Libra's Position

In addition to its two main stars, Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneshemali, Libra has another named star: Zubenelakrab. This name means price of the conflict.

Lest anyone think that The Scales represents a general conflict between good and evil, or even personal inner conflict, Libra's position along the ecliptic shows that its prophetic import is more specific than those ideas.

Libra lies between Virgo and Scorpius—Virgo who carries the promised Seed, and Scorpius the enemy. These huge constellations reflect the enmity between the woman's Seed and the serpent, as first stated by the LORD God to the serpent:

Because you have done this,
You are cursed more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you shall go,
And you shall eat dust
All the days of your life.
And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel. Genesis 3:15

"Because you have done this" refers to the serpent's deception so that the woman disobeyed God's command.

"Cursed more than all cattle/And more than every beast of the field" is borne out in the often heard "I hate snakes!" People feel revulsion toward snakes more than any other animal.

"On your belly you shall go" is part of the reason for that revulsion. We think of the snake as silent, secret and sly, slithering towards its prey. That craftiness characterizes evil, and those crushing coils the fear of death.

". . . Enmity between you and the woman/And between your seed and her seed" describes the condition of the human race since that time. We try to resist evil only to be overpowered by it.

"He shall bruise your head/And you shall bruise His heel." It has always been recognized in cultures around the world, even those without the Bible, that One must come to deliver us from this condition of sin and death.

And that leads us back to Libra and to Zubenalakrab. The price of the conflict—the only solution for evil and death—is that the coming Seed must engage the enemy in deadly combat.

That Seed is Christ (Galatians 3:16; 4:4). The bruising He received was the wound of death. By His death and resurrection He defeated the one who had the power of death.

"Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Hebrews 2:14-15.

Libra

Twenty years ago this Sunday, April 25, the Space Shuttle Discovery deployed the Hubble telescope.

But that's not what I want to write about today.

I'm thinking about justice. Maybe it's because my grandsons are visiting and I'm often hearing, "That's not fair."

When people say they want justice, they usually mean they want a fair hearing. Justice is sometimes portrayed as a blindfolded woman holding a balance, or scales. The figure of the constellation Libra is also a balance, and it has something to do with hearing.

The Hebrew and Chaldean name for Libra is mozanaim, which means balance or scales. The word appears to be derived from the words for ear and to listen.

God demands justice in our dealings with one another. "You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt." (Leviticus 19:35-36)

Why did God take them out of slavery in Egypt? Because ". . . The cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them." (Exodus 3:9) God heard their cry. He was moved with compassion. Therefore He is right to demand the same from us. "Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is His delight." (Proverbs 11:1) "He hears the cry of the afflicted." (Job 34:28)

The message of Libra, however, is about more than treating our fellow human beings fairly. It declares that God is the author of justice. His standard is perfection, and weighed in His balance, we come up short. "Surely men of low degree are a vapor, men of high degree are a lie; if they are weighed on the scales, they are altogether lighter than vapor." (Psalm 62:9)

The idea of our good deeds being weighed against our bad deeds is a joke. Even ignoring our bad deeds, how could our good deeds meet God's standard of perfection? We are without hope of ever pleasing God in our own power.

Libra's two main stars show the one way out of our dilemma. Zubenelgenubi, meaning price deficient (that's us) is balanced by Zubeneschamali, the price which covers. God took upon Himself the payment of our debt, and that payment is available to all who cry out to Him. He hears our cry.

Libation

Back in August I wrote about Corona Borealis as the crown rightly belonging to the King of kings. There is another idea associated with that asterism. The early Arabs saw it as a dish. The meanings of the names of two of its stars support that idea.

The alpha star, which we call Gemma, was Al Phecca, whose root means a flask, and to pour. The beta star, Nusakan, means pour out as a libation.

A libation is the pouring of wine or other liquid in honor of a deity. The constellation Serpens stretches toward Corona, the serpent attempting to attain for himself that which is due only to God—crown and worship.

In two situations in the Bible, libations and crowns seem to be connected.

In 1 Chronicles 11 we find this beautiful story: David had just been crowned king, and he and his men were holed up in the stronghold while the Philistine garrison was in Bethlehem. David said with longing, “Oh, that someone would give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem.” Three of his men broke through the camp of the Philistines in order to get that water. When they gave it to David, he wouldn’t drink it, but poured it out to the LORD.

At the end of his life, the apostle Paul spoke of himself as being poured out as a drink offering, and anticipated receiving a crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:6).

People drinking wine sometimes use the word libation facetiously, but wine-drinking is a serious part of the cult of Bacchus, whose worship includes drunkenness and debauchery. People even use the terms Baccanal, Bacchanalia, baccant, and bacchante to describe such behavior and the people engaged in it, perhaps without knowing its real significance. This is a matter for consideration, because honoring any false god is actually worship of the serpent and his angels, and treason against God.

In the Bible, people pour out to God wine, oil, water, animal blood, tears, prayers, and their souls. God pours out upon the righteous the rain and His Spirit. He pours out upon the wicked His fury, the curses written in the law, and human blood. Revelation 16 describes the pouring out of the bowls of God’s wrath: loathsome sores; sea, rivers and springs turned to blood; fire; darkness; and Armageddon.

Isaiah prophesied that Messiah would pour out His soul to death, bearing the sin of many (Isaiah 53:12). For those who receive it, Jesus’ sacrifice staunches the flow of God’s wrath, and brings instead His poured out blessing.

Belt of the Shouter

Last week's blog was on the start of the present search for intelligent life. However, way back in 1920, Epsilon Boötes was supposedly the source of some mysterious signals. A "translation" of these signals was produced in the 1970s. (A Google search will yield plenty of reading, if that's of interest.)

Epsilon Boötes is a pair of stars with magnitudes of about 5 and 3, and of contrasting colors of blue and orange or yellow and green—depending on which description you read. Click on the title above to see pictures of this lovely pair.

The star's traditional name is Izar, and it is located at Boötes' waist. The Hebrew root of Izar means to shout, or to whoop. In fact, in Arabia this star was called Al Mintakah al 'Awwa, The Belt of the Shouter.

Boötes, the Coming One (see blog archive March 2010 at right), is coming with a shout. It is a shout of triumph and a shout of joy: triumph over his enemies, and joy in meeting His chosen ones.

People get so excited over science fiction, and about possible alien life. But the truth of our great Lord, Savior, and coming King is greater than any science fiction that can be imagined. And it has been pictured for us in the stars and in their names for thousands of years.

"Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 NIV.

Intelligent Life

In 1960 Frank Drake began his search for extraterrestrial intelligent life. Using the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) 26-meter radio telescope in West Virginia, he started listening for signals from possible planets around the stars Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani. This Sunday will be the 50th anniversary of those efforts.

The search for intelligent life has greatly expanded in these fifty years, but it has yielded no results.

However, we do have evidence of intelligent life in the universe. Sixty-six messages have been received and recorded by forty different people over a period of 2,000 years.

These messages introduce their author as the first intelligence. They consistently present him as a spirit of perfect light, perfect love, perfect justice. They speak also of other intelligent beings who are his messengers and servants, moving between him and the people of earth, and another set of intelligent beings who are in rebellion against him and who try to hinder his plans for the people of earth.

These sixty-six messages are full of wisdom that so perfectly accords with our needs that one wonders why anyone would feel the need to search elsewhere. They have been collected into one convenient volume available in hundreds of languages—and at little cost, in contrast to the great sums required by the SETI project.

You probably have a copy of that volume in your home. It is a very special book, and I hope you realize its value in directing your life.