The Day the
Sun
Stood Still; Prophetic of the Day of the Lord
Dr.
Allen M. Barber
August 18, 2009
Joshua
10:12-14 NKJV
12 Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD
delivered
up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in
the sight
of Israel:
"Sun, stand still over Gibeon;
And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon."
13 So the sun stood still,
And the moon stopped,
Till the people had revenge
Upon their enemies.
Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood
still in
the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for
about a
whole day. 14 And there has been no day like that,
before it or
after it, that the LORD heeded the voice of a man; for the
LORD fought
for Israel.
Joshua 10:12-14 NLT
12 On the day the LORD gave the Israelites victory over the
Amorites, Joshua prayed to the LORD in front of all the people
of
Israel. He said,
"Let the sun stand still over Gibeon,
and the moon over the valley of Aijalon."
13 So the sun and moon stood still until the Israelites had
defeated
their enemies.
Is this event not recorded in The Book of Jashar? The sun
stopped in
the middle of the sky, and it did not set as on a normal
day.
14 The LORD fought for Israel that day. Never before or since
has there
been a day like that one, when the LORD answered such a
request from a
human being.
Genesis
1:14-19 NKJV
14 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the
heavens
to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs
and
seasons, and
for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the
firmament
of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so. 16
Then 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. 17 God
set them
in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18
and
to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide
the light
from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the
evening and
the morning were the fourth day.
Genesis
1:14-19 NLT
14 And God said, "Let bright lights appear in the sky to
separate the
day from the night. They will be signs to mark off the
seasons, the
days, and the years. 15 Let their light shine down upon
the earth."
And so it was. 16 For God made two great lights, the sun and
the moon,
to shine down upon the earth. The greater one, the sun,
presides during
the day; the lesser one, the moon, presides through the night.
He also
made the stars. 17 God set these lights in the heavens to
light the
earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to
separate the
light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 This
all
happened on the fourth day.
Moses, the great prophet and leader of Israel had died and Joshua took his place whom the Lord used to bring the children of Israel (the survivors of the wilderness wanderings) into the Promise Land - the land of Canaan. Thus, Joshua under the Lord's leadership began the campaign to conquer the Canaanite nations. In Joshua 10, five Amorite kings had come against Gibeon because they had made peace with Israel. Even though the Israelites were outnumbered, the Lord gave the battle to Joshua (the Amorites didn't have a chance for they were fighting against the Lord but did not know it) and there was a great slaughter. The text says that there were more Amorites killed from a terrible hailstorm (guess where that came from) than the Israelites killed in battle:
Isaiah
28:2 NASB
2 Behold, the Lord has a strong and mighty agent;
As a storm of hail , a tempest of destruction,
Like a storm of mighty overflowing waters,
He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.
During this battle a strange and unusual thing took place. In order for the Israelites to completely rout the Amorites, they apparently needed more time, so Joshua prayed to the Lord to let the sun and the moon stand still (he actually confessed what he wanted to happen out his mouth, that is, he commanded the sun and moon to stand still meaning that the daylight would be extended until the Israelites killed all the Amorites). Joshua 10:13 says the sun shone for about a whole day - about 24 hours. During that period the night receded to the background - the meaning of the moon stood still. Verse 13b says it was not a normal earth day.
Whether or not the Israelites or the Amorites realized what was taking place is a matter for speculation. I can imagine the Amorites were wondering where is the night that we may flee and hide from the Israelites, but it never came until they were all dead. Was this a miracle? From man's perspective, certainly is was, but from God's vantage point who abides in eternity, time is irrelevant. God can move through time and eternity in a nano-second. ;
While I am not going to delve into all the science of this event, NASA says they found the time warp when they were calculating the re-entry window for the original astronauts involved with the Mercury space program. I suppose you could say that proves the Bible is accurate and truthful.
What I want to point out in this article is that this unusual phenomenon in Joshua 10 has prophetic insights into the Posttribulation Day of the Lord (In my new book on prophecy, I prove that the Day of the Lord is without question, Posttrib and is not an extended period which the Pretrib theologians teach).
Zechariah 14 is about the Posttrib Day of the Lord when Christ returns to planet earth, but Verse 7 tells us that it will be another unusual day similar to what happened in Joshua 10, but with noticeable differences;
Zechariah
14:1-7 NKJV
1 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, And your spoil
will be
divided in your midst.
2 For I will gather all the nations
to battle against Jerusalem; The city shall be taken, The houses
rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into
captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off
from the
city.
3 Then the LORD will go forth And
fight against those nations, As He
fights in the day of battle.
4 And in that day His feet will
stand on the Mount of Olives, Which
faces Jerusalem on the east. And the Mount of Olives shall be
split in
two, From east to west, Making a very large valley; Half of the
mountain shall move toward the north And half of it toward the
south.
5 Then you shall flee through My
mountain valley, For the mountain
valley shall reach to Azal. Yes, you shall flee As you fled from
the
earthquake In the days of Uzziah king of Judah.
Thus the LORD my God will come, And
all the saints with You.
6 It shall come to pass in that day That
there will be no light;
The lights will diminish.
7 It shall be one day Which is known to the
LORD — Neither
day nor night. But at evening time it shall happen That it
will be
light.
We know from our study of the Day of
the Lord that it will begin with a
terrible darkness that will cover the entire earth. The Old
Testament
prophets described it as a day of thick darkness and a day of
gloom in
which the sun, the moon and the stars do not shine. This
phenomenon
will be the "sign" in the heavens that something extraordinary
is about
to happen. Out of that thick and foreboding darkness, the
Shekinah
glory of God will burst through and the Lord Jesus shall appear
in the
heavens with a brilliance that will shine from the east to the
west. His glory shall be so bright that the luminaries
will
recede far to the background in which there will be neither day
nor
night, that is, a natural earth day,
Genesis 1:14-19 says God placed the Sun, Moon and Stars in the heavens to rule the day and the night and that they were to be for signs and seasons. Natural earth days are measured by both solar and lunar time. Without the Sun and the Moon there would not be a way to measure an earth day or for that matter there would be no day or night. When the sun appears in the early morning, we say day has begun and when the sun sets, we say the day has ended and the night has begun. Actually, one earth day includes approximately 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night depending on the seasons as well as the location of the globe. During the summer months in Alaska, the nights can be as light as day and the normal nights do not appear again until September.
The Lord's Day will be unlike any before it including that which occurred in Joshua 10. It will begin with a foreboding thick darkness, then from the thick darkness will emerge the Lord Jesus enveloped in brilliant light so bright that the Sun and Moon are not seen again until the day is consummated. Verse 7 says there will be no normal earth day or night on the Lord's Day. If there is no sun or moon during the Day of the Lord, then there is no way to measure it, that is, how long it will last. Will it be 24 hours; 2 days; a week; a month; or a year? There is no way that it can be measured in earth time. It will be "one" day, but not a normal earth day of 24 hours. It will be juxtaposed between the ending of the seven-year tribulation and the setting up of the Kingdom. At the beginning of the day, the First Resurrection and rapture will occur; then the reminder of the day, the wrath of the lamb will be poured out upon the earth and upon the Armies of the Antichrist gathered at Jerusalem. The angels will also go forth and destroy those who followed the Antichrist and took his Mark. There will be a great shaking of the planet and fire will consume the works of man (See Isaiah 24). The islands and mountains will move out of their places and the heavens will roll up like a scroll. The unbelievers on the earth will cringe in terror at the wrath of the Lamb and cry for the rocks and mountains to fall upon them. They will seek shelter in the caves and holes of the earth (Revelation 6:15-16).
Like Joshua 10, the Day of the Lord will last as long as it takes to finish the wrath of God, but again it cannot be measured in earth time. It is as if eternity breaks into time (a time warp) as the Lord places His left hand on time past and His right hand on time future and pushes both aside and steps forward revealing his awesome glory and power. Into that envelope of eternity, He accomplishes His work of judging the unbelievers. When the day or period is over, He closes up the time warp and steps back into normal earth time descending to the Mount of Olives accompanied by the resurrected and raptured saints (overcomers) who will follow Him to the Marriage Supper and all that transpires to setup the millennial kingdom.
This is why it is ludicrous to try and figure out the precise date for the Second Coming and rapture. It will occur in a time warp that will not be a normal earth day. What we do know is that it will occur shortly after the Tribulation has ended (Matthew 24:29-31), but will still be impossible to calculate. When Jesus said no one could know the day and the hour of His coming, this is what He meant - the Posttribulation Day of the Lord for it is a day not of this earth, that is, normal time.
Once the overcoming saints are resurrected and raptured at the beginning of that day, they will become eternal immortal beings with spiritual flesh (glorified bodies) able to step in and out of time and eternity as the Lord did after He was resurrected.
With great joy and anticipation, we look forward to the great and awesome Day of the Lord, but for the unbelievers it will be a day of wrath and judgment.
God bless.