What should we think about the upcoming solar eclipse?
As celestial phenomena unfold, many individuals rightly turn to Scripture, seeking insights into their significance. Eclipses, comets, supernovas, and meteor showers spark fascination and questions as to whether these events carry divine messages. However, discerning between natural occurrences and supernatural signs requires careful consideration among Christians, particularly in the context of hermeneutics (the science of interpreting the Bible) and eschatological (end-times) beliefs.
The Balance of Natural Order and Divine Intervention
I am a supernaturalist, meaning that I believe God made this
world and can intervene in events in miraculous ways to accomplish His purposes. God made the cosmos, and on the fourth day of
creation, the Lord made the sun, moon, and stars, establishing these luminaries
to be “for signs and for seasons and for days and years” (Genesis 1:14). The word “signs” carries a special
fascination for us, but we also see that God had a broader intent for these celestial
bodies.
Scripture reveals that God established the order of the
heavens, imbuing them with both predictability and purpose. While God retains the ability to intervene
miraculously in the natural world, events such as eclipses, which we can forecast
through mathematical models, are more likely part of the established order
rather than supernatural signs.
For instance, Genesis records that God loosed a world-wide
cataclysm that wiped out all human and animal life, save those protected on an
ark. Yet, after the global flood, the Lord says, “While
the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and
winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22). The Lord established a natural order, and it
would bespeak His character.
Consider Jeremiah 31:35–36. There, the prophet says, “ ‘Who gives the sun for light by day and the fixed order of the moon and the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar; the Lord of hosts is His name: If this fixed order departs from before Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘Then the offspring of Israel also will cease from being a nation before Me forever.’ ” In other words, the Lord connects the timeliness and predictability of creation to His promises to His people.
On the other hand, the sun not rising, or an unexpected/inexplicable eclipse would be, for these would be supernatural or miraculous events. There is a moment when God made the sun stand still for Joshua in Joshua 10, but v. 13 says, “There was no day like that before it or after it.” The Lord made the shadow turn backward for Hezekiah (2 Kin. 20:8–10), but that was a sign to confirm the healing he was about to receive. These are supernatural or miraculous events, which defy natural explanation and serve as a confirmation of God’s work.
End-Times Prophecies and Supernatural Signs
God does sometimes give these signs. Scripture foretells of celestial signs
occurring during the Tribulation Period. These events, depicted in the Book of
Revelation, involve extraordinary alterations to the sun, moon, and stars,
signaling supernatural intervention rather than predictable astronomical
phenomena.
For instance, it is when the Lord breaks the sixth seal in Revelation 6:12 that “the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood.” Later, when the angels blow their trumpets, “a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way” (Rev. 8:12). During the pouring of the bowls of wrath, we read, “The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire” (Rev. 16:8). These are all cases which bear no natural expectation and reflect supernatural intervention.
(Some Christians interpret these verses to be metaphorical of
social and spiritual realities, such as the collapse of foundational human institutions. While these verses certainly demonstrate an
attack on man’s faith in creation over the Creator, there’s no more reason to
deny the supernatural elements of Revelation than there is to deny it elsewhere
in Scripture. That’s a topic for another
day, though. Of course, those who deny
the possibility of the supernatural have much larger problems than one’s
interpretation of Revelation!)
Since these signs are all linked to the Tribulation Period in
Revelation, this gives us a second reason not to fear a coming, expected eclipse. The first reason is that it’s part of God’s
created order. The second reason here is
that we’re not in the Tribulation Period yet. Ergo, these “signs” do not yet indicate God’s
final purposes for history.
Critiquing Speculative Interpretations
I’ve seen several people talking about this, which is what
got me thinking about writing this. A
family member asked me what I thought, sending a link to an article on the matter. My response quickly became this article.
Since I was asked to respond to this article, here are three,
brief thoughts. First, there is no
consideration to what we’ve already considered, that eclipses are mathematically
predictable events which occur outside of the context of events in Revelation. While the writer does appear to come from a
similarly eschatological background to myself, it appears that he seems to believe
predictable celestial events today portend the end-times, a view not supported
in Scripture.
Second, he provides a set of arguments based on the Hebrew
language. It’s important to note that,
over the more-than 2,000 year span between the division of languages at Babel
to the closing of the Old Testament canon, the Hebrew language has both emerged
and changed over time. It’s never a good
“sign” when prophecy writers refer to the present shapes of the Hebrew letters. Furthermore, it also doesn’t bode well when
the author begins quoting Strong’s Concordance, a great resource for those
who don’t know Hebrew. There isn’t
much of substance there.
Third, as for the rest of this, it’s like a shotgun approach
to unrelated verses and facts. The author overlays unrelated dates and
biblical feasts with numerology to try to decipher a code of sorts. God has forbidden such reading of signs and omens
to predict the future (Deut. 18:10), and Jesus said it is unpredictable: “But
of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but the Father alone” (Mark 13:32, cf. Matthew 24:36). God does not allow us arbitrarily seek to
link earthquakes and eclipses to passages of Scripture through some contrived numerological
significance, and such efforts will always be doomed to failure.
Historical
Precedents and False Prognostications
It’s easy to forget just how many times this very thing has been attempted. Many have tried to link current events to Bible numbers and passages in an attempt to predict the rapture or some other event and failed. For instance, Baptist pastor William Miller predicted the rapture would occur in 1843 and then in 1844, leading to the “Great Disappointment.” The Jehovah's Witnesses predicted it at several points, such as in 1914, which they then changed to an invisible coming (predicting a physical return in 1925, 1975, etc). Edgar C. Whisenant published “88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988,” which he had to revise to 1989 and then to 1993. Harold Camping predicted the rapture in 1994, and then again for May 21, 2011, and then again October 21, 2011. All of these predictions relied on numerology, linguistic analysis, significant festal markers, and current events to arrive at some set date.
More recently,
people were enamored with the predictions of a Messianic Jewish Rabbi by the
name of Jonathan Cahn. He painted a
scenario in which the Bible predicted the events of 9/11 and linked the
prediction to the Shemitah cycle in Scripture in books like The Harbinger and The Mystery of the
Shemitah. He specified financial collapse or another
big event would occur on September 13, 2015, but that was a relatively uneventful
day. It seems that, in God’s providence,
he is aptly-named Cahn!
History is replete
with such instances of failed predictions, illustrating the dangers of
date-setting and sensationalism. These failures
fulfill what God has said, though. He
says in Isaiah 44:25 that He is “causing the omens of boasters to fail, making
fools out of diviners, causing wise men to draw back and turning their
knowledge into foolishness.” We need to
avoid those who produce such convoluted predictions based on imaginative
exegesis.
What should we do?
We can still be
Christians who believe in the supernatural, who believe God is at work, and
reject sensationalism and date-setting. We
continually have the need to watch, as our Lord has commanded. Moreover, there are clearly signs of God's impending
judgment of which we need to notice.
We can consider
such passages as Romans 1:18–32 and see clear parallels to our society, confirming
that God is giving us over to wrath. We
can also consider moments of disaster and upheaval, which may had natural
explanations, as moments that God ordained in His providence to warn
unbelievers to repent (Luke 13:1–5). Such
realizations, though, are also moments for God’s people to spread the good news
in the midst of the bad, and to provide aid and comfort as needed.
We also can
consider how close events on the world stage seem to be bringing us to the
end-times scenario. The existence of
Israel today does support events of a futuristic reading of Revelation, preparing
the way in which God may carry out some of the unfulfilled curses and promises of
the Old Testament. As we see globalism
on the rise, the devaluing of the US Dollar and military power, we may be
seeing a situation arise where global dominance can become a reality in Europe
or elsewhere. The most significant of
these is the waning influence of Christianity in the West and rising influence
of paganism, opening the door to the predominance of false worship and
persecution of Christians on a global scale.
While we don’t want a one-world order, nor do we want to dramatize every
news article or technological advancement, such alignments are noteworthy for believers.
Again, we don’t
know the day or the hour. It could be
five minutes from now, or it could still be another 100 years down the line. We should live our lives as though Christ could
return or call us home at any moment, to the glory of God. We should continue to trust in and proclaim
His gospel message while we have time.
We should also live out our Christian witness, not just for the
conversion of souls but for the love of our neighbor, fighting against
wickedness in our land where and when we can.
As we navigate
discussions surrounding celestial events and end-times prophecies, we are
reminded of the importance of discernment, humility, and faithful obedience to
God’s commands. While the future remains
veiled in mystery, we’re called to live with anticipation, proclaiming the
gospel message and embodying Christ's love until His return.
Until that day, we pray maranatha!
