And God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; He made the stars also. Genesis 1:16
A little boy once observed that the moon is more important than the sun because the moon shines to give some light in the dark, whereas the sun shines in the daytime when it is light anyway. We smile at that, because we know that all of the light comes from the sun, including the moonlight, which is merely reflected sunlight. The greater light is in reality the only light. This statement from the account of our world’s creation is a type of the relationship between the Lord Jesus Christ and His people.
In our created world, all energy of all kinds comes from the sun. It provides all of the light and heat that our planet needs. Old Sol is the one great source of everything. Some of that light and heat is withdrawn from us during the night. During this period, the moon provides some light. Not as much as the sun, but it does offer some help. Our world is currently in a period of spiritual night. Darkness cloaks the people as the devil keeps his victims in blindness, many of them unaware and uncaring that there is a God who loves them and a Saviour who died for them. The Son of Righteousness is not visible to them; He is not physically present in the world. But the Holy Spirit is, dwelling in the believers. Those of us who have received the Light of the World have the privilege and responsibility of being the moon that displays the light of the Saviour to the dark world.
When we gather on the Lord’s Day to remember the Lord, we are very aware that it is not in any righteousness or worth of ourselves that we come. All that we have received and all that we can reflect is the glory of our Sun. Just as the moon has no source of its own illumination, so we have nothing in ourselves to offer the world. But just as the full moon casts a lovely light on the world on which it looks, so we have the lovely light of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus to shine upon the world.
What beauties we have to pass on to the dark people all about us! What wonders we have to proclaim! What joy and delight we have to tell about as we appreciate what our Lord and Saviour has done for us! In His Name we gather and rejoice that He sheds His light upon us, and enables us to pass it on to others. -Jim MacIntosh