Understanding biblical prophecy is impossible without understanding this.
Simile: "And He brought him outside and said, Look now toward the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them. And He said to him, So shall your seed be. And he believed in YHVH; and he counted it to him for righteousness." Genesis 15:5-6
Simile: "..that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And your Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies." Genesis 22:17
Simile: "And those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the sky; and those who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever." Daniel 12:3
THE SUN
Simile & Metaphor:
Psalms 19:1-6
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
Malachi 1:11
For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the LORD of hosts.
Psalms 50:1-2
The mighty God, even YHWH, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined.
But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. (Malachi 4:2)
THE SUN AND THE MOON
Psalms 89:3-4 & 35-37
I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant, Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.
Simile: Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.".
The moon is a faithful witness to the sun which causes it to shine, and to the earth which causes its orbit.
Metaphor and Hyperbole:
Isaiah 30:26
Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
THE STARS
Metaphor: "And he dreamed still another dream, and told it to his brothers. And he said, Behold, I have dreamed another dream. And behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?" (Genesis 37:9-10)
The stars refer metaphorically to Joseph’s eleven brothers. Jacob was the father and ruler of his clan. In Genesis 37:9-10 (above) the sun refers metaphorically to Jacob, and the moon to Rachel, Joseph's mother.
Metaphor: "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars, and having a babe in womb, she cries, being in travail, having been distressed to bear."(Revelation 12:1-2).
Metaphor: The children of Naphtali and Zebulun who fought against Sisera, captain of Jabin's army (Judges 4:6-7) are called "the stars in their courses" (metaphor) fighting against enemy armies in Judges 5:20.
The saints are also said to be "in the heavens" in Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:1-4; and Ephesians 1:3.
Apocalyptic / prophetic literature in the Bible is saturated with simile, metaphor and hyperbole that symbolize the reality being spoken about.
When tribulation or calamity comes upon the saints:
Daniel 8:9-10
"And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land. And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them."
It's talking about Antiochus IV Epiphanes' and his war against the saints, i.e the Jews of his time, and the apostasy ("falling from the heavens") of many Jews which took place at the time: Antiochus IV Epiphanes placing an abomination of desolation in the holy place is the chief biblical type of the man of sin of 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2.
Revelation 6:13-14
And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
In biblical typology, one historical event becomes a precedent for an event on a similar scale or of a similar type (the anti-type) that follows the "type" (the first historical event) at some point much further into the future. The same or similar metaphor is often used to describe the anti-type: For example, before the destruction of the kingdom of ancient Babylon at the hand of the Medes, this is part of what was prophesied by Isaiah concerning its coming judgment:
Isaiah 13:1 & 17-19 & 6-13:
"The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see:
-- Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. --
Simile: Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
Metaphor: Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
Metaphor: Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of Armies, and in the day of his fierce anger." (Isaiah 13:1 & 17-19 & 6-13)
Compare the above with the prophecy in Isaiah concerning God's judgment of ALL nations:
Isaiah 34:1-10:
Metaphor: "Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
Metaphor: And all the host of the heavens shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled like a scroll; and all their host shall droop, as a leaf falls off from the vine, and as the falling from the fig tree.
Metaphor: For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.
Metaphor: For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, the year to repay for the fighting against Zion. And its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust to brimstone, and its land shall become burning pitch. It shall not be put out night or day; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none passes through it forever and forever.
Revelation 14:10-11
Metaphor: And he will be tormented by fire and brimstone before the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night, those who worship the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.
Metaphor: "But God is the judge; He puts down one and sets up another. For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed; and He pours out from it; but the dregs of it, all the wicked of the earth shall drain its dregs and drink."
Metaphor: And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. (Revelation 14:18-19)
Isaiah 30:26 is an example of a verse employing the use of both metaphor and hyperbole in the same verse:
"Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound."
Metaphor: He who believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (But He spoke this about the Spirit, which they who believed on Him should receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)" John 7:38-39.
Metaphor: And He said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who thirsts I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely. Revelation 21:6.
For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will feed them and will lead them to the fountains of living waters. And God will wipe away all tears from their eyes. Revelation 7:17
Metaphor: And the third angel poured out his vial on the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood. Revelation 16:4.
Metaphor: .. saying with a great voice, Fear God and give glory to Him! For the hour of His judgment has come. And worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. Revelation 14:7
Metaphor: And the third angel sounded, and a great star burning like a lamp fell from the heaven, and it fell on the third part of the rivers and on the fountains of waters. Revelation 8:10.
Metaphor: And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. Revelation 9:1-2
Metaphor: "Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the wealth of the nations shall come unto thee." (Isaiah 60:5)
Verses 17-22 of Ezekiel chapter 39:
Metaphor: "And you, son of man, So says the Lord Jehovah. Speak to the bird of every wing, and to every beast of the field: Gather yourselves and come; gather yourselves from all around to My sacrifice that I sacrifice for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood.
You shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the rulers of the earth, of rams, lambs, goats, and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
And you shall eat fat until you are full, and drink blood until you are drunk, of My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
And you shall be filled at My table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, all the men of war, says the Lord Jehovah.
And I will set My glory among the nations, and all the nations shall see My judgments which I have done, and My hand that I have laid on them.
So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward."
Verses 17-21 of Revelation chapter 19:
Metaphor: "And I saw one angel standing in the sun. And he cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven, Come and gather together to the supper of the great God,
so that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders, and the flesh of strong ones, and the flesh of horses, and those sitting on them, and the flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great.
And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth and their armies, being gathered to make war against Him who sat on the horse, and against His army.
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet doing signs before it, (by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast), and those who had worshiped his image. The two were thrown alive into the Lake of Fire burning with brimstone.
And the rest were slain by the sword of Him who sat on the horse, it proceeding out of His mouth. And all the birds were filled from their flesh."
The final sentence in Revelation 19:21: "And all the birds were filled from their flesh" is closing the prophecy with a repeat of what had been said earlier.
THE AIR
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)
So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for ye shall speak into the air. (1 Corinthians 14:9)
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: (Ephesians 2:2)
And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. (Revelation 9:2)
And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. (Revelation 9:11)
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