What does the moon tell us about creation?
Application: Our moon is a sign in the heavens of God's creative power and His glory.
In this L.I.F.E. Lesson, Dr. Bob discusses how the moon demonstrates the truth of God's creative design. Our moon is unique, and critical to Earth's past.
Supplemental Information
In Genesis, God spoke the Moon into existence. He provided the Moon's purpose in the same passage:
To be for signs
To identify the seasons
To rule the night
To give light on the earth
To separate the light from the darkness.
And finally, "for days and years"
Most of these purposes are straightforward and indicate the special nature of our moon.. Without the light provided by the moon, the night would be a very dark and different place. Animals could not rely on its light for hunting and navigation, and the cycles of the moon would not help man to clearly define the calendar. The cycles of the moon were the primary timekeeping for Israel, as defined by God. All feasts and fasts are defined in terms of these cycles.
There are lots of moons in the solar system. Some planets have dozens upon dozens of moons. Jupiter and Saturn are great examples. Every planet, except Earth, that has a moon of some kind has more than one. It is the only astronomical object other than the Sun that influences processes on the Earth.
The moon has long been recognized as a significant stabilizer of Earth's orbital axis. Without it, astronomers have predicted that Earth's tilt could vary as much as 85 degrees. Without the moon, the sun would swing from being directly over the equator to directly over the poles.
Tides
The moon also rules in another way. It is responsible for the creation of tides. The earth’s gravity keeps the moon in orbit. The force is higher on the part of the earth nearest the moon, so any water there will bulge towards it. This creates a high tide. The part furthest from the moon is attracted the least by the moon, so flows away from the moon creating another high tide on the opposite side of the earth. In between, the water level must drop. This creates the low tides. As the moon orbits the spinning earth, there is a cycle of two high tides and two low tides about every 25 hours.
Tides are vital to life on Earth. Tides cleanse the ocean’s shorelines. They keep the ocean currents circulating, preventing the ocean from stagnating. As the tides move in and out of the bays, they move massive material from these bays, keeping them clean and diluting sewage discharges.
These tides create friction. This is slowing the earth’s rotation, so the length of a day is increasing by 0.002 seconds per century. The Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum says that the angular momentum the earth loses must be gained by the moon. Thus the moon is slowly receding from Earth at about 1-½ inches per year. There is a lower limit to how close the moon could have been. This is called the Roche Limit, it states that the moon could never have been closer than 11,500 miles. This is because Earth’s tidal forces would have shattered the moon if it were any closer. Even accepting all of the assumptions made by secular scientists, this places a maximum age for the moon of 1.3 billion years, a time period inconsistent with what evolutionary processes would require. And this is allowing for an origin of the moon at the minimum distance possible. In reality, the only scientifically viable explanation is the one that God gave in Genesis, he spoke the moon into existence on Day 4 of creation.
One of the most significant differences between the true account of creation in Genesis and the various creation myths is that those myths make the Sun and Moon their gods. In some the Sun is the male god and the Moon is his wife, in others, it is the other way around. The Bible’s true history emphasizes that the Sun and Moon were both created objects, and that God did not even create them until the Fourth Day. While the plants were created on the Third Day, a day before the Sun and Moon. This may seem impossible. Where was the light for the plants? Light was created on the First day when God spoke it into existence. This light is the true light. The light from the Sun that is reflected by the Moon is an inferior light.
One of the most fascinating sights in the sky is a total eclipse of the sun. This is possible because the moon is almost exactly the same angular size in the sky as the sun. It is both 400 times smaller and 400 times closer than the sun. This precision is God's amazing design in full view. Solar eclipses are another of the great signs God has placed in the heavens. There is another form of eclipse, a lunar eclipse. This occurs when the moon passes through the earth's shadow, and is only possible because the moon and the earth rotate on the same plane. This is in spite of the tilt of the earths rotation. The moon does not orbit the earth along the earths rotation plane, but along the plane of its orbit with the Sun. No other planet has a moon that does so. This fact refutes the idea that the moon formed from material that was orbiting the earth (as a result of an accretion disk or collision).
On November 19, 2021, the world had the opportunity to witness a partial lunar eclipse. It was the longest partial lunar eclipse since 18 February 1440, and the longest until 8 February, 2669. This eclipse occurred when the moon was at its furthest from earth (apogee) and is often called a micromoon.
A full moon that occurs when the moon is at its closest (perigee) is a supermoon.
A supermoon is a full moon that appears to be slightly bigger and brighter than a typical full moon because it reaches its fullest phase when its orbit brings it closer to Earth.
The eclipse in this video occurred on November 19th, which in 2021 coincided with the 14th of Iyar. What is the significance of this date according to the ancient Jewish calendar, and what are God’s instructions concerning it?
The Second Chance
A year after the Exodus, God instructed the people of Israel to bring the Passover offering on the afternoon of Nissan 14, and to eat it that evening, roasted over the fire, together with matzah and bitter herbs, as they had done on the previous year just before they left Egypt. "There were, however, certain persons who had become ritually impure through contact with a dead body, and could not, therefore, prepare the Passover offering on that day. They approached Moses and Aaron ... and they said: '...Why should we be deprived, and not be able to present God's offering in its time, amongst the children of Israel?'" (Numbers 9)..
In response to their plea, God established the 14th of Iyar as a "Second Passover" (pesach sheini) for anyone who was unable to bring the offering on its appointed time in the previous month. The day represents the "second chance" achieved by teshuvah, the power of repentance and "return." In the words of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak of Lubavitch, "The Second Passover means that it's never a 'lost case.'" This day was an important one for Israel, and reflecting on its ancient context can make it an important one for us as well. Remember the God of the "Second Passover."
Blood Moons
When the earths shadow falls across the moon, it casts a red glow on the face of the moon and is called a “blood moon.” The Bible has several things to say about blood moons in the last days. In Joel 2:31 we read, “The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.”
In the Bible, blood is used symbolically to specify life (life given or taken). We see it in the sacrificial system, where blood is shed to cleanse us of our unrighteousness. We also see it in the blood of martyrs. Revelation 6:9 is one example. Here, the moon turns to blood immediately after the martyrs ask God how long until he takes vengeance for the wrongs done against them. In this case, the blood moon symbolizes the vengeance God will take for the wrongful murders of the saints.
Revelation 6:12 says, “I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red.”
In the New Jerusalem, which comes with the return of Christ, a change will take place regarding the sun and moon. Isaiah 60:19–20; Revelation 21:23, and 22:5 all mention that the sun and moon will no longer be necessary for light. Christ will be the light source for the new earth and New Jerusalem. Once again, all creation will feel the light of Christ, just as it did in the beginning.
Scripture References
"And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.' And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day." Genesis 1:14-19
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Psalm 19:1
"When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood," Revelation 6:12
"From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, declares the Lord." Isaiah 66:23
"Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended." Isaiah 60:20
"and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." Colossians 3:10