THE HEAVENLY BODIES

Original Post Date - Wednesday, May 28, 2008

And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. Genesis 1:14-19

These verses have been the center of controversy for generations. The account of the creation of the sun and moon are preceded in Scripture by the creation of light. Does this mean there was another source of light?

In the Book of Revelation it says that God’s presence will be our light in the eternal Kingdom and we won’t need the sun. Could it have been that when the Spirit of God hovered over the earth that the sheer presence of the Divine brought light to the planet?

Some scholars have also argued that the sequence of Creation in Scripture doesn’t mean that the sun wasn’t created before light. Hebrew writings are often not chronological. We see this in the Gospels. Some of the gospel writers were concerned about grouping the events of Jesus’ life by topic more than in giving an accurate timeline of when things happened.

The sun, moon and stars are our constant companions. They remind us of the greatness of our God. They are essential to the balance of the earth – the sun providing light and energy and the moon providing light and the ocean tides. The stars, consequently, leave us in suspense of how great God really is.