A Biblical Theology of Cosmic Signs

In his final response to “eclipse fever,” Gary discusses the importance of using the Bible to interpret itself, rather than eclipse patterns and town names and a few scattered verses that seem to affirm the modern interpretation.

It is because the heavenly bodies show God’s glory that we delight in looking at beautiful pictures of them in astronomy books. We live in a happy age, to have access to photographs of such wonders as the Ring Nebula, the Crab Nebula, and the great spiral nebula in Andromeda.

As lights, the astral bodies are glorious. But, second, they were given for signs, or symbols. As we have seen, all created things point back to God; but all things also symbolize particular things, and in this case, the astral bodies symbolize rulers and governors. The lights are positioned in the firmament, called heaven. Heaven rules the earth. Thus, those things positioned in the firmament symbolize rulers of the earth, as we shall see shortly.

Third, they are said to be for seasons, or, more literally, for festival times. This applied to the Old Covenant, which was regulated by these creational clocks. It was particularly the moon, regulator of months, that governed the Israelite calendar. The moon established which day was the first of the month, and which was the fifteenth. Such festivals as Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles were set on particular days of the month (Leviticus 23:5-6, 34; Numbers 28:11-14; 2 Chronicles 8:13; Psalm 81:3). The moon, of course, governs the night (Psalm 136:9; Jeremiah 31:35), and in a sense the entire Old Covenant took place at night. With the rising of the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2), the “day” of the Lord is at hand (Malachi 4:1), and in a sense the New Covenant takes place in the daytime. As Genesis 1 says over and over, first evening and then morning. In the New Covenant we are no longer under lunar regulation for festival times (Colossians 2:16-17). In that regard, Christ is our light.

Through New Eyes: Developing a Biblical View of the World

James B Jordan provides a provocative introduction to Christian worldview using Biblical world models and symbols, making the claim that this was the way God has chosen to set forth how we are to think about His world and about human history.

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In his final response to “eclipse fever,” Gary discusses the importance of using the Bible to interpret itself, rather than eclipse patterns and town names and a few scattered verses that seem to affirm the modern interpretation. Christians must not be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4:14).

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American Vision’s mission is to Restore America to its Biblical Foundation—from Genesis to Revelation. American Vision (AV) has been at the heart of worldview study since 1978, providing resources to exhort Christian families and individuals to live by a Biblically based worldview. Visit www.AmericanVision.org for more information, content and resources