Home	Our Hope
Bible Study		December 07, 2023
The Sun Will Be Darkened

Introduction

There are many places in the Bible where it is said the Sun will be darkened. The Bible can't be talking about common events like clouds blocking the sun. It needs to be, at least, a rare event, maybe even singular, to be worth mentioning. In our experience, the only special case is when the Sun is darkened when something obscures it, like an eclipse. Is that what the Bible is referring to? Also, are all of these verses talking about the same event?

Example Verses

And I shall give signs in the Heavens and miracles in the Earth, blood, fire and plumes of smoke. ²⁰ The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood until the great and awesome day of the lord Yahweh will come. (Acts 2:17-21)

I chose this verse because it comes with a time reference. The phrase "great and awesome day of the lord" are a reference to the Second Coming. That phrase or very similar ones appear in many places in the Bible. The verses say, "until". So the meaning is that the Sun will be darkened before the Second Coming and continue to be darkened until then.

We know something about the Sun. Its light warms the Earth and if that light reduces by a noticeable amount, God would need to intervene or everything on the planet would begin to die. So, most likely the Sun doesn't darken for long before the Second Coming.

The verses also mention the moon turning to blood. This argues against an eclipse. Blood Moon eclipses do occur but they can't occur during a solar eclipse. In fact this darkening of the Sun cannot be any kind of celestial body obscuring the Sun. The Sun would still be bright white and that is what lights the Moon.

The cause could be one of two things:

• a reduction of the brightness of the Sun that lets us see its real orange-red color. Therefore the Moon would also appear orange-red. Astronomers say there are stars in the sky that do change their brightness but the Sun is not believed to be one of them. Its light output has varied by such small amounts that precise equipment is required to measure it.
• something in Earth's atmosphere is partially blocking the Sun and Moon. This is within our current experience. Even I have witnessed polluted cities where the Sun was obscured enough that the Sun was red. The pollution only lasted for the day so the Moon was not affected. The Bible is describing a worldwide multi-day event so the cause cannot be pollution.

Joel speaks of "signs in the Heavens" and "fire and plumes of smoke". If this was on a big enough scale, it could be the cause of the darkening.

Given that this has never happened before, some might think that it can't happen and wonder if the verses aren't symbolic descriptions of something else. The Sun, Moon and stars have had symbolic meaning in other places. The problem with that idea is that the description is of a brightness change or color change. No other symbolic description has used a change in a characteristic like that before. If you say the Sun represents God, for example, then what does it mean that God is darkened? What characteristic off God would change to darken him?

For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light. (Isaiah 13:10)

Isaiah is describing darkening on a grander scale than Joel did. The stars will also become dim to the point of not being visible. This is inline, though, with the atmospheric pollution cause we have been discussing.

And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the Sun was blackened like sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became like blood. (Revelation 6:12)

The phrase "sackcloth of hair" hints strongly at viewers looking at the Sun through something. The reference to a "great earthquake" may also be pointing at a cause.

The most important thing to note here is that a time reference is given for this, but it is different from Joel's time reference. Revelation's Sixth Seal time period comes well before the Second Coming.

And the fourth trumpet sounded and a third of the Sun was devoured (smitten) and a third of the moon and a third of the stars, and a third of them became dark, and a third of the day did not appear, and the night likewise. (Revelation 8:12)

This description of the Sun darkening is very different from the others. That is especially interesting because it comes from Revelation, where a different description is also found. This description leaves us with many questions. How can ⅓ of the Moon be darkened? How can the stars also be affected, but only ⅓ of them? What does it even mean that ⅓ of the night did not appear?

Any attempt to view this as a literal description runs into events that not only have never happened, but we can't imagine any way they could happen. This leads us to wonder if this is a symbolic description but it makes no sense there either.

We do see another time reference and again a different one. The 4^th Trumpet comes closer to the Second Coming than the previous 6^th Seal but it is still years before.

But immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will darken and the moon will not show its light, and the stars will fall from the heavens and the power of the heavens will be disturbed. ³⁰ And then the sign of the son of Man in Heaven will appear and then all the families of the earth will mourn, and they will see the son of Man who comes on the clouds of Heaven with miracles and many praises. (Matthew 24:29-30)

Jesus gives a time reference as well. It is after the tribulation but before the Second Coming. Therefore it is almost certainly the same one Joel spoke of.

Jesus also says somethings that only serve to confuse us. What does "power of the heavens will be disturbed" mean? What is "the sign of the son of Man in Heaven"? I guess we'll know it when we see it.

Putting it On a Timeline

What we have is descriptions of Sun darkening events that occur at 3 different times. I think it would help us to understand these events in their time context. I've created an illustration of Revelation's timeline beginning with the 7^th Seal and ending with the 7^th Trumpet.

I've also included descriptions of the other events that Revelation describes for these Seals and Trumpets to give an event context. These descriptions also refer to the 6^th Seal. That can't be seen in the drawing but would be off the page, to the left.

Also, because we can place Daniel's 70^th Week, Ezekiel's Battle, and Paul's Great Falling Away onto the Revelation Timeline, I've included those events as well.

Times

6^th Seal

7^th Seal

1^th Trumpet

2^th Trumpet

3^th Trumpet

4^th Trumpet

5^th Trumpet (1st Woe)

6^th Trumpet (2nd Woe)

7^th Trumpet (3rd Woe)