The Celestial Connection

As far as ancient Israel was concerned, the stars and the angels of heaven were one and the same. This symbolism is found throughout the entire Bible, new and old Testaments. Deuteronomy 4:19 sums everything up in one sentence, linking the hosts of heaven (sun, moon and stars) to the sons of God that he allotted to the nations (The Allotment).

Deuteronomy 4:19
And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

There are many verses that make this statement, whether implicit or explicit, that state a direct connection between celestial bodies and angelic beings.

• The stars were singing during creation (Job 38:7).
• In Revelation John says he saw an angel standing in the sun (Revelation 19:17).
• Revelation 12:4 says that a third of the stars were swept from the sky by the tail of the dragon.
• In Psalm 147:4 it says that God knows every star and he “calls them by name”.
• 1st Corinthians 15:41 speaks of the sun, moon, and stars and that each of them has different “glories” (they differ from one another).
• Deuteronomy 17:3 where God speaks of the forbidden worship of other gods and heavenly hosts (sun and moon etc...)
• In Genesis 1:16 God created the sun, moon, and stars to govern the day-night on the fourth day of creation.
• In Genesis 2:1 it says “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts” the word hosts there is the Hebrew word צָבָא it means an army.
• In Judges 5:20 we see stars engaging in battle against Sisera.
• In Psalm 33:6 it says “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host” stating that he breathed life into the hosts of heaven just as he did with mankind when he created them.
• Psalm 148:1-3 points again to the sun, moon, and stars as being the heavenly hosts created by God as spiritual beings who praise His name.
• 1st Corinthians 15:39-41 speaks of how the sun, moon, and individual stars all have their own different "glories", or types of bodies as the context infers. Note that the stars are being included in a list of living creatures.
• Job 25:5 speaks of how the stars are not pure in God's sight.
• Acts 7:43 speaks of a specific star being associated with the god Rephan.
• The Satan is referred to as a star in the esoteric passage of Isaiah 14:12.
• Isaiah 40:26 quotes God saying he brings the hosts of heaven out in number by calling their names
• 1st Kings 22:19-23 quotes God speaking to the hosts of heaven around Him and calls them spirits, and says that one of them offers to go down to earth to do Gods work.
• Matthew 24:29 and Mark 13:25 Jesus speaks of the stars falling from heaven and the powers of heaven being shaken.

This is not a complete list of references, but it is more than enough to show the pattern of this concept throughout the Bible.

Plato describes this concept briefly in his Socratic dialog Timaeus and Critias: "And for this reason the fixed stars were created, to be divine and eternal animals". It's worth noting that he regards the term animal to refer to any nearly any living thing.