by Steve Santini
2004
Contrary to what some may say, Jesus did expect those waiting for the kingdom of God to observe the heavenly signs as a portent to his advent. In Luke, chapter seventeen, verse twenty, Jesus says, according to the King James translation, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation.” At first reading this translation seems to discourage one from observing the heavenly signs of the times, yet when the rules of Greek grammar are applied to the underlying Greek text, this verse is a question demanding a positive answer. In the Greek language, according to J. Greshem Manchen’s, New Testament Greek for Beginners, questions beginning with ouk and using the indicative, as this verse does, require a positive answer, while those beginning with un and using the indicative require a negative answer. Since this verse begins with ouk, it would be better translated as such, “Doesn’t the kingdom of God come with observation?”
Another Greek word in the verse and the verses in the following context reveal that it is the heavenly signs that Jesus says are to be observed to determine the “season” of the advent of God’s kingdom. The Greek word translated into English word observation is parateresis. It means to watch from beside or next to. It is used in its verb form in Colossians to warn the church against excessive observation to determine the character of each day, time and year. The days, times and years were, of course, as today, determined by the earth’s position in relation to other cycling heavenly bodies. It was to these positions that Jesus pointed as a herald to the season of his coming.
(Certainly, as stated in scripture, no man knows the time and hour that the Lord, himself, will descend yet the season of the parousia is ascertainable. Peter asked the Lord of the season for the kingdom to be established. Jesus said it was not for him, Peter, to know. The word know is ginosko, in the Greek, meaning to know experientially. Jesus did not say that it was not available to know just that it was a non issue at the time for Peter since he would not experience the season.)
In verse twenty-four, Jesus, when he turned from the Pharisees and began his discourse to his disciples, he gives the condition to be observed.
For as the lightning that lightenenth out of the one part
under heaven, shineth even unto the other part of heaven; so shall also the Son
of man in his day.
The phrase, lightning that lightenth, is a figure of speech in the languages of that day where the noun and its verb form are used in a sentence. As a figure of speech it is used to draw one’s attention to the statement. The Greek word lightning is astrape. Astrape’s base is the Greek word aster which means a star. The people of that time considered all celestial-shining bodies except the sun and moon as stars. This astrape is a particular type of star that “comes out” of heaven as the usage of the Greek preposition ek in this verse indicates. There are only two types of shining bodies that come out of heaven. They are meteors and comets. Meteors come as frequent showers and generally predictable events while comets come more rarely and usually individually. Because of the later context and the import that the ancients placed on the meanings of comets it would be most reasonable to say that Jesus, here, was speaking of comets.
Comets were considered
as either favorable or unfavorable omens depending on the interpretation of
their message or to whom the message was addressed. How did comets give
messages to the ancients? Each of the twelve constellations of the zodiac and
their decans, and even their comprising stars, had particular meanings to the
ancients. As the comet passed from constellation to constellation, decan to
decan, and star to star it told a story revealing things to come. These comets, among all the other celestial
signs of these days, are like the tip of a pointer of a heavenly teacher as he
reveals secrets of things soon to come to those who have been watching and waiting.
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“Where” In the Cycle of the Zodiac = When
In Luke 17:37, those present in the context of this record ask Jesus the question, “Where?” Notice that the disciples did not ask when or how but asked for a location to be observed. When one keeps in mind that this section begins with Jesus question that requires a positive answer regarding the observation of the heavenly realm the remainder of this difficult verse gains clarity. Jesus answers the question where as such, “Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.”
When one understands that the body of Christ is
composed of both masculine and feminine there is a span of to which Jesus could
be referring. That span starts with Pisces and goes through Aires, then Taurus
and concludes with the sign of Gemini. According
to the ancient Zodiac of Dendra, the two figures of Gemini are not so much as
those of identical twins but those of a man and woman walking hand in hand.
Joseph Seiss writes in his book The Gospel of the Stars that the word Gemini,
in the original Hebrew, Arabic and Syriac, does not carry so much the idea
of two brought forth at the same birth as it does the idea of a long betrothal
brought to its consummation in perfect marriage. Similarly, the old Coptic name
of this sign signifies “the completely joined.”
Accordingly,
one needs now, after recognizing the heavenly sign, to determine from the
context, from the word itself and from ancient meanings as to what the word eagles
refers. In verse twenty-four, as explained previously, Jesus is speaking of
a type of star that appears out of heaven. Comets appear out of the dark night
sky. The Greek word for eagles is aetos. The root of aetos is aer,
which means to breathe unconsciously in a circumambient manner. Comets
when viewed from the perspective of the rotating earth, if brilliant enough,
appear to travel in a circuitous motion before they swing in an arc through the
night’s heavens. They also appear to circumambulate at the end of their journey
from one part of heaven to another, much like the eagle or hawk in their
flight. To the ancient Indo-Europeans comets were called huuaski which
translated means fire bird of stone. The American Indians’ description
of their mythical thunderbird is much like that of a comet’s trail of debris
through which the earth might have passed. Chinese motifs of comets depict a
circle with three or four feathered lines extending away in the same direction.
Moses, at the mount in Sinai, reminded the children of Israel that God had
borne them on “eagle’s wings” in their escape from Egypt. Some scientists say
that the wind that parted the Red Sea was an electromagnetic storm induced by
the near pass of a comet. As an answer to the question “where” Jesus is saying
that the celestial location of activity preceding the manifestation of the sons
of God would be the gathering together of comets as eagles within signs that
portray a body. When one considers the
revelation of Christ’s one body being comprised of both masculine and feminine,
the area in the heavens for the gathering of comets is evident. Three of the
four signs in the span of signs from Pisces to Gemini depict major masculine
and feminine elements. Pisces contains the two fishes. Taurus contains the
Pleiades and the Hyades – the congregation of the judge and those belonging to
the congregation of the judge, respectively. Taurus also contains the two horns
of the bull- one representing Ephraim, the saint and the other representing
Manasseh, the faithful.(Gen. 48:8-20) And, ending the course is Gemini, the two
brought together after a long betrothal, according to Joseph Seiss.
In addition,
as one realizes that in the last eight years, there have been more naked eye
visible comets in their brightest phases that have passed through this span of
signs than any other like time in history, one may consider that the time that
Jesus prophesied of in Luke 17 has now arrived.
A Heavenly Sign For
Passover 2007
Where
Jupiter Halts in Ophiuchus
Copyright, Steve Santini, 2004