God’s Lights in the Sky

Genesis 1:14–19 (NASB95) 

14Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; 15and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also. 17God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness; and God saw that it was good. 19There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. 

When the ancient world looked to the heavens, people saw not just beauty but power—deities and omens woven into the fabric of the night. The creation account, however, proclaims a radically different truth: the sun, moon, and stars are not gods, but servants, purposefully set in the sky by the one true God. God’s sovereign command brings forth the lights in the vault of heaven, echoing and complementing His earlier creation of light. Their purpose is clear: to separate day from night, mark signs, seasons, days, and years, and to give light to the earth. These luminaries do not create light but regulate the already established light, reinforcing that the cosmos is not governed by capricious deities but ordered and sustained by God alone. 

Notice how our three themes are becoming clearer. Those three themes are who, what, and why. Who made the sun and moon? The one true God did. What did He establish and why did He create them? Not to be worshiped as the pagan nations do, but He gives them a clear purpose. To establish time, order, and to separate day from night. 

The Genesis narrative is careful even in its language, avoiding the common Hebrew words for the sun and moon—names that could be mistaken for deities among Israel’s neighbors. Instead, the text refers to the “greater light” and “lesser light,” emphasizing their purpose rather than any divine status. By describing the stars almost as an afterthought, the passage demotes what the surrounding cultures revered, placing all the celestial bodies firmly under God’s authority. The lights serve as signs for sacred times, festivals, and seasons, transforming what was once the domain of divination and astrology into a sacred calendar governed by God’s will, not fate or fortune. 

The placement of the creation of these lights on the fourth day, rather than the first, is a purposeful literary device. It reveals the structure and symmetry of God’s creative work: as the first three days established domains—light and darkness, sky and waters, land and sea—so the next three days fill and govern those realms. The lights now rule over the day and night, continuing the work God began and reflecting His order and intention. This sequence also corrects ancient misconceptions, making clear that the sun, moon, and stars are not the architects of destiny, but instruments of God’s timing and goodness. 

The heavens, in all their splendor, are designed to point us not to themselves, but to their Creator. The psalmist captures this beautifully: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.” The proper response is not worship of the stars, but wonder, humility, and gratitude before the One who set them in place. 

How about an application question? If God had a purpose, function, and reason for creating the sun and moon, do you think He has a purpose for you? A function for you? A reason for making you? Keep those questions in mind as we continue reading.