“And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:16-18 KJV)
Have you ever wondered why when God created the world that He did not just make it always light? I mean why have the moon and stars in a season when the sun seems to be gone? Is this not a remarkably effective way to test our hearts? God does not intend to deceive us, but He does use a number of objects to test our resolve to find Him. He actually wants to see if we would choose Him. Let us suppose a person who thought he knew the difference between good and evil or light and darkness were put in a position where light and darkness were given specific objects to rule over the light and dark portions of the day. Such a person could maneuver his or her deeds to appear as something belonging to the day during day light and attempt to enjoy the darkness of his or her desires during the night. This person would be able to maneuver in this manner because he or she would know exactly where (or when) the light was and where (or when) the darkness was thus being able to build his or her desires based on those assumptions. But what if one day the darkness disappeared? Would it not be like moving a rock and seeing all the insects below scramble to adjust to the new revelation?
It is especially interesting to me that the passage were the sun, moon, and stars are positioned is also the passage that tells that these objects will mark the dates, times, and seasons. If you think of time as a container for evil, then these heavenly objects serve as markers for those things which are not eternal and cannot transcend time. They effectively set a limit and a reminder of an end; for eternity is not the sum of all points in time but eternity transcends all time.
“That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:” (Ephesians 1:10 KJV)