Skip to main content

Eclipses And Protection

             I don’t have a passage to connect with today’s first idea. But the idea fits the day, so I’m going with it. An eclipse takes place whenever one planetary body passes between the sun and another planetary body. It “just so happens” that the sizes and distances of the sun, Earth, and the moon from each create total or near total eclipses. When the moon eclipses the sun (as will happen today), we can only see the corona of the sun. When the earth eclipses the sun, we have blood moons.

As I thought about this earlier and listened to the lecturer on the videotape in Sunday School talk about the judgments, the ideas merged. Eclipses are an illustration of what people will face. If we represent Christ as the Earth and us as the moon, either Christ stands between God and us (a lunar eclipse), or we stand between God and Christ (a solar eclipse). Either He can take (or block) God’s judgment on us in full, or we can take it God’s judgment ourselves, which might be said to cast a tiny shadow of “protection” on Christ where the path happens to go.

Like any analogy, it’s not perfect, but it’s interesting as far as it goes. Now, onto the regular entry

 

Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore. The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil. Lord, do good to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart. But those who turn to crooked ways the Lord will banish with the evildoers. (Psalm 125)

 

I’ve noted before that Jerusalem is built within a circle of mountains. That’s the reason for these songs that were sung on the way up to the temple. It also means that it has a natural fortress. The people who lived there were protected by walls they didn’t build, but it meant having to trudge up to get to the city. It wasn’t convenient even if it was safe. How often do we complain about the things meant to protect us? No extra-marital sex, no drugs, alcohol only in moderation, eating only in moderation, not wanting what doesn’t belong to us, no pornography, etc.? It takes all the “fun” out of life. It’s not convenient, but it does provide safety.

Now, if we use “the land” as an analogy for our lives, the passage also promises that evil will not be allowed to reign in our lives for long because if it did, the righteous might use their hands to do evil. I think this is a verse we need to be bringing before God in our society today, because it certainly seems as if the righteous are being tempted to use their hand to do evil following the example of the wicked who live in the land.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more