The promised Seed of the woman!

Before there ever was a Bible, God placed the stars in the heavens to tell His Story. His word says, "Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power not one of them is missing" (Isaiah 40:26).

Every star is exactly where God placed it in the heavens. When the Lord says, none of them is missing, the Hebrew would better translate as 'not one is out of place.' We are going to examine the 12 major constellations as well as an additional 36 minor constellations. Each is exactly where God has placed it and God was the first to call them by name. He leads them forths from day to day, month to month, and year to year. And He has commanded that we lift up our eyes and see these stars!

The Hebrew Secular year begins in the fall and the first constellation to pass through the heavens in their year is Bethulah which translates as a virgin, hence the Latin name that has been passed down to us today matches in meaning from the name Virgo. Virgo the virgin is holding a branch in her right hand and ears of corn in her left. The ears are symbolic of seed. Jesus spoke often of seed, once saying, "Unless a grain of wheat (which is a seed) falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24).

The very first Messianic prophecy concerning Jesus is found early in the book of Genesis when the Lord says to the serpent, "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel" (Genesis 3:15). Notice that the one who will destroy the serpent is the "seed of a woman." Although men are the ones who carry the seed, the anointed one would not be born of the seed of men, instead he is called the seed of a woman.

God had promised that He would do a great sign, "A virgin will be with child and she shall bear a Son, and she will call His name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). This is the sign described by God in the constellations of heaven. Virgo carries the promised seed of the woman at the same time her right hand is holding the branch.

Amazingly the Alpha star, or brightest star, of Virgo is called Spica, which means an ear of corn. But the ancient Hebrew name for this star is Tsemech, which is the Hebrew word for branch. There are some twenty different Hebrew words for branch or sprig, but this one is unique as it is only used to describe the coming Messiah of the Old Testament. Tsemech appears four different ways in the Old Testament describing four different attributes of the Messiah.

"Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "When I shall raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as King" (Jeremiah 23:5). This righteous Branch who will reign as king parallels the description of we get of Messiah the King in the Gospel of Matthew.

The next description of the Branch, Tsemech, is found in the writtings of Zechariah where the Lord says, "For behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch" (Zechariah 3:9). The Branch, Messiah, the servant is how He is described in the Gospel of Mark.

Zechariah foretells another attribute of the Branch when he wrote, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Behold, a man whose name is Branch'" (Zechariah 6:12). The man who is Messiah is exactly how the Gospel of Luke describes him when he consistantly writes of Jesus as the son of man.

Lastly, the Branch is said to be of God when Isaiah wrote, "In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious" (Isaiah 4:2). The Branch, Messiah, of the LORD, which parallels the last of the four gospels descriptions written in the Gospel of John where he frequently used the term son of God to describe Jesus.

Each of these four uses paralleling all four of the gospels each hidden in the Hebrew name of the brightest star in Virgo. While the second brightest star in the constellation confirms the last passage we just read from Isaiah. It's name Zavijaveh, means gloriously beautiful.

The last star we are going to examine is the star Al Mureddin, which means who shall come down as found in Psalm 72:8. The Chaldean name for this star is Vindemiatrix, which means the son, or branch, who comes.

The meaning hidden within the names of the of the stars of this constellation reveal a seed of a woman who is the gloriously beautiful one, who comes down as a king, a servant, a man, and God. He is the promised the Son who comes of a virgin.

Tomorrow we will examine the three companion constellations of Virgo, they are Coma, Centarus, and Bootes.