"Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously." [Isa 24:23]
When The LORD of Hosts, that is, of the heavenly armies, reigns in Jerusalem upon the throne of David and before His blessed saints in all His glory, then, as Isaiah proclaims, “the moon shall be ashamed, and the sun [shall also be] ashamed.” [Isa 24:23] Those two “great lights,” which were created of old by God, and which were also created “through [Jesus],” are prophesied here in Isaiah to ultimately come to shame. [Gen 1:16, Col 1:16] Those wonderful bodies which have risen into the sky and sunk back down beyond the horizon again and again for thousands of years, which were created to “rule the day” and also to “rule the night;” yes, these are the bodies which will one day come to be ashamed. And why will they be ashamed? The LORD tells us through the voice of the prophet; because He, “The LORD of Hosts[,] shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before His ancients gloriously.” From other passages of God’s holy writ, we know that the One spoken of who shall reign in Zion, The LORD of Hosts, is indeed Christ Jesus.
Christ is the one who shall reign upon the throne; for even at His birth, it was told to Mary by the Angel Gabriel, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David.” [Lk 1:32] And in the prophets it is written, “of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end;” [Isa 9:7] and again, “behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper.” [Jer 23:5]
With these facts, we come now to the conclusion that when Christ returns to earth, “and His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives…and [He] shall be king over all the earth,” [Zech 14:4, 9] that the sun and moon shall be ashamed. But why is it that they shall be ashamed? It is for the brightness of the king. For it is written again in Isaiah,
“The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.” [Isa 60:19-20]
In context, God is speaking to “the city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.” [Isa 60:14] And so it is shown to us by God’s Holy Spirit, (for, “the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” [2 Pe 1:21]), that New Jerusalem, the city of God, will, for the exceeding brightness of Christ shining from its midst, not need the light of the sun nor the moon; for it is written again, “and the City had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” [Rev 21:23] Truly, it will be a wonderful and majestic sight to behold, when Jesus reigns upon the throne, shining in all His glory. But what makes this fact all the more precious is when we take into account another verse, which reveals to us the magnitude to which Christ’s glory shines. In Isaiah we are told,
"Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound." [Isa 30:26]
In the day when God through Jesus, “raise[s] up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close[s] up the breaches thereof; and…raise[s] up his ruins, and…build[s] it as in the days of old,” [Amo 9:11] the sun will shine as seven suns: emitting light equal to seven times its present luminosity. Even the moon will not be exempt from the influence of Jesus’ reign upon earth, and from His restoration of creation during the Millennial reign; for we are told that it too shall shine more brightly, even as brightly as today’s sun.
Let us consider these facts together, for they show us an encouraging truth. The Spirit reveals to us that Jesus, who is “the brightness of [The Father’s] glory,” [Heb 1:3] will shine so magnificently, He will put the sun, which will be shining seven times brighter than at present, to shame. This is an extraordinary fact to behold; it is as comparing a small candle to an industrial spotlight – the light gained from the candle is shameful compared to the greater light; in comparison, it is as nothing. The same is true, yea, and exceedingly more-so; for Jesus will shine so brightly in all His splendor and majesty, “wherewith He hath girded Himself,” [Psa 93:1] that He shall utterly put to shame even a star which shines seven times more brightly than our present sun.
My dear brethren, let this fact comfort and uplift your souls; let it reach down into the pit from whence you have fallen and pull you upward, setting you upon the Rock of Christ. For there is hardly a more beautiful thought regarding our future reign with Christ. And may it be always so even today, that in our hearts, from the midst of which Christ now dwells and shines, we are so overcome and filled with the sight and remembrance of His glory, that we, like The City, have no need of the sun, no need of the world’s light, for as Jesus says, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” [Jn 8:12]
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