The Bride is compared to the moon in Song 6:10. Fourteen distinct parallels can be seen between the Church and the moon:
1) The moon is lifeless and dead – there is neither water nor air. Before our salvation we were “dead in trespasses and sins.” (Eph. 2:1-2) In our lost state we had no submission to the authority of the word (water) or to the authority of the Holy Spirit (air/wind).
2) The moon has no light of its own. Job 25:5 flatly says that the moon “shineth not.” The moon merely reflects the light of the sun in the exact same manner that we are not to shine on our own, but to reflect the glory of Jesus Christ to this lost world. (Matt. 5:16) In actuality the moon is a very poor reflector of the sun’s light, just as we often are. The moon “shines” with 1/400,000th the light of the sun. If the moon were a mirror, it would be fourteen times brighter than at present. A sky full of moons would give only one-fifth the light of the sun.
3) The moon rules the night. (Psa. 136:9) In the same manner, the true church of Christ is to stand up as a source of spiritual light in this present age of spiritual darkness. (I Thes. 5:4-8) Are you letting “your light so shine before men…?”
4) The moon will not give its light during the Tribulation. (Joel 3:15; Matt. 24:29) In similar fashion, the church will not give her light upon the earth during the Tribulation as she will no longer be upon the earth, but in heaven.
5) The moon is spoken of in the feminine. Isaiah 13:10 says that, “…the moon shall not cause her light to shine.” The Church of course is the BRIDE of Christ!
6) The moon follows the path of the sun. We are to follow Christ. “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be…” (John 12:26)
7) The moon has a life cycle. This cycle begins at sunset where the sunset is a picture of the death of Christ. The moon begins as “new” or hidden from the view of the earth. Gradually the moon “waxes” or appears to grow larger until it becomes “full.” Then the moon loses apparent size and intensity as it “wanes” back to a crescent that disappears just before sunrise – a picture of the Second Advent. This cycle roughly matches the rise, growth, maturity and then apparent demise and apostasy of the church over the past two thousand years. This cycle takes four weeks which roughly corresponds to the four watches of the church age – see Matt. 14:25 & 24:43.
8) God made a covenant with the moon. (Jer. 33:20) In the same way God has made covenants and promises with the church about her salvation, status, future abode, etc.
9) The moon’s gravity strongly affects the earth. The most obvious effect of this is upon the ocean in the form of tides. The church should be strongly affecting the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. “Ye are the salt of the earth…” (Matt. 5:13) Remember that oceans or seas in the Bible are often pictures of the nations of the world rounding out the picture here of world missions. See Rev. 17:15.
10) The moon is deeply scarred with impact craters from the distant past. Although we are saved, we can still bear in our bodies the marks and effects of our sins before salvation; only the return of Jesus Christ will completely heal our bodies. (Eph. 5:27)
11) The moon produces good works. Deuteronomy 33:14 speaks of “…the precious things put forth by the moon…” (Deut. 33:14) Paul said in Eph. 2:10 that, “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
12) The moon is a faithful witness in the heavens. The cycles of the moon are so consistent and so regular that for millennia countless peoples around the world have used them for calendars, plantings and harvests. We too should faithfully testify of Christ and his word in a manner that the world can come to rely upon. We should be warning the world about the times and seasons that they are in and what lies before them. (I Thes. 5:1) “It shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.” (Psa. 89:37)
13) The moon is completely eclipsed when the earth gets between it and the sun. When we as believers allow the world to come between us and our Saviour, we become invisible and useless. We can only shine as God intended when we heed the warnings of I John 2:15-16.
14) The moon has been defiled by man many times in these last days. On September 12, 1959, the Russians crashed a space probe into moon; many others have followed in the decades since. On July 20, 1969, the Americans landed on the moon in the Apollo 11 mission leaving behind footprints, space junk and even microbes. The church is often warned about the apostasy of the last days – sadly many of us have a vast assortment of the world’s junk in our lives and desperately need personal revival!