Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Genesis 1: 14-19, NKJV.
Dear LORD, here we are waiting to hear a Word from You. We ask that You will draw divinely close to us as we study Your Word. In the blessed name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
Today we continue with the topic of Light; only this time, it is in the plural: Lights. There is a distinct difference between the light we studied about yesterday, and the lights we will be studying about today. One main difference is that God gave the lights that He created on the fourth day, different degrees. While He called the first appearance of light on the first day of creation, simply light; the lights He created on the fourth day, were referred to as, “the greater,” and “the lesser,” lights. He also made the stars.
The light that rules in the day is the sun; therefore we can conclude that it is the “greater light. ” The lesser light,” then, would be the moon, that rules at night. Another distinction between these lights and the light that was called into being on the first day of creation, is that they would be “for signs and seasons.” Let us take a look at this fact.
Seasons. Isaiah 65: 23, “And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me, says the LORD.” The sun and the moon serve as dividers of our daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly, cycles. They do not fail! Every day has twenty-four hours, every week has seven days. The months of the year are divided up into 28, 29 (every three years), 30, and 31, days. Every year has three-hundred-and-sixty-five, or, sixty-six (every three years), days.
Signs. In Matthew 24: 29, we read the following: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
Making reference to that same time in history, we read in Revelation 6: 12, 13, “I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.”
So what was the great Dark Day of 1780, and the great rain of meteors of 1833, a sign of? Let us take a look at the verses that follow Matthew 24: 29, and Revelation 6: 12 and 13, respectively:
“Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24: 30).
” Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand” (Revelation 6: 14-17)?
Yes, my friends, the greater, and lesser lights, have been used by God from the beginning of time to tell us of the approaching seasons, and to show us signs. Almost 254 years ago, the great Lisbon earthquake announced that we had entered the time of the end. Since then, the sun moon, and stars, have been used to show us the “sign” of the soon-coming of the Son of Man, in the clouds of heaven, to rescue His people. Are you paying attention to the signs? Are you getting ready for that glorious day? Please do! By God’s grace, I am!