The Great American Eclipse (Acts 14:8-20)
Gary McManus, 09/03/2017Part of the God's World series, preached at a Sunday Morning service
Acts 14:8-20
The Great American Eclipse, August 20, 2017
There was a ready Bible study in front of all:
Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God made the
heavens and the earth. . .”
Ancient peoples have been gazing at
the heavens and making observations.
Remember Matthew 2:1-2
STARGAZERS!
In several places, the Bible takes special
note of the things happening in the sky.
Heaven / heavens
One website claims ECLIPSES are mentioned
in the Bible. . .nine times. You decide.
Isaiah 13:10, Ezekiel 32:7, Joel 2:10, Joel 2:31,
Matthew 24:29, Mark 13:24, Revelation 6:12,
Revelation 8:12 and maybe Exodus 10:21-29
and Matthew 27:45.]
Israel did NOT have any tradition of stargazers.
[God spoke directly to the prophets! (and priests).]
The Canaanites WERE stargazers of a sort.
Their gods were, among others, sky-gods.
The Lord God (Yahweh) forbade worshipping other
gods. (Exodus 20)
Although the Canaanite goddess’ name sounds like/
looks like the word for “star.”
[ We will look closer at that topic next week. ]
The Canaanite Gods and Goddesses and their
worship are mentioned over 100 times in the Bible.
They are always condemned.
It didn’t take much to make Yahweh jealous/angry!
(But that is how serious the offense is/was.)
For Israelites to include other gods to worship
was considered the same as abandoning Yahweh.
( See Deuteronomy 16:21, 1 Kings 14:23)
Additional gods was considered, “going after other Gods.”
[ 1 Kings 11:4, Psalm 16:4, Jeremiah 13:10 ]
So are moderns guilty of worshipping other gods
(money, fame, etc) or guilty of attempting to
INCLUDE them in their worship of Yahweh?
So we have some curious verses in Judges.
You may recall the prophet Deborah.(5, esp 19-20)
20 From the heavens the stars fought,
from their courses they fought against Sisera.
(he is the Canaanite army commander).
Several levels of meaning, all wonderful.
The word “host” = stars (Milky Way) = army.
[See Exodus 14:28, Joshua 10:5,
1 Samuel 11:11 and many more.]
The Canaanites worshipped the Gods of the sky.
Israel worshipped the God who MADE the sky.
The Canaanites worships the star Goddess.
Israel worshipped the God who made the stars.
The apostles in Derbe repeat this same truth.
See Romans 1:19-20.
[NOTE: You might want to check this website
which attempts to link Biblical events with the
calendar based on eclipse schedules.
http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/
2017/07/29/How-Lunar-and-Solar-Eclipses
-Shed-Light-on-Biblical-Events.aspx ]
“Signs and wonders”
Deuteronomy 6:22, Daniel 6:27,
(but be warned Mark 13:22)
Acts 2:22,43, Acts 7:36, Hebrews 2:1-8.
(and more)
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