Editorial - If the Sun and The Moon Depart
According to God's Word, nothing is less likely than that the sun and the moon and the stars should disappear. They were created "for a light by day" – the sun – and "for a light by night" – the moon and the stars – according to God's own Word to Jeremiah as revealed in chapter 31:35.
The God who was the Creator of the heavens, including the sun and the moon and the stars, is the One who has the authority and the knowledge to set the bounds, the function and the life-span of these heavenly bodies.
And the very solemn truth the Lord revealed to His servant Jeremiah was that He likened the certainty of the existence of His people Israel, to the certainty of the existence of the sun and the moon and the stars.
"Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night . . . the LORD of hosts is his name – 'If those ordinances depart from before me,' says the LORD, 'then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me for ever.'" (verse 36)
If the people of Israel are aware of this truth and will seek the Lord and His Word, they will have an assurance of their continuity and preservation in spite of the odds stacked against them in these days. The nations and their leaders on the other hand are probably in ignorance of God's solemn Word about His people Israel. But if, with or without knowledge, they choose to continue in their determination to destroy Israel, then they will be fighting against the God of Israel; they will be fighting in a hopeless cause.
And because the Lord in His wisdom and foreknowledge knows that the nation of Israel, His people, will one day turn to Him in repentance, and "look unto him whom they pierced" (Zechariah 12:10), He follows the sun and the moon and the stars statement with a further dogmatic, very solemn promise.
"Thus says the LORD: 'If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done,' says the LORD." (Jeremiah 31:37)
Who but the Lord, the Creator, could make such a promise? And when repentance is forthcoming, who but the Lord could exercise the power to forgive and redeem a nation?