Page 192 - Foundations

The Scroll of the Heavens

The twelve constellations of the zodiac are found in a narrow band that borders the path of the sun
through the heavens. If a person envisions the heavens as being a giant sphere that surrounds the
earth, the zodiac would be about 1/20th, or 18 degrees, of this globe, forming a belt around the earth.
The Romans Cicero and Vitruvius referred to the zodiac as the Orbis Signiferus, or Circulus Signifer,
meaning the Sign Bearing Circle. The shape of the zodiac, consisting of a narrow band wrapped
around the earth lends itself well to comparison to a scroll, that ancient predecessor to the book.

Scrolls were frequently made of plant material such as papyrus, or of prepared animal skins
(parchment and vellum). Inks and dyes were used to inscribe the scrolls with words and images to
preserve and communicate messages to others. In contrast, the heavenly scroll is cut from the inky
blackness of the heavens, and the message recorded upon it is written in lights. Like the Holy
Scriptures, the stellar prophecy is not a dead, static communique. It is living, and ever revealing new
truths.

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active...

The scroll of the heaven is able to bring forth new revelations, timely messages pertaining to the
appointed times (moedim) of Yahweh. At the right time the magi observed the star in the east
announcing the birth of the Savior, the King of the Jews. The heavens are truly “living and active.”
As David wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the starry skies are continuously pouring
forth speech and revealing knowledge (Psalm 19).

There will always be some who, through fear of the corruptions of Satan, reject any possibility that
Yahweh would choose to use the heavenly luminaries as a mode of communication to mankind.
Nevertheless, the testimony of Scripture substantiates the truth of the heaven’s oracular role. Indeed,
the prophets and apostles were inspired to compare the heavens to a scroll. What is a scroll, if not a
medium of communication, and one chosen by Yahweh to record and convey divine truth? If Yahweh
had not wanted His people to view the heavens as a form of divine communication, would He have
deliberately chosen to compare the heavens to a scroll?

Isaiah 34:4
All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll...