Credit: The Exploratorium

Downloaded from NASA: https://www.nasa.gov/topics/solarsystem/features/eclipse/eclipseimages.html

Can God use the Heavens to Speak to Us?

By: Kelly McDonald, Jr.

We do not think much about the heavenly bodies (the sun, moon, and stars) and their special place in God’s creation. I think we tend to overlook it for two main reasons. One, we are so far removed from the Heavenly realm, even though it affects us greatly. Two, there are people who have perverted God’s creation and worship these entities. Astrology is the religious perversion of the Heavenly Realm. This is where people worship the sun, moon, and stars. They have calendars called the zodiac, and people live by the zodiac predictions. People are trying to spiritually connect with a created thing instead of connecting to the Creator. Because these people have twisted God’s creation, many believers have run away from studying the creation at all. Astronomy is the scientific study of the heavens. Astronomy is Biblical.

The Magi knew that Jesus was born because of a star they saw in the east (Matthew 2:1-10). The Bible actually tells us that they knew the EXACT time the star appeared. This means that they could calculate when the star appeared and where the star was. The Messiah was found because the Magi knew astronomy.

Psalm 19:1-4

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” (emphasis mine throughout)

The Hebrew word translated as “pour forth” is naba, and it is the same Hebrew word used for prophesying! The Hebrew word for Speech can mean promise. To summarize these revelations, the Heavens inscribe the prophecies or promises of God! They can even reveal intimate knowledge to us. The Magi could have only known that a specific star was a sign of the Messiah unless that star was assigned to a specific promise from God!

The Hebrew word for “voice” in verse 4 is “measuring line”. It can mean a line stretched forth for measuring or a line stretched for judgment. It is a unit of measurement. For God, the Heavens are a form of measuring where things are versus where they should be. Sometimes, things measure up perfectly. Sometimes they do not. The Heavens are how God sends this message to humans.

Genesis 1:14-19 reads, “14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And 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. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 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. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.”

The sun, moon, and stars serve as signs for season, days, and years. The Hebrew word for signs is oth, and it means a banner or beacon. Have you ever seen a light house? It is a beacon of light on a tower to guide you. In other words, the behavior of these heavenly bodies was meant to get our attention. A banner is a rallying point or a flag of representation. A beacon is meant to guide us. How do these bodies do this?

The sun is how days begin and end in the Bible. At sunset, one day ends and another day begins. This is why the Bible tells us that “…And the evening and the morning (or day) was the fourth day” (Gen. 1:19). This is why the Bible tells us not to let the sun go down on your wrath or anger (Ephesians 4:26). The Hebrew word for seasons is moed, and it literally means a fixed appointment. Throughout the Bible, this word refers to the Lord’s Feasts in Leviticus 23. The moon is so important in the Bible because the Hebrew Calendar is based off of the moon. Because months are determined by the moon, it helps us determine the festivals.

As we see the solar eclipse occur across the United States, let us not forget that God DOES speak through the creation He made. Let’s have ears to hear what He is saying to us in this hour. As we see our nation being torn apart, let us humbly seek His face. Pray for God to use this sign in the Heavens to get the attention of our nation that we would turn back to Him.

“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matthew 13:9)