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Jesus said that in the end time there will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars. The word "Signs" means something different from tokens and different from wonders and different from miracles. In Hebrews 2:4 the three words are used successively, and more importantly, separately. "God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will." Therefore it is obvious that they mean different things.
I think by any stretch of the imagination that the word miracles means something totally supernatural, cannot have occurred without Divine direction. Resurrecting people or healing their illnesses on the spot is a miracle. A sign, for which the same Greek word is used in many cases, also means pointing toward the Word's truth in a confirmation. For example, in Luke 2:12 the angel said to the shepherds, "This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." It is not a miracle to see a baby in swaddling cloths. It wouldn't even be unusual to see a baby in a manger in the barn, it was really crowded in many towns during the time of the census as mass populations were on the move. It was more like a declaration of proof of what the angels were saying, 'Go see, when you find the sign you will know what is stated is true.' And, of course, the circumstances of the baby's birth and the reason for it was a miracle, as the world discovered later.
A sign is just that, like the signs you see on the highway, "Des Moines, 235 miles." You already knew you were on the road to Des Moines, and you already knew it was pretty far, but it's still nice to see the sign confirming it.
Back to Jesus' statement that there will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars. I believe we have seen signs in the sun and stars (& planets) but the only sign absent has been the signs in the moon. But turning to this week's activity up in the cold reaches of space, we have a spate of scientists scratching their collective heads at the mis-behavior of Jupiter and the sun, and jumping up and down in excitement at Comet McNaught brightening so quickly.
What's wrong with the sun?
Sunspots and other clues indicate that the sun's magnetic activity is diminishing, and that the sun may even be shrinking. Together the results hint that something profound is happening inside the sun. The big question is what?
Jupiter Impact: Mystery of the Missing Debris
On June 3rd, 2010, something hit Jupiter. A comet or asteroid descended from the black of space, struck the planet's cloudtops, and disintegrated, producing a flash of light so bright it was visible in backyard telescopes on Earth. Soon, observers around the world were training their optics on the impact site, waiting to monitor the cindery cloud of debris which always seems to accompany a strike of this kind.
They're still waiting.
"It's as if Jupiter just swallowed the thing whole," says Anthony Wesley of Australia, one of two amateur astronomers who recorded the initial flash. The other, Christopher Go of the Philippines, says "it was thrilling to see the impact, but the absence of any visible debris has got us scratching our heads."
Newly discovered comet dazzles skywatchers with increasing brightness
Skywatchers are dazzled as a recently discovered comet is becoming brighter than initial predictions and can now be seen with the unaided eye during the next few weeks. Australian astronomer Robert McNaught discovered Comet McNaught last September Although initially an extremely faint object, it is now visible for people with dark skies away from urban and suburban lighting. By mid-June it may be an easy skywatching target for most people, reports Fox News. With the beginning of April, the comet was estimated at magnitude +12—this is still about 250 times dimmer than the faintest star that one might see without any optical aid. But the comet started brightening more rapidly in the days and weeks that followed and it is now bright enough to be glimpsed with the naked eye in a dark clear sky.
Has Jupiter sent cosmology down a false trail?
I think by any stretch of the imagination that the word miracles means something totally supernatural, cannot have occurred without Divine direction. Resurrecting people or healing their illnesses on the spot is a miracle. A sign, for which the same Greek word is used in many cases, also means pointing toward the Word's truth in a confirmation. For example, in Luke 2:12 the angel said to the shepherds, "This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." It is not a miracle to see a baby in swaddling cloths. It wouldn't even be unusual to see a baby in a manger in the barn, it was really crowded in many towns during the time of the census as mass populations were on the move. It was more like a declaration of proof of what the angels were saying, 'Go see, when you find the sign you will know what is stated is true.' And, of course, the circumstances of the baby's birth and the reason for it was a miracle, as the world discovered later.
A sign is just that, like the signs you see on the highway, "Des Moines, 235 miles." You already knew you were on the road to Des Moines, and you already knew it was pretty far, but it's still nice to see the sign confirming it.
Back to Jesus' statement that there will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars. I believe we have seen signs in the sun and stars (& planets) but the only sign absent has been the signs in the moon. But turning to this week's activity up in the cold reaches of space, we have a spate of scientists scratching their collective heads at the mis-behavior of Jupiter and the sun, and jumping up and down in excitement at Comet McNaught brightening so quickly.
What's wrong with the sun?
Sunspots and other clues indicate that the sun's magnetic activity is diminishing, and that the sun may even be shrinking. Together the results hint that something profound is happening inside the sun. The big question is what?
Jupiter Impact: Mystery of the Missing Debris
On June 3rd, 2010, something hit Jupiter. A comet or asteroid descended from the black of space, struck the planet's cloudtops, and disintegrated, producing a flash of light so bright it was visible in backyard telescopes on Earth. Soon, observers around the world were training their optics on the impact site, waiting to monitor the cindery cloud of debris which always seems to accompany a strike of this kind.
They're still waiting.
"It's as if Jupiter just swallowed the thing whole," says Anthony Wesley of Australia, one of two amateur astronomers who recorded the initial flash. The other, Christopher Go of the Philippines, says "it was thrilling to see the impact, but the absence of any visible debris has got us scratching our heads."
Newly discovered comet dazzles skywatchers with increasing brightness
Skywatchers are dazzled as a recently discovered comet is becoming brighter than initial predictions and can now be seen with the unaided eye during the next few weeks. Australian astronomer Robert McNaught discovered Comet McNaught last September Although initially an extremely faint object, it is now visible for people with dark skies away from urban and suburban lighting. By mid-June it may be an easy skywatching target for most people, reports Fox News. With the beginning of April, the comet was estimated at magnitude +12—this is still about 250 times dimmer than the faintest star that one might see without any optical aid. But the comet started brightening more rapidly in the days and weeks that followed and it is now bright enough to be glimpsed with the naked eye in a dark clear sky.
Has Jupiter sent cosmology down a false trail?
It's supposed to be the "gold standard" of evidence supporting the standard model of cosmology– including dark matter, dark energy and the exponential expansion after the big bang known as inflation. But could it be wrong? Might misleading measurements by NASA's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) have been leading us towards the wrong theory of cosmology? One astrophysicist thinks so, and he says the planet Jupiter is to blame – though others insist that there is nothing amiss.
Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (Luke 21:26)As the end time ticks over into the Tribulation, the heavenly bodies are shaken in ways that no one can miss. As Joel 2:10 describes, "Before them the earth quakes, The heavens tremble, The sun and the moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness." Has the process of signs in the heavenly bodies started now, before the Tribulation? According to Revelation and other verses, I believe that all the prophecies given in the bible have been either fulfilled or are in some stage of near fulfillment because the Tribulation is that near. So, yes, I think the process of signs in the sun/moon/stars has begun. Look to the moon, that is the only celestial body not to have been giving a sign as yet or have been causing scientists to scratch their heads in amazement in the change in standard behavior. But it will. Oh, it will. The Lord's Word is good and He is faithful to the truth.
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