The final eclipse of the Century in August 1999 is now history. It was everywhere hailed as an outstanding natural phenomenon. Over 2 billion people were said to have witnessed the event, from sunrise in Newfoundland to sunset in India. Is God speaking through the eclipse? If so, what is he saying?
Most of the reactions in the U.K. appear to have been along the lines of "Wow!", "How amazing!", "Superb!". Fringe groups gained media publicity with their "spirituality" emphasis: the druids, astrologers and new agers. The voices of religious leaders were mute: the Pope was reported as seeing the partial eclipse in Italy, but he made no public comment. Further east, Islamic leaders were more forthright: the eclipse was a message from God. "This is a sign of doomsday and it should be a lesson to us all to stick to the word of the god" (from a Mosque in Jordan). In Iran, Muslims were directed to perform the "namaz-e ayat", a prayer to celebrate God's glory said when experiencing an outstanding natural phenomenon. Still further east, thousands of Hindus took sacred baths, something thought to lead to reincarnation in the highest Hindu social caste, the Brahmin. Others recalled Hindu mythology, which interprets an eclipse as a combat between the demons Rahu and Keta, who eat the sun in their wrath. (The information in this paragraph has been drawn from The Daily Telegraph, August 12 1999, page 23).
Should Christians have anything to say? How do we move on from saying "Wow!" to bring God's Word to our own lives and to the lives of others? We want to escape the snare of becoming "secularised" in our thinking.
Genesis 1 informs us that the sun, moon and stars are signs that God uses, but we err if we think that these signs are analogous to messages saying, "God will do this, or that". Rather, they are signs of God's faithfulness in upholding his creation and his gracious provision on his creatures. There is no doubt that the Bible uses "eclipse" imagery in prophecy. The opening of the sixth seal in Revelation 6:12f results in the sun turning black. The Lord Jesus spoke of his coming, saying "the sun will be darkened" (Matthew 24.29 alluding to Isaiah 13:10). Should we conclude that an eclipse is always a sign of God visiting us in judgment?
Surely not, for a solar eclipse occurs somewhere on earth in most years. It must be absurd to say that there is something special about a particular eclipse. Every day, when we are aware of the sun, we can give thanks to God for his provision. We are dependent upon the sun for warmth, for food, for all our physical needs. This dependency is so great that many people have resorted to sun worship. The eclipse is a sign that the sun shines because that is God's purpose. At his command, He can take it away. That would be a disaster for all - and this speaks of judgment. In an eclipse, we can only watch and we are powerless to affect change. Very quickly, we see the light fall and feel the temperature drop. When God comes in judgment, we can only be passive. We can observe, we can experience, we can stand in awe, but we cannot influence what He does.
There are particular reasons for thinking that the eclipse is a special kind of natural phenomenon, having special significance. This is because the Earth/Moon/Sun system is unique in our solar system. No other planet has eclipses in this way. The sun is about 400 times larger than the moon, and it is about 400 times further away from the earth. So, from our vantage-point, the moon fits almost exactly over the sun. When the sun's light is blotted out, the solar atmosphere, some planets and brighter stars may be seen. It is a rare and awesome sight! Naturalistic scientists say this is a chance arrangement. Writing in the Sunday Times (25 July 1999), Professor Richard Dawkins says "The coincidence is pure luck, completely meaningless, though many prefer to credit providence". Our response is to say that because we believe in providence, we do not regard anything as "pure luck"! On the contrary, everything has meaning!
There are a host of extraordinary facets of our solar system. The more we know of our planet, the more we can see God's design. For instance, the amount and kind of the sun's energy are just right. If the sun's surface temperature was only 550 °C (instead of the actual 5500 °C) and the earth were nearer the sun to get the same amount of heat energy, the climate would be very similar to what it is. But the very different radiation coming from the sun would be quite inadequate for photosynthesis to occur and life would be impossible. Elsewhere in the solar system, the very massive Jupiter acts as a guard, helping to protect the earth from collisions with comets and asteroids. (for more information on design issues and our planet, see Designer Earth on the BCS web site).
What did the eclipse of 1999 mean to us? We were in Torquay on the 11th August to experience totality when the moon completely covered the sun. Thousands of other people were around us and we were all confident that the astronomers' predictions would be correct. We expected first contact to be just before 10 o'clock and that totality would begin at 11:14 am. No one expressed doubt that it would happen. In fact, you'd be considered crazy if you said the eclipse was unlikely to happen, either because you saw no evidence for it beforehand or because you felt it was foolish to put your faith in the predictions of astronomers.
It struck us how strong an analogy can be made with having an expectation of God's judgments, or even with believing in God. Our faith is firmly founded on a solid ground. God reveals himself in history, and supremely in Jesus Christ, His Son. Revelation is not primarily experiential; it belongs to a category called knowledge. That knowledge then is turned into experience as we work out our relationship of faith in the living God. And yet the skeptics refuse to receive this evidence, this knowledge.
Nonetheless, we must seek to win the many skeptics around us. We can tell them more about the glorious Creator of the wonderful universe; the Designer's signature is on all we see! We can demonstrate that the record of Scripture can be trusted and that Jesus really is the Son of God. We must not cease to warn people that this age will come to an end and that this whole earth will be eclipsed in the Last Judgment of God. That will be a day when God's glory will be revealed and we will all stand in awe. The transient eclipses in our lifetimes are memorable reminders of what will surely come to pass. The Great Astronomer has already made the prediction.
David and Sheena Tyler
Reproduced with Permission from Evangelical Times, November 1999
