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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/clark-logan/the-sun-moon-and-stars/
Before we read from the Bible, the Word of God, shall we pray? Our God and Father, we humbly come before Thee today to worship Thee, from everlasting to everlasting. Thou art God, Thou art the High and Lofty One, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy.
Thou art a God of power and glory, of love and grace, of truth and righteousness. We bow at Thy feet today, and we exalt Thy name. We give Thee thanks. We have so much to be thankful for, but most of all, we thank Thee now for the Lord Jesus Christ, who willingly left the glory of heaven and came down to this troubled and sinful earth and went to the cross of Calvary, there to lay down His life for us.
We praise His name, our blessed Saviour, today. We also bring before Thee our requests, for we are a weak and needy people. As we read the Bible, the Word of God, open now our eyes, that we might behold wondrous things out of Thy law.
Open our ears to hear Thy voice. Open our hearts to receive Thy Word and to obey it. We worship Thee, we give Thee our thanks, and we ask these things in the worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have six short readings from the Word of God, and in fact these span the whole Bible from the beginning to the end.
Our first reading is from the first book of the Bible and the first chapter, and that is Genesis chapter 1 and verse 16. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 16. And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, that is the sun, and the lesser light to rule the night, that is the moon.
He made the stars also. Our second reading is from the last book of the Old Testament, the prophecy of Malachi, and there is chapter 1 and verse 11. Malachi chapter 1 and verse 11. For from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the sea, my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering, for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.
Now to chapter 4, the last chapter in the Old Testament, chapter 4 of Malachi, and there it's verse 2. Malachi chapter 4 and verse 2. But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings.
Now over to the New Testament, and the first book of the New Testament is the Gospel by Matthew, and there it's chapter 2. And we're going to read in Matthew chapter 2 about the question the wise men from the east asked concerning the birth of Christ.
Matthew 2 and verse 2 saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. Now Matthew 27, Matthew's Gospel chapter 27, and there we're going to read verse 45.
Matthew 27 and 45, and we're reading about an unusual occurrence that took place as Christ hung upon the cross. Matthew 27 and verse 45. Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.
And finally, from the last book of the Bible and the last chapter of the Bible, that is Revelation chapter 22, and there we're going to read verse 16. Revelation chapter 22 and verse 16. I, Jesus, have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.
I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. Now that's all we shall read this evening, or today I should say, it's this evening in Botswana, from the Scriptures of Truth.
We are living today in strange, uncertain, and challenging times. Who would have thought a few months ago that the world would be brought to its knees so suddenly, and life would change so dramatically for us all?
And it's not over yet. At a Bible conference last December, I happened to speak about viruses, spiritual viruses, that endanger a Christian's testimony and service. Back then, in December, we had no idea what lay ahead.
The truth is that the believer in Christ is not a permanent resident of this planet. Indeed, our time here is very short. The Bible says that we are strangers here. This world is not our home. It also describes us as pilgrims, traveling onwards and upwards to our real home, our eternal home, yes, to heaven itself.
What I hope to do in the next half hour or so is to encourage each one of us to focus. We're not going to look back so much and think of all we enjoyed a few months ago. We're not even going to look around us at the present crisis that affects us all.
But what I really want us to do is to look up and focus on things above. I want us to stretch our vision and our minds to view and to consider three wonderful things in the sky above us, the sun, the moon, and the stars.
There are lessons here for us that should encourage and strengthen us today and every day. There are also lessons that will give us hope for the future. And so we look upwards and we look onwards. We have in a sense covered the whole Bible in our readings.
We read from the first book and the last book of the Old Testament. And then we read from the first book and the last book of the New Testament. You see, the Old Testament begins with creation but ends with a curse because of man's sin.
By contrast, the New Testament begins with a genealogy, that of the Lord Jesus Christ, and ends with grace. You may recall the very last verse in our Bibles that says this, The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.
Amen. What went badly wrong in the first section because of sin has been gloriously recovered in the second because of the coming of the Saviour and His grace. Now our first lesson today is this. I want us to consider the greatness of God in creation and this should cause us to be worshipful.
God created by speaking. He did not first have to gather together the raw materials or the building blocks, as we would say. All He did was to speak and on the fourth day God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and we call that the sun and the lesser light to rule the night and we call that the moon and then it says and He made the stars also and God saw that it was good, His creation.
We note the words of Isaiah in chapter 40 verse 26 Now the sun is Earth's nearest star and it's the only star in our solar system. When we say nearest star, it's a mere 93 million miles away. Sunlight takes eight minutes to arrive upon planet Earth.
Let us say you wanted to take a holiday trip to the sun and fly directly there by a commercial passenger jet, perhaps spend a few weeks and get a bit of a suntan and then come directly back. You could leave today and we would expect you back in about 40 years time.
In size, the sun is over 100 times bigger than Earth. It is a raging sphere of hot plasma ionized gas with a core temperature of 27 million degrees Fahrenheit 15 million centigrade. The Earth orbits around the sun once every year and because the axis of the Earth is at a tilt of 23 .5 degrees we have our season and because our Earth is also spinning every 24 hours we have day and night.
Scripture says He made the greater light to rule the day. As for the moon, planet Earth is only one moon and it orbits the Earth every month. It is tied to the Earth by gravity. They attract one another we might say.
The light of the moon as we know is only a reflected light from the sun but the moon also controls Earth's tides. If there was no such control there would be widespread flooding on every continent. Ah, but what about the stars?
In our short reading the phrase appears almost as an afterthought. He made the stars also. The more scientists and astronomers look the more they find trillions of them. They estimate that there are 100 billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy alone.
And then there are millions and millions of other galaxies. As they say in North America, you do the math but the psalmist tells us that God knows their exact number. It's not a guesstimate. In Psalm 147 verse 4 God knows their number.
Isaiah also reminds us that He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His power. He has names for them all. Here in Botswana living as we do in an African village it's a great delight to go outdoors at night and with relatively little atmospheric pollution we can look up and gaze and wonder at the southern sky and see the myriads of diamonds the stars that He created.
It's altogether breathtaking. Well perhaps that is more than enough of statistics and science for one day. But does it not make you think? God is so great to create all of this and we are so infinitesimally small just a little dot in the universe and yet He loves each one of us so much.
How much? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to die for you and me. Why? So that we might not perish but have everlasting life. And how can that be? Through believing in Him through faith alone in Christ alone.
God is the omnipotent one the almighty creator of heaven and earth but to us who believe He's also our God, my God and our loving heavenly Father. In our Bibles there's a true story about a man called Job God permitted Job to pass through deep trials in four successive hammer blows in the one day Job lost all of his livestock then his house and home when all of his ten children were killed in a terrible storm.
When God eventually spoke to Job a man burdened with grief and loss and with many questions in his mind God did not answer his immediate questions. Rather in his wisdom God challenged Job to consider of the greatness of the almighty in creation and God asked Job questions instead.
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Who measured it and marked it out? Did you command the dawning of each day the light and the darkness? Can you control the stars in their constellations?
And there in scripture in the book of Job we have the name of two constellations Pleiades often called today the seven sisters and Orion also known as the hunter. What was the response? Job confessed to God and here I paraphrase.
I now know that you can do everything and no thought can be withheld from you. I have heard you by the hearing of the ear but now my eyes can see. Yes he confronted the greatness of God in creation and it caused him to worship.
It was the psalmist who said the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. In the book of Malachi we read it. God has said from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name and the pure offering for my name shall be great among the heathen said the Lord of hosts.
What is emphasized here is universality. The universality of worship from sunrise in the east to sunset in the west his name shall be great. There is also the thought of perpetuity this will continue and never end from sunrise to sunset every day of the week all around the world starting in the east and spreading westward.
The people of God are lifting up that incense of praise and worship to his name. In the prophecy of Malachi you will read of that name in every chapter. The greatness of the name the glory of the name the thoughts of the name and the fear of that name.
I wonder my dear Christian friend are we faithful to his name? Do we fear that name in the sense of giving honor and reverence to that name? Do we often think upon it as the remnant did in the days of Malachi?
Do we speak to one another about it? Even under lockdown we can continue to worship him and to exalt that name and in the words of Malachi when we do so a sweet incense will arise heavenward to the glory of his name.
In these strange days of confinement in our own homes we have little excuse for neglecting to worship our blessed Lord. Are we singing more? I mean singing his praises oh it's good to sing and lift our voices to exalt that name.
Are we using our time well sitting down with our children to read and pray that the things of God might be real to us day by day even in our own homes with our own family. May our homes be sanctuaries where God is honored and may a sweet incense of worship arise morning and evening to the throne of God in heaven above.
The greatness of God in creation but secondly I want us to think of the goodness of God in provision and this should cause us to be thankful. The sun gives both light and heat and we are so precisely positioned in the universe in our distance from the sun that the seas do not boil over or completely freeze over.
We would not survive if we were just a little nearer or a little further away we would soon be burnt to ashes or frozen to death and can you see God is good to all of his creatures in this respect. He has not only created everything but he also maintains everything as we read in Hebrews chapter 1 he upholds all things.
How? By the word of his power. Without the sun we would have no green grass for the animals to eat. No green vegetables for us to eat. I can hear the young one saying well no green vegetables is no great loss but there would be no crops to harvest.
Without the sun we would be clothed in permanent darkness. We would all suffer from vitamin D deficiency and rickets and osteomalacia and certain forms of cancer and heart disease and mental problems.
Every day without feel we are met by a sunrise even if you don't see it. And every evening without feel there is a sunset. How beautiful they can be. The story is told of a Christian man of a former generation and in his assembly where the Christians met he usually was the one to project pictures that visiting missionaries would show of their work in foreign lands.
In those far off days these were called lantern slides. He confessed that he had accumulated quite a collection of sunsets because it was a habit of many missionaries to end their presentation with a sunset.
Then they would forget to retrieve the last slide out of the old style projector and often our friend would genuinely forget to remind them. Well we can understand can't we? Sunsets can be so beautiful anywhere in the world.
There's an interesting story in Joshua 10 when the sun and moon stood still for a time God intervened to allow the nation of Israel to defeat their cruel enemies. He cared for them as he cares for you and me.
We can truly say that God is so good and we need to remember this and thank him for the provision of our daily needs. Let us not become careless and presumptuous taking these things for granted. However, the present crisis may well spell famine and starvation for many in other parts of the world.
Just a few days ago my wife rung a young widow that we know well. She was saved in the village of Tokweng where we live after cottage meetings when the gospel was preached in our home. Not long afterwards her husband fell ill and died and she was left to bring up the family alone.
Then her sister died and a few more children were added. She is presently in her home village many miles away and we are now under strict lockdown in Botswana because of COVID -19. The other day when asked how she was she said well the problem is this I used to have some income from doing the neighbours washing and various odd jobs for others in the village but now I can't do that.
There are only two local shops she said and their prices are high and we are not allowed to travel to the bigger store where things are cheaper. This young woman is presently looking after seven children.
She is only one of many in our world who tonight will be putting their little ones to bed hungry. Oh we thank God for his goodness in provision his greatness in creation. Let us not take these things for granted.
Now thirdly the grace of God in salvation should cause us to be grateful. We are going to think of two miraculous events in the New Testament. Firstly the miracle of the guiding star linked with the promise of Christ's birth in Bethlehem.
We read of that special star a star that guided Christ's seekers wise men from the east to the place of his birth. Matthew relates the birth of Christ after establishing his genealogy as that of the royal line of King David.
Christ had a legal right to the throne. Furthermore as prophesied in Micah chapter 5 and verse 2 Christ was to be born in Bethlehem Ephrata in the region of Judah. Cannot we see how specific and accurate the Bible is because in the Bible there are actually two Bethlehems.
There was another Bethlehem in Zebulun up north but in Micah 5 2 it's that Christ will be born in Bethlehem Ephrata. He was given several wonderful names even before he was born. Thou shalt call his name Jesus.
That's why he came to save his people from their sin. Ah but there's more. Emmanuel God with us that's who he was and is. God manifest in human flesh. From Jerusalem the wise men were guided by the star to proceed to Bethlehem some five and a half miles away.
We should carefully note that they did not come to a manger but to a house. This suggests that their visit took place sometime after Christ's birth. These men fell down and worshipped the young child not his mother presenting unto him their treasure in the form of gifts.
Thereafter God warned them in a dream not to return via King Herod who said he wanted to worship but really he wanted to find the new rival king and destroy him. And so they returned to their own country the Bible says another way.
Even today when we meet with Christ to worship him the effect should be to alter our walk so that we are changed and take a different path. Wise men sought him wise men still do. When we preach the gospel we love to tell sinners that the seeking savior and the seeking sinner will always meet.
The Lord Jesus Christ himself said in Luke 19 and 10 for the son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. The guiding star to the place of his birth. Secondly the darkened sun on the tree reminding us of the price that Christ paid in his death at Calvary.
None of what took place at Calvary was a surprise to Christ. He had already told the disciples on three occasions of what lay ahead of him in Jerusalem and yet from the track he turned not back. He knowingly went on his way to the cross because he was obedient to the father's will.
He would fulfill every prophetic scripture in relation to his death and he would pay the ultimate price the full price of our redemption. We think of the pain and the shame, the loneliness and then the darkness of those hours upon the tree.
Judas betrayed him Peter denied him the disciples forsook him his enemies bound him falsely accused him assaulted him, stripped him, mocked him taunted him and spat upon him. Pilate scourged him and the Roman soldiers crowned him with thorns and nailed him to a tree for three hours he hung in daylight from nine o 'clock to twelve o 'clock when the sun at its zenith was veiled and darkness covered the land.
And in those three hours that followed hidden from the eye of man Christ bore the punishment of our sins as the sword of Christ as God's judgment fell upon him. Yes God forsook him and so the cry was heard which is to say my God, my God why hast thou forsaken me.
The truth is this he was forsaken that we might be forgiven. Oh thank God for the cross of Christ. Thank God for the saviour upon the tree. He bore our sins in his own body on the tree when God made to meet upon him the iniquity of us all.
Oh think of it dear child of God think of it. The one who said I am the light of the world hung in darkness. The one who offered sinners the water of life said I thirst. He who said I am the bread of life was bruised and broken.
He who said I am the way seemed to have come to the end of the road. He who said I am the life bowed his head and died. He who claimed to be the good shepherd was now dead. And what good is a dead shepherd.
Thank God he bore it all for you and me. And so many of us can confess I was a guilty sinner but Jesus died for me. By the way what exactly is grace. We are speaking of the grace of God. What is grace.
Grace is God reaching out to bless those who don't deserve it. Salvation is a gift that we cannot work for or pay for. It can only be accepted with a believing and grateful heart. In Botswana it is customary to receive a gift with two hands.
Two open hands as an expression of gratitude. You see grace means that we come before God with two empty hands and we go away with our hands full to overflowing. We should not forget that although it is a gift the gift of salvation and eternal life that we can receive it was so costly to purchase it cost Christ everything and he paid for it upon the cross with his own precious blood.
After the Lord was buried and his tomb was closed sealed and guarded. Several days passed but on the morning of the third day the first day of the week faithful women brought spices to the tomb. The Bible says it was at the rising of the sun the S .U .N. they found a stone rolled away and the tomb empty.
What had happened. The son of God S .O .N. had risen from the dead. And don't we love to sing hallelujah. Christ arose the mighty victor of Calvary who willingly and lovingly led down his life. He took it again and he is alive forevermore.
Today he is the risen ascended and exalted Christ seated at God's right hand the greatness of God in creation the goodness of God in provision and the grace of God in salvation. Finally let us think of the glory of God in manifestation.
And this should cause us I believe to be hopeful in the future. God will bring to fulfillment all of his purposes and promises. He will do so for his glory and the honor of his son. One day the preeminence of Christ will be manifested it will be seen and acknowledged by all of creation.
So what is the next event in God's prophetic calendar according to the Bible what are we looking for. Well the Christian is not looking for signs although we are not blind to the increasing moral and spiritual darkness in this world and the sudden calamities that have taken place even in recent days.
And truly there are many things about the future that we do not know. But what we do know according to the scriptures is that we who belong to Christ and are part of the church which is his body should be looking expectantly for him to return.
And one day soon maybe very soon we shall see him. The bright and morning star. This lovely lovely name relates to Christ his church and to heaven. In fact it is the last of five beautiful double titles of Christ that we read of in the last chapter of our Bibles in Revelation chapter 22.
He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the beginning and the end. He is the first and the last. He is the root and the offspring of David. And he is the bright and morning star. What is known as the morning star is the second brightest natural object in the night sky after the moon.
It's not actually a star at all but rather the planet Venus. Its light is reflected from the Sun just like our moon so it doesn't fluctuate or twinkle but remains constant. Venus rises in the darkest hour of the night and heralds the coming dawn.
If you sleep in you may not see it at all. The apostle Peter reminded the suffering saints of his day that although they too were passing through dark days they had the comfort of God's word as a light says Peter that shines in a dark place.
Their suffering would not last forever for he says it will be until the day dawn and the day star that's the morning star arise in your hearts. Here the original word for star is a different word than is used later in the Revelation.
Here it is the word phosphorus which speaks of the exceeding brightness of the light. A third reference to the morning star occurs in Revelation chapter 2 when the Apostle John is writing to the church of Thyatira.
Their moral condition was corrupt. Their spiritual condition was very low. Indeed. Some Bible students equate the conditions of this church to a time of history from the 5th to the 15th century often called the dark ages.
But to the faithful ones in Thyatira who were referred to as the overcomers Christ promised the morning star. Is it not wonderful that he knows and understands the challenges and meets the needs of his people whatever they may be.
He is the unchanging Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. So the Lord will appear for his church in the middle of the night as it were. We refer to this glorious event as the rapture of the church meaning a sudden catching up under catching away.
He's coming back again and maybe very soon he will fulfill his promise to his own as he told the disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem just before going out to the cross. And John chapter 14 he said this let not your heart be trouble.
You believe in God believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also.
Yes he's coming so and we're going to see him and he's going to be manifest before us. But how will it take place first. Thessalonians 4. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God.
And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the crowds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. The Apostle adds wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Oh dear child of God face to face with Christ my Savior. What a gathering that will be. And it could happen today. Tonight is coming back as our bright and morning star. Isn't it good to be ready to meet him.
So shall we ever be with the Lord. We pray on for our loved ones and friends our relatives who are not ready who need a Savior. We pray that they might not leave the matter of their soul salvation until it's too late.
Time is short and the need is urgent and the coming of the Lord throw it now. I want to say just a brief word about what will happen after the Christians have gone after Christ has appeared and been manifested as the bright and morning star and taken the church home to heaven as in the natural realm so in the spiritual there will continue to be darkness upon this earth.
What a time of terrible judgment will be followed. It's called in the Bible the tribulation that great and terrible day of the Lord. It's very interesting to read that the sun the moon and the stars will all be affected in those days.
And you can read of that in the book of the revelation. And yet men will continue to blaspheme God and refuse to repent. God will again have dealings with Israel his earthly people. The other nations will turn against them.
But a faithful remnant as prefigured in Malachi will long for deliverance in their darkest hour when it seems as if they're on the very verge of annihilation. Christ will return to earth in power and glory as the sun the S .U .N. the sun of righteousness.
He will deliver them defeat their enemies and establish his millennial kingdom. That 1000 year glorious kingdom of righteousness upon earth. Their dawn will have come at last. Matthew in his gospel the gospel of Christ the king of righteousness speaks of the preview of that coming kingdom when on the mount of transfiguration it's only Matthew that tells us Christ's face did shine as the sun.
Oh dear child of God in these difficult and dangerous times these dark days let us look up and let us live in confidence and hope to remind us of our God. We can look heaven and see the sun the moon and the stars as we view them in wonder.
Let us recall the greatness of our God his goodness and his grace. Let us be worshipful thankful and grateful. And let us be hopeful as we look forward to the coming glory. Our blessed Savior and Lord is coming back and he's coming soon.
Midst the darkness storm and sorrow. One bright gleam I see. Well I know the blessed morrow. Christ will come for me midst the light and peace and glory of the father's home. Christ for me is waiting watching waiting till I come.
Who was this. Who comes to meet me on the desert way as the morning star foretelling God's unclouded day. He it is who came to win me on the cross of shame in his glory. Well I know him ever more. The same as the early Christians used to say Maranatha he's coming back.
And now we say even so come Lord Jesus. Shall we pray our God and father. We bow in thy holy presence once again to thank thee for thy word the truth of it the relevance of it to our lives as pilgrims and strangers on our heavenward journey.
We are living in dark days days that we can hardly understand. And we take a moment to pray for families. Those who have been bereaved in recent days. We pray that they might remember that there is a God in heaven that they might look to him.
We pray for those who are presently sick in hospitals and in other places and for those who care for them. The doctors nurses and other staff providing support. Oh Lord. We pray for these dear ones. We would remember father that we must look up to thee even in the darkness.
Help us. Oh our God. We pray for ourselves that our faith might grow stronger that our love for the Lord Jesus Christ might burn brighter. And that we will become more and more like our blessed Lord until we see him face to face and maybe see him very soon.
Bless thy word to us. We pray for our leaders and those who have difficult decisions to make. We pray that they might remember there is wisdom to be had from God alone that they might look to him. But now we pray for each other and all who have heard the word of God today.
We ask a rich blessing on us all for we ask it in the worthy name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you and may God bless you.