Sign#4 Sun Turned into Darkness
Key
Text
"Immediately
after the tribulation of those days shall the sun
be darkened." Matthew 24:29
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Twenty-five years after the Great Earthquake appeared the next
sign mentioned in Revelation 6:12,--the darkening of the sun
and moon. What rendered this more striking was the fact that
the time of its fulfillment had been definitely pointed out.
In the Saviour's conversation with his disciples upon Olivet,
after describing the long period of trial for the church--the
1260 years of papal persecution, concerning which he had promised
that the tribulation should be shortened--he thus mentioned
certain events to precede his coming, and fixed the time when
the first of these should be witnessed: "In those days,
after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon
shall not give her light." Mark 13:24. The 1260 days, or
years, terminated in 1798. A quarter of a century earlier, persecution
had almost wholly ceased. Between these two dates, according
to the words of Christ, the sun was to be darkened.
On the 19th of May, 1780, this prophecy was fulfilled. It was
not an eclipse. Timothy Dwight says, "The 19th of May,
1780, was a remarkable dark day. Candles were lighted in many
houses; the birds were silent and disappeared, and the fowls
retired to roost. ... A very general opinion prevailed, that
the day of judgment was at hand." Quoted in Connecticut
Historical Collections, compiled by John Warner Barber (2nd
ed.; New Haven: Durrie & Peck and J.W. Barber, 1836) p.
403. For further commentary on this event please continue reading.
The Dark Day
"Almost if not altogether alone as the most mysterious
and as yet unexplained phenomenon of its kind, . . . stands
the dark day of May 19, 1780,--a most unaccountable darkening
of the whole visible heavens and atmosphere in New England."
That the darkness was not due to an eclipse is evident from
the fact that the moon was then nearly full. It was not caused
by clouds, or the thickness of the atmosphere, for in some localities
where the darkness extended, the sky was so clear that the stars
could be seen. Concerning the inability of science to assign
a satisfactory cause for this manifestation, Herschel the astronomer
declares: "The dark day in North America was one of those
wonderful phenomena of nature which philosophy is at a loss
to explain."
"The extent of the darkness
was also very remarkable. It was observed at the most easterly
regions of New England; westward, to the farthest part of Connecticut,
and at Albany, N. Y.; to the southward, it was observed all
along the sea coast; and to the north, as far as the American
settlements extended. It probably far exceeded those boundaries,
but the exact limits were never positively known. With regard
to its duration, it continued in the neighborhood of Boston
for at least fourteen or fifteen hours."
"The
morning was clear and pleasant, but about eight o'clock there
was observed an uncommon appearance in the sun. There were no
clouds, but the air was thick, having a smoky appearance, and
the sun shone with a pale, yellowish hue, but kept growing darker
and darker, until it was hid from sight." There was "midnight
darkness at noonday."
"The occurrence brought
intense alarm and distress to multitudes of minds, as well as
dismay to the whole brute creation, the fowls fleeing bewildered
to their roosts, and the birds to their nests, and the cattle
returning to their stalls." Frogs and night hawks began
their notes. The cocks crew as at daybreak. Farmers were forced
to leave their work in the fields. Business was generally suspended,
and candles were lighted in the dwellings. "The Legislature
of Connecticut was in session at Hartford, but being unable
to transact business adjourned. Everything bore the appearance
and gloom of night."
The intense darkness of the day was succeeded, an hour or two
before evening, by a partially clear sky, and the sun appeared,
though it was still obscured by the black, heavy mist. But "this
interval was followed by a return of the obscuration with greater
density, that rendered the first half of the night hideously
dark beyond all former experience of the probable million of
people who saw it. From soon after sunset until midnight, no
ray of light from moon or star penetrated the vault above. It
was pronounced 'the blackness of darkness!'" Said an eye-witness
of the scene: "I could not help conceiving, at the time,
that if every luminous body in the universe had been shrouded
in impenetrable darkness, or struck out of existence, the darkness
could not have been more complete." Though the moon that
night rose to the full, "it had not the least effect to
dispel the death-like shadows." After midnight the darkness
disappeared, and the moon, when first visible, had the appearance
of blood.
The poet Whittier thus speaks of this memorable day:--
"'Twas on a May-day of the far old year
Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell
Over the bloom and sweet life of the spring,
Over the fresh earth, and the heaven of noon,
A horror of great darkness."
"Men prayed, and
women wept; all ears grew sharp
To hear the doom-blast of the trumpet shatter
The black sky."
May 19, 1780, stands in history as "The Dark Day."
Since the time of Moses, no period of darkness of equal density,
extent, and duration has ever been recorded. The description
of this event, as given by the poet and the historian, is but
an echo of the words of the Lord, recorded by the prophet Joel,
twenty-five hundred years previous to their fulfillment: "The
sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,
before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come."
Joel 2:31. Back |
