The Moon

The word 'moon' doesn't actually occur until the 37th chapter of Genesis, but it is called a lesser light in chapter 1:

16 And 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 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon 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.

It's an easy thing to compare the Sun and light with the Son of God (John 8:12), but it seems to take a bit more effort to compare the Moon and darkness with the Devil. It has to be inferred from facts we can glean from both the Bible and the Moon. Let's start with...

Revelation 17:

15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

Since the oceans are symbolic of the peoples of the world, then it becomes more interesting when we consider that the Moon moves the oceans with the force of gravity. Metaphorically, it's like the Devil trying to influence the peoples of the world with his evil spirit.

The moon can do this because the oceans are so large and have enormous mass, unlike lakes. Even at the Great Lakes, tides are only about 1cm (1/2") and so are hardly noticeable. For the same reason, the Moon has little effect on ground water, and definitely none on blood, although there are many fairy tales about de-horning cattle and menstruation that are attributed to the Moon.

Another interesting fact about tides is that they come in and go out approximately every 6 hours, and I'm sure you know about the negative symbolism around the number 6 in the Bible. The cycle of tides actually occurs every 24 hours and 50 minutes, and that's why they don't occur the same time every day. For the same reason, the moon takes 24 hours and 50 minutes to appear in the same place in the sky as the day before.

There were 6 successful Apollo missions to the Moon over a period of 3 1/2 years (or 42 months if you prefer). The program was ironically named after the Greek god of light. 24 men visited the moon, and 12 men walked on the moon (also multiples of 6). See Wikipedia for a short history. The first landing on the moon occurred on 20 July 1969.

These men were all Israelites, and therefore only Israelites walked on the moon. The Russians never made it. With that in mind, it's very interesting that the woman in Revelation 12 represents the House of Israel:

1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:

Since the Sun symbolizes Jesus, and the Moon symbolizes the Devil, then each solar eclipse is an example of the Devil trying to take the place of Jesus Christ, which occurs just before the 2nd Advent, and is described in 2nd Thessalonians 2:

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Temporarily in darkness and the shadow of the moon. If you stare at an eclipse for too long, you will go blind. Figuratively speaking, don't be so blind that you worship the Devil thinking that he's Christ returned. It's good to know that an eclipse doesn't last very long, and soon after, the sun reappears.

The Moon is a dead rock. It only reflects light. It has no light of its own. It reflects just enough light for us to walk into things or trip and fall down; just enough to walk in darkness.

In closing, here are a few more interesting facts:
- a lunar month is 29.53 days (new moon to new moon);
- we always see the same side of the moon (actually 60% of it) because it's rotation exactly matches the orbit of the Moon around the Earth. We therefore never see the far side.
- the Moon is 2160 miles in diameter (that's 6x6x6x10);
- its surface gravity is 1/6 that of the Earth;
- from the word lunar comes the word lunatic (Matthew 17:15);

John 8:

12Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.