ley of decision. The sun and
the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their
shining. The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice
from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the
Lord will be the hope of his people.--Joel ii, 30-31; iii, 1-2,
14-16.

Christ says:--

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars
shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in
heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they
shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power
and great glory.--Matt. xxiv, 29-30.

In the Qur'an we read:--

When the sun shall be shrouded,
And when the stars shall fall,
And when the mountains are made to pass away ...
And when the leaves of the Book shall be unrolled,
And when the heaven shall be uncovered,
And when hell shall be made to blaze.--Sura lxxxi.

In the Book of Iqan Baha'u'llah explains that these prophecies about the
sun, moon and stars, the heavens and the earth, are symbolical and are not
to be understood merely in the literal sense. The Prophets were primarily
concerned with spiritual, not material, things; with spiritual, not with
physical, light. When They mention the sun, in connection with the Day of
Judgment, They refer to the Sun of Righteousness. The sun is the supreme
source of light, so Moses was a sun for the Hebrews, Christ for the
Christians, and Muhammad for the Muslims. When the Prophets speak of the
sun being darkened, what is meant is that the pure teachings of these
spiritual Suns have become obscured by misrepresentation, misunderstanding
and prejudice, so that the people are in spiritual darkness. The moon and
stars are the lesser sources of illumination, the religious leaders and
teachers, who should guide and inspire the people. When it is said that
the moon shall not give her light or shall be turned into blood, and the
stars shall fall from heaven, it is indicated that the leaders of the
churches shall become debased, engaging in strife and contention, and the
priests shall become worldly minded, concerned about earthly instead of
heavenly things.

The meaning of these prophecies is not exhausted by one explanation,
however, and there are other sen