The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night declares knowledge.

— Psalm 19:1-2

The zodiac has twelve major signs. The first is Virgo, depicting a woman who has in her right hand a branch and in her left hand sheaves of corn. In Hebrew, she is called Bethulah, which means “virgin,” even as virgo, from Latin, means virgin.

Everywhere her name is the same. She is called “the virgin.” This is of course, the picture of Mary, the virgin mother of Christ. So we have Virgo, the virgin woman, holding the branch and seeds in her hand. We find next to her, Coma, “the desired one” (the desire of all nations, who shall come) who is now an infant being nourished in her lap. Thirdly, we see him grown to manhood—a very unusual man, however, one with two natures: One who is the great hunter, teacher, physician; one who gives his life voluntarily and conveys his immortality to others; one who is the great High Priest, slaying the victim over the Southern Cross.

Finally, we see him, also full grown, coming mightily and in power, and rapidly as Bootes—the coming One, the ruler, the governor, the harvester of the earth, coming with a sickle in his hand in judgment to harvest the world. Thus, there is the Gospel presented in the stars, in the Zodiac—none of which has anything to do with reading your horoscope.

Question to ponder:
How do the stars “reveal knowledge”?

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have established …

— Psalm 8:3

The Bible condemns astrology. It says that we are not to consort with astrologers; we are not to consult them; we are not to have anything to do with astrology. And, yet, behind all of that, there is a great revelation of God and His glory and of His salvation in what has come to be known as the zodiac. This is often described as a circle of animals. But that is not really what the word “zodiac” means. Rather it comes from a primitive root, zoad, which comes from the Hebrew sodi, and in Sanskrit means: “a way; a step; a path.” It is the path, or the way, and it is the way of salvation revealed in the heavens.

I hope that as you go out and look at the starry skies above, you will be impressed anew and afresh. You will become amazed at the God who hath written on high these things for all the world to see. For surely His voice has gone out unto the ends of the earth, and the invisible things of Him are plainly seen from the creation of the world. God has placed in the constellations of the zodiac, which He brought forth with His own hand, pictures of the great salvation which He has wrought in Jesus Christ.

Before it was corrupted and twisted, the zodiac presented a clear picture of God’s story. It shows the virgin who gives birth to a son and is attacked by the evil one. And there is much more, as we will show in the following devotional reading.

Question to ponder:
The horoscope is a tool used by Satan to deceive. How did it become so twisted?

So then each of us shall give an account of himself to God.

— Romans 14:12

The Bible makes it plain that we shall, each one, have to give an account of ourselves. It will not be your wife, your husband, your parents, your neighbors, church members, or preachers—it will be you yourself that you will be giving an account of in that great day. No other statements will be allowed. I guess the Corinthians are still around today. How many people walk out of church and make comments such as: “Well, what did you think of that sermon?” “How did you like the preacher?” Are we not back to Corinth again? My friends, do you come to judge God’s servants or do you come to place yourself under the judgment of God’s Word? What a difference there is in those two attitudes.

In a worship service, to paraphrase Soren Kierkegaard, it is God who is the audience, the congregation, the performer, and the preacher. God is the one to judge. We who are covered by the blood of Christ will be forgiven, but we are still accountable and will face the day of reckoning.

Question to ponder:
What is frightening and what is comforting about the accountability of believers?

“Where have you come from, Gehazi?” And he said, “Your servant went here and there.” He said to him, “Did my heart not go with you when the man turned from his chariot to meet you? Is it a time to take money, and to take garments, olives and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants?”

— 2 Kings 5:25-26

Many people think they can get away with all sorts of crimes today. Perhaps they do for a while. But in the big picture, God sees, and He will one day bring it to light—whether in this life or the next.

In 2 Kings 5, Gehazi ended up with Naaman’s leprosy because of his greed. When David sinned, he was forgiven—yet “the sword” never left his house. Even though God forgives us for our sins when we come to Him with repentance, God does not always remove the consequences of our sins. Sin is always serious and always destructive.

Certain sins can follow families and be repeated for several generations. Yes, God can break the cords of sin. Chains can be loosed at Calvary, but it is much better to keep ourselves from sin in the first place.

Question to ponder:
Have you seen situations where one sin has brought trouble to many?

… Whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

— John 3:15

We have been exposed repeatedly to the humanistic thesis that belief in God is irrational and unbelief is rational. Is that true? I would like to expose it for what it really is: an unmitigated fraud, an unalloyed lie that rises right up from the father of all lies.

To believe that God has made us, that there is a purpose for our lives and that we go to be with Him when we die—that is the Christian world-view.

This belief leads to meaning in life, joy, and satisfaction, purpose, and peace. Unbelief leads to hopelessness, lack of meaning and purpose, and fear of death. Unbelief is not sophisticated, it is devastating, and the result of unbelief is grief and pain. The result of belief in the God of the Bible is contentment, peace, and joy. Belief in God is life-giving and life-sustaining.

Question to ponder:
Contrast belief and unbelief in people you know. Can you see the difference?

You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

— John 8:32

Sadly, a majority of Americans today believe that truth and morality are relative. Even many professing Christians have fallen prey to this myth.

Virtually all of our high school students have learned that there are no absolutes.

You probably heard about the teacher who said to his class, “You can know nothing for certain.”

One student responded, “Teacher, are you sure?”

He said, “I’m certain.”

Sometimes students don’t realize that when a teacher or professor says there are no absolutes, he is also saying there is no God. Because, you see, God is the ultimate absolute.

If there are no absolutes, how is it that the Holocaust was wrong?

If there are no absolutes, how could 9/11 be wrong?

It becomes very difficult to live in a completely relativistic world. Suppose you are waiting in your car at a train crossing, and a train is coming down the tracks at 60 miles an hour. You know that if you drive your car out in front of that train, you are not going to be “relatively” dead—you are going to be “absolutely” dead. We can’t live as relativists in this world.

Truth is revealed to us in God’s Word. Christ says, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32).

Question to ponder:
Why is truth so important to God?

And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.”

— Luke 22:15

The Lord’s Table is a memorial, but obviously it is also a supper, as it is a sacrament. It is a meal unlike any that has ever been celebrated before. How wonderful it is that we can eat with Him. Even as John laid his head upon the bosom of Christ, so we can eat with the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Great Pyramid was built to honor a man to his everlasting remembrance—can you remember his name? It was the mighty Khufu. The Taj Mahal is perhaps the most beautiful building built. It took 20,000 people 22 years to build it. It is a magnificent place. It was built by Shah Jahan to memorialize and cause to be brought to everlasting remembrance his beautiful young wife, whose name is not remembered by most of us.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, however, left for us a very simple, tiny by comparison, memorial—the Last Supper. But when the stars shall have burnt out of Heaven, when the end of all of the ages shall have come, when the Great Pyramid shall have crumbled into dust, this memorial will still be known, and everyone who sees it will know precisely who it is that is to be remembered in the simple bread and wine of the Lord’s Table.

Question to ponder:
How do we benefit spiritually from the Lord’s Supper?

It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.”

— Luke 4:4

The Bible is the greatest book in the world.

In the midst of the many marvelous texts that make up the Scriptures, there are some verses that are often overlooked and seldom quoted compared to other well-known verses. These verses lie nestled away like timid little flowers. However, these timid little flowers give off a marvelous fragrance—a fragrance that, if inhaled deeply, can utterly transform your life. Sometimes I like to pick one such little flower from the pages of Holy Writ, lift it up, analyze it, and sense its fragrance and its transforming power.

Psychologist William James once stated: “The Bible contains more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, more morality, more important history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence than can be collected from all other books, in whatever age or language they may have been written.” Sir William Gladstone, considered by many the greatest prime minister England ever had, said, “I have known 95 great men of the world in my time. And of these, 87 were followers of the Bible.”

Question to ponder:
Can you list ten reasons why you read and study the Bible?

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter.

— Proverbs 25:2

Sometimes we hear the accusation that Christianity is unscientific. What people who make such claims don’t realize is that science got its birth during the Christian era. All of the early modern scientists were Christians who believed that they were, in the words of astronomer Johannes Kepler, “thinking God’s thoughts after Him.” They believed that a rational God had made a rational universe, and it was the role of science to discover the rules He had impressed on the material world.

Who invented science? It was Francis Bacon who is credited with having been the inventor of the scientific method, that combination of induction and deduction, of hypothesis and proof (empirical proof). Bacon was a devout Christian. He believed in God. He believed in Christ, he believed in the Bible, and he believed in Creation. He said that God had given us two books—He has given us the book of nature to understand the world, and the book of Scripture—and we are to read both of them.

Who was the greatest scientist who ever lived? A poll taken of scientists just a few years ago concluded that the greatest scientist was Sir Isaac Newton. Newton believed in God, he believed in Christ, he believed in the Bible, and he believed in creation. The beliefs were the foundation for Newton’s work as a scientist.

Question to ponder:
What does the phrase “laws of nature and of nature’s God” mean?

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be moved, let us be gracious, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.

— Hebrews 12:28-29

Some years ago, I was on the Merv Griffin Show talking about prayer in schools. Merv asked, “What good is a couple of minutes of prayer going to do, anyway? What difference does it make?”

It makes a great deal of difference whether one believes in God, and when one prays, or a class of students prays, one thing they are saying is that there is a higher authority than the state.

Does that really make any difference? There have been many, many indirect consequences of the Supreme Court’s 1962-1963 decisions to ban school prayer. And the fallout has literally amounted to expelling God in toto from our entire school system and beyond that, from the public life of America. God has been thrown out, and so the metal detectors have been installed.

Have you ever wondered why our society is going downhill so fast? I think a major part of it is that so many today lack a fear of God. They act as if they will not be held accountable. In this, they are totally wrong. Part of the reason some people get upset with Christians speaking out on moral issues from a biblical perspective is that they want to be able to sin with impunity. Jesus put it this way, “light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).

What we need in our land is more “God fearing.”

Question to ponder:
What does it mean to you when the Scriptures say that our God is a consuming fire?