Bats of Martin Top

One of the advantages of cycling to and from our chapel’s mid-week meetings is the cool evening air, and enough daylight to enjoy the wonderful views both ways. Ahead of tonight’s full moon, our great satellite was a gorgeous, deep orange, which doubtless caused excitement among the local, amateur eschatologists. One of the disadvantages of cycling is especially felt when one is travelling at speed downhill: all the moths and flying insects hit one in the face and breast. Travelling with mouth ajar is certainly not wise, and the mistake is seldom repeated. Yet I had some allies- the bats. I think they were noctules, and they sometimes flew above me or alongside me, at a speed of between 13 and 15 mph. Coming out of the trees at dusk, they fly about feasting upon the very things that annoyed me as I peddled. There was certainly plenty of food for them and I hoped their numbers increased. The more bats, the fewer the objects that struck my face.

Isaiah 2 makes a cryptic reference to bats, while speaking of the ‘Day of the Lord’. Verses 19-21 (New King James Version) read:

They shall go into the holes of the rocks,

And into the caves of the earth,

From the terror of the Lord

And the glory of His majesty,

When He arises to shake the earth mightily.

In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver

And his idols of gold,

Which they made, each for himself to worship,

To the moles and bats,

To go into the clefts of the rocks,

And into the crags of the rugged rocks,

From the terror of the Lord

And the glory of His majesty,

When He arises to shake the earth mightily.

It describes idolaters distancing themselves from the very idols they have made and worshipped. They will hide them in the darkness (the domain of the mole and the bat), so desperate will they be to cover-up their association with such obnoxious objects, while they also attempt to conceal themselves from the Judge’s stern countenance. In many parts of the world and throughout history, the godly have had to meet and worship in secret for fear of arrest and worse, while the idolaters and the impious bask in the sunshine. The days are coming when the dark-hearted will seek the cover of darkness when the Light of the World returns in fiery judgement. Then, His despised people will come out and shine.

Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3

The ungodly are not so,

But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,

Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. Ps 1:4-5