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Keypoints on this page
	References to the sun, moon and stars in the Bible are often linked to symbolic meanings.
	Some of the symbolic meanings relate to events that have happened in the past, while others concern future events.
	Understanding Bible symbology helps us understand God's plan for us and the world.

The Bible includes many signs and symbols, including references to the sun, moon and stars. For example, in the very first chapter of the first book of the Bible, in the record of Creation on the fourth day, God said:

`...Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth. And it was so. God made two great lights - the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.' [Genesis 1.14-16 NIV]

In these verses we have the first indication of the use of sun, moon and stars as governing or ruling powers in the natural world.

The significance of the sun, moon and stars as symbols of human rulers is first brought to our attention in the life of Joseph. In Genesis chapter 37 we read about his early life in Canaan and things which aroused the hatred of his brothers. They called him Joseph the dreamer as a result of two dreams which he related to them. In one of these dreams, the sun, moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. [Genesis 37.9] His father recognised the meaning of the symbology of the dream and asked him:

`...Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?' [Genesis 37.10 NIV]

The answer to the question became apparent years later, for the dream was prophetic. Joseph eventually became the second under Pharoah, ruling over the whole land of Egypt and the dream was fulfilled. [Genesis 42.6-9]

The sky at sunset

The Sun as a symbol
The sun is a powerful force in our universe providing us with light, heat and energy. The warmth of the sun makes us generally feel better and it is medically recognised that the rays of the sun have a healing quality, although there is a danger of over-exposure. As a result, the sun presents us with a powerful image of a life sustaining force, one which if withdrawn, would mean that all life would perish.

In his Gospel account of the resurrection of Jesus, Mark tells us that Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome took spices to anoint his body. From the record we are told that they did this `at the rising of the sun.' [Mark 16.2] To the casual reader this merely means they visited the tomb early in the morning, but by looking at the words of the prophet Malachi and at the Psalms we can see that Mark was actually telling us that Jesus the `Sun of righteousness' had risen in fulfillment of prophetic words. [Malachi 4.2] To confirm this let us briefly look at the passages concerned. In the book of Malachi the Lord's return is announced:

`...the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple' and in the following verse, the question is asked: `But who may abide the day of his coming?' [Malachi 3.1,2]

To whom was Malachi referring? Well, following a call to repentance the theme of the day of the Lord's return is again mentioned:

`For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble' [Malachi 4.1]

and for those who are faithful the prophet wrote:

`But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings;' [Malachi 4.2]

Jesus is identified here as the `Sun of righteousness' who having risen from the dead like the rising sun on a new day, will return at the appointed time with `healing in his wings' for those who have repented and have followed him.

If the sun and its attributes and benefits mentioned earlier allude to Jesus, then everything representing the opposite of sunlight (ie darkness and cold) must mean moving away from our Lord and indeed we can confirm this by looking at the Gospel record of Matthew. Jesus refers to himself as the `bridegroom' [Matthew 9.15] and later in the same Gospel record he relates the parable of the wedding banquet in which we note that those who are not worthy will be punished, or as the parable puts it:

`...cast into outer darkness; (where) there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' [Matthew 22.13]

In other words, those who are considered unworthy to be in the presence of the Son, will be driven from him. These words clearly allude to the coming time of judgement. [See also Matthew 25.31-46] Those who are found worthy will be made like Christ to die no more and reflect his glory for we are told that:

`...the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father...' [Matthew 13.43 NIV]

Close-up view of the Moon

The Moon as a symbol
The sun and the moon are rulers in the natural world, in that they influence the seasons among other things as we read in Genesis. As symbols, the sun and the moon in this context, stand for governing powers and in particular the rulers of Israel. In order to demonstrate this connection we must once again compare Scripture with itself.

To begin with we need to identify the heavenly bodies of the sun and moon as symbols for the nation of Israel. To do this we must refer to the last words of Moses when he addressed God's people as His nation:

`And Moses recited the words.....in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel. Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.' [Deuteronomy 31.30 and 32.1 NIV]

Moses then went on to remind the Israelites that God had chosen them to be His people. He then predicted that Israel would be punished for forgetting God.

`For a fire has been kindled by my wrath, one that burns to the realm of death below. It will devour the earth and its harvests.' [Deuteronomy 32.22 NIV]

and later in the same chapter:

`I lift my hand to heaven and declare: As surely as I live for ever, when I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand grasps it in judgement, I will take vengeance on my adversaries...' [Deuteronomy 32.40,41 NIV]

So in this chapter we have established the `heavens' and the `earth' as being symbols of Israel, the `heavens' being the rulers as in the natural world and the `earth' being the massed people of the nation of Israel, or those ruled over as in the natural world. But this being just one reference it would be relatively easy to take and to use this out of context and so we must look elsewhere in the Scriptures to develop the argument and to prove the point. Turning to the letter to the Hebrews we read:

`...Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: they shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;' [Hebrews 1.10,11]

This highly descriptive and symbolic language again tells us of the judgement of Israel as a nation and also introduces to us a further symbol of a garment which after a period of time will `wax old.' We are given the key to this when the writer to the Hebrews refers to the new covenant established by Christ. We read:

`By calling this covenant "new", he (that is Christ) has made the first one (the old covenant) obsolete; and what is obsolete and ageing (AV – "waxing old") will soon disappear.' [Hebrews 8.13 NIV]

If we specifically direct our thoughts towards the moon, a constituent part of the heavens, we can bring these points together through the assistance of the Apostle Peter. He says:

`And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.' [Joel 2.30,31]

This is part of an extensive quotation made by Peter in his address to the Jews on the day of Pentecost, when God poured out His spirit, prompting Peter to give a brilliant discourse in defence of the Gospel. [Acts 2.14-36] It is clear that he did this to warn the people and rulers of Israel (the heavens and the earth) that if they resisted the Holy Spirit and the preaching of Jesus as the Messiah, they would inevitably bring on themselves the great and terrible day of the Lord. As we know they did resist and they did deny Jesus and so, as predicted by Moses in Deuteronomy and in the writings of the prophets, Jesus and his apostles, judgement could not be withheld. As a result, Israel's sun and moon (the rulers in the heavens) were eclipsed when Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed in AD 70. Additionally, as a consequence of this destruction, the old covenant did `wax old' and has been replaced by the new covenant established by Jesus.

Distant cluster of Stars

The Stars as symbols
Many centuries ago there lived a man called Abraham who was faithful to God in all that he did. For years Abraham did not have an heir and this saddened him. All was not lost and in God's mercy He made a promise to Abraham:

`And he (God) brought him (Abraham) forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.' [Genesis 15.5,6]

Importantly for us, Abraham's blessings were to be extended to all mankind and not limited to the direct descendants of this faithful man, for later in Genesis we read:

`...In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.' [Genesis 22.17,18]

Naturally speaking the promises made by God have been fulfilled, for if we trace Abraham's descendants in the Bible we can see quite clearly how they grew into a nation of many people.

So how can we be blessed through the seed of Abraham as Genesis suggests? Paul's letter to the Galatians clearly links faithful believers with Christ as the promised descendant, or seed of Abraham. Most importantly believers are then related to the promises that are associated with Christ for we read:

`...Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen (ie non-Jews) through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.' [Galatians 3.6-9]

Clearly this links the faithful of all nations with Abraham. But there is even more conclusive evidence, for in the same chapter we are told `That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles (those who are not Jews) through Jesus Christ;' [Galatians 3.14] Then, as if to link the seed and the stars together we are given confirmation in verse 16 that Christ is indeed a descendant, a seed of Abraham.

Finally, to bring the matter to its great climax, the Apostle Paul triumphantly declares:

`And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.' [Galatians 3.29]

We believe that the evidence is totally conclusive in that without stretching the imagination or the facts, by being baptised into Christ we can become the spiritual descendants of Abraham. [Galatians 3.26-29] Consequently, we can look forward with confidence to sharing the promises made to Abraham, confirmed in the Gospel and which will be bestowed by Jesus, the Lamb of God (another symbol) when he appears to establish the Kingdom.

Conclusion
We have looked at three symbols and briefly mentioned a few of the many other symbols contained in the Scriptures. At the outset we indicated that there are many treasures to be found in the Scriptures and we trust this brief look at a few of the many Bible symbols will lead you to study more of God's word. In the prophecy of Daniel we can learn much about the events leading up to the fulfilment of the Divine plan for this world. In the last chapter of that book there is a promise to those who study to understand these things:

`And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.' [Daniel 12.3]