And the fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars were smitten, in order that a third of them might be darkened, and that a third of the day might not shine, nor a third of the night likewise. Rev. 8:12.
When I was 10 years old, I spent two years of savings on a telescope. I thought it was so cool to be able to look at the heavens and see such awesome things as the rings of Saturn, the craters of the moon, and the satellites of Jupiter and its colorful gas clouds. But the best thing I ever saw in my telescope was the Pleiades. In spite of the smoggy air in my neighborhood just outside New York City, the Pleiades knocked my socks off.
People sometimes refer to the Pleiades as the seven sisters. To the naked eye they appear as a small cluster of six or seven points of light. But in my telescope the Pleiades expanded to a cluster of several hundred stars sprinkled across the viewing area like so many jewels. The stars were visibly yellow, red, blue, green, and every shade in between. It was the equal of any of the royal crowns I have seen in the palaces of Europe.
After this experience I fully agreed with the psalmist, who said, "The heavens declare the glory of God" (Ps. 19:1, KJV). In viewing the heavens through my telescope I caught a glimpse of God's greatness and how much He is a lover of the beautiful. Stars also illustrated the infinity of God for Job. When Job was questioning why he had to endure so many problems, God pointed him to the stars. "Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear without its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?" (Job 38:31-33).
Our text for today speaks of a partial darkening descending over the stars and the other heavenly bodies. In a spiritual sense this would portray a time in history when events disguise or partially obliterate the true knowledge of God. Just as it is hard to imagine a world in which we can no longer see the stars, the author of Revelation is boggled by the thought of a world in which the spiritual light of God is no longer visible.
In the context of this passage we discover a God who hides Himself at times. When we take Him for granted, when we ignore the abundant blessings that He has scattered everywhere for us, He sometimes removes Himself from our view for a time. He hopes that we will remember what we are missing and long for a renewed walk with Him.
Lord, I don't want You to have to hide from me. Keep your glorious greatness ever before me, I want to see You as Your really are.
When I was 10 years old, I spent two years of savings on a telescope. I thought it was so cool to be able to look at the heavens and see such awesome things as the rings of Saturn, the craters of the moon, and the satellites of Jupiter and its colorful gas clouds. But the best thing I ever saw in my telescope was the Pleiades. In spite of the smoggy air in my neighborhood just outside New York City, the Pleiades knocked my socks off.
People sometimes refer to the Pleiades as the seven sisters. To the naked eye they appear as a small cluster of six or seven points of light. But in my telescope the Pleiades expanded to a cluster of several hundred stars sprinkled across the viewing area like so many jewels. The stars were visibly yellow, red, blue, green, and every shade in between. It was the equal of any of the royal crowns I have seen in the palaces of Europe.
After this experience I fully agreed with the psalmist, who said, "The heavens declare the glory of God" (Ps. 19:1, KJV). In viewing the heavens through my telescope I caught a glimpse of God's greatness and how much He is a lover of the beautiful. Stars also illustrated the infinity of God for Job. When Job was questioning why he had to endure so many problems, God pointed him to the stars. "Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion? Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear without its cubs? Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God's dominion over the earth?" (Job 38:31-33).
Our text for today speaks of a partial darkening descending over the stars and the other heavenly bodies. In a spiritual sense this would portray a time in history when events disguise or partially obliterate the true knowledge of God. Just as it is hard to imagine a world in which we can no longer see the stars, the author of Revelation is boggled by the thought of a world in which the spiritual light of God is no longer visible.
In the context of this passage we discover a God who hides Himself at times. When we take Him for granted, when we ignore the abundant blessings that He has scattered everywhere for us, He sometimes removes Himself from our view for a time. He hopes that we will remember what we are missing and long for a renewed walk with Him.
Lord, I don't want You to have to hide from me. Keep your glorious greatness ever before me, I want to see You as Your really are.
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