I am chasing stars

through haze on the horizon

a silver crescent,

slivered, falls into the night

I jump and follow it down

 All the sites that I have seen

Are turning back into green

I see my world coming clean

Its one of those nights where sleep doesnt come at all. It is welcome here, but when sleep avoids you like the plague, then something is wrong somewhere and nothing can be done about it. I relax my mind, and check my heart. I have no worry, no anxiety. Nothing is pressing against me in such a way that I should be awake at 1:26am on a Friday morning. I have been up since 3:25am Thursday morning.

Outside is is partially overcast. Dark clouds enshroud the moon. The traffic on the Bangkok-Khorat highway is lighter, but still noisy. Trucks pass by with a thump or three, air shocks do their thing, and whatever happens happens peacefully. Thing is, it occasionally sounds like a tire has blown out, or a vehicle has hit a street lamp. Nothing like it has happened. For a six-lane highway at 1:30 in the blinking morning, it is quiet.

A mosquito coil burns. The air conditioner silently hums to itself as it keeps temps under 30 Centigrade. Sometimes too warm, sometimes too cool. Never the right temperature.

Earlier I watched House of Flying Daggers. I wanted to see it nine years ago when I first heard about it. It was okay. I agree that it was not as good as Hero, which shares the same director. In the end it was just another love triangle movie that ends with the object of desire being killed and the lovers blaming each other for her demise, resulting in a rather long, vicious and boring fight scene. But the locations were incredibly beautiful. Fall in the mountains of China must be incredible. 

One-fifty in the morning. Still not sleepy.

Four hours and nineteen minutes before the alarm goes off. I see the bed. I'm going in. Cover me...

Zephaniah 2 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; ² Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you. ³ Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought His judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger.

It isn’t so much that the day was busy, but it was busier than usual, and resulted in several hours of overtime. The overtime could have been avoided, but in this job, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. The father looks at his watch, sees it is time to go home, and yet, he isn’t free to go home. As the work day drags on, his mood starts a downward spiral. It is made a lot more stressful because of the calls from his wife concerning the kids. All he wants to do is go home.

The wife has had her own bad day. One thing and the other happened. And while she has been busy putting things right, she hasn’t had any cooperation from the children. They refuse to clean their rooms. They have toys all over the living room. One daughter helps out, but her attitude is defiant. No matter how patient mom has tried to be with them, the kids have pushed her to her limit. She has warned the kids what will happen if they do not obey her. “Wait until your father gets home.”

Finally, things get fixed at work. The father clocks out with a little more energy than he had hours earlier. He’s looking forward to getting home. He wants to be with his wife and kids. He wants to sit down with them at the dinner table and talk with them about their day. He looks forward to helping them with their school work. Ultimately, he wants to sit back and relax and enjoy their company.

But then it happens. The unthinkable occurs without any warning whatsoever, and the father has to delay his plans to go home. He has to take an emergency trip out of town, and he might be gone a couple of days.

Over the phone he talks with his wife about the kids. Sometimes they obey her. Sometimes he talks to the kids, but the kids are restless and are in a hurry to run and play. When not on the phone, the lonely wife has to do what she can to keep the house clean, and the kids are of little to no help to her. “Wait till your father gets home.”

The day finally comes and the father can return home. He gets to see the family he loves so much. He looks forward to seeing his wife, whom he is concerned about, for she has been with the kids by herself for too long. He knows that their behavior hasn’t been very good. One boy has been picking on his sister, making her cry. Another son has been teasing his brothers and taking their toys and not sharing his own toys. A beautiful daughter has been trying to help mom out by washing dishes and doing laundry, but she is trying to get something out of it. The younger kids cry out for deliverance from their older siblings. And yet, the father longs to see his kids.

Mom is tired and looks forward to her husband returning home to help restore sanity to the household. She and a couple of children are dutifully helping clean up, but one is too busy drawing pictures. One won’t turn off the video game player. One won’t help with the dishes. At least the laundry is done. But…

“MOOOOOMMMMM!”

“Mommy!”

She takes a deep breath and sighs, “Wait till your father gets home.”

She raises her voice one last time in warning to her children. She warns them of the consequences of not helping her clean the house before daddy comes home. The younger kids take up a job enthusiastically and begin to put away their toys. A couple of kids begrudgingly take up the clean-up work. Some are ready for their dad to come walking in the front door. They know he is coming. They don’t know when he will arrive. The rest don’t seem to care either way.

Outside a car approaches the house. The wife looks out the window in anticipation. She watches her next door neighbor pull up and carry groceries into their house.

Slowly the clock ticks off another second.

There is eagerness and excitement as they wait for daddy to arrive.

“Mommy, when is daddy coming home?”
“I don’t know. It shouldn’t be too long now.”

Slowly the clock ticks off another minute.

Even the father is counting down the hours and minutes and seconds before he gets home. He wants to call and check on everyone, but that is time he could be on the road, getting closer to them with each passing mile. Stopping for gas takes time. Even though he is hungry, he avoids the temptation to stop for a snack in the convenience store and at the numerous restaurants on both sides of the road. He wants dinner with his family, and he wants nothing to interfere with that most anticipated meal.

So busy cleaning up the house has his wife been that she wasn’t able to prepare dinner. While the kids are getting hungry, there just hasn’t been time to fix anything. When he arrives home, her husband won’t have anything to eat.

And then she sees his car approaching the house. The final call goes forth, “He’s home! Daddy is home.”

Two little girls run to the door, screaming excitedly, “Daddy’s home! Daddy’s home!”

An older son with a load of trash in his hand goes out the door and smiles at his father as he gets out of the car.

As he enters the house his wife embraces him and welcomes him home. The little girls give him a hug. “We missed you, daddy!”

The father smiles at his wife and kids, but the smile fades as he looks around the house at the kids who are still goofing off with their games. In the kitchen he and his wife discuss the activities of the past few days. The father decides to reward the wife and kids who kept the house clean in his absence. He takes them out for a very nice dinner. However, most of the kids who did nothing went to bed hungry that night.

Luke 18:8 ⁷ And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? ⁸ I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Like the husband in the story I shared with you, Jesus will return to this planet to reward everyone according to their works. Some will be rewarded for works of faith. Others will be rewarded for their laziness and unbelief. We are encouraged by the prophet Zephaniah to prepare for that coming day of Christ’s revelation to the world.

Zephaniah 2 Band together, men of a nation so little loved, bind yourselves in one; ² ere resolve can bear fruit, like flying chaff passes the day.^[a] Before the divine vengeance falls on you, before the day of divine retribution comes, to the Lord betake you (to the Lord cause yourself to go)! ³ To honest doing and patient suffering betake you (commit yourself), men of humble heart wherever you be, men obedient to his will; it may be, when the hour of the Lord’s vengeance comes, you shall find refuge. (Geneva 1599)

We are being called to unity. As believers in Christ Jesus, fools among the nations, we are an unwanted people who share a common ancestry and heritage. Each of us is told to get a good hold on himself, to put himself together. The outcast peoples are to unite themselves in the time leading up to a decree that signals a day of change that is over all too soon. We need to commit ourselves to the Lord Jesus, to work patience among unbelievers, and to continue on in meekness and humbleness. By doing so, we prepare for a day when we will be able to stand in Christ’s presence, delivered from a sentence of death reserved for those who reject Him. Let us be faithful in our service to the end.

Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

The year was 1969 and Neil Armstrong had just stepped on the moon. I was four years old and living in Dayton, Ohio, just a couple of months away from starting kindergarten. The lunar landing was big news. The astronauts who traveled in their rocket ship to the moon were hailed as heroes. There was a sense of jubilation that mankind had taken its first walk among the stars.

I showed interest in the moon. My parents got me a book about the moon. I learned that some ancient peoples used to believe that once a month a giant space dragon came and ate the moon. Others believed the moon was made out of cheese. I even had a big map of the moon hanging on the wall of my bedroom. A trip to the planetarium at the Dayton Museum of Natural History would broaden my horizons where the night sky was concerned.

We were taken into a dark room and told to sit down in these recliners. The base of the dome shone with an artificial horizon glowing red, with black silhouettes of a city skyline giving us a sense of being outdoors. They brought the lights down and turned on the projector, and my class was introduced to the signs of the zodiac. We got to meet Cancer the Crab and Taurus the Bull and Leo the Lion and Aquarius the Water-Bringer.

Some constellations had stories behind them, mostly from Greek mythology. Hercules, the demigod hero, son of Zeus and a mortal woman in a fit of rage killed his family, but redeemed himself and became a hero. Orion, a mighty hunter, stung to death by Scorpio, the Scorpion found in another part of the sky. Even the bow of the Argo, the famed ship used by Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece, is found among the constellations.

Cassiopeia and her daughter Andromeda represent some of the women in mythology that were honored by the gods by being placed among the stars.

While attending the Ft. Worth First SDA church in 1999, I met a man who taught a special Sabbath school class in Biblical astronomy. He used as his text a book titled Witness of the Stars by E. W. Bullinger, published in 1893. Its foundational scripture is found in

Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows his handiwork. 2 Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world.

In his introduction, Bullinger states that for 2500 years there was no need for a written revelation concerning God, for the message found in the constellations told the gospel story. In Romans 1: 19-23, Paul explained how the invisible things of creation were used as a virtual reminder of God’s plan of salvation, and how the meaning behind each symbol in the sky was corrupted by men as they drew farther away from God. Bullinger analyzes each constellation in the zodiac and it’s supporting constellations and explains how each is related to key players in the Great Controversy between Christ and Satan.

Psalm 147:4 He decided how many stars there would be in the sky and gave each one a name.

God names the stars and the constellations, and defines the meaning behind each symbol He placed in the sky. Each star bears a name relating to the significance of each constellation.

There are two constellations I want to look at rather briefly: Orion and Eridanus.

We are familiar with Orion and the vision Ellen White had of the city of God veiled by the great nebula. We have been told that one day the city of heaven will travel from Orion to earth, and God will establish His eternal kingdom on this world redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

There are two ways to look at Orion. One is as “The Coming Prince.” Bullinger explains the meaning of the names of the stars found in Orion. Betelgeuse is translated as “the coming of the branch,” found in Malachi 3:2. Rigel is “the foot that crushes,” and symbolizes the promise that the seed of a woman would crush the head of the serpent. Bellatrix reminds us of Jesus’ promise in Revelation: Surely I come quickly. Night after night in the winter sky, Orion reminds us that our Redeemer is coming for us, and we need not to dread the winter cold.

Another view of Orion is that of Kecil, a Hebrew word for “fool” or “wicked one.” From the Assyrian point of view, Orion is known as Nimrod, a mighty hunter mentioned in Genesis who “waxed great before the Lord.” He gained his fame as a hunter who was so popular that he overshadowed God. It was Nimrod who established the early city of Babylon on the plains of Shinar. The myth is that Nimrod was chained to the sky because of his rebellion against Jehovah. The three stars in the belt never change their relative position. In Job 38, God asks the self-sufficient man if he can loosen the bindings on Orion’s belt.

The second constellation I want to look at briefly is Eridanus. From Orion’s foot comes a mighty river of stars that flows in a southerly direction. It has been called “the river of judgment,” for in the Greek myths, Phaeton, a son of Apollo took ahold of the reigns of the chariot used to drag the sun across the sky. Losing control of the chariot, Phaeton was slain by Zeus so that the world would be saved from the flames. He fell into the River Eridanus.

We can see a corruption of redemption’s story in this Greek myth. Our beliefs teach us that God spared not His Son to save us from eternal separation from Him, and to save us from the lake of fire. On our behalf, Jesus took upon Himself the punishment for our sins and He died.

It has always been Satan who has tried to paint Jesus out to be a fool, sacrificing His life on our behalf. What did Jesus get out of the crucifixion? It was utter stupidity on His behalf to try to save us, if we accept to believe Satan’s point of view of Calvary.

1 Corinthians 1 17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. 18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. 20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He takes the wise in their own craftiness.

As I see it spelled out on the nighttime sky, God’s own Fool stepped into the fire of judgment so that we would not have to. When He stepped out of the flames, God appointed Him to be the Judge of the world, for it was Jesus Christ who God called back from the dead. Acts 17:30-31

Daniel 7:9-10 gives us that image of Christ taking His place as both our Judge and our Reconciliation to the Father, our Defense Attorney in the investigative judgment. If we neglect so great a salvation, then we become the fools who go through the river of judgment. That will be for us a journey from which we will never return.  

Upon the inky black canvas of infinite space, God told us a story of sin and sinners and redemption’s heroes. With the right understanding of the constellations, we can look upon them as a constant reminder of His love for us. The zodiac are symbolic of God’s arms embracing us, and it is this love and embrace that should keep us looking up, for our redemption draws closer and closer with each passing night.

Acts 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men everywhere to repent: ³¹ Because he hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

In the early days of television, legal dramas were among the most popular types of shows to be produced. Perry Mason was a defense lawyer who not only successfully defended his clients, but he also found a way to get the guilty party to confess to the crime while on the witness stand. The lawyer was never as romanticized as the police officer or the private investigator. The cops were out there getting their hands dirty, dealing with drug dealers and gang bangers and other assorted lowlifes. While there might be some respect for the prosecuting attorney who was out to convict every accused person who stepped into the courtroom, there was little respect for the shyster lawyer who planned to use the criminal justice system against itself if it kept his client out of prison. Every trick imaginable is used by defense attorneys to keep people out of jail, even if the attorney knows his client is guilty.

Contemporary legal dramas give us some idea of what happens when lawyers are preparing for a trial. We see the investigators on Law and Order searching for evidence and witnesses to a crime. We watch suspects being questioned about their activities when the crime was committed. We can watch them getting arraigned for trial, entering their pleas of guilty or not guilty, and learn how much bail they need to come up with so they don’t have to stay in jail. The lawyers do their research, asking paralegals to help find legal briefings and court rulings and decisions that can influence the outcome of the case. Hundreds and thousands of man-hours of investigation go into preparing for a trial.

Even the press is in on the action, making sure every detail possible, no matter how trivial it may be, is shouted from the proverbial rooftop. The victim and the accused have no privacy during this time. Some will pay a very steep price to keep secrets covered up. The truth scares some people, for they are afraid of how they will look if ever those secrets came out.

I want to read something I found on biblegateway.com. It is a translation of Daniel 7:9-10 that comes from the Knox Bible. Here is how it describes the scene in heaven as they prepare for judgment.

^{Daniel 7:9} While I still watched, there were judgment-thrones a-setting; and one took his seat there crowned with age. White as snow his garments were, his hair could match unsullied wool for whiteness; his throne all of flame, the wheels under it glancing fire; ¹⁰ and ever from his presence a stream of fire came rushing onward. A thousand thousands they were that waited on his bidding and for every one of these, a thousand others were standing there before him. Assize should be held now, and the records lay open.

You may not be familiar with the term, assize. In England and Wales, the Courts of Assize were periodic criminal courts that met to hear the most serious cases recommended to it by the Quarter Sessions. There was the basic level court that heard petty cases four times a year, and local law enforcement was enough to deal with the situation. If the case was big enough, or heinous enough, then it could be sent to a higher court, the court of assize, for prosecution. The judges of assize were part of the King’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice. The American counterpart would be the circuit-riding judges of the old American west.  

The setting in Daniel 7:9-10 is that of a courtroom. You can hear the bailiff issuing the command to those in attendance to “All rise. The honorable Judge of the world presiding.” And then the Ancient of Days comes and takes His seat where He is to hear the matter. Before Him are the lawyers. First are the ego-driven prosecuting attorney and his assistants who are out to get another conviction. Across the aisle are the shyster defense attorney and his assistants who will use every trick in the book to get the client off the hook, to beat the heat and the bad rap that comes with conviction. Perhaps in this case it is unfair to call the defense attorney a shyster, but that is how the prosecutor views Him. Not a lower case “him,” but an upper case “Him.” You see, we are looking into the heavenly court of law and justice. We are the accused. And we don’t have the money it would require to bribe the judge or the attorney or anyone else for that matter. To use the proper terminology to describe our situation, we don’t have squat in our favor. In the US, if one is accused of a crime, and cannot afford a lawyer, then the court appoints us a public defender. In some cases, the public defender works for the system, and just to make things go easily, will have innocent people plead to a lesser charge because the innocent can’t prove their innocence. To beat that rap, you need your own attorney, and that can get expensive. Thankfully, in the heavenly court, we have a defense attorney who is working pro bono publico, or pro bono as it is best known in the US. Our defense attorney is working for the public good. And He paid our legal fees on the cross of Calvary.  The Geneva Bible of 1599 puts it this way:

^{John 2:1} My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not: and if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just. ² And He is the reconciliation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. ³ And hereby we are sure that we know Him, if we keep His commandments.

So we are the accused. In light of the evidence against us, we are all guilty. There is none righteous, no not one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Anyone who says that he has not sinned is a liar, lying is a sin, and the soul that sins… well, it shall die. The wages of sin is death. In matters of capital cases where the death penalty is involved, the highest court, the court of assize, is called in to decide the matter. The best Judge available is ready to hear our plea. The Public Defender is ready to take our side. This is our part in the investigative judgment. All we have to do is confess our sin, renounce our sin…. From our lips all of our secrets are shouted from the rooftops. The universe is all ears to hear our confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord.

there's a cool, pale moon over North Caroline
there's a cool breeze whistlin' down through the pine
there's a gentle pool of wine
I see in your eyes

I don't care about the end of the road
I only know I want to shake off my load
and drink deep the wine
I see in your eyes

I don't care where the moon sets tonight
I don't even know if this'll end right
all that matters here and now
is what I see in your eyes

don't go looking for pale moonbeams
in their light nothing is what it seems
that's the way it is in your eyes
all that matters is in your eyes

there's a love that falls like mountain snow
and that's the place where I want to go
my snow angel takes a drink
then takes flight with eagles against the moon

don't tell me that all good things must end
one more time the rules must bend
I'll kiss you and call it a night
then take flight with eagles against the moon