All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 32:8 belongs to the prophecy of judgment against Egypt in chapters 29-32 directed against Pharaoh and his host. In it God declares that He will make dark all the bright lights of heaven over Egypt and set darkness upon its land. This is the announced overthrow and decline of Egypt's power and the certain fate awaiting Pharaoh and his host. The prophecies in chapters 29-32, including this verse, are literally fulfilled.
The darkening is prophetic language in which great commotion on earth is represented as commotion and change in the literal heavens. To make dark all the bright lights of heaven and set darkness upon the land means heaven covered, the sun enveloped in a cloud, and the moon withholding her light. It is a symbol of national overthrow rather than literal astronomical change.
In that symbolism the sun is the religion of the church, the moon is the government of the state, and the stars are the judges and doctors of both. Their darkening is therefore the perishing of glory and happiness and the bringing of civil, political, and religious order to nothing. The description of the sun covered by a cloud and darkness falling over the sun, moon, and stars was fulfilled in the dark day of May 19, 1780. Then the darkness over the sun and moon was so deep that it seemed all the lights in the universe had gone out, as a sign preceding Christ's return.
The verse agrees with the darkness of the fifth vial, when the beast's kingdom is filled with darkness, and with other prophetic descriptions of the sun, moon, and stars losing their light. The making dark of the heavenly lights and bringing darkness over the land is connected with the coming time of deliverance, when the heavens are rolled together and vanish and Satan remains for a millennium on a ruined, heavenless earth. This darkness precedes the creation of new heavens and a new earth where God's people will dwell. The verse also marks the final stage of a decrease from the light and glory in which humanity first lived, as sin brings the earth into decline until the heavens' light grows dim and all the bright lights of heaven are put out. Any reference in the prophecy to Satan is remote and far-fetched.
Ezekiel 32:8 belongs to the prophecy of judgment against Egypt in chapters 29-32 directed against Pharaoh and his host. In it God declares that He will make dark all the bright lights of heaven over Egypt and set darkness upon its land. This is the announced overthrow and decline of Egypt's power and the certain fate awaiting Pharaoh and his host. The prophecies in chapters 29-32, including this verse, are literally fulfilled.
The darkening is prophetic language in which great commotion on earth is represented as commotion and change in the literal heavens. To make dark all the bright lights of heaven and set darkness upon the land means heaven covered, the sun enveloped in a cloud, and the moon withholding her light. It is a symbol of national overthrow rather than literal astronomical change.
In that symbolism the sun is the religion of the church, the moon is the government of the state, and the stars are the judges and doctors of both. Their darkening is therefore the perishing of glory and happiness and the bringing of civil, political, and religious order to nothing. The description of the sun covered by a cloud and darkness falling over the sun, moon, and stars was fulfilled in the dark day of May 19, 1780. Then the darkness over the sun and moon was so deep that it seemed all the lights in the universe had gone out, as a sign preceding Christ's return.
The verse agrees with the darkness of the fifth vial, when the beast's kingdom is filled with darkness, and with other prophetic descriptions of the sun, moon, and stars losing their light. The making dark of the heavenly lights and bringing darkness over the land is connected with the coming time of deliverance, when the heavens are rolled together and vanish and Satan remains for a millennium on a ruined, heavenless earth. This darkness precedes the creation of new heavens and a new earth where God's people will dwell. The verse also marks the final stage of a decrease from the light and glory in which humanity first lived, as sin brings the earth into decline until the heavens' light grows dim and all the bright lights of heaven are put out. Any reference in the prophecy to Satan is remote and far-fetched.