by Jared Hardin

March 26, 2024

There is a lot of buzz and excitement about the upcoming total solar eclipse occurring in our region—and there should be! It’s a once-in-a-lifetime event. Many, however, are using this opportunity to promote wild speculation about the end times and the return of Jesus. We should be wary of these claims floating around on social media. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject.

 1.  Total solar eclipses are rare, but recurring.

A total solar eclipse occurs approximately every 18 months somewhere on Earth. However, they don’t cover much land area, so any given location will see one only once every 360-410 years. This means we are in for an incredible, once-in-a-lifetime spectacle! We should enjoy it!

But we should not claim a particular eclipse is ushering in Christ’s return. They’ve been happening regularly for thousands of years. Why should this event in America be the kickoff to Christ’s return when 190 other countries on Earth also experience eclipses every couple of years?

 2.  No one can predict the coming of Christ.

Jesus said very clearly that no one knows the day or the hour of the coming of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:36). People have tried to predict Christ’s coming many times, and each time the prediction has failed. Every time someone predicts Christ’s coming at a particular time, people’s faith is crushed, and onlookers scoff at the failure of these supposedly Christian prophets.

If Christians claim that this eclipse in 2024 is the kickoff of Christ’s return and they end up being wrong, they will have to answer to God someday for that false claim. This is especially heinous if people are led astray by that false teaching and end up suffering a bruised and weakened faith in God.

 3.  We have an opportunity to reflect on our Creator’s majesty.

First of all, the eclipse reminds us of Good Friday. Totality will take place (in our area) around 3 in the afternoon. This is the same time that Jesus died on the cross nearly 2,000 years ago, and the land was shrouded in darkness (Luke 23:44-46). Consider that event many years ago when the sky went dark, the temple veil was torn, and Jesus died. The eclipse will allow us to picture what that day may have been like as Jesus bore God's wrath on our behalf, paying the punishment for our sins.

Secondly, the eclipse shows God’s handiwork. The sun is 400 times larger than the moon. But the moon is 400 times closer to Earth than the sun. This perfect “coincidence” results in the stunning halo effect we will see during the total solar eclipse. But what are the odds that the sun and the moon are precisely arranged to be 400 times bigger (sun) and 400 times closer (moon)?

Let’s marvel in the careful craftsmanship of our Creator as we look to the heavens on April 8 (Psalm 19:1-6).