I have found that God speaks through what we see. Moses took note of the burning bush. Paul took notice of the idols in Athens. Things we see cause us to think, but often the Holy Spirit wants to get our attention. The next two sketches and observations are similar. I had little interest in walls or lines on the lunar surface but this night was different. I kept noticing a line on the surface that is called Rima Ariadaeus.
It may be collapsed lava tube but it is not known with certainty. Whatever it is, it divides the surface. And, it meanders quite a long distance. Because it is “thin”, it is hard to see. Incoming clouds did not help matters when I was observing. The feature was not discernible by the end of my observation period.
The second observation of the moon was just a few nights later but conditions were better. Again, I was drawn to notice a wall or separation feature on the lunar surface. This one is called Ruppes Recta, which is shown in the sketch below.
This feature is harder to see than Ariadaeus. While the night was clearer, I needed over 200 power and accurate focus to see this division or wall in the lunar surface.
As I pondered the two observing periods after I finished the sketches, I was asking God about what I had seen. I began considering what a division in the lunar surface meant. These features are evidence of a division. They mark a separation. Since the fall of man, the moon is relatively static, so the walls or divisions are permanent scars. They cannot be changed or altered barring a very unusual and miraculous event.
Consider this: our separation with God is evidence of a permanent scar and feature–a breach that cannot be fixed in natural terms. The separation is evidence of something that has gone seriously wrong; we are separated and divided from the very One who created us. Nothing we can do fixes the situation. To fix this breech requires the work of Jesus Christ–the One mediator between God and man. When His work fixes the scars and walls of the heart, the mending is truly miraculous. You cannot buy it or earn it or otherwise obtain it. But having believed in His redemptive work for us, who are broken, then our walls and separations can come down. Our access to God is put in place; the tyranny of sin, like a permanent scar on the lunar surface, is erased.
So these two observations a few days apart taught me something. They are reminders of these scriptures:
Hebrews 9:14 “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleans our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (NIV)
Hebrews 9:27-28 “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time , not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.”
