Page 60 - Through New Eyes

F I V E

SUN, MOON,

AND STARS

When twentieth-century people step outside and look at the
sky, they see a huge atomic furnace burning hydrogen during
the day, and a small planetoid reflecting the light of the sun at
night. They also see other atomic furnaces that appear very
small because they are so far away.
When twentieth-century people step back inside their homes
and pick up the latest coffee table book of astronomy, they see
color-enhanced photographs of distant galaxies, the Magellanic
Clouds, and binary stars. They see speculative drawings of
quasars, neutron stars, and black holes.
All these are wondrous things, and proper to study as part of
God’s universe. But if this is all we see, we are not getting the whole
picture. If we look through new eyes, we shall see much more.

The Purpose of Heavenly Lights
The Bible speaks more of the purpose of the heavenly lights
than it does of their constitution:

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the
heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for
signs, and for seasons [festival times], and for days and years;
and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to
give light on the earth”; and it was so.
And God made the two great lights; the greater light to govern
the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the
stars also. And God placed them in the firmament of the heav-
ens to give light on the earth, and to govern the day and the
night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God
saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:14-18)

53