The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

The picture then is that of the Church in its purity before the divinely appointed lights had
become darkened. The sun is the supreme light of the material world, consequently when,
in a symbolical sense, it will rise fully in the coming Millennial Day, all other lights will
disappear--will not be needed.
The Church was originally given the benefit of all these lights. They are represented as
shining out through the Church in this world's night. In a literal sense, it is the same sun
that illuminates all parts of the earth; so in a symbolical sense, whatever parts of the earth
have been enlightened by the true light, could be darkened by false teaching, or by
substituting error for truth. This would be symbolized by the darkening of the literal
sunlight. The sun can never symbolize darkness, error; and so it would be improper to
speak of the Papal sun, in the sense that it is, or has a light of its own that could be
darkened, for the reason that the Papal power has obscured the light from these heavenly
luminaries, and has become a propagator of error, false doctrines. Thus explained Mr.
Russell:
"The sun as a symbol represents the Gospel light, the truth--and thus Christ Jesus. The
moon as a symbol represents the light of the Mosaic Law. As the moon is a reflection of the
light of the sun, so the Law [covenant] was the shadow or reflection beforehand of the
Gospel. The stars as symbols represent the inspired teachers of the Church--the Apostles. .
. . A combination of these symbols is found in Revelation (12:1) where the 'woman'
symbolizing the early Church is represented as clothed with the sun, that is, resplendent in
the full, clear light of the unclouded Gospel."
Shading of the Gospel sunlight
In a general way, therefore, the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars would mean the
darkening of the truths of the Gospel, the darkening of those truths foreshadowed in the
Law and in the utterances of the Prophets, and the darkening of the truths contained in the
writings of the twelve Apostles. From this standpoint the sun, moon, and stars of all the
professed Christian systems would be the same sun, moon, and stars, and for these lights
to be darkened would mean the same--the substitution in a measure at least, of error for
truth, the difference between these systems being represented in the varying degrees that
error has become mixed with the truth; or it might be a neglect of the use of these true
lights which would result in wholly darkening the understanding with regard to God's
plans and purposes.
We give herein an example of this method of interpreting this symbolism found in the
writings of Mr. Russell. While the quotation is in connection with the unfolding of another
vision, belonging to the closing days of the Gospel Age, yet the principle or rule of
interpretation is the same as given above:
"Wherever we look we can recognize the fact that while God's consecrated people are
being specially fed and enlightened at the present time, yet with the nominal Church it is
not so. Its sun [light of truth] is being darkened; its moon [typical sacrifices, etc.] is being
turned into blood: and its stars [teachers, who once had a measure of truth] are falling. The