condemned to death by Pontius Pilate . Pilate was Roman procurator of Judea during the years 26 AD through 36 AD . This limits our search for a date to those years. In "Setting the Stage" we found that Jesus was born in 3/2 BC. And there are also important Biblical clues: the Book of Luke records that Jesus began his public ministry when he "was about 30 years old" , and the Book of John records three annual Passovers during Jesus' ministry . Taken together, these puzzle pieces add to a crucifixion date in the early 30's, AD. During those years, Nisan 14 fell on a Friday, Preparation Day, twice: on April 7 of 30 AD and April 3 of 33 AD . To help us chose between those two dates, there is ample and fascinating evidence.
The next clue comes from a surprising source: a dark tale of intrigue, hidden violence and vicious revenge in Rome. We go to the Imperial court...
By the time Tiberius Caesar (42 BC - 37 AD) reached his mid-sixties, he had wearied of daily Imperial duties. He entered semi-retirement on the Island of Capri in 26 AD. There, out of the public eye, he embraced a life of unmentionable depravity and cruelty. Still, even for a degraded and absentee emperor there were the problems of government. As his personal conduit for management of Rome from Capri, Tiberius left a regent in the capitol. This was Aelius Sejanus, who had been captain of the Praetorian Guard. Sejanus had shown himself to be politically capable and apparently loyal to Tiberius, but he was a cunning and ruthless man.
During the 5 years that Sejanus administered the Empire, he artfully engineered the banishment, imprisonment, suicide or other elimination of many of his own opponents and Tiberius' potential successors. As chronicled extensively by the Roman senator and historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus , Sejanus apparently expected that he might one day plot and murder his way to the throne. He very nearly did. Unfortunately for Sejanus, Tiberius had a trusted sister-in-law, Antonia. She was not a political player, which gave her opinions a certain weight. While nearly all communication from Rome filtered through Sejanus, Antonia managed to place a secret letter before Tiberius in which she described Sejanus' web of plots in convincing detail.
Tiberius responded by plotting his own surprise. He sent an emissary with a lengthy letter to be read before the Roman Senate with Sejanus present. In the turnabout ending of the missive, Tiberius loosed a scathing denunciation of Sejanus and demanded his arrest. The shocked mastermind was dragged out and executed the same day: October 18, 31 AD.
Why does this date matter? Because Roman and Biblical history intersect. During his glory days, Sejanus first influenced and then himself made appointments of many Imperial officials, including one Pontius Pilate. Pilate was made Prefect of Judea about the time that Tiberius gave up Rome for Capri. Sejanus was a notorious anti-Semite , and Pilate followed his benefactor's anti-Jewish policies as he governed Judea. A few examples will illustrate Pilate's treatment of the Jews.
The Romans were well aware that the Jews shunned all graven images. Tacitus, though himself disdainful of Jewry , accurately comments in The Histories, Book V:
"...the Jews have purely mental conceptions of Deity, as one in essence. They call those profane who make representations of God in human shape out of perishable materials. They believe that Being to be supreme and eternal, neither capable of representation, nor of decay. They therefore do not allow any images to stand in their cities, much less in their temples."
Of course, this rejection of graven images comes from the Ten Commandments, recorded in the Book of Exodus, Chapter 20:
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God..."
Knowing this, Pilate proceeded to install images of Tiberius in the Jewish temple at Jerusalem, a massive offense. From Josephus, Wars, Book II, Chapter 9:
"Now Pilate, who was sent as procurator into Judea by Tiberius, sent by night those images of Caesar that are called ensigns into Jerusalem. This excited a very great tumult among the Jews when it was day; for those that were near them were astonished at the sight of them, as indications that their laws were trodden under foot; for those laws do not permit any sort of image to be brought into the city. Nay, besides the indignation which the citizens had themselves at this procedure, a vast number of people came running out of the country. These came zealously to Pilate to Cesarea, and besought him to carry those ensigns out of Jerusalem, and to preserve them their ancient laws inviolable; but upon Pilate's denial of their request, they fell down prostrate upon the ground, and continued immovable in that posture for five days and as many nights. On the next day Pilate sat upon his tribunal, in the open market-place, and called to him the multitude, as desirous to give them an answer; and then gave a signal to the soldiers, that they should all by agreement at once encompass the Jews with their weapons; so the band of soldiers stood round about the Jews in three ranks. The Jews were under the utmost consternation at that unexpected sight. Pilate also said to them that they should be cut in pieces, unless they would admit of Caesar's images, and gave intimation to the soldiers to draw their naked swords. Hereupon the Jews, as it were at one signal, fell down in vast numbers together, and exposed their necks bare, and cried out that they were sooner ready to be slain, than that their law should be transgressed."
rom the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem." When was that? The prophet Nehemiah records such a decree, and he dates it as the twentieth year of Artaxerxes . On our calendar, that date is 444 BC . Counting 476 years from 444 BC, and remembering that there is no year numbered "zero" AD, we discover what Gabriel told Daniel: the Messiah would be cut off in 33 AD.To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. (Psalm 19:1-3) If that is true, then behind any other message, the fundamental meaning of these events is that God is there. The stars were part of his communication to those living in the Magi's day. Through our understanding of what happened in the sky, he continues to speak to us today.
But if God did create us for relationship with himself, surely he would also provide a way to come into this relationship, to overcome the problem of sin and the spiritual death it brings. The fuller message of the Star of Bethlehem is that he has provided that way. He has provided the Messiah, the Christ. Both Old and New Testaments of the Bible say that this Messiah will willingly accept the punishment for sin in our place. This is God's provision to heal our separation from him.
Both of the two verses above state our human spiritual problem—the bad news. But the quotations are incomplete. The verses continue and state the solution to the problem—the good news. They go on to say that the Messiah will bear the punishment for our sin, that we can have relationship with God because of what the Messiah did. Here are the complete verses, with both the bad news and the good. They say God has made a way:
Isaiah 53.6: We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him [the Messiah] the iniquity of us all.
Romans 6.23: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So the fuller message of the Star is good news. That Christ, the Messiah has come. The Messiah has paid the penalty for our sins. It is possible to have the relationship with God that so many desire. There have probably been times when you have thought about God and the possibility of knowing him. That is true of most of us.
A man found the girl of his dreams. She was intelligent, beautiful, and she loved him. He was convinced that she was the perfect mate. He wanted to marry her. But he never asked her. So, they were never married. Wanting to be married doesn't make it so. You have to decide and then act.
Our situation with God is something like that. We feel the God-shaped vacuum. We desire relationship with him. We hear that Christ's sacrifice makes that relationship possible by paying the price for our wrongdoing.
But the relationship will never happen unless we decide and then act.
in is recorded that Jesus said in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Through Jesus the Christ, God is inviting you into relationship. But you must decide and act. If you accept the invitation, Jesus promises to come and be with you. If you feel God calling you into relationship, you need to decide and to act. You can do this by praying to God right now. Prayer is just talking to God. The exact words you use are not important. God looks at the heart. You can begin your new relationship with God by praying a prayer like this one:
God, I want to come into relationship with you. I know that I am not perfect, that I'm a sinner in your eyes. Thank you that you sent Jesus to die in my place, to take the punishment for my sinfulness. Come into my life, Lord. Begin making me the person you designed me to be. Amen.
But the Star means yet more. Jesus said in the Book of Matthew, Chapter 10:30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Many have marveled at Jesus' statement—that God's "mind" is so great that it allows his complete familiarity with the creation in all of its detail. We can barely begin to contemplate it. But confronting the Star, we see the same message.
For if the Star wasn't magic or a special miracle from outside of the natural order, then it was something even more startling. It was a Clockwork Star. And that is overwhelming. The movement of the heavenly bodies is regular, like a great clock. The Clockwork Star finally means that from the very instant at which God flung the universe into existence, he also knew the moment he would enter human history in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He marked it in the stars. And from before the beginning of time as we experience it, God knew the very moment when Messiah would breath his last on the cross.
Jesus is "the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world."Revelation 13:8
You can Accept the invitation or reject. Decide, and act.
Like the old song goes "Save the last dance for me" You need to dance with the one who brought you"
Denis
Gentle reader,
We have been considering the phenomena of the star of Bethlehem. So if your jumping in here for the first time you need to go back and read the previous post, so you won't totally lost. I would have put it all on one post but as my old Catholic priest use to tell me "the mind can absorb what the seat can endure".
So here is where we pick up from the last post.
We now know much about the Star.
It signified birth.
It signified kingship.
It had a connection with the Jewish nation.
It rose in the east, like other stars.
It appeared at a precise time.
Herod didn't know when it appeared.
It endured over time.
It was ahead of the Magi as they went south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
It stopped over Bethlehem.
Knowing these qualifications, we are in a position to disqualify most astronomical phenomena as being the Star. Remember that if any of the nine Biblical features of the Star is absent, then the phenomenon we are examining may be interesting, but isn't likely the Biblical Star .
A meteor? A meteor is a small fragment of material or even celestial dust which enters Earth's atmosphere at great speed glowing brightly as its outer layers vaporize. While often a physically small thing, a "shooting star" can be beautiful viewed from Earth and could be a dramatic means of making an announcement in the heavens. But such a sign would fail most of the nine tests. Most obvious is the fact that shooting stars don't rise in the east like other stars, they do "shoot" across the sky. Because they display suddenly, only once and for mere moments as they burn up in the Earth's atmosphere, it is not obvious how the Magi could form associations with kingship, birth, the Jews, the Messiah's birthplace and all. And meteors don't endure long enough to satisfy the Biblical criteria. The Star was very likely not a meteor.
Perhaps a comet? A comet is an object which has a very large orbit about the Sun, an orbit of many years duration. You may be familiar with Halley's Comet. Halley's, like many comets, is a block of ice, in Halley's case a few miles across. It orbits the Sun in a 75.5 year circuit, and like all comets, it is easily tracked using Kepler's equations. Comets do rise in the east and endure over time. But there are several problems with the comet hypothesis.
The first problem is sociological. At this time in history (and all the way into the middle ages), comets were regarded as omens of doom and destruction, the very opposite of good tidings. This was in part because of comet behavior. They were perceived in ancient times to break into the sky ignoring the highly ordered and repetitive clockwork movement of the heavens. The Almighty could have chosen to use an ominous sign for the birth of Christ. Presumably, He can do whatever He likes. But if the purpose of the Star was to communicate something joyful to man, a comet seems an unlikely choice.
A bigger problem is that there do not appear to have been any comets in 3 or 2 BC. Several civilizations maintained records of such phenomena, notably the Chinese. These records have been preserved to the present day, and no comets are recorded for these years.
Finally, comets are obvious things. Anyone could and would have seen a comet. Herod would not have needed to ask the Magi when such a thing appeared. The Biblical Star was very likely not a comet.
What about a nova? A nova is an exploding star. A nova appears suddenly at a point in time, endures over time, rises in the east like other stars and can be spectacular. However, none appears in the ancient records for this time period.
And like comets, a nova is an obvious thing. Many of us have been to locations, such as high mountains or the desert, far from modern artificial light (which astronomers call "light pollution"). We marvel at how clearly the heavens can be seen under such conditions. Unless weather interfered, Jerusalem was like that every night, and common people were far more familiar than are we with the appearance of the night sky. If a nova suddenly appeared, almost everyone would know about it. Herod would not have had to ask the Magi when it appeared. If the Star was a real astronomical event, it was very likely not a nova.
What's left? If the Star wasn't one of the spectacular astronomical objects we've examined, what's left? Biblical qualification 6—that Herod had to ask when the Star appeared is a powerful clue. Anyone can glance up and see planets and stars. That is the nature of things in the sky. But, apparently, one could look up at the Star without realizing it. Herod didn't know of it. It took magi to explain it. But once the Star was pointed out, all Jerusalem went abuzz, and Herod jumped into murderous action. A reasonable hypothesis is that the Star must have been something in the normal night sky which was striking when explained.
Did anything interesting happen in the ordinary night skies over the Middle East in 3 or 2 BC?
SOMETHING IN THE "NORMAL" NIGHT SKY which was startling when explained. That is the hypothesis for the Star we developed in Setting the Stage. Our process of elimination has knocked out meteors, comets and novae as candidates. That leaves planets.
JUPITER. The name of the greatest god of Roman mythology. And the name of the largest planet of our solar system. Jupiter has been known from ages-old to the present as the King Planet. This greatest of planets is a "gas giant," approximately eleven times the size of Earth and over 300 times more massive. It circles the Sun far beyond Earth, in an orbit of about twelve years duration. In ancient times, planets like Jupiter were considered "wandering stars." Since humans have assigned kingly qualities to this giant wanderer for dozens of centuries, might it have something to do with our Star announcing the birth of a king? That will be our working theory.
It's not enough to have a kingly name and reputation, of course. To be Matthew's Star, Jupiter as viewed from Earth would have to do peculiar things. More precisely, as considered by a magus viewing from the Middle East during the years 3 and 2 BC, Jupiter's movements would have to satisfy all nine identifying characteristics of the Star. In September of 3 BC at the time of the Jewish New Year, Rosh ha-Shanah, Jupiter began to do just that.
A magus watching Jupiter that September saw two objects moving so close that they appeared to touch. This close approach of celestial bodies is sometimes called a 'conjunction.' Our Middle Eastern viewer saw Jupiter coming into a close conjunction with the star, Regulus. Regulus takes its name from the word root which yields our word 'regal.' The Babylonians called Regulus Sharu, which means 'king.' The Romans called Regulus Rex, which means 'king.' So to start things, at the beginning of the new Jewish year, the Planet of Kings met the Star of Kings. This conjunction may have indicated kingship in a forceful way to a Babylonian magus (satisfying one qualification for the Star), but would it have startled him?
Probably not. Jupiter glides slowly past Regulus about every 12 years. Let's assume our magus enjoyed a 50-year career, say from age 20 to age 70. We don't know how old the Magi were, but if our man was in the second half of his career, he might have seen such a pass two or three times before. Jupiter's orbit wobbles relative to Regulus, so not every conjunction is as close as the one he saw in 3 BC. Perhaps our magus recorded this event with some interest, but it is hard to imagine great excitement. Not from this alone. But, of course, there is more.
The planets move against the field of fixed stars. From Earth, they appear to be "active." For example, were you to watch Jupiter each night for several weeks, you would see that it moves eastward through the starry field. Each night Jupiter rises in the east (satisfying a second Star qualification). Each night it appears to be slightly farther east in the field of fixed stars. All of the planets move like this.
But the wandering stars exhibit another, stranger motion. Periodically, they appear to reverse course and move backward through the other stars. This may seem odd, but the reason is simple enough: we watch the planets from a moving platform—Earth—hurtling around the Sun in its own orbit. When you pass a car on the freeway, it appears to go backward as it drops behind. For similar reasons, when the Earth in its orbit swings past another planet, that planet appears to move backward against the starry field. Astronomers call this optical effect retrograde motion.
In 3/2 BC, Jupiter's retrograde wandering would have called for our magus' full attention. After Jupiter and Regulus had their kingly encounter, Jupiter continued on its path through the star field. But then it entered retrograde. It "changed its mind" and headed back to Regulus for a second conjunction. After this second pass it reversed course again for yet a third rendezvous with Regulus, a triple conjunction. A triple pass like this is more rare. Over a period of months, our watching magus would have seen the Planet of Kings dance out a halo above the Star of Kings. A coronation.
Jupiter's interesting behavior may explain the kingly aspect of the Star. But there are nine qualifications of the Star of Bethlehem. Many are still missing. How did Jupiter's movement relate to the Jewish nation? Is its association with the Jewish New Year enough? Where is an indication of a birth? Some might say that the triple conjunction by itself would indicate to a magus that a new king was on the scene. Maybe. But there is more.
The Jewish nation is composed of twelve ancient tribes. Jewish prophecy states that a particular tribe will bring forth the Messiah: the tribe of Judah. The symbol of Judah's tribe is the lion. You can see these connections in an ancient prediction of Messiah's coming found in the first book of the Bible, the Book of Genesis, Chapter 49:9 You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness-- who dares to rouse him? 10 The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.
This association of Messiah with the tribe of Judah and with the lion is a productive clue. It clarifies the connection between Jupiter's behavior and the Jewish nation, because the starry coronation—the triple conjunction—occurred within the constellation of Leo, The Lion. Ancient stargazers, particularly if they were interested in things Jewish, may well have concluded they were seeing signs of a Jewish king. But there is more.
The last book of the New Testament is, in part, a prophetic enigma. But a portion of the Book of Revelation provides clear and compelling guidance for our astronomical investigation. The apostle John wrote the book as an old man while in exile on the island of Patmos. Perhaps the austerity of this exile or a lack of companionship left him time to ponder the night sky. Whatever the reason, Revelation is full of star imagery. In Chapter 12, John describes a life and death drama played out in the sky: the birth of a king.
1 A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. 5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron sceptre...
A woman in labor, a dragon bent on infanticide and a ruler of the nations. We have already seen this ruler in the Book of Genesis, above. This would be the Messiah, in his role as King of Kings. If that interpretation is correct, then according to the gospel story the woman would be Mary, the mother of Jesus. The dragon which waits to kill the child at birth would be Herod, who did that very thing. John says the woman he saw was clothed in the Sun. She had the moon at her feet. What can he be describing? When we continue our study of the sky of September of 3 BC, the mystery of John's vision is unlocked: he is describing more of the starry dance which began with the Jewish New Year.
As Jupiter was beginning the coronation of Regulus, another startling symbol rose in the sky. The constellation which rises in the east behind Leo is Virgo, The Virgin. When Jupiter and Regulus were first meeting, she rose clothed in the Sun. And as John said, the moon was at her feet. It was a new moon, symbolically birthed at the feet of The Virgin.
The sheer concentration of symbolism in the stars at this moment is remarkable. These things could certainly lead our magus to conclude that a Jewish king had been born. But even this is not the whole story. These symbols could indicate a birth, but if they were interpreted to indicate the time of conception, the beginning of a human life, might there be something interesting in the sky nine months later? Indeed. In June of 2 BC, Jupiter continued the pageantry.
By the following June, Jupiter had finished crowning Regulus. The Planet of Kings traveled on through the star field toward another spectacular rendezvous, this time with Venus, the Mother Planet. This conjunction was so close and so bright that it is today displayed in hundreds of planetaria around the world by scientists who may know nothing of Messiah. They do it because what Jupiter did makes such a great planetarium show. Jupiter appeared to join Venus. The planets could not be distinguished with the naked eye. If our magus had had a telescope, he could have seen that the planets sat one atop the other, like a figure eight. Each contributed its full brightness to what became the most brilliant star our man had ever seen. Jupiter completed this step of the starry dance as it was setting in the west. That evening, our Babylonian magus would have seen the spectacle of his career while facing toward Judea.
No one alive had ever seen such a conjunction. If the Magi only began their travel plans in September, when they saw this sight nine months later, someone may have shouted "What are we waiting for? Mount up!" At the end of their travel, which may have taken weeks or months, these experts arrived in Jerusalem. They told their tale, and "all Jerusalem was disturbed." Herod wanted to know two things: when the Star had appeared, and where this baby was. The Magi presumably described the timing of events starting in September of 3 BC and continuing through June of 2 BC. Herod sent them to Bethlehem in search of the child with orders that they return to tell where he was.
To qualify as the Star, Jupiter would have to have been ahead of the Magi as they trekked South from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. Sure enough, in December of 2 BC if the Magi looked south in the wee hours, there hung the Planet of Kings over the city of Messiah's birth.
All but one of the nine Biblical qualifications for the Star have now been plausibly satisfied:
The first conjunction signified birth by its association to the day with Virgo "birthing" the new moon. Some might argue that the unusual triple conjunction by itself could be taken to indicate a new king.
The Planet of King's coronation of the Star of Kings signified kingship.
The triple conjunction began with the Jewish New Year and took place within Leo, showing a connection with the Jewish tribe of Judah (and prophecies of the Jewish Messiah).
Jupiter rises in the east.
The conjunctions appeared at precise, identifiable times.
Herod was unaware of these things; they were astronomical events which had significance only when explained by experts.
The events took place over a span of time sufficient for the Magi to see them both from the East and upon their arrival in Jerusalem.
Jupiter was ahead of the Magi as they traveled south from Jerusalem to Bethlehem.
But the ninth qualification would require that Jupiter stop over Bethlehem. How could a planet do that? And did Jupiter do it?
The problem with a planet stopping is not what you might think. The problem is not that planets can't stop. Just the opposite. The problem is that all planets are always stopped to the eye of a human observer. The sky moves above Earth at half the speed of the hour hand on a common clock. Its movement is imperceptible to the naked eye. So, if all stars are always stopped, what can Matthew have meant?
Perhaps you have already anticipated the key to this final mystery: retrograde motion. An astronomer tracking the movement of planets through the star field watches not so much on the scale of minutes, but on the longer scale of days, weeks and months. On this scale of time, Jupiter did stop. On December 25 of 2 BC as it entered retrograde, [ Retrograde motion is motion in the direction opposite to the movement of something else, and is the contrary of direct or prograde motion.] Jupiter reached full stop in its travel through the fixed stars. Magi viewing from Jerusalem would have seen it stopped in the sky above the little town of Bethlehem.
To be continued . . .
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