“There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon” (1 Cor. 15:41). The greater light God made to rule the day. The sun blazes with intense glory. Nothing is hidden from its heat (Ps. 19:6). God ordained a lesser light to rule the night. The moon presides with a gentler radiance, yet a splendor all its own (Gen. 1:14). The moon mellows the light it borrows from the sun and imbues a cool silver glow into the darkness. The moonlight, like the sunlight, shows forth the manifold glory of the living God, our Creator and our Redeemer, who both dwells in blazing light no man can approach (1 Tim. 6:16), and also draws near to His people, in the gentle light of His love and grace, mellowing His radiance in the Word made flesh. Jesus shines with both the blazing light of the sun and the mild glow of the moon. The mighty King, the meek Lamb, our Savior, our Immanuel!

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained,” the psalmist exclaims, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him” (Ps. 8:3-4)? Have you ever gazed upon the moon in the night sky, and found it prompting you to ponder and praise? Consider the greatness of God, whose fingers fashioned these great lights that give sight to our eyes, make beautiful the world, bring forth creation’s bounty: “the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon” (Deut. 33:14). What power can match our sovereign God? The Lord rules over the very lights that rule our world and rule our lives. Even as we obey the dictates of sun and moon, waking and sleeping, with their rising and setting, so too these great lights obey the Creator’s dictates, going out and coming in at their appointed time (Jer. 31:35), even standing still when He commands it (Hab. 3:11). How great is our God!

The moon shows something of the beauty of God. Its pure white light gives a glimpse of His holiness, His grace. A glimpse, too, of what His grace achieves in us. For by saving grace, the bride of Christ, once marred with spots and wrinkles, becomes “fair as the moon, clear as the sun” (Song of Solomon 6:10). So precious and beloved to the Lord, she is “clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev. 12:1). Yet this pales in comparison to the beauty of the Holy One Himself. “Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight” (Job 25:5). Indeed, before the glory of the Lord, “the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion” (Is. 24:23).

How foolish, then, man often is when he beholds such glory, and will not bend his knee to God. Or, instead, he bows to sun, moon, and stars rather than the Maker and Giver of their light (Deut. 4:19). Sun, moon, and stars tirelessly praise and point us to the Lord (Ps. 148:3). Their shining is their singing. Every sunset, every moonrise, is a call to join in worship of our God, our God who is worthy! Beloved Christians, amidst our busy lives in this hectic world and distracted age, do not forget still to read creation’s elegant book. Let its characters—sun, moon, and stars—lead your heart, thoughts, desires, heavenward!

Look again. God made the moon to serve as a sign, for the measurement of time, seasons, days, and years (Gen. 1:14). But the eyes of faith, looking through Scripture’s lens, see in the moon a sign of the covenant faithfulness of God. In this creation, marked by change, the moon endures. The moon stays constant in its cycle. The moon has permanence that few other things have. Thus, the psalmist, speaking of God’s promise of the Messiah and His “forever throne,” exclaims, “His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven” (Ps. 89:36-37). As enduring as the moon, constant in its cycle, unfailing in its light-giving, darkness-banishing office, so enduring is the throne of David and the kingdom of David’s greater Son who shall reign forevermore. “In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth” (Ps. 72:7).

Look up, Christians! Consider the heavens. Gaze upon the moon. Ponder God’s witness in the night sky. God is faithful to His covenant, constant, unchanging as the moon above. Even in the dark of night, the moon gives light. Even in the darkest hours of the night in this vale of tears, we are never without God’s light. The light of His countenance shines upon us. Christ our Lord and Savior sits upon the throne, established forever as the moon.