Taken from Genesis 8, study #28:

IF THE SUN IS DARKENED, THERE WOULD NOT BE “DAY AND NIGHT” AS USUAL, AS HAS HAPPENED THROUGHOUT TIME BECAUSE THE SUN, MOON AND STARS ARE THE CELESTIAL CLOCK THAT GOVERNS TIME.

We read Mark 13:24-25:

But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.

In this passage we are told that these things are happening “in those days, after that tribulation,” and that would be the period of Judgment Day. We are told that the sun is darkened and the moon will not give its light, and so forth. If the sun is darkened, there would not be “day and night” as usual, as has happened throughout time because the sun, moon and stars are the celestial clock that governs time. When God created them He created them for “times and seasons,” so if the sun is darkened we would not have day and night with 24 hour days, or seven-day weeks, or the lunar month of 29.530 days, or the year of 365.2422 days. Everything would be upset and disturbed, as far as time is concerned. There cannot be an accurate track of time without the movement of the celestial clock that was created in the beginning. It has been a precise time instrument that has operated since it was set in the heavens. I am going to read this again, so let us listen carefully to what it says in Mark 13:24:

But in those days…

First of all, this speaks of “days” and days are a time reference, but you cannot have days without the sun, moon and stars. So when we read, “But in those days, after that tribulation,” we know that Matthew, chapter 24 tells us it is “immediately” after the Tribulation. Again, it says in Mark 13:24-25:

But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.

Literally, it is an impossibility that there could be a continuation of “days” in which the sun is darkened or the moon did not give its light or the stars fell. If any of that happened, it would be the end of the world and it would not occur over the course of days, but it would be very quick. We could not keep track of “time” in order to count days if these things literally happened. Genesis 8 tells us, “While the earth remaineth,” and the literal text reads, “While all days of the earth.” The word “remaineth” is implied, but it does point to the complete history of mankind’s days of living in this world. Again, it says in Genesis 8:22:

While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

That last pairing of “day and night” tells us that we must understand Mark 13 or Matthew 24 spiritually, not literally. For instance, let us say that tomorrow is the end of the Great Tribulation (which it is not because that happened on May 21, 2011), but let us just say that it ends tomorrow. Time has continued as “day and night” through today, but tomorrow is the end of the Great Tribulation and the beginning of Judgment Day and then Mark 13, verse 24 takes effect because it says, “in those days after that tribulation,” and then there is a period of time that begins to activate. So tomorrow the sun is literally darkened and the moon literally does not give its light and the stars begin to fall. (By the way, Revelation 6 tells us that the stars fall to the earth and we all know what would happen if even one star fell to earth. We would burn up in a minute.) So, once again, tomorrow the sun is dark, the moon is not giving its light and the stars fall and there is literally no more light. We are told it is going to go on for a matter of some unspecified “days” because it said, “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened.”

Alright, how can it say in Genesis 8, verse 22 that day and night shall not cease? Would not “day and night” have ceased if the sun is darkened and the moon does not give its light and the stars fell? There would be only darkness and there would be no more light. The distinction between day and night is caused by the sun. It is dark during the night and then the sun comes up in the morning and it is day. We have daylight for a period of time and then the sun sets and it is night again. If you had a windup watch and these things were happening, 10 o’clock in the morning could not be distinguished from 10 o’clock at night and the hours on our watch may appear to be passing, but the morning is identical to the night because the sun has been darkened, so there is no more keeping track of time. This means the Bible will not permit us to understand this darkening of the sun and moon or the falling of the stars after the Tribulation as a literal or physical occurrence. It is not only Mark 13 that does not allow it, but neither does the parallel passage in Luke 21 which also speaks of the end of the Tribulation. It says in Luke 21:25:

And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;

If the sun was literally darkened and the moon was actually not giving her light, is that a “sign” of the end of the world, or is that the end of the world itself? Of course, it would be the end of the world if these things did indeed happen literally. No one would take that as a sign, but it would be the reality that the end of the world has come. However, the Bible tells us that God will not give any outward visible signs. The Jews looked for a sign, but Christ said, “And there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.” In order to understand the “sign” Christ says is permissible, where do you go to learn about the sign of Jonas? Can you go to Nineveh? Could a Jew have gone to Nineveh to see the sign of the prophet Jonas? The events that happened to Jonah happened hundreds of years earlier. Where on earth could a Jew go to see it? Could he look up into the heavens? No, he could not have seen that sign anywhere, except in the Word of God, the Bible. That is the only place we can read about Jonah and his experience of fleeing to Tarshish and being cast out of the merchant ship, swallowed by the great fish and vomited out on dry land.

You need to read the Bible in order to “see” the sign and that is the case with the “signs” in the sun, moon and stars. We must get it in our minds that it has nothing to do with the physical sun up in the sky. It is what the sun represents and what God created the sun to illustrate, which is Jesus Christ, the Light of the world. So when we see references to the “sun” in the Bible we must understand it spiritually because God has opened up this information in His Word that Christ is likened to the sun that enlightens the physical world. When the Bible says the sun is “dark,” we know it is teaching us that the Light of the world (Christ) has been put out insofar as the shining of the light of salvation is concerned. When we see that the moon does not give its light, we also have come to know that the moon identifies with the Law of God, the Bible. Not only is Christ the Light of the world, but the Bible says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet.” The Bible itself is a light. Therefore, when the Bible instructs us that the major light (the Lord Jesus) and the lesser light (the Word of God) have gone out, then we know that we are seeing the “signs” it tells us reveal Judgment Day and these signs are acceptable and permissible signs concerning the end of the world because they are signs seen exclusively in the Scriptures themselves. These are the signs that will be in evidence after the Tribulation for “days,” as it says, “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened,” and so forth. And these are indeed the signs the Word of God has been proclaiming since the great tribulation concluded on the date of May 21, 2011.

Once we realize that the things happening in the celestial bodies (sun, moon, stars) are to be understood in a spiritual way, then we have harmony with the whole Bible. We are not looking at a literal darkening of the sun or a literal moon that is not giving her light. We are looking at it spiritually and understanding it spiritually, so all the while the spiritual lights of the Gospel are out the literal and physical celestial bodies in the heavens continue to function and time continues as normal during this prolonged period of Judgment Day. It is a time of the wrath of God and intense spiritual darkness, but when we wake up in the morning the physical sun is still shining, just as it has always done. Then the sun sets and it gets dark until the next day and the 24-hour cycle continue throughout the entire duration of Judgment Day. We are seeing much Biblical evidence that this time of prolonged judgment on the world may conclude in 2033. One thing we can say in an absolute and certain way: the signs spoken of in the Bible are in place. It goes on to say in Luke 21:28:

And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

We can have a very strong confidence in knowing that we have progressed from the church age and through the two-part Great Tribulation and we have progressed into Judgment Day and to the time referred to as “those days after that tribulation,” in which the light of the Gospel has gone out all over the world. These things match perfectly with the language of the Bible. This is not an easy journey. In fact, it is extremely difficult, but we are on the right course and we have the “signs” to encourage us that our redemption is close at hand:

Luke 21:28 And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

Interesting enough, as we look to the Bible, it is a sign involving darkness that as it were, lightens our path more and more unto the coming perfect day. The Word of God is the one that put the lights in the heavens and it is the Word of God that has put the lights out. As we see the “thick darkness” that has overtaken the world and we see mankind lose sight of basic morality in regard to aborting babies and selling their body parts and of men marrying men and women marrying women and everyone saying what a great thing that is, it makes the “signs” that much more of an indicator that the end is at hand.

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