"Can you bind the bonds of the seven stars, or can you untie Orion?" (Job 38,31:XNUMX)

God's miracles have always been shrouded in mystery. 'He knows what a thing we are; he remembers that we are dust.« (Psalm 103,14:XNUMX) Yet he loves his creatures formed from the dust very much. That is why he does everything he can to convince both his weakest and his most learned creatures that his word is the truth and that even through weak instruments he can lead his children.

The task God has entrusted to the last generation is perhaps the greatest of its kind in living memory. We live in a time when faith is smallest, pride greatest, sin blackest, and truth furthest from man . Nevertheless, God will show people that His message comes from heaven. There are more than enough opportunities for the sincere to convince themselves that there is absolutely no risk involved in trusting the Lord.

The vision

In December 1848, Heavenly Father gave Ellen White an extraordinary vision. It contained very unusual statements of little concern to the community: information awaiting astronomical confirmation by science.

Here is the unique quote:

“On December 16, 1848, the Lord showed me how the powers of heaven will falter... God's voice will shake the powers of heaven. The sun, moon and stars will be moved out of their places. They won't go away, but they will be shaken by God's voice.
Dark, heavy clouds rose and collided. The atmosphere parted and rolled back; then we could look up through the open space in Orion from where we heard God's voice. The Holy City will come down through this open space.« (Early Writings, 41; see. early writings, 31.32)

Patriarchs and Prophets and Orion

This was not the first time that a human being had learned something about the starry world in divine visions. Moses, Isaiah, David, and other biblical writers mention the stars, and some name them. Several biblical authors even speak of Orion. Job says:

"He created the great chariot, Orion, the seven stars and also the constellations of the south." (Job 9,9:XNUMX hope for all)

"Can you bind the bonds of the seven stars, or can you untie Orion?" (Job 38,31:XNUMX)

The prophet Amos speaks similarly of these constellations:

"Who makes the seven stars and Orion, who makes morning out of darkness." (Amos 5,8:XNUMX)

Hobby astronomer Joseph Bates sits up and takes notice

This young woman [Ellen White] had never studied astronomy... Earlier, Pastor Joseph Bates, an amateur astronomer, had spoken to her about the planets, but found that she knew nothing about them and had little interest in them. Pastor John Loughborough writes
about that:

“[Pastor Bates] said that he once wanted to talk to Mrs. White about the stars, but quickly found that she knew nothing about astronomy. She told him she didn't know about it because she had never read a book on the subject. She also showed no interest in talking about it any further, changed the subject, talked about the new earth and what she had been shown about it in visions.« (Great Second Advent Movement, 257f)

In contradiction with the astronomy of the time

In this vision, however, she made a statement that completely contradicted the astronomical knowledge of the time. Various scientists and astronomers had taken pictures of the stars, but none of them matched Ellen White's vision. In 1656, the astronomer Huygens discovered phenomena in the sky that they called “openings” or “holes”. But these had nothing to do with the open space that Ellen White describes in her vision...

Pastor John Loughborough wrote to me on the subject: “In 1909, while I was at North Fitzroy, near Melbourne, Australia, an Adventist, well versed in astronomy, came to speak with me more than 50 kilometers for more than an hour. He wanted to convince me that Ellen White couldn't be a real prophetess because she was talking about an open space in Orion, but there wasn't one to be found there. He considered it folly that I wrote in my book that Sister White's vision of the open space in the sky convinced Pastor Bates that her visions were of God. I told him I stood by my beliefs despite what he said. For I had seen too many other of their prophecies already fulfilled. So I remained convinced that God's Spirit was indeed at work in their ministry.”

Portal to another world?

The answer to the question of whether their prophecy is true or not is given by Lucas A. Reed, the author of the book Astronomy and the Bible, published by Pacific Press in California in 1919.

In chapter 23 of his fascinating book on the celestial bodies, he writes right at the beginning:

“A woman who was not an astronomer, and who admitted that she had never consciously studied astronomy, used a phrase about the Orion Nebula in 1848 that requires some astronomical knowledge to explain.

If we now delve a little into the science of astronomy, we shall shortly see whether or not this expression [the open space in Orion] is appropriate in this context. There may be more science to this term than learned astronomers realize...

What is 'the open space in Orion'? Is this what Huygens, who is said to have discovered the Orion Nebula in 1656, described in the 17th century as 'an opening with a curtain through which we have an unobstructed view into another region, more brightly lit'?

However, the expression 'open space in Orion' does not apply to this idea. After all, the sky is not a solid wall in which the fog, like a curtain, veils a passage into another room or a brighter place.
Undoubtedly, the nebula itself is a more brightly lit area. But we don't see it through an opening, because in the entire universe there is open space everywhere where there are no stars. No, there must be a deeper meaning to the expression 'open space in Orion'...'

The trapeze in Orion and the beautiful funnel cave

“[The open space] is just where you would least expect it, which is at the center, in the brightest part of the nebula. There is not only an open space in the nebula, but the whole nebula itself tapers or concaves there. Its large rim faces the earth. I quote:

›The multiple star Theta orionis, which represents the trapezoid, could be called the cornerstone of the building. All lines of its architecture are coordinated with the building. The interaction between the stars and the gaseous structure around them was demonstrated spectrographically by William Huggins and his wife and confirmed by Professors Frost and Adams.' All these statements,'

according to Dr. Reed in his conclusions on the information about the open space in Orion,

"lead to the conclusion that the Orion Nebula is like a gigantic funnel, so to speak, with its large opening aimed at us...

The nebula in Orion is one of the most notable objects in the sky. It has been observed with increasing interest since the dawn of astronomy. It has aroused the admiration of all who have seen it and the awe of all who have even remotely realized its distance and size. In all ordinary telescopes the Orion Nebula only appears as a flat structure. I myself have often looked at it with its cloud-like light and its soft, friendly glow. But its enormous spatial extent amazed me.

A few years ago, Edgar Lucian Larkin, director of Mount Lowe Observatory, stated that there is an open space in the Orion Nebula. From an article he wrote for the magazine Signs of the Times wrote, I quote here the most important statements that should round off the topic ›open space in Orion‹ for us here:

›The reader is invited to come with me and fathom the terrifying and wondrous dimensions of interstellar space formed by the vast cavity or bay of the nebula in the constellation of Orion.
Recent slides on glass plates at Mount Wilson Observatory reveal optical perspective properties. What previously appeared to be a flat nebula, the beautiful shimmer and shine in the great nebula in Orion's Sword, is revealed in the central region of these images as an open, deep cavern...
The torn, twisted and deformed luminous masses of gas form the gigantic walls adorned with myriads of glittering star suns. The whole forms a sight of indescribable magnificence.'

God's throne room

We believe that somewhere behind this or in this unapproachable light of Orion lies the heaven and throne of God. Mrs. White, without any knowledge of astronomy, said something about Orion which no astronomer of that time could fathom. Without knowing or caring about their statement, astronomy has now provided us with information confirming their expression of 'an open space in Orion'."

...

Where did Mrs. White get her information in 1848? How did she know then what most scientists didn't know? How could she have had such marvelous insights into the celestial bodies so long before a thorough exploration of the stars? In 1910, 60 years after their statement about the "open space in Orion," Professor Edgar Lucian Larkin, through his photographic plates, discovered this interesting information that brought such useful astronomical knowledge to science. Who revealed Job to Orion? Who told Amos about Orion? We believe that the Spirit of God revealed this information to Mrs. White in 1848. It can truly be said that God gave her this great light and that her prophecy is indeed of divine origin.

[Editor's note:

3D simulations with images from the Hubble telescope

3D simulations of the Orion Nebula have been made using new images from the Hubble telescope. You can watch these films via the following Youtube links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjzTM6xEyJM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGYTqOxu7u0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCp-XKeSvSY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acI5coqyg0I

The Orion Nebula consists of the large bright nebula M42 and the small bright nebula M43. The alley that seems to separate the two is a dark mist known as the "Fish Mouth." The two bright regions are also called »wings«. The mouth of the fish ends in the central region, where the so-called Trapezium star cluster is located, whose four particularly bright suns illuminate the entire nebula. The southeastern region of the wings is called the "sword," the western area "sails," and the area below the trapezium "thrust." The nebula is about 30 light-years across and about 1500 light-years from our solar system.

Greater Cañon, birthplace of new solar systems

Scientists consider the open space in Orion to be a birthplace of new solar systems. They also compare the Orion Nebula to a canyon of gigantic proportions, confirming the idea of ​​an open space containing hundreds of young suns (some say thousands) and in which our solar system would become hopelessly lost. The New Jerusalem is to come to this earth through this open space.

The most beautiful thing in the universe

We can be inspired by a God who created the most beautiful structure near our solar system to coordinate his rescue operation for our planet from there. We can also allow our longing for the stars to be awakened in us, because the god of these stars is our father.

There are many beautiful pictures of the Orion Nebula on the Internet. Simply enter Orion Nebula or Orion nebula in the image search.]

Abridged from: Frederick C. Gilbert, Divine Predictions of Mrs. Ellen G. White Fulfilled, South Lancaster, Massachusetts (1922), pp. 134-143.

First published in German in foundation, 1-2006, pp. 4-7

http://www.hwev.de/UfF2006/1_2006/2_Der_Orionnebel.pdf