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Celestial
Witnesses of Christ Breaking the Bands of Death
by John P.
Pratt
Celestial
witnesses testify of the accuracy of the New Testament account that
Christ broke the bands of death on Easter Sunday, 3 April, A.D.
33. The two morning stars, Venus and Mercury, appeared to be cutting
one of the bands in the "Bands of Death" constellation, while the
other was being severed by the slowest moving hand on the great
Celestial Clock.
The scriptures
teach that all things in the heavens testify of Jesus Christ (Moses
6:63). The last two articles in this series have shown how the Venus
calendar and the Native American Sacred Round calendars witness to his
divinity. This article completes the series by discussing how even
the stars themselves act as celestial witnesses to the Resurrection,
and even of the New Testament date for that glorious event on Sunday,
April 3, A.D. 33.
The Lord told
Moses that the stars in the heavens were to "be for signs, and for
seasons" (Gen. 1:14). Anciently the stellar constellations were
called "signs" and most nations believed that those figures were
of divine origin. Though some researchers have assumed that star
constellation figures evolved from primitive imaginations, evidence
now indicates that they form a pictorial scientific "star map" that
originated about 2900 B.C at about 36° north latitude.[1]
That corresponds well to the Hebrew tradition that the signs of
the constellations date back to Enoch.
The Book of
Enoch, which was once in the Bible and was accepted by the Savior's
apostles as written by Enoch himself (Jude 1:14), declares, "Thus,
the signs, the durations of time, the years, and the days were shown
to me [Enoch] by the angel Uriel" (1 Enoch 75:3).[2]
Here, as elsewhere in the scriptures, the constellations are called
"signs" (Gen. 1:14; Rev. 12:1,4, JST). A detailed study of the ancient
symbolism of these figures, combined with scriptural references
and a knowledge of their star names, implies that the constellations
were designed to graphically display the entire mission of the Savior.[3]
A brief introduction to the subject was included in a previous article.[4]
As will be discussed in this article, the precise positions of the
stars in the figures reveals a foreknowledge in the design which
is far beyond human knowledge. To me, the constellation figures
are a witness of the work of God and they testify of Jesus Christ.
David seems
clearly to refer to the mute testimony of the constellations:
"The
heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
Day
unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
There
is no speech nor language,
without these their voice is heard.
Their
line is gone out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world." (Psalms 19:1-4).
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Figure
1. The ecliptic is the apparent path of the sun
through the 12 constellations of the zodiac. |
Twelve of the
constellations form a band around the sky through which the sun,
moon, and visible planets all appear to travel (see Figure 1). That
circle of constellations is called the zodiac. The apparent path
of the sun is called the ecliptic. The zodiac constellations can
be thought of as the twelve numbers on a huge clock face in the
sky. The observer is at the center of the circle. At any given time
only about half of the twelve are visible because the other half
are below the horizon. The planets act as hands which move clockwise
around the clock face to tell time (see Figure 2).
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Figure
2. The zodiac constellations are the numbers
on a huge clock around the ecliptic circle. |
This article
focuses on just two of the twelve zodiac constellations. They are
The Fishes (Pisces) at 7 o'clock and the Ram (Aries) at 8 o'clock.
The two fish are tied by their tails with cords (bands) to a huge
sea monster (Cetus). The Ram is the next constellation, and is sometimes
drawn with his leg across the cords, as in the rendition in Figure
3 taken from the 1835 maps by Elijah Burritt. Most gospel interpreters
agree on the obvious meaning: Christ is the Ram (Lamb of God) which
breaks the bands of death which bind mankind to the sea monster
(Cetus), who represents both Death and Hell.
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Figure
3. The Ram, The Fishes and the Sea Monster
according to the ancient descriptions (Burritt, 1835). |
Compare this
imagery to that of Jacob in the Book of Mormon:
"O
how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape
from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and
hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of
the spirit" (2 Nephi 9:10).
Both Jacob
and the constellation imagery agree that Death and Hell are indeed
an "awful monster." The imagery of the "bands of death" is also
common throughout the Book of Mormon. For example:
"They
are raised to dwell with God who has redeemed them; thus they have
eternal life through Christ, who has broken the bands of death."
(Mosiah 15:23, also v. 8)
".
. . he breaketh the bands of death, that the grave shall have no
victory, and that the sting of death should be swallowed up in the
hopes of glory" (Alma 22:14)
Moreover, there
is another image of the "chains of hell", which are represented
in another constellation (Andromeda), a woman chained to a cliff,
who is about to be devoured by the same sea monster. As pointed
out by Jacob above, the bands of death refer to the physical death
and the chains of hell refer to spiritual death. The imagery of
the chains of hell has been used by both ancient and modern prophets:
"O
that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the
sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound,
which are the chains which bind the children of men, that they are
carried away captive down to the eternal gulf of misery and woe."
(2 Nephi 1:13)
"And
again I ask, were the bands of death broken, and the chains of hell
which encircled them about, were they loosed? I say unto you, Yea,
they were loosed, and their souls did expand, and they did sing
redeeming love. And I say unto you that they are saved." (Alma 5:7,9;
see also 5:7,10; 13:30)
"And
the saints rejoiced in their redemption, and bowed the knee and
acknowledged the Son of God as their Redeemer and Deliverer from
death and the chains of hell." (D&C 138:23)
What is the
meaning of the two fishes? It is well known that the fish was a
symbol of the early Christians. The symbol is now being revived,
and is commonly seen on bumper stickers. But why two fishes? Some
have suggested that one fish represents Israel (Old Testament) and
the other the Christians (New Testament). Others have said that
it represents Church of Christ both before and after his coming.[5]
After we consider the following discussion, the meaning will become
much more clear.
Having recognized
the meaning of the Ram who is breaking the bands of death with his
leg, let us see how the exact timing is also shown in the stars.
The Morning
Stars Sang Together
As discussed in the first of these three articles, both Venus
and Mercury serve as evening and morning stars. Calendars can be
created to track their cycles, and those calendars show that the
date indicated for the Resurrection, Sunday, 3 April A.D. 33, was
the day 1 Resurrection on the Venus calendar, and 1 Creation on
the Mercury calendar. But calendars keep track of only the average
position in the sky. The actual planet can be ahead or behind of
that position by several days and it can be several degrees above
or below the ecliptic. So what were the actual positions of the
two morning stars on the morning of the resurrection?
It turns out
that both of the morning stars were right at one of the two bands
of death, with Venus nearly stationary at it and Mercury moving
across as if to be cutting it. As we have seen, both of these morning
stars represent Christ, and Venus was right at the "Resurrection"
day in it's cycle. Thus, this imagery serves as yet another witness
for the correctness of that date. Venus and Mercury only align on
a band every few years, and did not occur at the other more widely
accepted proposed date for the Resurrection in A.D. 30. Because
this sign recurs fairly frequently, it is not by itself a conclusive
witness for the date, but it is one of many. There is, however,
another celestial gong that sounded at that time which only struck
once in all of history.
Cutting the
Bands of Death
To understand the unique and precise celestial sign of the Resurrection
of Jesus Christ, we must review some principles taught in Astronomy
101. There is a celestial phenomenon called the "precession of the
equinoxes" which is necessary to understand to appreciate this evidence.
Our Gregorian
calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox (sometimes loosely
called the "First day of Spring") on March 20 or 21. That is the
spring day on which the sun rises most nearly due east. It marks
the time when the sun crosses from the southern half of the sky
to the northern, bringing longer and warmer days to the northern
hemisphere. "Equinox" simply means "Equal nights" meaning that it
is the day on which the day and night have the same duration. "Vernal"
refers to spring; there is also an autumnal equinox in the fall
when the days and night are again of equal length.
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Figure
4. The earth's axis now points to Polaris,
but it draws a circle ("precesses") in the sky.
In A.D. 14,000 it will point to the star Vega. |
Where is the
sun among the stars each year on the day of the vernal equinox?
The ecliptic, as discussed above, is the apparent path of the sun
through the zodiac constellations, so the sun is always found along
the ecliptic somewhere. Of course, the sun is so bright that it
renders the stars all invisible, but if we could see them, we would
see that the sun is not at exactly the same place on the ecliptic
every year at the spring equinox. The location of the sun on the
ecliptic at the vernal equinox slowly moves ("precesses") around
the ecliptic about 1° every 72 years because of a phenomenon
called the "precession of the equinoxes." That is a super slow motion;
the equinox takes about 26,000 years to precess all the way around
the ecliptic. "Precession" refers to the kind of wobbling a child's
spinning top does as it slows down. As the earth's axis of rotation
precesses the north pole of the earth draws a large circle in the
sky. Currently the earth's polar axis points to the star Polaris
which is often called simply the "North Star". But 12,000 years
from now, an entirely different star will be called the "North Star"
(See Fig. 4). And 26,000 years from now, if the orbit of the earth
were to remain unchanged, Polaris would again be the North Star.
The position
on the ecliptic of the sun at the vernal equinox was between the
horns of the Bull (Taurus) during the days of Adam, which was apparently
represented in Egyptian hieroglyphs by a bull with the sun between
its horns. Then around the time of Abraham, it moved into the constellation
of the Ram (Aries), and became known as the "first point of Aries".
Even today, someone born on March 21st is said to be born when the
sun was in the sign of Aries, but that correlation is 4,000 years
out of date. About the time of Christ the vernal equinox moved into
The Fishes (Pisces), and now it is nearing The Water Bearer (Aquarius).
The digression
explaining the precession of the equinoxes was necessary to appreciate
a very subtle yet precise witness of the date of the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. This very slow celestial motion could clearly be
useful for measuring very long ages throughout history, and there
is evidence that the Lord has used it. For example, in the Book
of Enoch, a dream of Enoch is recorded which encapsulates all of
human history, including the restoration of the gospel and the eventual
dominion of the Kingdom of God. People are represented by animals
in the dream. All of the patriarchs from Adam through Isaac are
represented by cattle, but beginning with Jacob they are represented
as sheep up to the time of Christ (Enoch 84-89). After the time
of Christ the Christians referred to themselves as fish. All three
of these types can be understood by referring to the different ages
according to the precession of the equinoxes. The first patriarchs
all lived in the Age of Taurus, the Bull, corresponding to the cattle
imagery. The next set lived during the Age of the Ram, and were
represented as sheep. With Christ began the Age of the Fishes, and
the Christians characterize themselves as fish. The next age will
be the Age of the Water Bearer, so the saints should be represented
by people. The Water Bearer is another type of Christ because he
is the man who brings the living water to pour out on the head of
the fish.
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Water
Bearer (Christ) pours
living water (blessings) onto
head of Fish (Church).
(compare D.C. 110:10, 121:33)
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But exactly when
did each of these ages begin? Note that asking this question does
not imply any acceptance of astrology, which often includes the belief
that your destiny is written in the stars and that they influence
you. Instead, it is simply accepting another aspect of the great Clock
in the Sky: there is a very slowing moving hand called the precession
of the equinoxes, and it keeps long term time. Please keep in mind
that my articles deal only with the reckoning of time, which is the
practical use of astronomy which was revealed to Abraham, Enoch and
other prophets.
Even astronomers
don't know exactly when the different ages begin, or exactly how
long they are. There have been several problems. First, the coordinate
systems used by astronomers are not even tied to the stars, but
rather to the earth and sun. Astronomers don't think of the precession
as being the equinox moving along the ecliptic through the stars,
but rather the star maps themselves precessing past a fixed equinox
tied to the earth (the point due east on March 20/21). That is defined
to be the zero point from which they measure. That tradition began
before astronomers had even discovered the precession of the equinoxes.
To this day, astronomers still have to make new star maps about
every 50 years because of precession. If we did that with maps of
the earth, it would mean that longitude would not be measured from
a fixed point on the earth, as we do from Greenwich England, but
from a point slowly drifting across the ocean, such as a super slow
ship. As that zero-point ship would drift, we would have to update
all the maps in the world. The second problem is that astronomers
have defined the boundaries of the constellations in an arbitrary
way, which is not particularly useful if one is concerned about
what the angel showed Enoch. Fortunately, many of the exact ancient
star positions have been preserved because it was believed that
the figures had been drawn by a divine hand. The third problem is
that no average (uniform) rate of the precession has been agreed
upon; it varies slowly from year to year and no need has been recognized
to define a constant rate.
To solve the
first problem, I chose one fixed star to be the zero point of "sidereal
longitude" (meaning longitude measured relative to the stars, similar
to longitude on earth). The star chosen seems to be one indicated
in the constellations themselves, being in the head of the head
constellation, the Virgin (the number 1 on the clock). It is the
left eye of the Virgin as shown in Figure 2. Moreover, there are
several other natural markers about 30 degrees apart around the
ecliptic circle. One of those natural boundary markers is the eastern
cord of The Fishes. It is very nearly perpendicular to the ecliptic
and serves as a fine natural constellation boundary. When I submitted
this new coordinate system to astronomical journals, it was claimed
that the current systems are adequate. I have decided to publish
it on my own web site at this time because it is now needed to understand
this witness of Jesus Christ.[6]
Knowing the
starting point, the second problem of knowing the precise edge of
the constellations is solved by assigning each of the twelve zodiac
constellations exactly 30° along the ecliptic, even though
the actual pictures vary from that average. And the third problem,
the rate of precession can be assigned the uniform rate of exactly
1° each 72 years, being exactly 50" per year, which is an excellent
average over the history [7]. The last detail is
to define the position of the uniform precession on some precise
date so that it can be used as a clock hand. I defined it to be
entering the constellation of the Fishes on the spring equinox of
the year 1 B.C. very near to the beginning of our usual calendrical
era. The mean equinox must be defined very near that date in order
for it to stay close to the true equinox throughout history. As
mentioned above, the edge of the constellation of the Fishes is
marked by the eastern Band, which is nearly perpendicular to the
ecliptic and forms a fine natural marker. Thus, using this system,
the Age of Pisces, the Fishes, began on March 21, 1 B.C. on our
calendar, about two weeks before the birth of Christ. And because
the eastern band approximately marks that boundary, symbolically,
the eastern band was broken at the birth of Christ. This however,
is by my design, which I'm hoping might be very near to God's design,
because it uses all of the natural star boundaries for the constellations.
Thus cutting of the Bands of Death is not the witness I'm referring
to because it is designed into the system. The witness occurred
at the Resurrection, not the birth, of the Savior.
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Figure
5. The numbers below the Ram and Fishes
represent the vernal equinox during the indicated years. |
Where was the
uniform vernal equinox at the resurrection of the Savior? It is
now precisely defined by this system. It moves at exactly 1°
every 72 years so it would not have moved quite a half a degree
into the constellation of the Fishes by the time of the Savior's
resurrection on Sunday, 3 April A.D. 33. The motion of the uniform
vernal equinox around the ecliptic is shown by the years below the
Ram and the Fishes in Figure 5. It is easy to calculate its exact
position on that day, and it turns out that at that time, the uniform
vernal equinox coincided with the sidereal longitude of the star
which is the knot that ties the band to the tail of the eastern
fish. In other words, the uniform equinox cut the knot in the
Bands of Death which ties the eastern fish to the awful monster
right at the time of the Resurrection.[8] More
research is required to determine whether there is a pattern in
which other key stars in constellations are crossed by the uniform
equinox on important religious dates, but this example seems so
striking that it must be mentioned even if it turns out to be unique.
After all, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is arguably the most
important date in history, and it should not be surprising that
this kind of high precision might have been intended by the Lord
for that particular event. Why else would it be necessary for an
angel to show Enoch exactly how the constellations should be drawn?
Now consider
what the two fish represent. The first one spans the time on the
ecliptic which corresponds to about 100 B.C. to A.D. 300. That fits
very nicely with the Church of Jesus Christ, remembering both the
Eastern and Western Hemisphere. The second fish begins very nearly
at the year 1800 and extends well into the Millennium. Thus to me
it seems most probable that the two fishes represent the early Church
of Jesus Christ and the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
In conclusion,
there are many celestial witnesses of the dates of the birth and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. Surely these are the kinds of "signs"
that the Lord had in mind when he told Moses that the planets and
stars were for "signs and for seasons" (Gen. 1:14). There were clear
signs of his birth, which the wise men correctly read. And there
were signs of his Resurrection. There are many witnesses that the
date of the Resurrection was Sunday, 3 April A.D. 33: (1) it is
the precise date indicated by all four of the Gospels, (2) it is
indicated by the combined testimonies of the Book of Mormon which
indicates the exact length of the Savior's life, combined with the
Doctrine and Covenants which indicates the day of his birth,[9]
(3) it is indicated as coinciding with the very day of the Resurrection
of Venus, (4) the planet Mercury adds its witness by being right
on its Creation day at the birth, baptism and also resurrection
of Christ, (5) it was right on the day of the offering of the sheaf
of the firstfruits of the ground according to the Hebrew Calendar,
(6) both the planets Mercury and Venus were right at one of the
Bands of Death constellation, and (7) the mean vernal equinox cut
the very star representing the knot in the band of death at the
tail of the first fish at that time. Truly the record in the heavens
testifies of the greatest event in history, the Resurrection of
our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Notes
1. Thurston, Hugh, Early Astronomy,
(New York: Springer-Verlag, 1994), pp. 135-137.
2.
Charlesworth, James H., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha
(New York: Doubleday, 1983) vol. 1, p. 54 (1 Enoch 75:3). Better
translations of astronomical terms are found in Laurence, Richard,
The Book of Enoch The Prophet, reprinted by Wizards Bookshelf,
San Diego, 1995, where those verses are numbered 74:4-7. Most other
translators never understood that "signs" often referred to constellations.
The Laurence translation and
that by Charles can
both be found on the internet.
3.
For example, Seiss, Joseph, The Gospel in the Stars, Grand
Rapids, Michigan: Kregel, 1972, or Bullinger, E.W., The Witness
of the Stars, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel, 1967. Translations
of star names should be taken from Kunitzch, Paul and Smart, Tim,
Modern Star Names and Their Derivation, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrossowitz,
1986.
4.
Pratt, John P., "What Every Mormon
Should Know About Astronomy," Meridian Magazine, 12 May 2000.
5.
Seiss is in the latter camp, Bullinger in the former. (See footnote
3).
6.
Pratt, John P., "Coordinates
for the Constellations," 25 Apr 2001, www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/sidereal/sidereal.html.
7.
This constant rate is within 0.27° for the period 3400 B.C.
to 4800 A.D. (see footnote 6). The Savior may have alluded to this
rate when he taught his apostles that the "age of man" was 72 years
(3 Nephi 28:2-3). Moreover, the Hebrew hour is not divided into
minutes and seconds, but rather into 1,080 parts, for a total of
25,920 parts per day. That makes the day a precise miniature of
the 25,920 year precessional cycle, if this uniform rate is adopted
(360 x 72 = 25,920).
8.
To the precision to which we know the position of that star (Rho
Psc) at the time, the mean vernal equinox probably crossed that
star during the first week of April, A.D. 33. give or take a month.
9.
Pratt, J.P., "The Restoration of Priesthood Keys on Easter 1836:
Dating
the First Easter," Ensign (June, 1985), pp. 55-64.
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