Lessons from the expanse of the heavens part 2 – the Sun
On the fourth day of creation, God created the lights in the Heavens. He created the Sun so that there would be a separation between night and day. The sun would give light during the day and the moon would give light during the night. As well as creating the sun and moon he also created the stars and planets.
In the first part of this series we were focused on the moon. In this second part let’s bring the sun more into the picture.
The Sun
The amazing Sun
The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a nearly a perfect sphere of hot plasma. It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth. Its diameter is about 1.39 million kilometres. It is 109 times wider than the Earth. The temperature inside the Sun can reach 15 million degrees Celsius. Light from the Sun takes eight minutes to reach Earth.
The Sun contains 99.86% of the mass in the Solar System. So what that means is if we took the sun, the planets and all the other rocks floating around in the solar system and put them all into a big box – the sun would take up 99.86% of the space inside the box. The mass of the Sun is approximately 330,000 times greater than that of Earth.
We tend to think that the sun is still and we and all the other planets are moving around it. But that is not correct. The Sun is traveling at 220 kilometres per second. The Sun is actually orbiting around the centre of the Milky Way. The Sun is about 24,000 light years from the galactic centre and it takes the Sun about 225 million years to complete an orbit of the centre of the Milky Way. So whilst we are orbiting around the sun, it is orbiting around the centre of the Milky Way galaxy.
Moon tells us the sun exists
In the darkness of night, the moon is a constant reminder that the sun still exists. Though hidden from our view for a few hours each night, the sun’s reflection in the face of the moon tells us of the sun’s power and glory and warmth awaiting us at the approaching day.
In Psalm 89 and verse 35 to 37 are recorded these words:
Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me. Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.”
King David in these words tells us of the sun of David’s throne. The verses tell us that the moon is the witness. Who is this sun which David is talking about ?
Malachi chapter 4 and verse 2 answers this for us.
But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.
Christ is the Sun of righteousness. In other words, the Sun represents Christ. The Bible also tells us that the moon represents the ecclesia (or church). “Ecclesia” is a term to describe gatherings of believers in various places across the world (most of them meeting in church buildings or homes).
When you look at the moon through a telescope you are overcome by its dazzling brightness. In a similar way, when we closely examine the ecclesia (the groups of believers across the world) it should be reflecting the glorious character of the Sun of Righteousness, that is, Christ. But in reality, the moon is a poor reflector of the suns light as we saw in part one of this series. We saw that the moon only reflects about 10% of the sun.
The spiritual lesson we get from this is that as believers we are unfortunately poor reflectors of the glorious character of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was emphasised in the words of Isaiah in chapter 55 and verses 8 and 9.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
These verses tell us that God is far greater than we. Christ perfectly reflects God’s character so he also is far greater than us.
Therefore, we can never rest. We must do all in our power, in our day to day living, to increase our reflection of that light coming from the sun of righteousness, so that the darkness of this world we live in will becoming lighter in the knowledge of the Bible.
Believers are the moon in this dark night or dark world in which we live in and as such their reflected light must show that there is a “sun of righteousness” who will soon rise to shine upon this world. We must show the world that there is a promise of tomorrow and that Jesus Christ is coming to reign over this earth. Right now the world cannot see Christ directly because it is in darkness, it is nighttime, so the world can only see Christ’s light reflected in us as a believer. They will not see Christ himself until the dawn of the new era. In other words, they will not see Jesus until he returns to the earth to set up the new kingdom.
Isaiah emphasises this point in Isaiah chapter 60 and verses one through to three.
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
These words are speaking about Christ but they can apply to the baptised believers just as much who are sons and daughters of God who seek to be like Christ.
Along similar lines to this we find that the Song of Solomon refers to the moon as symbolising the bride of Christ (the baptised believer). This is what it says in Song of Solomon chapter six and verse ten.
Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession?
This verse gives us a summary of the characteristics of the bride of Christ.
The verse describes the “Bride” as the moon, shining out of the dark heavens, like the true ecclesia (gatherings of baptised believers) will do in the midst of the darkness of this world. The verse tells us of the bride looking forward toward the morning. The morning referred to here is the dawn of the upcoming time when God’s kingdom will be set up. The ecclesia at that time will be as bright as the sun – in other words, will reflect Christ fully. These will be the redeemed.
Isaiah emphasises this point in Isaiah chapter 30 and verses 25 to 26.
And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the Lord binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
Note the words “the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun”. Isaiah is telling us of the day when the “Bride” (i.e. baptised believers) will share the immortal nature of the bridegroom. Are we going to be one of those who will be shining not like the moon but like the sun at the coming kingdom? or are we going to let the shadow of this world cover us like it does in a lunar eclipse.
We firstly need to make the lifelong commitment to God and be baptised. After that then strive daily to reflect the light of Christ. In other words, live a life based on the example set by Jesus. So that when the sun of righteousness (Jesus) will eventually shine on this dark world we will be beside him shining as brightly as him in our immortal state. Let us be one of those mentioned in Matthew Chapter 13 and verse 43.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
Now that we have considered the Moon and the Sun, let’s now consider a rarity that occurs in relation to the sun and moon.
Lunar eclipse
Let’s consider a unusual relationship between the sun, moon and earth. It is called an eclipse. There are two types of eclipse – solar eclipses and lunar eclipses. In a solar eclipse, the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun and stops some or all of the Sun’s light from reaching Earth. In a lunar eclipse, the Moon moves into the shadow of Earth cast by the Sun.
So how does the solar eclipse work so that the moon perfectly covers the sun? The real size of the sun and moon are quite different. The sun is much larger than the moon. So how could this little dot (the moon) block out the light from the sun?
When we look at them from earth they appear the same size in the sky. This is because they are different distances from the earth. Therefore, when a solar eclipse occurs with the moon coming between the sun and the earth, they both perfectly correspond in size. Many in the world would say that it is a coincidence, the believer would say it is designed by God to be that way.
With a lunar eclipse, the moon passes into the earth’s shadow. The size of the earth creates a shadow which covers the moon. In other words, the light of the sun is prevented from reaching the moon, because the earth gets in the way.
I believe that God has designed things this way to give us a spiritual lesson. In the case of a lunar eclipse, the light of Christ represented by the Sun can be prevented from reflecting from the ecclesia (gathering of believers) when it allows the world to get in the way. If we are not careful, the world will come between the believer and Christ thereby stopping Christ’s light reflecting upon them.
We may know people who drifted away from living a life dedicated to God. They started out reflecting the light of Christ. But slowly the world starts to come between them and Christ until it gets to the point where the world completely blocked the light of Christ so that they no reflected his light. They are in darkness. They had stopped worshipping God.
Always remember those words found in Mark that say :
"the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches , and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the Word, and it becomes unfruitful". Mark 4:19
Let us remember these words about the world we live in so that it will not stop us reflecting Christ’s light.
The Father of lights
James chapter one and verse seventeen talks about the Father of lights:
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
This is a very reassuring verse for us as believers. In this verse it refers to God as being the Father of lights. So James is referring to God as the sun. James is telling us that there is no variation from him.
From our perspective on the earth the sun varies in position, moving from horizon to horizon during the day. In the middle of the day it is stronger and hotter than at the end of the days. If you are at the beach and don’t want to get sunburn then you don’t go out in the middle of the day. Therefore, each day the sun appears to us it seems to vary in strength. The sun also appears to vary from season to season with it being stronger and hotter in summer and weaker in winter. It also appears to vary according to where you are on the earth. It is stronger and hotter at the equator than it is at the polar caps. So the sun to us appears to vary.
But God is saying in this verse that he is like the sun and he does not vary. When we think about it, the sun does not vary, it is the same every day, it is us and where we are on the earth that makes us think the sun is varying. The sun isn’t varying. That is the point God is making – there is no variation from the Father of Lights. It is a reassuring message to each one of us. It is a amazing statement, and suggests a knowledge of astronomy in advance of that which is normally considered for that age.
What about the phrase “shadow of turning”? It simply means that other objects in the sky like the moon go through phases from the new moon where there is a lot of shadow on its surface through to the full moon where there is no shadow. So its shadow varies as it turns in orbit.
The earth also has a shadow cast on it as it turns – we call that shadow night-time. When we are in that shadow at night time it does not mean that God has abandoned us. Sometimes we may feel that way when things have gone wrong that God has abandoned us. But he hasn’t – he is always there his glory shining forth like the Sun.
The sun does not have shadows because it is the celestial body which is producing the light.
The message from this verse therefore is: God as the Father of Lights – the sun – does not change or vary unlike other objects in the sky like the moon and planets which have shadows cast on them as they turn. God will always be there with His son to watch over us and protect us. He is unchanging. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. It is us who changes in our warmth to God.
The fruits from the sun
I want to conclude part 2 of this series with the words of Deuteronomy chapter 33 and verses 13 to 14. They are encouraging verses to finish on.
These are words spoken by Moses before he ascended Mount Nebo to view the land which he wasn’t permitted to enter. Moses pronounced a blessing upon the people he had so long guided and ruled. These verses are the blessing for Joseph. Because he was such a complete type of Christ he received a rich blessing.
And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon,
The precious things of heaven are the sunshine and rain which in their season will produce a bountiful harvest. There will be precious fruits brought forth by the sun. The sunshine and the rain will be required to bring fruit to maturity so that it is perfect for its use. Whilst these words refer to the actual fruit they will eat at that time, it also has a deeper spiritual message.
The precious fruit refers to the fruits of the spirit as mentioned by Paul in Galatians (5:22-26). The fruits of the spirit are: Love, Joy, Peace, Long-suffering, Kindness, Goodness, faithfulness, self-control. These fruits of the spirit will be brought forth to perfection by the sun. The sun represents Jesus. So it is referring to the influence of sun of righteousness – the lord Jesus Christ on each one of us. His influence will bring forth the fruits of the spirit in each one of us.
As for phrase “the precious things put forth by the moon” in verse 15. As we saw earlier the moon represents the ecclesia and the bride of Christ (i.e. the baptised believers). In the kingdom to come it will be the royal priesthood (baptised believers who have been given immortality). In part 1 of this series we considered the Hebrew calendar. As we saw in the calendar, the new moon represented a new beginning. This new beginning will be seen in the kingdom to come when the royal priesthood commence their work for their king. From this royal priesthood will come precious things. That is why it says “the precious things put forth by the moon”.
