Revelation 12 Sign: Kepler’s Math & Software, August 2017
Revelation 12:1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
Pockets of the Christian community are buzzing about this verse. This fall on the Feast of Trumpets also known as Yom Teruah, this configuration of heavenly bodies will form in the sky. Many think that because this “sign” is appearing on and around the Feast of Trumpets, this points to the rapture on or near September 23, 2017.
The Greek word for “sign” is σημεῖον/sémeion. Per Strong’s Concordance it means: a sign, miracle, indication, mark, token.
HELPS Word Studies defines the term as following: a sign (typically miraculous), given especially to confirm, corroborate or authenticate; emphasizes the end-purpose which exalts the one giving it.
So the question becomes, does the “sign” indicate we have arrived at the destination of rapture of the church? Or does the “sign” indicate the event is approaching? When we are driving down the interstate, a sign says “St. Louis 250 miles”. There is also a sign that declares we have arrived in St. Louis. So where are we? Are we approaching rapture? Or is the rapture this Feast of Trumpets, September 23, 2017?
It is not the intent of the author to defend or articulate the position of those with this point of view. They can speak for themselves. It is my intent to give some points of consideration.
Statistical data regarding uniqueness of the event is unquestionable. Thanks to math of Johannes Kepler and his laws of planetary motion and physics, we are able to calculate the movement of heavenly bodies. The equations and calculations are run on computer software. The heavens are a finely tuned clock which can be run forward and backward.
The sign appears to be a once in 7,000 year event. If one subscribes to a literal seven day creation as stated in the Bible, the earth and universe are about 6,000 years old. This “sign” is a once in a creation event. It is a statistically rare astronomical event intentioned to get our attention. I am not getting in the way of that math assuming it is correct.
As human beings, we need to keep ourselves in check. We are fallen in our current state of humanity. We make mistakes. Rigid, inflexible dogmatic positions will lead to brokenness. And we do not possess the mind of God.
Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. -The Lord God
Many of the folks supporting the Rapture Fall 2017 position utilize the internet program Stellarium.
But there are questions. Does the Stellarium software (or any other for that matter) take into account Joshua’s long day? How long was Joshua’s long day? Software can only apply what it knows in the present. There needs to be a known, accurate point of comparison in the past to confirm the math in the present.
Joshua 10:12-13 At that time Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.” And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.
Kepler himself misapplied his math when looking for the Star of Bethlehem. He was off by about a year or two. My point is one or two years matters. To quote Einstein, “God does not play dice.” He is not loose or sloppy with His timing. God invented math.
This is the first in a series of posts regarding the Revelation 12 Sign.
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August 27, 2017 at 2:16 AM
Thank you for your post. I look forward to your continued study into this sign as there is so very much more that points to this time as deserving our watchfulness.
I’m not sure I get your point about Stellarium needing a known, accurate point of comparison in the past to confirm the math in the present. Of course this is a true statement, but isn’t the 8/21/17 eclipse which was accurately predicted years ago confirmation of the math (not to mention each night where a simple “look up” shows Stellarium to be accurate?).
It’s only 28 days from now that the math predicts the Rev. 12 sign will occur. Joshua’s long day or not, I think the suggestion that this math might be off enough to merit caution about whether this sign will occur or not is off base. Whether you believe this sign represents the beginning of Daniel’s 70th week and the end of the church age or not, you must agree this alignment will occur exactly as the math shows.
Also, as to your statement that we do not possess the mind of God, Paul makes it clear that this changed after the Cross.
“But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”
1 Corinthians 2:15-16 KJV
August 27, 2017 at 8:19 AM
Agree, this configuration will be in the sky on stated day. The issue is attaching meaning to it. Are we there yet or do we have further to go to get there. And the sign may not have boo to do with the rapture. Granted “harpadzo” is in context. Thanks for your thoughtful comments and participation.
August 27, 2017 at 7:19 AM
Just a quick noteThanks for this excellent article. Looking forward to the others. The Feast day logic made so much sense to me that this never really took hold. BESIDES, this event occurs 1 day after the 2 day Feast of Trumpets, so that wasn’t a match as far as I was concerned. I heard or read an item shortly after that, (you may have posted it not sure) that signs in the stars/moon were for the Jews and signs in the sun were for Gentiles. Therefore, reason # 2 to not put much credence into this “sign”. Someone else implied it could be the start of the tribulation. Yesterday, Amir, in answering questions indicated in his thinking that Christians would be gone before the Ezk 38-39 war ever starts so he wasn’t going to elaborate any further about when it starts, but YES that is really the start date for the Tribulation and it is God and only God that gives them the victory, just as he and a lot of Jews if not the whole country recognize that God is the one who gave them the victory in the 6 day war. Looking up, have a wonderful SundayBernie
From: PaulthePoke To: beridahl@sbcglobal.net Sent: Saturday, August 26, 2017 9:00 PM Subject: [New post] Revelation 12 Sign: Kepler’s Math & Software, August 2017 #yiv9795426412 a:hover {color:red;}#yiv9795426412 a {text-decoration:none;color:#0088cc;}#yiv9795426412 a.yiv9795426412primaryactionlink:link, #yiv9795426412 a.yiv9795426412primaryactionlink:visited {background-color:#2585B2;color:#fff;}#yiv9795426412 a.yiv9795426412primaryactionlink:hover, #yiv9795426412 a.yiv9795426412primaryactionlink:active {background-color:#11729E;color:#fff;}#yiv9795426412 WordPress.com | paulthepoke posted: “Revelation 12:1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.Pockets of the Christian community are buzzing about this verse. This fall on the Feast of Trumpets ” | |