Jesus is the light of the world. Every true Christian knows this and is quick to testify to it. It is written that Jesus is “the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (John 1:9) Though the sun, that glorious celestial ball, was placed in the sky by God to rule the day, it is not the light of the world. Jesus truly is.

But, if the sun is not the light of the world, then what is it? The sun is merely a temporary expression, used by God (the architect of Creation) as a tool in His plan to redeem man out of the far-reaching ganglia of sin. The sun, the moon and the stars are really only physical specters of greater, truer, unseen, heavenly realities, Of course, Jesus knew and understood this and that is why He made this astounding statement, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Luke 21:31 & Mark 13:33  At first Jesus’ statement is a very disconcerting one until we begin to understand, by faith, that everything (not just the sun, moon and stars) which can be seen, felt, or touched are temporary tools in God’s hands. 2 Cor 4:18

EVERYTHING WE CAN SEE, FEEL, OR TOUCH IS TEMPORARY
We may find it hard to believe the statement above, but it’s true – it’s in God’s Word. Even for Christians this is very difficult to get hold of and to understand. That’s right, most Christians miss the spiritual lessons that science and nature can teach them because they fail to understand that all the things in this physical realm are merely tools of redemption; and that only Christ and His life, and those things that are in Him will endure forever. All physical and material things are tools. Just tools. Jesus has promised that His Father will make all things new and every old thing will pass away. The heavens will be rolled up like a scroll, the earth will be changed, and the sun, moon and stars will no longer be needed. In that day they will be irrelevant, because God will be all in all. (1 Cor 15:28) Think on it, saints. Give this a little thought. The sun is not the source of light any more than a light bulb, a burning coal, a bolt of lightning, or a cigarette lighter is. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5). The annular eclipse of the sun which we all experienced May 10th is a perfect example of how God put the sun and moon in the sky in such a way as to teach us about Himself. But before taking a look at the symbolism of the sun and its relationship with the moon, let’s see what God’s Word says about His intended purpose in creating the sun and the moon.

The first thing God did after passing over the earth, as everyone who has read the first few verses of the Bible knows, was to say, “Let there be light.” That was not the moment when He created the sun, no, God did not create the sun, the moon and the stars until the fourth day. Therefore light is something else. Light is the other sun, the real sun, the eternal sun, THE SON, JESUS CHRIST. It is interesting to note that the Bible begins by saying, “Let there be light” and ends in the final chapter of Revelation saying, “And there shall be no more night there; and they need no candle; neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign forever and ever.” John 1:4 says, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

LIGHT COMES FROM THE SON; SUN, MOON AND STARS ARE FOR SIGNS
So what is God’s purpose in creating the sun if he could have provided the light and means to sustain life? Genesis clearly states that God’s purpose in creating the sun, moon and stars was to “divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and for years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth; and it was so.” I suppose God could have chosen another method of making the earth a pleasant place for man to inhabit, but He did not. The sun and moon serve as constant reminders of the true light and the connection we are supposed to have with Him.

ECLIPSE IS GOD’S CLASSROOM
That brings us back to the recent eclipse which is one of those “signs” for us; this event was a unique and special classroom for the spiritually-minded believer; one to make note of and to marvel at and to see God’s great majesty at work. If we are spiritually minded, and not carnally minded and confined to the horizons of this world, it is amazing what we can see. God has put the sun in the sky as a visible image of His Son, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is the life-giver and the source of all light. The moon, on the other hand, is representative of those who reflect the Son’s light onto a dark world. The Church is like the moon. We, the Church, are to reflect the light of Jesus. How pitch-black it is when there is no moon out! But how bright it is, even at midnight, when a full moon is out. The sun and moon are for signs, are they not?

Any dedicated follower of Jesus Christ ought to have one of his primary concerns be that he never block the light of the Son. It stands to reason that if we are following behind we will not be in position to block the light. But, like the moon moving in front of the sun during an eclipse, Christians all too often get in the way of the Son’s light.

Many of us have viewed eclipses as heavenly pageants through welders glasses or by means of some special contraption we fashioned by our own hand. We watched as the moon seemed to make an egotistical crossing in front of the sun obstructing its glory. Though it was the height of the afternoon the sunlight diminished and an eerie grayish glow engulfed us for a brief few moments. Being out of the direct rays of the sun made our body feel a little like a chilled wine glass. Those of us who have witnessed solar eclipses before expected to experience both of these phenomena. A solar eclipse, of the regular sort, causes darkness and coolness. The darkness and coolness are symbolic of what happens when the light of Christ is diminished in our lives. When we block the Son’s light, love and truth are lost; darkness and coolness ensues. This spiritual correlation I easily made because I had previously witnessed and understood the spiritual implications of other eclipses during my born-again life.

The annular eclipse produced yet another phenomenon that took me by total surprise. Just as an annular eclipse is special for astronomers, so it can be a very special sign for the Church. At the height of the eclipse an onlooker called for me to look down at my shadow. It was blurred, like a double exposure. Two images, one lighter shadow surrounding a darker one, gave my shadow a surreal quality. Though my eyes are going fast, it was the first time I had seen a double image of my shadow.

I knew a total eclipse of the sun, a solar eclipse, causes the earth to be shrouded in darkness, but I suddenly realized that an annular (meaning ring) eclipse allows light to sneak around the edge of the moon thereby making an unearthly twin shadow and I realized that we can be like an annular eclipse to Jesus.

If we get in the way of Jesus, even just enough to partly snuff out the light so that it only has a little space to shine around us, we will not only get a cooling and a peculiar grayness, but we will also cast a weird, perverse image of things onto the earth wherever we go. We are presenting two images side by side. One is us and one is Him. It’s like mixing vinegar and water, they don’t mix. It could even be a mingling of good and evil, as light with dark. How can it be, but something irregular and distorted.

DON’T ALLOW YOUR EGO TO ECLIPSE JESUS
It is not that hard to allow our ego to eclipse Jesus. In the world ego is a pathway to success. In politics, ego is a matter of survival. Psychiatry teaches us to cherish ego. In the Church, however, ego is an impediment to our spiritual health and welfare.

We must be alert, as Christians, to not get in the way of the light of the Son. We must be sure our course, our interests, our selfish desires and ambitions do not get in the way. If we are followers of Christ we will, as the moon does, reflect His light. As the moon, we have no light of our own. As the moon, we have no glory of our own. We are created to reflect the glory of another, The Son. This is the intended spiritual sign of the moon. Again, the moon has no light of its own; it merely reflects the light of the world. There is no light in us, only the light of Christ which shines in us, thanks to the cross and its power. Our own will must never supersede or get in the way of the true glory of the Son otherwise we will cause darkness, coolness and cast weird images.

When a church, a believer, a preacher or a teacher eclipses (hides or overshadows or distorts its image) the Son, then the spiritual environment will be perverted, just as the earthly environment is distorted during an annular eclipse. Stay out of the way of Jesus. Let His light shine and not your own ego.

If we mortify the deeds of the body, if we learn not to lean to our own understanding, if we are willing to die to ourselves, then Christ will live in us and His light will shine through us and we will not produce a double-image, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

We must let Christ’s light shine through us by dying to ourselves and letting Him live in us. Pick up your cross daily and do what Jesus suggests that the perfect will do – deny yourself. Hear God’s word and do it. You, who have Jesus living inside you, do not eclipse Jesus. Die, that He may live and shine in you. Die, so you can reflect the pure unmixed light of His truth with clarity and distinction. Get rid of any idea you may harbor that you have light worthy of bringing forth, so you will not be casting a blurry or double image. Make no mistake, the Light of the world, the Light of every man is Jesus Christ, THE SON. We should be as the moon reflecting only His light.

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He is Light

It is interesting to note that the Bible begins by saying, “Let there be light” and ends in the final chapter of Revelation saying, “And there shall be no more night there; and they need no candle; neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign forever and ever.” John 1:4 says, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

The annular eclipse produced yet another phenomenon that took me by total surprise. Just as an annular eclipse is special for astronomers, so it can be a very special sign for the Church. At the height of the eclipse an onlooker called for me to look down at my shadow. It was blurred, like a double exposure. Two images, one lighter shadow surrounding a darker one, gave my shadow a surreal quality. Though my eyes are going fast, it was the first time I had seen a double image of my shadow.

I knew a total eclipse of the sun, a solar eclipse, causes the earth to be shrouded in darkness, but I suddenly realized that an annular (meaning ring) eclipse allows light to sneak around the edge of the moon thereby making an unearthly twin shadow and I realized that we can be like an annular eclipse to Jesus.

If we get in the way of Jesus, even just enough to partly snuff out the light so that it only has a little space to shine around us, we will not only get a cooling and a peculiar grayness, but we will also cast a weird, perverse image of things onto the earth wherever we go. We are presenting two images side by side. One is us and one is Him. It’s like mixing vinegar and water, they don’t mix. It could even be a mingling of good and evil, as light with dark. How can it be, but something irregular and distorted.