"The Lord God is a Sun."—Psalm 84:11 The sun, the noblest object in the material works of God, is here enlisted to represent our Lord. In its beauty and in its effects, whether seen by the eye, or felt in its results, it teaches largely. It shines not in vain on the terrestrial globe. May it not shine in vain, as spiritual instruction! Arise, O Sun of Righteousness! abundant source of joy and gladness, and enlighten our minds by the inspiration of Your rays. I. In the firmament above, one sun meets our view. From the day in which the Creator's hand hung out this lamp of light, it has admitted no equal or compeer. Lesser luminaries have indeed glittered, deriving their luster from this center; but its seat has always been supreme. No competitor disputes its reign. To this day it rules unrivaled. And the same sun, which gladdened our first parents, shall display its brightness to the last descendant of the race of man. Thus, in the scheme of redemption, there is but one Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. "As there is one body, and one Spirit, as we are called in one hope of our calling, so also there is one Lord." (Eph. 4:4) "There is one God, and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Tim. 2:5) Vast is the family of adopting grace; many sons in faith cry "Abba, Father." Through union with the Lord of Life many are made "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ;" but Jesus alone sits on salvation's throne. The truth is gloriously established: "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." (Acts 4:12) A world of lost sinners has one need; one Savior comes rich to supply. Much is required; one is granted in whom sufficiency abounds. Jesus is the one. "As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." (Rom. 5:19) Let enraptured thought expand. Contemplate the multitude of the redeemed around the eternal throne. They are very many; no stretch of mind can count them. They all were once transgressors upon earth, stained by innumerable sins. Now they are all whiter than the whitest snow. How has their loathsome blackness vanished? They have all washed in the one laver of cleansing; they are all pure by the application of the one blood of the one Jesus. Their filthy garments are all removed, they are arrayed in fitness for their high abode. Where was this lovely apparel won? They drew near, and by the hand of faith put on the righteousness which Jesus alone wrought. They all sing one song; it is ever new, it can never weary. It is thanksgiving, honor, praise, and power, unto God who sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. While one sun shines to robe the world with light, can men be found so senseless as to exclude the entrance of its rays? Can they deliberately doom their dwellings to the perpetuity of darkness, or grope only by the feeble flickerings of 'candle twilight'? Such infatuation exists not in things temporal. But in things spiritual far greater madness effects ruin. How many turn from Christ, the one only light of life, and seek to walk by their misguided reason, or the figments of their folly, or the inventions of dark superstition! Let such heed the warning, "Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that you have kindled. This shall you have of My hand; you shall lie down in sorrow." (Isa. 50:11) O Jesus! may we never draw back from You, the one, the only "Dayspring from on high." (Luke 1:78) II. Of all material works, the sun confessedly commands preeminent admiration. Its resplendent orb is the firmament's grand ornament. Such is its dazzling splendor that no eye can long endure the gaze. In beauty it rises in the eastern chamber, in beauty it pursues its course, in beauty it sinks into the western bed. It shines in day-long perfection. No words can justly delineate its surpassing charms. If thought should endeavor to suggest improvement, vain would be the effort. No skill can picture more embellishment. Thus it shines a fit emblem of the blessed Jesus. True it is that when He appeared as man, no pomp or parade marked His unobtrusive course. The splendid palace was not His abode. Stately equipage and gorgeous retinue attended not His steps. He moved the lowliest among the lowly, the meekest among the meek. In this sense He had "no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him." (Isa. 53:2) But to the eye of faith how different was the view! To those who believed, His every aspect was preciousness. Through the thin covering of mortal flesh they "beheld His glory—the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father." The Spirit exhausts terms to set forth His praises. "He is fairer than the children of men." Is not the Father gloriously arrayed in every attribute of perfection? Jesus is His perfect exhibition. As the impressed wax shows the image of the signet, so He represents the Father. It is delightful exercise to meditate on the glowing raptures of the Song of songs. The charms of earth are called to picture the heavenly Bridegroom. He is "the chief among ten thousand. He is the altogether lovely One." (Song 5:10, 16) Who can portray the beauties of His person, character, and work! He appears as humanity robed in Deity. How enchanting is the tenderness of His heart! His pitifulness and compassion refuse all counterpart. His walk among the children of men was to do good—to cheer, to solace, to dispense blessings. As the sun's rays traverse the vilest hovels of filth uninjured by the contact, so Jesus sojourned in the regions of pollution untainted and unsoiled. His every look reflected heaven. His every word was God's own voice. How glorious in beauty must He be who is thus the very embodiment of God! We praise the sun, as the luster of the skies; so we praise Jesus, as the luster of heaven's glory. To the eye which gazes on the sun, surrounding objects disappear. Thus to all who gaze on Jesus, the charms of worldly things are dim. III. The sun rises, and darkness flees. What would earth be, if the heavens gleamed not with this light! What would be man's abode, if one dark pall were spread around! If surrounding objects were no more visible, if human features were unseen, if creation's beauties were no more apparent, life would be monotony of woe. Terrified imagination shrinks from the bare thought. "Blackness of darkness forever" pictures the miseries of the lost. But the sun comes forth as a bridegroom from his chamber, and robes the world with gladness. Mists vanish from the mountain's brow. Vapors no longer darken the low valleys. The world is bright, and shining objects captivate the senses. Faith is here taught to see an emblem of its beloved Lord. It is His province to dispel the misery and gloom of ignorance. He is the Light of the world. His faithful followers no longer walk in darkness, they delight in the light of life. All saving knowledge results from His teaching voice. As the sun is seen by its own light, so Christ is shown forth in Himself. He reveals what nature never could discern—the real character of sin; its filth, its vile pollution, its deluding frauds, its malignity, its demerits, its frightful course, its dreadful end. Men grope in darkness until this light shines; and then the awakened soul sends forth the cry, Who will deliver me—how shall I escape—is there no refuge? Thus it discerns the natural condition, and loathes and abhors itself. What raptures abound when the day-star from on high presents Jesus in the boundless radiancy of His eternal love! The joy is unspeakable and full of glory when Jesus shows the redeeming wonders of the cross. The streaming blood is then discerned as the payment of every debt, the satisfaction of all claims, the obliteration of all stains. The work of atonement is seen as wholly finished in His life and death. Heaven's glories blaze as a purchased possession, and the soul revels in the brightness of the Gospel-hope. As the sun gladdens earth, thus Jesus gives exhilaration. Faith often sings, "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word do I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning; I say, more than those who watch for the morning." (Psa. 130:5, 6) The morning surely comes, and no disappointment chills the enlightened children of Christ's grace! IV. Earth owes fertility to the genial influence of the sun. If fields are green and meadows are clad with verdure, if trees put forth their leaves and blossoms bud, and fruits hang down in plenty, and crops ripen and luxuriance fills the gardens, if food abounds for all earth's inhabitants, if seasons in turn cooperate to bring plenty, we owe this multiplied luxuriance to the effects of light. The sun looks down and earth responds in varied produce. Sterility departs, abundance takes its place. Such is the vivifying work of Jesus. How cheerless and how barren is man's heart until celestial visits fertilize. In nature's soil no grace appears, no fruits of holiness enrich and gladden. But Christ's enlivening presence turns the wilderness into the garden of the Lord. Then precious faith springs up and grows exceedingly. Then hope raises its lovely head, and looks onward to the fullness of delight. The soul flourishes as a well-stocked garden. Beauteous flowers emit enchanting fragrance, and trees of righteousness are richly-laden. The believer under this influence is like "a tree planted by the rivers of water, which brings forth its fruit in due season: his leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper." (Psa. 1:3) "He is as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." (Jer. 17:8) The description is spiritually realized, "How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob; how lovely are your homes, O Israel! They spread before me like groves of palms, like fruitful gardens by the riverside. They are like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters." (Num. 24:5. 6) Behold in contrast the multitude who are strangers to the power of this Sun. They are "like the chaff which the wind scatters away." He is the fruitful Christian who ever pitches his tent on the sunny side of Zion's hill. V. Warmth is the glad offspring of the sun. How changed is nature's face when shivering winter frowns, and the sun's course is brief, and indirect rays fall powerless! Chilling is the mantle which is spread around. Vegetation droops. The groves are silent. The babbling brooks are mute in icy chains, and dismal dreariness pervades each scene. How often is the soul subject to cold seasons! It is prone to relapse into pristine hardness. When the presence of the cheering Lord is absent, duties are inertly performed, prayers freeze on the lips, former lusts exert their deadly influence, indifference checks the flow of spiritual exercise, ordinances no longer nourish, vigor for work is bound by wintry fetters. Such is the effect when the Sun of Righteousness withholds His visits. Christ only can relax the hardness, and recall refreshing glows of joy. His converse is the summer warmth. Hear the avowal of the disciples: "Did not our hearts burn within us, when He talked with us by the way?" (Luke 24:32) The sun obscured and the sun's blazing warmth, shows the contrast between Jesus withdrawn and Jesus present. Those who dread these benumbing seasons should never cease the prayer, "O Lord, quicken me according to Your Word." VI. It has been said that healing efficacy resides in the sun, and that diseases are banished by its rays. The Spirit seems to endorse this notion when He depicts the Sun of Righteousness arising "with healing in His wings." (Mal. 4:2) But if doubt veils this healing quality, the cure of spiritual maladies beyond all controversy is exercised by Jesus. Heed His title, "I am the Lord who heals you." (Exod. 15:26) Heed the well-known words, "Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases." (Psa. 103:3) How thankful should we be that there is this "balm in Gilead, this Physician there." For grievous ailments are man's doom. The hereditary evil of inborn corruption, and the long train of maladies received by infection and connected with pollution, besiege our bodies. Truly "the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores." (Isa. 1:5, 6) But why should our souls thus groan and languish! In Jesus there is remedy for every pain. Is it written in vain that in the days of His ministry on earth "as many as touched the hem of His garment were made perfectly whole?" (Matt. 14:36) Let then the cry approach the mercy-seat, "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; for You are my praise." (Jer. 17:14) The answer will not linger, "I will bring health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth." (Jer. 33:6) Many and obvious are the improvements from this teaching emblem. Suffice to add, those who are animated and cheered and warmed by the bright shining of this Sun will surely reflect His rays. They will obey the invigorating call, "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you." (Isa. 60:1) They will cause their "light so to shine before men, that they may see their good works, and glorify their Father who is in heaven." They will show that "children of the light and of the day" is no unmeaning title. (1 Thess. 5:5) |