On the 11th September 3 BC (Day 1 Month 7 - Tishri) God used the constellation Virgo to give us a sign in the heavens:That evening, from Bethlehem, as the constellation of Virgo became visible just above the horizon towards the west, it appeared as if sun set had ‘cloaked’ Virgo’s body. The crescent moon was positioned right under her feet, whereas the day before, and after, the moon was not under her feet. Also, above Virgo’s head are nine stars that form the constellation of Leo, which represents the Lion of the tribe of Judah who is Jesus. That night however Mercury, Venus and Jupiter were also in Leo, making a total of twelve stars above Virgo’s head. Planets were considered as stars in ancient days, and the word planet literally means wondering star. The book of Revelation describes a great sign in the Heavens, with the sun, moon, and stars, and describes that the child being born was Jesus:Revelation 12:1-21 And a great sign was seen in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, 2 and upon her head a crown of twelve stars, and she being with child screamed, travailing in birth, and agonised to be delivered.Revelation 12:5She gave birth to a son, a male child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron sceptre.” And her child was snatched up to God, and to his throne.The prophet Isaiah also made a prophetic allusion to this sign over 700 years before.Isaiah 7:14Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive, and give birth to a son, and will call him Emmanuel.The best time to have witnessed this momentary display was between 5:53 p.m. and 6:35 p.m. that evening, and Jesus was born at about 6:12 p.m. It’s possible to be confident that this was the time of Jesus’ birth because it was also at this precise time that the brightest star in Virgo, called Spica, which represents an ear of corn being held in Virgo’s left hand, appeared to ‘touch’ the horizon, or ‘alight to the earth.’ The name of this star in Hebrew is Tsemech which means ‘branch,’ and is the subject of prophecy by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah. Spica is actually Latin for ‘ear of corn’ or ‘a kernel of wheat’, and Jesus Himself alluded to this sign:John 12:23-2423 And Jesus responded to them, “The hour is come that the Son of Man should be magnified. 24 Truly, truly I say to you, unless a kernel of wheat alights to the earth and dies, it remains a single seed. But if it dies, it bears fruit.”There are twenty different Hebrew words for the word branch, but only one of them, Tsemech, is used exclusively in the Old Testament four times and each time it is in reference to the coming Messiah:Isaiah 4:2In that day the Branch of God will be beautiful, and resplendent, and the fruit of the land will be the pride, and splendour of the survivors in Israel.Jeremiah 23:5Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD. “When I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely, and do what is just and right in the land.Zechariah 3:8Hear O High Priest and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring My Servant, the Branch.”Zechariah 6:12-1312 And speak to him saying, this is what of Hosts says: ‘Here is the Man whose name is the Branch, and He will branch out from His place and build the Temple of God, 13 He will be clothed with majesty, and will sit, and rule on His throne. And He will be a Priest on His throne. And there will be prosperity between the two.’In studying these prophesies, several things can be learned about the identity of the Branch. He is a King, a Servant, a Man, and a Priest. His name is God, He is our Righteousness and is Jesus Himself. These themes about the Messiah were divinely developed in the Gospels. He is resented as the King in Matthew, a Servant in Mark, a Man in Luke, a Priest in John, and as Himself in John’s Revelation. This Branch prophecy is also eluded to else where:Matthew 2:23and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.The name Nazareth means ‘Branch-town,’ as the root word for Nazareth is Netzer which means branch or shoot. A Nazarene from Nazareth is like saying an Israeli from Israel. A Netzer is actually a particular kind of branch that grows from a stump of a plant that’s been cut down and has spouted up some distance from the stump, this is what happened with Jesus:Isaiah 11:1A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.The stump of Jesse relates to what happened to the Davinic line of descendants. David had taken Israel to the height of its greatest achievements, which his son Solomon maintained until his death but then the kingdom divided due to civil war and continued to decline till the southern kingdom of Judah was taken into captivity in Babylon. This was the stump. The Davinic descendants continued on into virtual obscurity until Jesus was born and this is the Shoot, the Netzer that ‘came up’ in Nazareth far from the original stump in Bethlehem where David had been born. |