Yes, God uses the sun and the moon to mark seasons and signs. “And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years'” (Gen. 1:14).

And yes, eclipses of some sort have been used of God to mark outstanding times – the most unusual and stunning was the three hours of darkness that descended on Jerusalem the day Jesus was executed (See Matthew 27:45). Was this an extended solar eclipse? Technically, from what I understand it is not possible since a solar eclipse cannot happen during a full moon, and Passover (the time of Jesus’ death) always comes on the 14th of Nisan, which is a full moon. Natural “eclipses” never last for three hours.

However, God sometimes suspends His own laws of nature.

He did this when Hezekiah’s life was being extended fifteen years, and God gave Hezekiah a sign “I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down” (Isaiah 38:8).

When Joshua was fighting the Amorites, the Lord did this when “the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day…There has never been a day like it before or since” (Joshua 10:13-14).

Yes, we are having a major eclipse on today!

So what does it portend? I don’t know, and have heard no specific predictions.

So what do we do?

We do the same thing we do every day. We watch and we pray – that God will do everything to bring people into His kingdom and strengthen us who are under His care.

And – you might consider joining in the 40 day fast during the month of Elul which starts the next day and continues until the Day of Atonement on the 10th day of the biblical month of Tishri, September 30, 2017.

Stand strong in Jesus, and have a blessed eclipse Monday.