Page 201 - Foundations

John 10:17-18
"For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one has
taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and
I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."

The authority of the stars in the heavens is expressed in another passage of Scripture. In the book of
Judges we read the story of Barak and Deborah and their victory over the armies of the Canaanites.
Yahweh wrought a mighty victory for the people of Israel that day. It was so complete that not a
single man was left alive of the army of Sisera. In commemoration of the magnificent victory,
Deborah and Barak sang a song of praise in which we find the following words:

Judges 5:20
The stars fought from heaven, from their courses they fought against Sisera.

Repeatedly in the Bible we read of the stars having assigned “courses.” What is meant by this is that
Yahweh has established the circuit of the stars in the heavens. These circuits bring certain stars and
constellations into key alignments that announce the will of God, some part of His divine plan of the
ages. On this day the stars foretold the victory of Israel and the destruction of her enemies. By a figure
of speech it could be said that “The stars fought from heaven, from their courses they fought against
Sisera.”

Unless Yahweh had established the course of the heavenly luminaries, and had ascribed to them a
form of symbolic speech, a speech that was communicated through figures and various alignments,
eclipses, and conjunctions, man would be unable to understand the stellar prophecy. The Scriptures
reveal that the people of God, at least some of them, did indeed understand this heavenly speech. In
other Bible passages we find Yahweh making mention of the constellations.

Job 9:5-9
It is God who... commands the sun not to shine, and sets a seal upon the stars; Who alone stretches
out the heavens, and tramples down the waves of the sea; Who makes Arcturus (Osh), Orion (Kesil),
and the Pleiades (Kimah), and the chambers (constellations?) of the south...

In chapter 41 of Job Yahweh describes Leviathan. The description is of a fire breathing dragon. Some
would suppose that this is a description of some dangerous beast alive at the time of Job. Whether
or not there is truth to this, it should be considered that the description is illustrative of a number of
heavenly constellations, including Hydra the sea monster and Draco the dragon. Isaiah the prophet
also mentions the constellations of the heavens.

Isaiah 13:10
For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark
when it rises, and the moon will not shed its light.

Isaiah is writing these words under direct inspiration of Yahweh. One might well ask, “If the
constellations were of pagan origin, or were some vain creation of man’s imagination, why does
Yahweh make mention of them?” Everything else in this verse is a creation of Yahweh. The passage