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Verse:“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” —Matthew 24:29
Perhaps no other celestial phenomenon has stirred more excitement and fear than the famous Leonid meteor storm of November 13, 1833.
Seen throughout North America, this phenomenon was caused by the earth passing through the orbital path of the comet Tempel-Tuttle.
Small meteor showers can be observed every year in November, but more intense meteor storms usually occur every thirty-three years.
No meteor storm has exceeded the intensity nor the meaning of the 1833 display, which is said to have produced more than one hundred thousand meteors per hour. Frederick Douglass stated, “I witnessed this gorgeous spectacle, and was awe-struck. The air seemed filled with bright descending messengers from the sky. It was about daybreak when I saw this sublime scene. I was not without the suggestion, at that moment that it might be the harbinger of the coming of the Son of Man; and in my then state of mind I was prepared to hail Him as my friend and deliverer. I had read that the ‘stars shall fall from heaven;’ and they were now falling.” Two years earlier, on the east coast of the United States, William Miller had begun to preach the coming of Christ and the end of the world, anticipating it to happen around 1843. The meteor storm of 1833 appeared unexpectedly, lighting up the entire night sky in that same region, convincing many that Judgment Day was at hand. Although Christ did not return at the time Miller taught, the meteor storm of 1833 remains a landmark in prophetic interpretation (Revelation 6:13).
Some question the prophetic significance of “signs” that have natural causes or scientific explanations. From a human perspective, the great Lisbon earthquake of 1755 was just another shaking and vibration of the earth’s crust due to the movements of tectonic plates. Likewise, the Leonid meteor storm of 1833 was simply caused by the earth passing through the comet Tempel-Tuttle’s trail. But from a biblical perspective, natural events are often used by God to awaken people and serve as forerunners of His intervention in human history. Regardless of their cause, let’s allow the Bible to interpret the meaning of those signs.