NEW MOON REPORT
Nehemia Gordon from Jerusalem, Israel compiled the
following New Moon Report for June 2003 and the third month of the Hebrew
calendar.
“On Sunday June 1, 2003 the New Moon was sighted by
observers across Israel. The moon was
sighted from Tekoa by Hen-el Brill at 19:46 and Bruce Brill at 19:56. The moon was also sighted from Ramla by
Nehemia Gordon at 19:55 and Devorah Gordon at 19:56.”
It is expected that the next New Moon will be
sighted on June 30 near sunset, which will be the beginning of the fourth month
of the Hebrew calendar.
VIDEO PROBLEMS
A number of copies of the recent video The Twelve
Signs and the Twelve Tribes that were sent to fulfill the first 30 orders
had a recorder display on them throughout the program. I have a list of the persons to whom the
first 30 tapes were sent to, but I do not know who got the bad tapes. If there is a video display on the tape and
it stays on after the first few seconds of play (you can’t miss it, it will
cover the top third of your screen) please let me know and we will send you a
new tape. Just keep the other tape.
VENUS/MERCURY CONJUNCTION
Besides the New Moons; and the sun reaching the
Summer Solstice point at 3:10 pm EDT on June 21, the only other notable
celestial event for June is a close Venus/Mercury conjunction that will be
visible low on the horizon about an hour before sunrise, also occurring on June
21.
Chart 317 below shows the positions of Venus (The Bright
and Morning Star - Yashua) and Mercury (Gabriel, the Messenger Angel)
in Taurus as they go into conjunction at the above time and date. Venus and Mercury are in the head of the reem
in the curly hair area. This is the area
that rare celestial events occurred in May and June 2002 (see the May 2002 and
June 2002 issues of Biblical Astronomy).
Chart 317 – Venus-Mercury conjunction in
the early morning sky on June 21, 2003
Besides being the oth (sign) of the Tribe of
Joseph, and the “Two-House” sign for the House of Ephraim (Israel), the
prophetic meaning of the constellation Taurus is Messiah, the coming
judge of all the earth. Much of what
is written at the beginning of the Book of Revelation, in Chapter 1, is found
in this Sign. And what is written in
Revelation Chapter 1 is a herald of what is to follow.
Now it is written in the first chapter of the
Revelation of Yahshua HaMashiach (Jesus Christ), that God gave the revelation
unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. He sent and signified it by his angel (most
likely Gabriel) unto his servant John. This particular scripture comes to mind
when seeing a close conjunction of Venus and Mercury (Yahshua and Gabriel) in
the head of Taurus.
As I have written on other occasions, in mythology
this reem (the bull) was always accounted snow white, the color of
righteousness and royal judgment. It has
for one of its eyes the red, flaming star Aldebaran. Is not this part of the description that John
gives of Messiah as he is coming to judge the earth in Revelation 1:14?
His
head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and
his eyes were as a flame of fire;
(KJV)
There is a unique cluster of stars on the shoulder
of the bull named the Pleiades (Chart 318). From ancient times this cluster was known as
the seven sisters or the seven stars (Job 9:9 and Amos 5:8 – both in KJV and
NIV).
Chart 318 – TAURUS with Pleiades
The following is from Joseph A. Seiss’ The Gospel
in the Stars (1882), p.103 concerning the Pleiades.
“Among the early nations there was a wide-spread
idea connecting this Bull with the Deluge, and the Pleiades – the seven
stars, the Doves, the peculiar star-cluster of “sweet influences” – with the
ark of Noah and those saved by it in the great judgment. ‘The seven stars,’ which in the scriptures
also connect with the Church (Rev. 1:16; 2:1), are on the back of this Bull,
high up on his great shoulder.”
So here we also have the seven stars mentioned in
Rev. 1:16 and 2:1 represented by the Pleiades. According to Messiah, the seven stars in his
right hand are the angels of the seven assemblies; and the seven lampstands
mentioned in Rev. 1: 12 & 13 are the seven assemblies. The following is from E.W. Bullinger’s Commentary
on Revelation, 2nd edition, (written in 1909)
concerning the angels of the seven assemblies and the seven lampstands.
“As we have already abundantly shewn, in the consideration of our foregoing thirteen points, the Apocalypse is linked on to the Old Testament, the Gospels, and the Acts (and not to the later Pauline Epistles), and we ought to use the word Ecclesia in the sense in which it is there used; and not, surely, in the newer and special sense which it acquired, and in which it is used, in the Epistles.
In the Pauline Epistles we read nothing about an "angel" as having to do with the churches of God which Paul planted.
But we do meet with the word Angel in connection with the Synagogue; (though not in the Old Testament). There, there was an officer, who was called Sheliach Tzibbur (...): Tzibbur meaning Assembly; and Sheliach, the Angel or Legate of the Assembly, and the Leader of Divine worship, from (...) (shalach) to send.
The chief
officer was the Archisynagogos, or "Ruler of the Synagogue;"
and after him came the Sheliach Tzibbur; or "Angel of the Assembly,"
who was the mouthpiece of the congregation. His duty it was to offer up public
prayer to God for the whole congregation. Hence his title; because, as the
messenger of the assembly, he spoke to God for them.*
*See Jennings' Jewish
Antiquities; and Article Synagogue in Kitto's Biblical
Cyclopaedia, vol iii. 903.
As to the "seven lamp-stands," ought not this expression at once to send our thoughts back to the one golden lamp-stand of the Tabernacle (Exod. 25:31-39). ONE lamp-stand with seven lamps, indicative of Israel's unity in the Land and in the City? Here, the scattered condition of the nation is just as distinctly indicated by the fact that the seven lamps are no longer united in one lamp-stand. The nation is no longer in the Land, for Jerusalem is not now the center; but the people are "scattered" in separate communities in various cities in Gentile lands. (1909) So that just as the one lamp-stand represents Israel in its unity, the seven lamp-stands represent Israel in its dispersion; and tells us that Jehovah is about to make Jerusalem again the center of His dealings with the earth.
We must further note that John was not told to send seven separate letters to seven separate assemblies, as is generally assumed and believed. Indeed the contrary is the fact. The great Voice said, "What thou seest, write in A BOOK and send IT unto the seven assemblies."
E.W. Bullinger
also noted the fact that what is written to the seven assemblies coincides with
the chronological history of Israel.
Below are excerpts from that part of his book Commentary on
Revelation.
“It is a remarkable fact that seven past phases of Israel's history are referred to in these Epistles: and the literary order in Revelation corresponds with, and answers to, the historical order in the Old Testament.
1. EPHESUS - THE DAY OF
ISRAEL'S ESPOUSALS.
(Exodus).
In the Epistle to the Assembly at Ephesus, the reference is to Exodus: to God's love in choosing them out of Egypt, and then making them a nation. See Hos.11:1: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." In Jer.2:2 we see this "first love," which Jehovah (Yahuweh) calls "the love of thine espousals." And in Ezek. 16 we have a full description of the workings and outcome of this "first love." The whole of Ezek. 16 must be read with Exod. 19:4-6. It is this "first love" which Israel is here charged with having "left." This is the beginning of all the subsequent evil……
2. SMYRNA - THE PERIOD OF
ISRAEL'S WANDERINGS.
(Numbers).
In Smyrna, we have a reference to a definite time of trial.. In the wilderness it was forty years. Here it is ten days. If any wish to make this stand for ten years it must be on their own responsibility. We only press the point that a corresponding time of trial is referred to; and that it is a definite and limited time……
3. PERGAMOS - THE WILDERNESS
PERIOD.
(Numbers)
In Pergamos we have the reference to Balaam, which will have its counterpart in a yet future day.
Through "the counsel of Balaam" (Num. 31:16, etc.) Israel was entrapped and led into the worst form of Midianitish idolatry, when "Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor" (Num. 35:3).
In the coming future day Pergamos will be in a special manner the seat (or throne) of Satan (2:13; and compare 13:2), and a form of idolatry more awful than that of Baal-peor will be on the earth. Peter, writing to the Dispersion, tells of this future time in 2 Peter 2, and in verse 15 he speaks specially of their "following in the way of Balaam the son of Bosor."
Jude also connects his description of a similar phase of idolatry with "the error of Balaam" (verses 10-13).
It is clear, therefore, that that special feature of idolatry connected with Balaam's "counsel" is referred to in Rev. 2:14, and will be revived in the period described in the Apocalypse.
And, as, upon this great evil the special judgment of the "sword" was sent and executed (Num. 31:1-15), so here. He who speaks to the same People of the same evil, speaks also of the same judgment, "I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth" (Rev.2:16), which threat will be carried out in chap. 19:21. This is why we have that special mention of the "sharp sword," describing the speaker in 2:12, referring to the same feature of the Vision as seen in 1:16…..
4. THYATIRA - THE PERIOD OF
ISRAEL'S KINGS.
(1 and 2 Kings).
In the Epistle to Thyatira we have the reference to another and more intensified form of idolatry as developed and established in the days of Ahab, king of Israel; another who, like Balaam, "made Israel to sin" (1 Kings 16:30).
Ahab was the first king who officially introduced and organised the most abominable form of heathen idolatry that the human mind ever conceived (I Kings 16:33). See Revised Version, where the special significance of this abomination is conveyed and contained in the word "Asherah." To particularise on this form of idolatry would be only to defile the mind. The Lord Himself in this Epistle (Rev. 2:20-24) gives a clue to it. We may, perhaps, add that what was introduced into Israel by Balaam (see Rev. 2:14) became elevated into a national religious system under Ahab and Jezebel, as it had long been recognised among the heathen nations around…..
5. SARDIS - THE PERIOD OF
ISRAEL'S REMOVAL.
(1 and 2 Chronicles).
We have had four references to Israel's history in the Old Testament, and as four is the number connected with the earth, so these four have been connected with Israel in the earth and the Land; and with the culminating sin of departure from the love of God manifested to the Nation. Israel had "left her first love," forsaken God, and joined herself to idols in the most abominable form.
This is the climax of Israel's sin. All else in this history is judgment, until Israel is removed from the Land and taken away out of God's sight. His name is practically blotted out, never again to be a separate ten-tribed kingdom. So blotted out, in fact, that men speak today of the lost ten tribes (Not that they are "lost" in the proper sense of the word: but the proverbial expression is significant).
Indeed, the prophecy of Deut. 29:20 is fulfilled, not only as to the individual and to the Tribe; but there is an application to the whole nation. In Deut. 29:18, 20 (17, 19) there is the threat to blot out the name of the "man" or "tribe" who shall introduce idolatry. As a matter of fact, the Tribes of Dan and Ephraim were the first to introduce it; and their names are blotted out from the tribes of those who are to be sealed in Rev. 7.
It is in this Epistle, next in order (to the assembly at Sardis) that we have the reference to this silence, in the promise to the few names of such as have not defiled their garments: "He that overcometh... I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his Angels" (Rev. 3:5)…..
6. PHILADELPHIA - THE PERIOD
OF JUDAH'S KINGS.
(2 Chronicles).
We have had two references to Israel's history, and now we are to have two references to Judah's, and these refer, not any more to failure, sin and judgment; but to the hope of restoration and blessing.
As Ahab, king of Israel, was the first to introduce and establish the Asherah worship, so the reference here, in the Epistle to the assembly of Philadelphia, is to Hezekiah, king of Judah, who did much to destroy it and cast it out.
In 2 Chron. 31:1, Hezekiah "brake in pieces the pillars (marg. obelisks), and hewed down the Asherim" (R.V.).
His two predecessors, like himself, are described with special reference to their connection with the Temple and with the Temple worship. Indeed, these three kings of Judah are linked together as being three of the four reigns in which Isaiah prophesied, namely, "Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah" (Isa. 1:2).
Jotham "entered not into the temple of the Lord" (2 Chron. 27: 2).
Ahaz "shut up the doors of the house of the Lord" (2 Chron. 28: 24).
Hezekiah, at the beginning of his reign, "in the first year, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord" (2 Chron. 29: 3).
In Isa. 22:22 there is a further reference to this point. Shebna, the Treasurer, had misused his trust for his own glorification (see Isa. 22:15-19). On this account he was ordered to be deposed, by Divine command, and "the key of the house of David" was laid upon the shoulder of Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah (vers. 20-25): "And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so the shall open, and none shall shut, and he shall shut, and none shall open" (ver. 22).
Eliakim means God will raise up: and there can be no doubt whatever that we have here a prophetic reference to Christ, whom God would raise up. Indeed, the whole passage (vers. 20-25) reads more like prophecy than history; and points very distinctly forward to the Temple which He Himself will build, and will fill with His glory.
It is remarkable to notice how, in writing to this Assembly in Philadelphia (Rev. 3:7), the Lord takes these very words and applies them to Himself, saying: "These things saith he... that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth."
The reference here to Isa. 22:22 is unmistakable, and it is clear that we have a reference to another and subsequent, but closely connected, event in the Old Testament history.
With this reference we can understand the announcement to the Assembly of Philadelphia in Rev. 3:8: "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it."
7. LAODICEA - THE PERIOD OF
JUDAH'S REMOVAL.
(The Minor Prophets).
We reach, in this last Epistle, the lowest point of Judah's degradation, in that long line of departure from God, from the day Israel left her "first love," even the day of her espousals, when brought forth out of Egypt, down, down through one vast scene of idolatry and judgment, until we find that nation described in the Epistle to the Assembly in Laodicea in a condition of spiritual destitution such as characterised the People in the period of the Minor Prophets.
Indeed, so complete is the correspondence, that to see it we must wait till we take the Epistle sentence by sentence, and look at the passages from the Prophets, which we shall there place side by side. We give one or two as examples:
[Since I am running out of space, I will put
down the scriptures to compare rather than write them all out side by side]
Compare Rev. 2:17 with Hos. 2:5, 8, 9
Compare Rev. 3:18 with Isa. 55:1, 2; Hos. 2:3; Jer. 13:25, 26; Isa. 59:10, 66:17; See also Mal. 3:3.
Compare Rev. 3:19 with Isa. 43:4; Deut 7:8 and 8:5; Mal. 3:7 – “Return unto me and I will return unto you” is another form of Rev. 3:19.
In verse 16, the Lord speaks of spueing out the angel. This is the very expression used prophetically in Lev18:25-28 of Israel; where Jehovah warns that, if they adopted the abominations of heathen idolatry, the Land might spue them out (compare Jer9:19; Ezek. 36:13, 17).
All this shows that the references in this last Epistle do not in any way fit the Church of God, but agree in every particular with Israel's history, and are referred to so as to enlighten them from their own past history, and thus warn them as to future evils which will then surround them.”
There is a section after this in the book which covers the promises and blessings to the seven assemblies when they repent and overcome. This is more on the positive side but I have no room left to write it here. This book is online however, and if you have Internet access, you can view it for free at
http://philologos.org/__eb-ta/default.htm “The Seven Assemblies and their Promises” is in section XV in the Table of Contents.
CORRECTIONS ON MARS
In earlier writings and videos I stated that Mars will be at its brightest for the next 1,000 (actually 1,010) years on August 28, 2003, when it is at opposition. That is the information that I got out of the August 1993 issue of Astronomy magazine. I have recently done further research on this using the Dance of the Planets astronomy program and found that Mars gets as close or closer to the earth as it does in late August 2003 twelve times before its closest rendezvous of them all on August 9, 3013. Its next close approach, which is as close as the 2003 rendezvous, will occur on August 19, 2129. Then there will be a slightly closer approach on August 29, 2287.
However, this August Mars will be closer to the earth than at any time during Biblical history thus far. Some say it is the closest in the last 73,000 years, while others say it is the closest in the last 60,000 years. It depends on whose calculations you go by. At any rate, it is still the closest in Biblical history (See Chart 319 below for the changing size of Mars in 2003). But it will get closer over the next millennium.
Chart 319 – Changing size of Mars as it
approaches it’s closest distance to the Earth in Biblical history on August 27,
2003
Also, its closest approach will occur on August 27 and not August 28. On August 28, Mars will reach opposition. When Jupiter and Saturn reach opposition, they are at their closest approach to the earth and at their brightest for the year. They are at a much more further distance from the earth than Mars. Mars can reach its closest approach to Earth (in angular distance) before it reaches opposition (this is new to me). However, in the early evening of August 28, Mars will be at opposition and still be very bright (very close to its brightness the night before) to kick off the first day of Elul on the Hebrew calendar. Elul 1 begins the 40 days of repentance to the Day of Atonement.
This may be a special season of repentance for Israel, especially in relation to the seven assemblies. Mars represents Michael the warrior angel and, or, war and blood. It is at the opening of the first two seals of Rev. 6 that there is mention of war (where there is war, there is blood). There will be more on this later.
This is a Voice Crying in the Heavens,
REPENT: for the kingdom of heaven is
near.