The Star of Bethlehem, Part 2

“Christ Crucified” by Diego Velazquez (c. 1632),
Museo del Prado (Accession No. P01167), Spain,
Source https://www.museodelprado.es/coleccion/obra-de-arte/cristo-crucificado/72cbb57e-f622-4531-9b25-27ff0a9559d7 (PD)

“And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.   Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split…” (Matt. 27: 50-51).

We have already discussed Rick Larson’s conclusion that the Star of Bethlehem was, in fact, a triple conjunction of the planet Jupiter and the star Regulus [1][2].

The same analysis would place the date of Christ’s death on April 3, 33 AD of the Gregorian calendar.  Larson sought external evidence for this conclusion, and found it in geological strata preserved in the Dead Sea.

Through a unique set of circumstances, the layers of sediment which accumulate in the Dead Sea go undisturbed.  This provides a history of earthquakes in the region, most especially those in nearby Jerusalem.

A drop in water level in recent years has given us access to strata which were previously submerged [3].

The famous Battle of Actium between Cleopatra and Mark Antony on the one hand, and Octavian (the future Caesar Augustus) on the other, is known to have taken place on September 2, 31 AD [4].   That sea battle coincided with an earthquake which left its mark in these strata.

A great earthquake, also, occurred at the time of Christ’s crucifixion.  Because the rock layer which relates to the Battle of Actium has been dated, we can tell that another great earthquake occurred in 33 AD, consistent with the biblical account.

Rick Larson presents the evidence for this in his film “God of Heaven and Earth” (currently in theaters) [5].

Larson includes astronomic evidence that a blood moon, i.e. a lunar eclipse, occurred at the time of the crucifixion, with the constellation Aries the Ram as a backdrop (signifying that Christ was the Paschal Lamb).

All this drives home the point that God planned the sacrifice of His Son for our sins before He ever created the universe.

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[1]  Wikipedia, “Rick Larson (filmmaker)”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Larson_(filmmaker).

[2]  The Star of Bethlehem, https://bethlehemstar.com.

[3]  Britannica, “Dead Sea”, https://www.britannica.com/place/Dead-Sea.

[4]  Wikipedia, “Battle of Actium”, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Actium.

[5]  IMDb, “God of Heaven and Earth”, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt29001990/.

Part 1 in this series was posted last week.

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