Introduction

It is a known fact that eclipses and other natural catastrophes have led people to see in them the signs of significant events about to take place on earth. One example is Josephus’ description of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70 accompanied by strange apparitions in the sky.¹ Centuries later, there was the fall of the city of Constantinople to the Ottoman forces. It was reported that besieged Byzantine defenders were filled with paralyzing despair when they saw how the moon went into a long and dark eclipse. Other apocalyptic occurrences, such as abnormally violent weather, lurid sunsets and sunrises, and flickering lights visible in the night sky were all seen “as portents of a great change in the world order.”²

A total solar eclipse across the United States from Oregon in the west to South Carolina in the east took place on August 21, 2017. Many people watched the sun turn dark in the middle of the day. Those who were outside the zone of totality could only see a partial eclipse.

Adventists and the Dark Day

Being an Adventist, I found it natural on August 21, 2017 to remember another event referred to in our denomination’s teaching as the Dark Day. On that day, precisely May 19, 1780, there was an unusual darkening of the sky over New England and parts of Canada. A good number of Bible students saw in this event a sure sign of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

Traditional Adventist teaching maintains that the Dark Day was a fulfillment of Jesus’ prophetic prediction in Matthew 24:29-31. Christ’s words describe how toward the end of earth’s history the sun would be darkened, the moon would not give its light, the stars would fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens would be shaken. In her book The Great Controversy, Ellen White connects the Dark Day with what she calls the “most terrible earthquake ever recorded” that had earlier taken place (1755) and also with the spectacular sight of a meteor shower. All these events she views as “the last of the signs.” White concludes by saying, “Christ had bidden His people watch for the signs of His advent and rejoice as they should behold the tokens of their coming King.”³ These words were penned long ago, but what are we to make of them today?

Three articles (and probably more) about the latest total eclipse on August 21 can be found in Adventist online magazines, each giving a different spiritual emphasis to this event. The first popular article appeared on August 17 and was titled “The Solar Eclipse, Frustrated Adventists and Why Jesus Still Hasn’t Returned.” The article ended with a question posed by an Adventist theologian, “Why don’t you hurry up Jesus?”⁴ The answer to this question can only be given by God who, according to the Bible is long-suffering with humans.⁵ The second scholarly and also popular article “Shaking the Powers of Heaven: A Total Solar Eclipse and Adventist Eschatology” appeared just a day later. After presenting a concise history of the topic, the author closes with the following statement: “On August 21, my family and I will be in Charleston, South Carolina, to celebrate how ‘the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork’ (Psalm 19:1).”⁶ The third article “Musing on a Total Eclipse: The Little Light of Mine” was purely devotional in style and it ended with a personal spiritual lesson: “Never underestimate your own little light.”⁷

Each of these three articles has its merits, though none of them approached the phenomenon of a “dark day” in the traditional Adventist way. Thus some questions seem appropriate at this point: Can we still view the events of large or even cosmic proportions that take place today or that took place centuries ago as “signs of Christ’s soon return”? What happens when timely applications of biblical prophetic predictions are replaced by “scientific explanations”? Did at any point in time timely applications totally eclipse the timeless aspects or messages of biblical prophetic utterances? Can the quantitative aspects of “the signs of the times” become completely dominant over their qualitative aspects?

To deal with these questions, let us first consider an overview of the texts that mention the heavenly bodies in the Old Testament, the Bible that Jesus knew. In his Olivet Sermon, Christ briefly described the cosmic events from the “natural order” that will usher in his Second Coming (Matt 24:29). There is no doubt that in this sermon Jesus intentionally used terms that describe end-time dramatic phenomena from the books of Isaiah, Joel and other writing prophets. References to astronomical events such as widespread darkness are parts of Old Testament language for the time of God’s coming to earth and the final judgment. After Christ’s ascension, during the Pentecost, Peter used similar or identical terms (Acts 2:20) and so did John the Revelator on Patmos (Rev 6:12-14).

Heavenly Bodies in the Old Testament

Heavenly bodies figure prominently in the first story of the Bible, the Story of the Creator God (Gen 1:1-2:3). The sun and the moon are both referred to in this story as “two great lights” or individually as “the greater light” and “the lesser light.”⁸ As for the stars, they are described by their common designation. The last part of Gen 1:16 may be understood either as saying that on the fourth day of the creation week “God also made the stars” or that God appointed the lesser light to govern the night “with the stars.” In either case, this direct reference to the stars appears to be parenthetic.⁹

Biblical stories beginning with those about the Patriarchs, mention the sun’s going down (Gen 15:12, 17; 28:11; etc.) or rising upon the earth (Gen 19:23; 32:31; etc.). The direction from which the sun rises describes the east (Josh 1:15), while the going down of the sun designates the west (Josh 1:4). Most of the references mentioned above come from the narrative genre and are given in prose. Later poetic texts from the Bible remind one that these heavenly bodies were created by God and are all subject to his commands (Ps 104:19-22; Hab 3:11). Their existence and function render praise and glory to the Creator (Pss 136:7-9; 148:3). The authors of the Psalms extol the powerful Maker who made everything including the objects in the sky (Pss 8:3; 89:37; 104:19).¹⁰

Genres other than narrative/prose offer clear figurative uses of images of heavenly bodies like in the Song of Deborah that gives praise to the LORD whose stars of the sky fought against Israel’s enemy (Judg 5:20). In ancient near eastern texts, heavenly bodies are sometimes portrayed as leaving their courses to join in human battles.¹¹ Joseph’s dream report to his family presents the first usage of the combined expression “the sun and the moon and the .. stars” (Gen 37:9). Its figurative meaning is suggested by a dream context.

Deuteronomy, the last book of the Torah, contains speeches given by Moses, the servant of the LORD. On a couple of occasions, Moses issues a strong warning against the worship of the heavenly bodies labeled this time by their usual names “the sun, the moon and the stars” (Deut 4:19; 17:3). This stands in contrast with the designation of the first two as “two great lights” from the first chapter of Genesis where according to some scholars there “may be an implicit polemic against the worship of astral bodies (see 2 Kings 23:5).”¹²

In order to understand properly the words written by biblical prophets, we need to be reminded that to many of Israel’s neighboring nations heavenly bodies were much more than mere objects in the sky. They were powerful astral deities. In one of his speeches, Job mentions how he refused to be enticed to worship the sun and the moon because he viewed that practice as sin and unfaithfulness to God (Job 31:26-28). He was not the only non-Hebrew who refused to worship idols because Jewish scholars remind us that in addition Adam, Noah, Jethro, Rahab and Ruth, were all non-Israelites who were faithful to the LORD. Celestial gods of the Babylonian pantheon included the sun god Shamash (called Amun or Amun Re in Egypt and Shemesh in Canaan), the moon god Sin (called Thoth in Egypt and Yarah in Canaan), and Venus (Ishtar). These gods were very prominent and powerful because they looked down on all creatures and controlled their destinies.

Divine judgments pictured as the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars are very significant because the people in Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt were known for their worship of astral deities. These regions were “at the forefront of ancient astronomical and calendrical measurements. The disruptions in the sun, moon and stars, whose predictable movement they had mastered, represented the ultimate judgment: only a superior God could be responsible for it. These signs symbolized the end of what brought security to those nations at the arrival of the ‘day of the Lord’.”¹³

Biblical writers report how idolatrous astral worship made its way into Israelite worship. Under King Manasseh sun worship became institutionalized in Judah. It was practiced on the holy Temple Mount in Jerusalem (2 Chron 33:5) and on the roof of the royal palace (2 Kings 23:12). The prophets who ministered just before and during the time of exile were the eyewitnesses of how this type of idolatrous worship had invaded the most sacred part of the nation’s political and religious capital. Second Kings 23:3-7 explains that King Josiah’s reform included the removal of the foreign objects of worship that had been placed in the temple area. These included not just the articles made for Baal and Asherah but also those made to the sun, the moon and all the starry host. The Israelites burned incense to “all the starry hosts and foreign gods” (Jer 19:13; cf. Zeph 1:5) on altars placed on the roofs of their houses (2 Kings 23:12).¹⁴ It has been suggested that Baal, Asherah, and the host of heaven formed “a polytheistic triad worshiped in Judah in the days of Ahaz and Manasseh (17:16; 21:3).”¹⁵

Biblical prophetic books present most of the figurative religious usages of the terms designating heavenly bodies. In his speeches, Amos condemned social oppression in Israel accompanied by religious feasts that were colored by excessive materialistic interests. He quotes the LORD who predicts that on the judgment day He will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. This Day of the LORD will be like a day of grief for an only son (Amos 8:9-10).

Like Amos, Joel saw this time of judgment as a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness (Joel 2:2). Before the LORD’s army, the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, while the stars no longer shine. “Who can endure such a great and dreadful day?” (Joel 2:10). Readers of the Bible are familiar with Joel’s description of the dramatic changes on earth and in the sky through language that evokes the plagues before the exodus from Egypt (Exod 7-11). These include wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke, the sun turning to darkness and the moon looking like blood.¹⁶ These phenomena usher in the great and dreadful Day of the LORD that can be better described as the Night of the LORD (Joel 2:30-31). The next chapter in Joel’s book offers a summary of these ominous events as the darkening of the sun and moon, when the stars no longer shine. The prophet appears to describe a combination of solar and lunar eclipses. Yet, in the midst of these catastrophic events, as the earth and the sky tremble, the LORD offers the refuge and stronghold to His people (Joel 3:15-16).

Painting a dark picture of divine judgment on Neo-Babylon, Isaiah telescopes into the apocalyptic Day of the LORD that will reverse the order of God’s creation. The stars of the sky will not show their light, the rising sun will be darkened while the moon will not shine (Isa 13:10). These are cosmic events that reflect the upside-down world motif. In a prophecy against Edom the prophet saw how the host of heaven will waste away, while the sky will roll up like a scroll; all its host will dry up like a leaf withering on a vine, or fruit withering on a fig tree (Isa 34:4). The end of Isaiah’s book speaks of the defeat of the enemy nations and the restoration of God’s delivered people. To His own, the LORD will be their everlasting light, replacing the sun and moon (Isa 60:19).

Jeremiah first reminded his listeners that the LORD appoints the sun to shine by day and decrees that the moon and stars should shine by night (Jer 31:35). In another place, Jeremiah issues a warning to the idolatrous leaders of Judah (king and princes, officials, priests and prophets) and even the people of Jerusalem saying that on the day of judgment their bones would be removed from the graves and exposed to the sun and the moon and the stars of the sky. This would happen because they loved, served, consulted and worshipped these heavenly objects (Jer 8:2). Jeremiah also spoke of the judgment on Judah’s neighbor in the south. The LORD’s servant Nebuchadnezzar will destroy Egypt’s temples dedicated to idols and take their gods captive. The sacred pillars in the temple to the sun¹⁷ will be demolished and burned down (Jer 43:12-13).

In one of his visions, Ezekiel was brought into the inner court of the temple where he could see some men bowing down to the sun with their backs toward the main entrance to the temple (Ezek 8:16). This act symbolized their rejection of God since Hebrew worshipers, like Daniel, faced the Temple when they prayed (Dan 6:11). Later in the book, we hear the prophet’s lament over the fall of Pharaoh of Egypt whom the LORD will snuff out. Then God will cover the sky with the sun in it and darken its stars. The moon will no longer give its light because all the shining lights in the sky will be darkened and the earth will remain in darkness (Ezek 32:7-8).

Like other prophetic books (and especially Joel’s), Malachi’s book also presents the contrasting effects of the LORD’s day. The same event that consumes the wicked like a burning furnace, is described as the rising of the sun of righteousness with healing in its wings toward those who revere God’s name (Mal 4:1-2). This passage may have been intended to correct the view that the sun is the god of justice (Shamash) who gave King Hammurabi authority to make just laws.¹⁸

From this overview we can conclude that heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon and the stars are parts of the universe created by God for a particular purpose. Their creation set in motion the so-called “diurnal cycle.” As they perform their assigned functions, they render praise to the Creator and reflect His glory. Many neighboring nations of ancient Israel saw in these objects astral deities, the sun-god, the moon-god and the divine starry hosts that were feared and worshiped. Overtime, some of the kings of Israel, especially Manasseh of Judah, were drawn into this type of idolatry. The climax of this apostasy was the act of placing the astral idols on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Needless to say, the LORD’s jealousy was inflamed by these acts of unfaithfulness. Moved by the Spirit, biblical prophets rebuked the leaders for this practice and warned about the coming judgment. They foresaw the coming Day of the LORD when both idols and those who worship them would perish¹⁹ unless they repented.

Biblical writing prophets painted the picture of the LORD whose presence will outshine and mask the brilliance of objects and persons that pretend to be gods. The Savior’s coming is portrayed as the rise of the sun of victory²⁰ with healing on His wings. God Himself will come to rescue and heal his repentant people. To the unrepentant this will be a dreadful day of condemnation and destruction that will shake the heavenly bodies worshipped by the wicked. The following phenomena will reveal their complete defeat: the sun-god, praised for its radiance and strength, will lose its power and turn to darkness. The moon-god, venerated for its splendor and beauty, will turn into something as repulsive as the sight of blood, while the starry armies would helplessly fall down to earth and thus pay homage to the One who had created them. Undoubtedly, this type of language evokes the plagues before the exodus when the LORD passed a judgment on all the gods of Egypt (Exod 12:12).

The prophets intentionally targeted the gods of the proud enemy nations from Mesopotamia and Egypt. “The LORD alone will be exalted in that day, and the idols will totally disappear,” declared Isaiah (Isa 2:17-18). Later Jeremiah said something very similar: “These gods who did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from under the heavens” (Jer 10:11).²¹ The combination of signs in heaven and on earth points to dramatic events of universal proportions. These signs were meant to give the wicked cause to fear (Isa 19:16; Jer 4:9), while to the righteous they signal that salvation is near (Jer 10:2).²²

Timely and Timeless Aspects of Prophetic Predictions

Powerful prophetic preaching and predictions have an inherent relevance that makes them applicable in specific times and places. Without these timely applications, the inspired oracles would be abstract and of little practical value. Yet the same messages and predictions have timeless or universal values and applicability. The two aspects, timely and timeless need to be kept in balance whenever predictions are applied. Distorted emphasis on the timely aspect at the expense of the timeless value can lead to an extreme sensationalism that is short-lived and superficial.

Much has been written about the timely applications of biblical apocalyptic predictions concerning the heavenly bodies, so the challenge that remains is to investigate their timeless aspects. Are there universal points of teaching that can be drawn from the predictions about the changes that would affect the natural order of the cosmos? The answer to this question is yes.²³ The following points are only the beginning of a much longer list of suggested timeless values relevant to the biblical teaching about the Creator God and Christ’s Second Coming:

1. Worship and total devotion is due to the Creator God only. An awareness of the timeless aspect of prophecy teaches that nature was not made to be worshiped. To commit ourselves to some part of creation more than to the Creator is idolatry that leads to a separation from the Source of life and will end in death. When “we worship something in creation, we become like it, as spiritually lifeless and insensitive to God as a piece of wood, rock or stone. We become spiritually blind, deaf and dumb even though we have physical eyes and ears.”²⁴

2. Certain behaviors of heavenly bodies show that these objects are dependent on and subject to the Creator God. He will never lose the light because light is inherent in His nature. In fact, the vision of God becomes clearest in the time when idols worshiped by humans lose their power and brightness. Idols can only disappoint those who serve them, especially in a time of crisis. Events in our lives, in our societies, in earth’s nature, and in the sky, all point to the fact that the present order of things in this world cannot continue forever.²⁵ The Savior will come as He has promised to lead his people home.

3. The signs of the times of Christ’s Second Coming have strong qualitative characteristics that match the timeless aspects of the predictions on which they are based. Whereas timely applications of prophetic predictions appear to carry convincing precision, timeless applications of the same events tend to be more omni-temporal, inclusive and universal. This occurs because the limited scope of a timely application may not be adequate to address a variety of audiences in our global village.²⁶

Appeal

It seems appropriate to close this presentation with a call to all Adventist biblical scholars²⁷ to give intentionally more attention to the timeless aspects of biblical messages, and in particular to prophetic passages about the end of times. This will pave the way to more relevant and balanced applications of the inspired prophetic predictions to our times and places.