The sun, moon and stars are symbolic representations used in the Bible. In the spiritual realm, God is the sun and the angels are the stars. In the physical realm of God’s chosen people, the pastor is the sun, the evangelists are the moon reflecting the pastor’s light, and the congregation members are the stars. This symbolism is used to track the spiritual state of God’s people across different biblical eras – the Old Testament, the time of Jesus’ first coming, and the time before the Second Coming. In each era, God’s chosen people initially shine brightly like the sun, moon and stars but over time, fall into spiritual darkness and betrayal, requiring God to start anew with a faithful remnant. At Jesus’ first coming, he established the 12 disciples as the new “stars” to spread the gospel light but that light also eventually dimmed over the centuries after. Before the Second Coming, God appoints 7 stars/lampstands to be a light, but they too fall away, setting the stage for God to raise up the 144,000 from the tribes of a new spiritual “Israel” at Christ’s return. The main thrust is understanding this cyclical biblical pattern of God’s people shining, then falling away, necessitating him to raise up a new faithful remnant over the different eras, using the sun/moon/stars imagery.

 

Study Guide SCJ Bible Study

Secrets of Heaven: Sun, Moon and Stars

Sun = Pastor

Moon = Evangelists

Stars = Saints (Congregation Members)

The sun figuratively represents the pastor, the moon represents evangelists, and the stars represent saints. As we’re looking at this, consider the way God’s creation works. 

This will help you understand the logic for today as well. Ponder how the sun, moon, and stars function. Then, the underlying meaning will make a lot of sense.

Our hope is to be those who shine light like stars, not in the first heaven and first earth that passes away (Revelation 21:1), but in the new heaven and new earth, also known as Mount Zion, at the second coming.

Figurative Sun, Moon and Stars

Main Reference

In Matthew 24, a lot of significant events are described. Let’s break down each one. Matthew 24, from verse 29, can be seen as a mini-revelation, a condensed version of the book of Revelation. We should understand that the events described in Matthew 24 will be explored in greater detail in the book of Revelation.

Matthew 24 was prompted by Jesus’s disciples asking him, “Lord, what will be the signs of the end times and of your coming?” Jesus then proceeds to explain the things we should expect and look for, not to reveal the exact day or hour, as no one knows that, not even the Son of Man.

One of the signs Jesus mentions in verse 29 is that the sun will be darkened, the moon will no longer give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky. This refers to the sun, moon, and stars going dark and falling.

In the past, we may have thought this was a literal event. However, if it were literal, the consequences would be catastrophic. If the sun went dark, we would not survive as we would freeze to death immediately. If the moon fell to the earth, it would be like the biggest meteor strike ever, and nothing would survive. And if any of the stars, some even bigger than our own sun, came near us, we would not survive that event either.

We can know that this must be figurative because, in verse 30, it states, “At that time, the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.” Then, Jesus will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather the elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

After the figurative darkening and falling of the sun, moon, and stars, Jesus and his angels will come back to gather the elect from all directions. This is consistent with what we’ve been studying throughout the class, and it’s not something to be feared, but rather an event that must take place.

Let’s examine the symbolism of the sun, moon, and stars in more detail to better understand this passage. The key point is that after the figurative darkening and falling of the celestial bodies, there will be a gathering of the elect by Jesus and the angels.

1. Physical Characteristics of Sun, Moon, and Stars

Romans 1:20 and Hosea 12:10 still applies. God uses creation to explain himself, and he often uses creation in parables as well, in dreams and visions.

ONE – What does the sun do for us? It provides light. It is the source of light. And because the sun is so powerful and massive, it causes all the other planets to orbit around it. 

So everything in our solar system orbits around the sun. The sun is the focus, the sun is the important thing. Which is quite interesting, because several hundred years ago, Christians thought we were the center.

They misunderstood God’s creation, so they actually ended up misunderstanding God too. In reality, everything orbits around God, just like that.

TWO – The moon does not produce its own light. It reflects the sunlight that falls upon it. This reflection is what allows us to see the moon illuminated in the night sky. The moon shines at night because it is reflecting the sun’s light. This phenomenon represents the moon governing the night. Keep this figurative representation in mind as we explore further.

THREE – What about the stars?

How many stars are out there? Can we count them?

There are numerous stars in the universe. We can only provide estimations of the vast number of stars that exist. Additionally, there are many different types of stars, varying in brightness.

The visibility of a star’s light depends on its proximity and size. Stars that are closer or larger appear brighter, while those farther away or smaller seem dimmer, depending on their position in the sky. Altogether, all three types of celestial bodies – stars, sun, and moon – reside above us in the physical or spiritual realm.

So, they are all located in heaven, the sky, which is where they’re supposed to be.

Keep that in mind as well, their intended location. By simply observing these celestial bodies, we should start to unravel clues as to why they are the answer to the parable question. But let’s explore further why this is the case.

2. Spiritual (True) Meaning of the Sun, Moon and Stars

We’ll examine the sun, moon, and stars from two perspectives, considering them at two different levels. Since they are celestial bodies located in the heavens, we’ll analyze them in relation to the two types of heaven we’ve studied thus far. Of course, we acknowledge that there are three heavens in total.

However, our focus will be on contrasting the heaven above with the figurative heavens that represent different realms here on Earth.

1. Heaven in Spiritual World

So if we have the heaven above, and we’re talking about heaven in the spiritual world, who is the sun in heaven in the spiritual world? God. 

‘For the Lord God is a sun and a shield.’ Amen.

And He withholds nothing from those whose walk is blameless. Let us be those whose walks are blameless. But what must someone possess within them to be considered righteous in this way?

They must have the word.

Must. That is how they are able to walk in a blameless way. And God will be their shield and their sun.

What about the stars? Who are the stars in the spiritual world? Remember how many stars are in our physical universe?

And that should give you a clue right away. The stars represent angels.

How many physical stars are there in the universe? How many angels are there in heaven? Countless. So many.

Thousands upon thousands. 10,000 times 10,000. There is no number.

Countless. It’s not an accident that God designed the physical universe and the spiritual world in the same way. The same fingerprint.

The same author. So the stars are the angels.

Let’s go to Isaiah 14:12-15. Of course, this is talking about Satan, but keep in mind how Satan addresses everyone else around him.

We can see how Satan was addressed. He was called the Morning Star. 

In verse 13, what did he say? “I will ascend to heaven. I will raise my throne above the stars of God.” This means he wanted to become superior to the other angels because he desired to become God.

So, God is represented as the sun, and the angels are represented as stars. There is no mention of a spiritual moon. The moon is actually a condition for the physical world.

We’ll talk about that now, but in the spiritual world, there is only the sun and the stars. Understanding the logic here, God is the main source of light.

All of the angels are shining God’s light. God is the source. He is the center. 

That’s when heaven is referred to as the spiritual world. But what about when heaven is referred to as the physical world?

2. Heaven in the Tabernacle of Chosen People

When heaven is figuratively referred to as the tabernacle of the chosen people, it represents a symbolic interpretation.

Who, then, is the sun? Who, then, is the moon? And who, then, are the stars?

You remember that heaven is described as the tabernacle of the chosen people, right? You recall that lesson on the figurative Heaven and Earth?

So, heaven is the tabernacle of the chosen people. Whose responsibility is it to shine the light within the tabernacle?

Certainly, Jesus should be present there. But inside the tabernacle, there must be one whose job it is to shine the light – the pastor.

It is the pastor’s job to shine the light of the word. And then we have the moon. What does the moon do?

Does the moon produce its own light? No. What does the moon do? It reflects the light.

So, it takes the light from the pastor and shines it at what time? At night.

If a tabernacle is truly a place where God dwells, that tabernacle will be in the day because the pastor will shine the light.

But outside the tabernacle, it will be what? Darkness. Darkness. Night. So, an evangelist’s job is to take the light that they receive from the sun and shine it outside, bringing people into the day.

That’s their job – to take the knowledge of the word, the light of the word they receive from the pastor, and go out into the night, bringing people into the day. That’s their job.

And then you have the stars. Who are the stars inside the tabernacle? The members. Hopefully, they are countless.

Not all the time, but one characteristic of them is that they differ in brightness. Certain saints have a greater understanding of the word than others. Hopefully, all of them are able to increase their brightness and shine like the stars.

Those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars.

Let that be our goal. How are the five people on the list you were asked to write down doing in terms of leading others to righteousness? Have you been praying for them?

Have you invited them to study or introduced them to your evangelist yet? Let’s do that. Right.

Let’s shine like the stars. Okay. So the sun represents the pastor, the moon represents the evangelist, and the stars represent the saints.

And when the sun, moon, and stars are mentioned together in one sentence, together they represent God’s chosen people. God’s chosen people when they’re taken all together. Let’s see that in scripture.

We’ll turn to two passages that talk about the word that needs to be in this kind of place. And then we’ll look at the first place where the sun, moon, and stars were mentioned together in the Bible. So, the word that must shine in a place, of course, is like the word that has been opened.

Do we remember what Psalm 119:130 says? “The unfolding of your word gives light and understanding to the simple.” In other words, when the word is opened, it gives light.

And depending on one’s diligence level, they can contain more or less of that light. Even in our class, some are able to retain more than others.

And it’s purely based on the amount of effort that one puts in. This is not a class that you can listen to passively and not take notes and expect to retain everything. That’s not how this works.

You have to put in effort, and God rewards effort. God desires effort.

Trying. Not perfection yet, but trying.

Effort. Because when someone puts in effort, they start to shine a little bit brighter than others.

Stars differ from one another in splendor. Keep that in mind.

Let us strive to be those who shine brightly, noticeable at all times. That is how a place that represents a tabernacle of the chosen people should be when circumstances are favorable, when the light is shining. However, if they go dark and fall, it signifies that things are no longer going well in this place.

This serves as a teaser. We will delve into that in just a moment. Let us examine the time when the sun, moon, and stars were first used figuratively to represent the chosen people.

We have the dreamer here, Joseph. Joseph was the dreamer, and he had a dream. In his dream, what did he see? And how did his father Jacob interpret this dream? 

Joseph dreamed that the sun, the moon, and 11 stars bowed down to him. Jacob interpreted the sun as representing himself, the moon representing Joseph’s mother Rachel, and the stars representing Joseph’s 11 brothers.

Of course, this dream was fulfilled later on when Joseph’s family came to Egypt after the seven years of famine and ended up bowing to him. So the prophecy in the dream was fulfilled.

But keep in mind that Jacob’s family was the ones that God was with. 

God’s dwelling was with Jacob’s family. And Jacob’s family grew to become the physical Israelites, physical Israel. 

They were God’s dwelling place, akin to heaven. So this is very important.

Things in the Bible are not there by accident, but God repeats himself using a logic that he has established to explain what will happen in each era. The dream and its fulfilment represent a figurative parable, with the word of God conveying a deeper lesson about true hope and false lies, like a seed that opens or remains sealed in its time.

In the time of the Old Testament

In Genesis 37, the sun, moon, and stars figuratively represent the physical Israelites or the people of Israel. Jacob had 12 sons, who became the 12 tribes of Israel, with each tribe named after one of Jacob’s sons.

This is how things started in the beginning, as mentioned in Genesis 37:9-11. At that time, the Israelites were shining bright, following God, keeping His law and covenants. Things were going well. However, we know that over time, the people struggled to continue shining God’s light. Unfortunately, they broke God’s covenant so badly that God made a prophecy.

Many important things are mentioned here, providing clues about God’s plan. Did you notice something that sounds like Matthew 24?

What did you notice?

The passage mentions that the sun, moon, and stars will turn dark, and the moon will turn to blood. Which sun, moon, and stars are being talked about here?

The Israelites. Turning to blood represents no longer giving light. This is something we’ll discuss in future lessons, but understand that turning to blood is not a good thing.

So they will no longer give their light, and they too will go dark and fall. This sun, moon, and stars refer to the same people. The people of Israel are prophesied to go dark and fall, but God has a plan, doesn’t he?

In verse 32, after mentioning that the sun, moon, and stars will go dark and fall in verse 31, it says, “The sun will turn to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”

Verse 32 continues, “And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”

So whenever an era is coming to an end, God follows the same pattern. God has a pattern when he is doing deliverance. Deliverance also comes with judgment. And actually, the judgment has to happen first.

First, there is a people that are called, and they follow God. Then, those same people struggle with sin and temptation and betray God’s covenant and law. Those people are then judged, but not all of them.

God always calls out the few righteous survivors. When he calls them out, he builds something new with the survivors. This pattern repeats numerous times throughout the Bible, and in the next level, Bible logic will dive deep into that too.

Keep this in mind: God calls a people, that people betray, they are judged, but not everyone. There’s always a small group of survivors that are called out. And then, with those survivors, God does something new. 

Would you like an example?

God calls Adam and gives him the covenant. Adam breaks that covenant, and then his descendants increase in sin. So what does God have to do? Judge the old with the flood, but not everyone. Noah and his family were called out onto the ark, and the ark represented salvation. This pattern repeats over and over again in the Bible, including what we’re talking about now.

Okay, back to the content. So we have the physical Israelites. God gives them the covenant. Unfortunately, they break that covenant, and God knew this, which is why he prophesied that the sun, moon, and stars will go dark, right? The sun will no longer give its light, and the moon will turn blood red.

In the time of the First Coming

There must be a mountain that appears where deliverance or salvation takes place on Mount Zion. And at the time of the first coming, who was here on Mount Zion? Who was the Lord that came and called many people? It was Jesus.

So we see that in Joel 2, this is actually fulfilled when Jesus came, and he was the one that is called Zion, like in Isaiah 60:14.

And what did Jesus do?

Jesus established the 12 disciples at Mount Zion, and the disciples gathered many people, the few survivors who were willing to listen to Jesus and his words and come out from the sun, the stars, and the moon that had become dark, that were no longer giving light as they were supposed to. And these people became Believers.

The standard of who God’s people are changed. It was no longer about being born into the right family to be a part of God’s people. That standard came to an end. The new standard for becoming God’s child was faith in Jesus.

Those people who believed could then become the new sun, moon, and stars. Believers who became the new sun, moon, and stars, shining the light of the word that Jesus taught.

Why did Jesus form 12 disciples? Because the pattern repeats itself, like the 12 sons of Israel. Now we’re understanding. Jacob became Israel, and Israel had 12 sons. We’ll talk about what Israel means when we look at the figurative Israel in the next lesson.

Israel means “one who overcomes.” Did Jesus overcome at his first coming? Yes, he did. John 16:33 says, “In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, for I have overcome the world.”

So Jesus becomes like Israel. He too needed 12 sons. The pattern has to repeat, so he established 12 disciples. His 12 disciples went out into the world, testifying to many people, almost forming something similar to tribes.

Now, there’s one important thing I wanted to talk about with physical Israel before we continue talking about a different type of Israel, which is the lesson coming up soon. We’re going to look at someone who was like a representative, someone who was the best of the group of people, but what happened to the best?

Jesus said something very important in Matthew 11. He called John the Baptist the greatest among those born of men. 

The reason why Jesus called him the greatest is because John the Baptist symbolized the greatest of the people of physical Israel.

What did Jesus call John the Baptist? A lamp (John 5:35).

Now, when is a lamp necessary? When it’s dark, at night, when there is no light, then a lamp becomes necessary. So John the Baptist became like a lamp, but something unfortunate happened to him.

If we look at Matthew 11, we start to see clues that things weren’t going well for John. After some time, this is the same John who, in John 1:29, said, “Look, the lamb of God has come.” That’s the lamb right there. But now, in Matthew 11:2-3, something seems a little off.

This is interesting because the question John the Baptist is asking seems to suggest that something is no longer there or is shaky regarding his faith.

Yes. Although John the Baptist was a lamp and shone light in the beginning, over time, his faith in Jesus began to wane. The reason his faith in Jesus started to wane is that he was spending time with the Pharisees and Sadducees, and they began to poison his understanding of Jesus.

If you look at Matthew 9:14, it says, “Then John’s disciples came and asked him, ‘How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?'”

Why are John and his disciples being mentioned in the same sentence as the Pharisees? Also, why does John still have disciples?

This is in Matthew 9. He had already introduced Jesus to the world and prepared the way for him. Why does he have any disciples by this point? Isn’t it strange that they are not all following Jesus?

So even the best of Israel eventually became dark too. Physical Israel was done, with no light remaining. This is why the greater light, Jesus, had to appear.

Jesus established his twelve disciples who went out into all the world, and they became the new chosen people. Their job was to testify the gospel to many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.

However, we know that Jesus also prophesied about how they would come to an end. Because what happens in Matthew 24?

At the start of Matthew 24:29-31, we read about what would happen: the sun, moon, and stars will go dark and fall.

Now, this does not refer to the original sun, moon, and stars going dark, but the ones that had been established by Jesus will also go dark and fall.

Jesus was saying that although things were going well then, when it was close to his time to return, things would become dark again. This darkness started to happen almost immediately after Jesus left because Christians began to disagree with each other, straying from the true teachings. In fact, the early apostles were fighting against the arguments and disagreements among Christians, as seen in Galatians 1 and 2 Corinthians 11, where Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, and others were saying, “Stop this! Follow what we are teaching you about the true Christ.”

We know that this was prophesied to take place, right? Jesus talked about the seed in the same field and Matthew 24. All this is to say that over 2,000 years by the time Jesus is about to come back, it’s pretty much night everywhere, with darkness prevailing.

So, what does God do, like the time of the first coming? He establishes a lamp. A lamp is most useful at the time of night. In this case, it’s actually seven lamps or seven stars and seven golden lampstands, as mentioned in Revelation 1:20, which were in Jesus’s right hand.

But something happened to them: Satan came and caused them to betray, and when they betrayed, their lampstand was snuffed out. Some stars officially go dark and fall, as described in Revelation 6:12-14.

In Revelation 6, we see that the sun, moon, and stars go dark and fall at the time of the second coming. These celestial bodies figuratively represent the believers who were established 2000 years ago. This particular group of believers in Revelation 6, like John the Baptist, had the job to shine the light as a lamp, just as the seven stars and seven golden lampstands mentioned in Revelation 1:20.

Lamps and lampstands are only needed in a time of darkness, when it is night. God and Jesus establish a lampstand at the second coming to prepare the way for the Lord. They shine when there is darkness, when it is night, as Jesus promised would come in John 9. All these passages are linked together, talking about the same event.

To those who were once the seven stars and seven golden lampstands but have now betrayed, they are being judged. When they are judged, there is no more light. The light is gone until it appears again.

This is what it means for the second coming. Jesus promises to return to Mount Zion and give the open word, and light will take place once again at Mount Zion, where 144,000 are sealed. They come from the 12 tribes, but not the 12 tribes from the Old Testament or the 12 disciples. A new 12 tribes is promised to appear.

However, God and Jesus do not intend to leave us here. What must happen at the second coming?

In the time of the Second Coming

Now, did you notice the number of people that were sealed? How many? 144,000. Where are these 144,000 from? They are from Israel, the 12 tribes of Israel. Interesting.

But didn’t we already discuss that physical Israel is not the standard anymore? Didn’t they go dark and fall? So which Israel is being referred to here in Revelation? It’s not the same one. It’s a new one.

At that place, there will be 144,000, and a great multitude will also gather there. At that place, people will be sealed with the word of Revelation that is being fulfilled. They will come out from this place (the first coming) that is now dark with many different explanations and understandings, none of which match each other, and ultimately don’t really make a lot of sense when you really look at them.

Out of that place, what does God and Jesus do? ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins or receive any of her plagues.’ (Revelation 18:2-4)

So what is happening at this time? When the sun, moon, and stars go dark and fall, then there must be the gathering of the elect, like Matthew 24 mentions. A time of harvest. A time of spreading the net into the water and catching good fish and bad fish. A time to go out into the field and separate the weeds from the wheat. A time to gather the sheep on the right and the goats on the left.

And where are the sheep and goats? Where are the wheat and the weeds? Where are the good fish and the bad fish? All gathered in the same place. There needs to be an extraction.

Do you understand? Is anyone confused? Is this new content? Or have we actually been saying the same thing for four months? Just understanding it more deeply. More details now.

Okay, there was more I’d like to share, but we don’t have time. What I wanted to quickly mention is a little bit about mindset. Because remember, the sun, moon, and stars are supposed to shine light. And they’re supposed to be in heaven, which means separated from the earth. They’re supposed to be above. We’re not supposed to be a part of the world.

What the world wants is for us to live in excess, to take it easy, to live for ourselves, to follow our hearts, our minds, and our guts, to do what we think feels right. That’s what the world tells us to do, right? If you watch a wellness podcast, show, or radio station, everyone’s always talking about self, self, self. Amass large wealth. Do this and do that. But the world is not interested in the things above. This is why it is so hard to be a believer who has the word of truth today, because it is counter to everything that the world is and does.

Two quick passages are very important to talk about.

Let’s separate ourselves from the world and rid ourselves of all moral impurities, and pray that God helps us in this endeavor. Because this is truly challenging, we cannot accomplish it by our own efforts alone. We need divine assistance.

Okay. And the final point would be to understand the mindset of the world. Please read this passage from Luke 12:31 very closely.

Jesus speaks about what it means to follow him and what the world instead asks us to do, right? So in Luke 12:15-21, it discusses living for oneself, amassing wealth, and taking it easy. That’s how the world’s perspective is portrayed.

However, Jesus says that our priority should be to live for righteousness. So, let’s contrast righteousness versus worldly pursuits.

Now, let’s read the entire Luke chapter 12.

Memorization

Let’s Us Discern