Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.
— Daniel 12:3

Today I was reading about the constellation of the Pleiades, which consists of seven stars and is also called the seven heavenly sisters. I want to point out that talking about stars and constellations is not astrology. The horoscope is the enemy’s distortion of the true purpose of the constellations in the heavens.

Genesis chapter 1 says that the Lord made lights in the firmament of the heavens (the sun, the moon and the stars) for signs and seasons, and for days and years. It was by the stars that the wise men determined the time of the Messiah’s birth. It is also written that the heavens declare the glory of God. (Ps.19:1) You can read more about the original purpose of the constellations in The Good News Written in the Stars.

Seven stars

So the constellation of the Pleiades, the seven stars, is a type of, or symbolises, the angels of the 7 churches we read about in the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. John saw the Son of Man holding seven stars in His right hand, and then the Spirit explained to John that the mystery of the seven stars is the angels of the seven churches. (Rev.1:20)

By the way, Jesus’ right hand speaks of the righteousness of God, so although Jesus had complaints against the angels of the churches, in God’s eyes they were righteous and saved forever, because Jesus Himself said: “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.” (Jhn.10:28)

In the book of the prophet Amos there is an interesting verse that speaks about constellations: “He made the Pleiades and Orion…” (Ams.5:8) (The Russian Synodal translation has “the seven stars” instead of the Pleiades.)

The word Pleiades in Hebrew is Kimah, which is related to the word kumaz (H3558) and is translated as necklace or ornament. The word Orion in Hebrew is Kesil, from the word kasal (H3688), which means to be foolish. When I looked at the Hebrew roots of the names of these two constellations, the Lord reminded me of the parable of the 10 virgins. The Lord showed me that the constellation of the Pleiades symbolises the five wise virgins, the Church, and the constellation of Orion the five foolish ones, the Jews.

Someone may object that there are 7 stars there and 5 virgins here. The numbers seven and five symbolise different things in different stories. The number 5 is the number of grace, and in the parable of the virgins it says that the wise virgins are saved by grace, while the five foolish ones deprived themselves of God’s grace. In the book of Revelation the number seven symbolises fullness, or more precisely, the fullness of the Gentiles and the Jews that Paul wrote about in the epistle to the Romans.

The Lord once showed me that the foolish virgins’ lamps were going out because they had the Old Testament spirit (lamp) of bondage, and the epistle to the Hebrews says that the old covenant of the law is becoming obsolete and growing old (Heb.8:13). The wise virgins had the New Testament Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry out “Abba! Daddy!” Amen! In this parable the lamp symbolises the spirit, for Proverbs says that the spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD. (Pro.20:27).

But doesn’t the book of Revelation say that the lampstands symbolise the churches? In the parable of the virgins and in the book of Revelation different Greek words are used for lamp. The parable uses the word lampas (G2985), which is translated as lamp or torch, while the book of Revelation uses the word luchnia (G3087), which is translated as lampstand, or the Jewish menorah, made up of seven lamps.

The Lord’s salvation

If we go on reading our verse from Amos, it says: “…He turns the shadow of death into morning…” (Ams.5:8) This speaks of sinners (the shadow of death), whom the Lord makes righteous and holy. Jesus said: “and I will give him the morning star” (Rev.2:28), and the epistle of John says: “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 Jhn.5:5)

Amos goes on: “…And makes the day dark as night…”. This speaks of Jesus, who is called the day and who on the cross became Sin, or night. And then: “He calls for the waters of the sea And pours them out on the face of the earth; The LORD is His name” (Ams.5:8) In Scripture waters often symbolise the nations, or the Gentiles, and the land the Jews, God’s people. Because Jesus became a sin offering on the cross, we who have believed in Him have become the righteousness of God and the dawn of the morning. As it is written: “And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.” (Rom.9:26) Hallelujah!

Probably Paul, while reading Amos, received inspiration from the Holy Spirit and wrote chapter 11 of the epistle to the Romans about God’s wonderful plan to graft the Gentiles into the natural olive tree. “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Rom.11:33)

God’s truths are so simple, and many answers had already been lying before my eyes, but when I looked at the parable of the 10 virgins with my left eye, I saw the Church in them, and it was unclear who the 5 foolish virgins were then. Isn’t the Holy Spirit (the oil) enough to be saved? Paul wrote that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit for the day of redemption, the day we receive our new glorified bodies. Then I looked at this parable with my right eye and saw only the Jews in the 10 virgins, but when the Lord in His great mercy opened both my eyes, the whole picture became clear. :-)

The five wise virgins are believers in Jesus who have received the New Testament Spirit of adoption, and now there is no difference whether a believer is a Gentile or a Jew according to the flesh, for we have become a new creation in Christ Jesus. (2 Cor.5:17; Gal.3:28) The five foolish virgins are the Jews, living under the law and having the Old Testament spirit of bondage.

When the rapture of the Church takes place — and it will be very soon, and it doesn’t matter what you think about the rapture, for it is written that whether we wake or sleep, we will still be with the Lord (1 Ths.5:10) — the Jews will see that a great many people have disappeared and will realise that they have missed the ark. But glory to the Lord for His great mercy and grace, for this is not yet the end. The Jews will have a second chance, and the parable of the 10 minas, or of the servants and the talents, is about that. And the Gentiles who did not believe in Jesus before the rapture of the Church will also have a chance to receive salvation after the Great Tribulation, and the parable of the sheep and the goats is about that.

But why go through all sorts of cataclysms and terrible trials described in the book of Revelation, if there is still a chance to catch the plane that is about to leave? So all of you who have not yet believed in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, hurry to the ticket office while there are still seats on the plane and it hasn’t taken off. Receive Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, and you will be one of the five wise virgins whom the Bridegroom will take away before the cataclysms begin on earth.