POST OVERVIEW. The feelings that I experienced as I reflected on experiencing a solar eclipse. The words that I imagined the Lord was saying to me through this amazing experience of God’s creation.

On April 8, 2024, much of the eastern US had an opportunity to view a total eclipse of the sun. Since our grandchildren lived a mere 30 minutes from the “zone of totality,” it seemed like a good idea for us to travel to see them and then go another half hour west to see a total eclipse. So we did. And I am glad that we did. I have seen a number of partial eclipses in my sixty-four years, but seeing a total eclipse of the sun is in an entirely different category. To conceive of our solitary moon being maneuvered in between us and the sun such that our tiny satellite completely blocks out our heavenly furnace is almost too much to grasp, but then to watch the last glimmer of the edge of the sun finally disappear and to be able to view the sun with the naked eye while there is dim twilight in the middle of the day is a sublime and surreal event. I felt my extreme smallness in the presence of something truly awesome. This was a divine event and the only appropriate response was worship. This was an act of the living God in which the Lord of the universe was reminding His creatures that nothing is too difficult for Him and that He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. The heavens are telling of the glory of God and the expanse declares the work of His hands.

As I reflected on the experience of the eclipse later, my desire to worship was replaced with what I felt the Lord was telling me. For the Lord did not create eclipses for Himself, to impress Himself. The Lord created eclipses, yes, so that His creatures would be in awe of Him, but more than that, he created eclipses for the delight and the pleasure of His people. In fact, the Lord has made this created world, including eclipses, so that His people can get a small foretaste of the beauty and the joys of heaven. And so I imagined the Lord speaking to me as I basked in the impossible beauty of the eclipsing of the sun.

“My adopted child, the one I have chosen before the foundation of the world, the very one I have now redeemed and drawn near, My beloved one, I have created all the beauty of this earth and all the pleasure of this life for you.

“I have bought you with the blood of My own Son Jesus. Your sins are gone because I have taken them from you and have cast them into the depths of the sea. As far as the east is from the west, so far have I separated your sins from you, so that you can know My love for you and so you can run your brief race here on earth in unhindered joy. This amazing earth has been created for you so that you may enjoy it and so that you will get a brief, pale preview of what you will experience for all of eternity in heaven (Rom. 8:18ff).

“Your sins and guilt and shame are gone because they have been nailed to the cross of Christ. ‘I have called you by name, you are Mine’ (Isa. 43:1).Therefore your eyes have been opened to see all the beauty I have placed in this planet and you can enjoy it with unhindered, unstained joy as a gift from God to His beloved creatures.”

“O Lord, open up my lips that my mouth may declare Your praise” (Psalm 51:15).

“All things belong to you!” (1 Cor. 3:22-23).

Therefore, the Scriptures emphasize and establish the certainty of our salvation, so that we will no longer live as condemned slaves but will fully rejoice as redeemed sons of the living God. “Forgetting what lies behind” (Phil. 3:14). Forget the miseries of your past life of guilt and shame. They are gone!

There is the blood-stained cross. Behold, there is the empty tomb. Sin has been vanquished by Christ’s death. Death has been vanquished by Christ’s resurrection. Sin is removed! Death is gone! By faith you have been redeemed.

So then run your race with joyful abandon. The Lord is for you; He is with you; He leads you; He has prepared the way before you (Eph. 2:10).

Soli Deo gloria            rmb                 7/15/2024                   #709