The Bible asserts that “the heavens declare the Glory of God” [Psalm 19:1]; and “the heavens tell of His righteousness” [Psalm 50:6; 97:6]. His Glory, as Jehovah Himself defines it in Exodus 33:18-23; 34:6-7, encompasses, amongst other things, particularly His goodness, Covenant relationship, grace, mercy, Steadfast Love, faithfulness, forgiveness and justice. The heavens also tell of His righteousness – so then, just how do they declare His Glory and tell of His righteousness?

When I was in High School, I was given the opportunity to go to a demonstration Ballet performance. Having never had anything to do with a Ballet before, I could make no sense out of the first half, which probably was some sort of interpretive dance. But the second half was based on a fairytale. Suddenly, because I knew “the story,” what was on stage had meaning.

When Jesus is born, there is an exquisite Ballet, both on earth and in heaven in honor of the extraordinary event of God taking on human flesh. Once we have the His-Story in hand (the Bible), now what has happened “on stage” on the earth and in the heavens takes on a great deal of meaning.

Like different steps in the dance: The Old Testament festival year gives the celestial events body and substance – together they tell of Who and What Jesus is, of His mission on earth, of His conquering Satan, and of the birth of the New People of God. Reflected in the dance is the precise time of gestation plus the forty days of purification, also the time from Jesus’ conception to circumcision. The epochs/ages of the Bible are represented, and even the “Scales of Justice” (Libra) has its role in the Ballet. The Magi and their religious base, led by God’s prophet Daniel, are identified – why would they come to worship at the feet of Jesus, and how did they know when and where to come? Even the “Blood Moon” (when “the Moon is turned to Blood”) has some interesting roles in the dance.

But do astrological terms really have any validity when considering how the heavens declare the Creator’s Glory and His righteousness? Once upon a time, “astrology” was the sole name of the science of the study of the stars, astrology and astronomy separating their ways only as recently as the 1600’s AD. Was astrology always in its present corrupted form, or did it once have a more noble purpose (which really ought to have a different name to avoid the taint of modern astrology)? Some traditions trace the constellations back to Adam’s godly son Seth and his offspring. In fact, as one goes back to the origins of the Zodiac, the prophecies of Genesis 3 are surprisingly represented in the sky. This of course can either be dismissed simply out-of-hand, or pursued with a little more thoughtfulness.

“Anamorphic art” is a fascinating art form in which, for instance, a portrait is so distorted that it may have only a most vague resemblance to what it should look like. Yet when seen from a certain viewpoint, in one case a pinhole in the frame, all the perspectives come together and now the portrait assumes its proper shape. That’s exactly what God has done in creation: stars are flung seemingly at random, light years apart, and planets twirl in mundane orbits, millennia after millennia, yet from the pinhole of the earth, we discover that they are precisely in the right place to be part of the elegant Ballet performed for when God becomes “Immanuel” – “God with Us”.