Day of The Eclipse

( The eclipse at its peak in Kingston, NY. Photo by Peter Scott)

The eclipse is causing quite a stir, especially in Charleston,South Carolina where they will experience a total eclipse. All the hotels were booked solid through the weekend and today. My good friend started and airbnb and she booked right away even through today. So does this have any meaning for us? Yes, if we know how to read the signs. A total eclipse is a rare occurrence and that's why people are flocking to areas that will experience the full effect. I expect it will be a little eerie. But other than its uniqueness, what does it mean?

I'm not a scientist so I can't tell you much about scientific facts, though I'm sure they will be out there studying it. Neither am I a prophet and won't be declaring the end of the world. Yet I do think there is some significance to it. I hope it will show people just how dependent they are upon this whole solar system that God put into place. It's truly amazing!

I'm hoping it might wake up some sleepy, only in name Christians to the wonder and majesty of our God. Perhaps some will even crack open their Bibles and go to Revelations or end time prophecies, maybe even read Psalm 19, which tells us quite a bit about the heavens and its celestial bodies:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice] goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.

Most will be idle, curiosity seekers, though I have to admit I'm a little curious myself, though in New York we'll only see it partially. Some Christians may think its a herald ushering in the very end of the end times, maybe it will be, but not probably. I do think it has spiritual significance to us who are alive now. Just think about it. The sun, our source of energy, light, warmth and the reason we can live on the planet will be darkened for a number of hours, during a time in our planet's history when spiritual darkness covers the land--persecution of Christians at an all time high. More Christians have been massacred in the last 100 years than in all the centuries preceding. There's more drugs and teens dying from overdoes than ever, more violence, terrorism, greed, disparity, etc. It's not completely dark though, since the Light of the World, Jesus Christ, entered in His earthly existence. Many good things exist: people who love the Lord, great ministries, furtherance of the gospel, advances in health care, hospitals, technology, education, and many opportunities though a pallor has fallen over the earth, one such as we will soon experience.

The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 3: 1-7

"There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over gullible women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all kinds of evil desires, always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. "

Sounds like the times we are living in, though it has been like this since the beginning of mankind, just a little more pronounced now. Of course, yu could argue that the Dark Ages were really dark, but there are some pretty terrible things happening now too. Yet Matthew 24:29 is what applies to today, at least in part “Immediately after the distress of those days “‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken." Apparently, much more is to happen, but might this be the beginning of the end? What's your thoughts on this?