Supermoon
As I bicycled home after our mid-week service last week, I was struck by the brightness of the moon. It was, so excited news outlets reported, a ‘supermoon’, which means a full moon coincided with its orbit's closest proximity to the earth, thus giving it a larger and brighter look than usual. A couple of times I covered my front light to see if I could see in just the moonlight. Sure enough, the pale illumination of the lane was enough to navigate by, but the Highway Code and dozens of potholes persuaded me not to take the risk.
As well as confirming the Creator’s genius and His creation’s splendour, the bright moon is a token of God’s continued patience and grace. In Revelation 8:12 we read:
And the fourth Angel blew the trumpet, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so that the third part of them was darkened: and the day was smitten, that the third part of it could not shine, and likewise the night. (Geneva Bible)
Although Revelation’s chronology and literality are open to question, I rather think that the words above are to be taken at face value. A darkened moon, sun and stars are heralds of divine judgement. That beautiful, bright moon, therefore, was a token of divine mercy, and so too those twinkling stars in the sky's darker corners.
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found: call ye upon him while he is near. Isaiah 55:6
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