I want to share something very exciting with you. The heavens declare the glory of God. Just as in the Bible, the Chinese believe that God uses the heavenly bodies to send messages to men. Now this is not astrology. Astrology believes that the stars and the moons and the movement control our lives. So this is not a matter of control but this is a matter of communication. Because even in the Bible, we know that like in Psalm 19 “You know the heavens declare the glory of God. You know day by day it sends out his speech” so the God who flung the stars into space would also use them to communicate messages to us and usually – now this is another difference between astrology and what I’m talking about here – astrology is about my personal well-being or personal fortune whereas this extra phenomena are for the people – a major event; it’s not a personal thing.
So the Chinese were astute students of the skies. Every dynasty would have a team and during the Ming dynasty, they had 14 officials of the stars, observing every night the movement of the stars and they write them down and it’s all recorded in Chinese history. And they interpreted them. You will find some interpretation to be quite amazing. So this was one event that they recorded and interpreted:
In the second month of the second year, the comet was out of Altair for more than 70 days. It is said, “Comets appear to signify the old being replaced by the new.” Altair, the sun, the moon and the five stars are in movement to signify the beginning of a new epoch, the beginning of a new year, a new month and a new day. The appearance of this comment undoubtedly symbolizes change. The extended appearance of this comet indicates that this is of great importance.
This is the original Chinese (version) recorded in the Han dynasty and then in the second year of Jian Ping – this is another reference to the same event – and this is the interpretation. It talks about perfect sacrifice. It talks about a new beginning and sacrifice. Now this observation corresponds with the star in the east in the Bible and we all know that it signifies the coming of Jesus. Of course that will be a new epoch; it’s a new season and also that he came to sacrifice himself. Now interestingly that the star earlier on appeared for 70 days but then 13 months later another phenomenon was recorded.
It was recorded on the Ji You day of the third month for the third year of Jian Ping. There appeared to be a “bo” star in Aquila.
Now this corresponds to the star at Bethlehem. Now you read the Bible, actually there were two stars. We know that the wise men first saw the star and they came but after they arrived in Jerusalem, they couldn’t see the star. Otherwise they wouldn’t need to ask and go to see King Herod. So the Chinese say that it appeared for 70 days and it disappeared but then 13 months later another star appeared and this is the star of Bethlehem. And I think this is the reason why King Herod talked to the wise men and discovered that it was more than a year ago that they first saw it so he decided to kill the children two years and under. So there is a reason for that.
And then finally 30 over years later, the Bible recorded on the day of the cross:
It was about the sixth hour, the darkness fell six hours. About noon, over the whole land until the ninth hour, because the sun was obscured and the veil of the temple was torn in two and Jesus crying out with a loud voice, he said “Father into your hands I commit my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last.
Did the Chinese see it and record it? Yes, of course. The Chinese did.
In the day of Gui Hai, the last day of the month (this was 33 years later than the phenomena that was recorded earlier) the sun was eclipsed (or shrouded). The emperor avoided entering the throne room, withheld all military activities and did not handle official business for five days. And he made an official announcement proclaiming that “My poor character has caused this calamity, that the sun and the moon were veiled. I am fearful and trembling. What else can I say? …Anyone who presents a memorial is not allowed to mention the word holy.
This is the original Chinese and then there were other commentaries and responses to this event.
On the fourth month, on the day of Ren Wu, the imperial edit reads, “Yin and Yang have mistakenly switched (referring to that event) and the sun and the moon were eclipsed. Now here “eclipsed” means covered up. The sins of all the people are now on one man. The emperor proclaims pardon to all under heaven.
Now wouldn’t this be a perfect commentary on the day of the cross? Wouldn’t this be what happened in Jerusalem that the sins of the world are now on one man, on Jesus? Now even more interestingly, another commentator Qian Tan Ba said, “Eclipse on the day of Gui Hai means that the Man from heaven dies,” Very interestingly, if you understand Chinese this (Chinese) word for death is only a reference to the King or the Emperor. People dies but the emperor dies (Chinese word “si”) but the emperor dies (Chinese word “peng”). Isn’t Jesus the man from heaven, that means God as well as man. He is the true God man and that the Chinese understood that shrouding of the sun and the moon referenced that the heavenly man dies and and that heavenly man was a king because the word they used for death refers to the king. So this this is amazing and if you ask me how they know, I do not know how. But you know they practice this for a few thousand years. The knowledge is lost to us but they received the prophetic word and they understand the prophecy and they were able to decipher them and interpret them for us.