His Glory Blog

On the fourth day of creation God created the two great lights, the sun and the moon. Not only did the sun give light to the earth during the day, but this is also the creation of time. The sun was designed in part to give seasons, days and years. The sun is the basis for the acknowledgement of time passing. Genesis 1:14-18 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.”  And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness.

For God there is not constraint of time. He is present in the beginning and the end. Psalms 90:4 For a thousand years in your sight are but a yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night. As a new believer the thought of eternity was terrifying. A year here on earth takes a long time and imagining those years being infinite was so scary that Heaven became hard to be excited about. The Holy Spirit saved the day. For visual sake imagine a ruler held length ways at eye level. The beginning of the ruler is birth, and the end is death. That is the human understanding of time. Now take that ruler and turn it sideways and move it out to arm length where the entire ruler is visible. That is God’s view of eternity. He can see and be present in the beginning and the end simultaneously. He could wrestle with Jacob and talk to Moses as a burning bush at the same time. When He said, “let there be light,” He already saw your birth and knew you.

The sun is also used for signs and wonders. Examples include: darkness when the New Covenant began at the crucifixion (Luke 23:45), holding still in the sky for Joshua and the Israelites to conquer their enemies (Joshua 10:12), and turning black in Revelation 6:12. God reveals Himself through His creation to His creation. Those signs are also ways the sun describes God Himself. The Trintiy can be described through the sun. God the Father is the sun, the source. Jesus is the light of the world from the Father. The Holy Spirit is the warmth felt by God’s children that is recognized in the light of Jesus but not in the darkness of sin. The sun also gives light through Jesus to the moon, which represents His chosen on earth. The moon is then meant to reflect the light of Christ to the darkness of night, that is sin. God’s presence is all around us and His loves drives Him to present Himself in endless ways to all who are called to know Him. That is anyone who hears His name.

Only because of the light of Jesus do we see the contrast of darkness. Just like the sin on the earth was magnified by Old Testament laws. The laws were meant to show the presence of sin and the need for repentance. The forgiveness of sin through God’s grace was supposed to draw His people to Him. In the same way the perfect Messiah, fully God, showed how fallen man truly is. Jesus fulfilled the law and its purpose. He showed the need for salvation and gave believers a path toward reconciliation. The Old Testament has innumerable instances where the coming Messiah was foreshadowed through individuals and prophecy. The light of God through His Son allowed those shadows to be cast, and the true heart of God to be known throughout the Old Testament and then brought to life in the Gospels. The foreshadowing was complete and total reconciliation made available through faith as it was to Abraham before the laws of Moses were established.

Many times, the power of God that was displayed in the sun was mistakenly deified by the world. God’s people were told to worship God and not the sun. Worship the Creator and not the created. The purpose of the sun was glorification of God, not to become an idol. Many cultures who either did not know Jehovah or denied Him were drawn to worship of the sun and moon. This is clear all throughout religious history. What is also clear is the power of God being misunderstood by the entire world. They thrive in the provision of God and worship the provision over the Provider. Christians are called to shine the light of God which is knowledge of Him into the darkness of idolatry, the darkness of sin, and the darkness of denial. 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.2 Kings 23:5 And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens.