Days of Vengeance - The Preterist Archive

4:5-8
19) led Biblical writers to substitute the Eagle in its
place; some scholars, however, have argued that “in
Abraham’s day Scorpio was figured as an Eagle,”
according to the Chaldean system then in vogue. 25 The
faces of the cherubim, in both Ezekiel and Revelation,
are the middle signs in the four quarters of the Zodiac:
the Lion is Leo; the Bull is Taurus; the Man is
Aquarius, the Waterer; and the Eagle, as we have seen,
is “Scorpio.” St. John lists them here in counterclockwise
order, backward around the Zodiac (probably
because he is viewing them from above, in heaven,
rather than from below, on earth); but when he uses
them in the structure of his prophecy itself, he lists
them in the direct order of the seasons. 26 After the
Preamble (chapter 1), the Revelation is divided into
four quarters, each “ruled” by one of these creatures.
The first quarter (Chapters 2-3) was ruled by Taurus;
thus the emphasis on the Seven Stars, on the shoulder
of the Bull. The second quarter (Chapters 4-7) is ruled
by the figure of “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah,” who
has conquered to open the sealed Book. The Eagle flies
in midheaven with cries of woe throughout the third
quarter (Chapters 8-14). And the fourth quarter
(Chapters 15-22) is governed by the Man, Aquarius the
“Water-Pourer” (cf. the pouring out of the Chalices of
wrath, and the River of Life flowing out from the
Throne).
There is nothing occult about any of this. Indeed, the
Bible strongly condemns all forms of occultism (the
desire for esoteric or autonomous wisdom), including
astrological occultism (Deut. 18:9-13; 2 Kings 23:3-5;
Isa. 8:19-20; 44:24-25; 47:8-15). 27 But this does not
mean that the constellations themselves are evil, any
more than pagan sun-worship prohibits us from seeing
the sun as a symbol of Christ (Ps. 19:4-6; Mal. 4:2; Luke
1:78; Eph. 5:14). On the contrary: The constellations
were created by God and manifest His glory (Ps. 19:1-
6). They are not simply random groups of stars
(nothing in God’s universe is random, in the ultimate
sense); rather, they have been specifically placed there
by God (Job 9:7-9; 26:13; 38:31-33; Amos 5:8). 28 The
arrangement of the twelve tribes of Israel around the
Tabernacle (Num. 2) corresponded to the order of the
Zodiac; 29 and, like the cherubim, four of the tribes
represented the middle signs of each quarter: Judah was
the Lion, Reuben the Man, Ephraim the Bull, and Dan
the Eagle. 30 The reason for the correspondences
between Israel and the stars is explained by Gordon J.
Wenham: “Scripture frequently refers to the celestial
bodies as God’s heavenly host (e.g. Deut. 4:19), while
the armies of Israel are his earthly hosts (e.g. Josh. 5:14
and throughout Num. 1). The earthly tabernacle was a
replica of God’s heavenly dwelling (Ex. 25:9, 40). Both
were attended by the armies of the LORD. Finally,
Genesis 37:9 compares Jacob and his sons (the
ancestors of the twelve tribes) to the sun, moon, and
stars.” 31 The most famous example of astronomical
symbolism in the Bible, of course, is that the birth of
the Messiah Himself was announced to the Magi by the
stars (Matt. 2:2), as had been foretold (Num. 24:17; Isa.
60:1-3). 32
St. John next describes the worship carried on by the
four living creatures, using a choral section to interpret
for us the meaning of the symbols in his vision of the
Throne – a device he repeats throughout the book. He
draws our attention to the living creatures’ six wings,
in order to associate them with the seraphim of Isaiah’s
vision:
In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the LORD sitting
on a Throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe
filling the Temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having
six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he
covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to
another and said:
Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, The whole earth
is full of His glory. (Isa. 6:1-3)
Similarly, the living creatures in the Revelation have it
as their chief end to glorify God and to enjoy Him
forever, praising Him – apparently antiphonally, as
Isaiah’s seraphim did – for His holiness, His almighty
power, and His eternity: Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord
God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is
to come. This too has its counterpart in the standard
Christian liturgy, in which the Sanctus follows the
Sursum Corda:
Officiant: Therefore with Angels and Archangels, and
with all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Thy
glorious Name; evermore praising Thee and saying,
All: HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, Lord God of Sabaoth; Heaven
and earth are full of Thy glory; Hosanna in the highest!
9-11 But the heavenly praise does not end with the
song of the living creatures; for when they give glory
and honor and thanks to God, the twenty-four elders
join in with antiphonal (or responsive) praise
themselves. They will fall down before Him . . . and
will worship Him . . . and will cast their crowns
before the Throne, acknowledging that their authority
and dominion derive from Him. They go on to praise
26. Incidentally, the term Zodiac is not an occult word; it simply means circle,
and refers to the apparent path of the sun through the heavens. The twelve
major constellations are the groups of stars arranged along the sun’s path.
27. The best Christian refutation of the astrological delusion is in St. Augustine’s
City of God, Book V, chapters 1-11.
28. For a study of the relationship of the constellations to the Biblical message,
see Joseph A. Seiss, The Gospel in the Stars (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications,
[1882] 1972).
29. Or, as good Augustinians, we can say that the Zodiac corresponds to the
order of the twelve tribes!
30. See Ernest L. Martin, The Birth of Christ Recalculated (Pasadena, CA:
Foundation for Biblical Research, second cd., 1980), pp. 167ff.; cf. J. A.
Thompson, Numbers, in D. Guthrie and J. A. Motyer, eds., The New Bible
Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., third ed.,
1970), p. 173.
31. Gordon J. Wenham, Numbers: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers
Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1981), p. 65. Wenham is not referring to the
Zodiacal constellations, but to something even more astonishing: the fact
that the census figures of the tribes of Israel correspond to the synodic periods
of the planets! As Wenham points out, the census numbers “affirm the sacred
character of Israel. They remind us that God’s promises to Abraham have
been fulfilled, and that the holy people of God is called to struggle for him on
earth as the stars fight for him in the heavenly places” (ibid.). Wenham’s
information is based on M. Barnouin, “Les recensements du Livre des
Nombres et l’astronomie babylonienne,” Vetus Testamentum 27, 1977, pp.
280-303. This paper is available in English translation from Geneva
Ministries, P. O. Box 131300, Tyler, TX 75713.
32. See Martin, The Birth of Christ Recalculated, pp. 4-25.
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