What the Bible Says About the Moon (1)

In recent months the eyes of the world, as never before in the history of the world, have been focused upon the moon. (July 1969 was the first manned landing on the moon. Now again in recent years mankind is seeking to land and set foot on the moon. —Ed.)

What does Scripture have to say about the reason for the creation of the moon? Note that in the first chapter of Genesis, God has pointed out four specific reasons for which the moon was created. Genesis 1:14-18 reads: “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 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. And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth, 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.” The most obvious reason for the moon’s creation was to illuminate the night (verse 16). Men have always been frightened of facing darkness. From early times people were nomadic—they were herdsmen and shepherds. To a shepherd on the hillside, the moon was a gracious gift from God, for no artificial means of illumination were possible nor were they provided. God made it clear at the time of Creation that He had set a greater light and a lesser light— the sun for light by day and the moon for light by night— in order that men should not walk in darkness.

The thing this impresses upon me is that it was not God’s purpose to permit His creatures to stumble in darkness. Blindness was not a natural part of Creation. It was an abnormality that came as a result of sin. The apostle John testified, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5b).

Genesis 1 also points out (verse 14) that the sun and the moon were given to mark the passage of time in an orderly fashion. It was the moon that marked months and years rather than the sun, for there was no change in the daily cycle of the sun that would mark a significant or a new beginning, for each day was like the preceding day. With the waxing and waning of the moon, God provided for an orderly progression of time. The lights were put in the heaven for days and for years. He gave the lights in the heaven “to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good” (verse 18). While God is an infinite Being, unbound by time, man is a finite creature bound by time. In order that man’s finiteness might be compared to the infinity of God, God provided for the marking of time.

In Genesis 1:14b, we find the third reason that God created the sun and the moon. “Let them be for signs…” Now signs in Scripture were manifestations of God—manifestations of God’s character, God’s attributes. The signs or the miracles performed by Moses attested the authenticity of Moses as a messenger of God, and those performed by Christ authenticated His person and the work that He had come to do. In the apostolic era the apostles were authenticated by the signs which they performed.

In Romans 1:18-20, the Apostle Paul, speaking of knowledge that man may have through nature around them, says: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him (about God) from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” What Paul tells us here is that all men are responsible to God and answerable to God because there are certain signs that have been placed in nature that testify to the character of God and man’s responsibility to Him as the Creator. Paul does not single out any of the particular means of revelation in nature in Romans, but when we go back to Genesis 1:14, we find that the sun and the moon were placed in the heaven to be signs to all created intelligences that Creation is responsible to God and is to acknowledge His sovereign authority.

Now when we consider the moon as a sign or the sun and the moon as a sign, they can be divided into two classifications: first of all, as a sign to believers, then as a sign to nonbelievers. The sun and the moon that God put in the heaven, according to Psalm 19:1, revealed God’s sovereign power as the Creator. “The heavens (with the sun and the moon they contain) declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” The firmament bears testimony to the fact that the firmament— the heavens—came into existence as the result of the work of God; not by accident, not by chance, not by natural generation, but created by a sovereign, intelligent Creator.

This same Psalm, in verses 4-6, suggests that the signs in the heaven bear testimony to God’s sovereign control over His Creation. Verse 2 tells us that these signs also bear testimony to the infinite wisdom of the Creator. “Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.”

I think of the questions that are asked Job by God: “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? Or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? (These are references to recognizable constellations of stars in the heavens.) Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee? Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are? Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who hath given understanding to the heart?’ (Job 38:31-36). What God asked Job was this: Can you look at the signs that God has placed in the heavens without being overwhelmed at the wisdom of God who ordered the sun and the moon and the stars in their courses?

(To be continued)

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