The Renewal of Morning

“The glory of the Lord came into the house, by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east.” — Ezekiel xliii. 4.

There are some places which catch the morning and some which catch the evening sun. There are gates which look toward the east, and there are gates which look toward the west. When life fronts the west, it is contemplating old age; when life fronts the east, it is contemplating youth. When Christ enters the temple of the heart, we have always an eastern prospect. It does not matter how old we are or how dilapidated the temple; the moment Christ enters the prospect is eastern. The first cry of every Christian is to get back to the morning. What do you mean by the prayer to have your sins forgiven? It is simply the cry to re-tread your past — to go back to the morning sun. Why do you not merely say, *’ Let the dead past bury its dead; I will try to live better in the future “? It is because you want not simply a golden west, but a golden east — not merely a fine evening, but a retrieved morning. That is why you cry for the expiation of the past. You want to have the sense of beginning again, of being a child again. You want to feel, not merely that there are no blots on your present page, but that there are no blots on your past page. Nothing causes you to blot the new page like the memory of blots on the old. You seek a fresh start — a morning prospect, a window toward the east, a view of the rising sun; nothing else will give you a sense of glory.

My brother, in Christ this glory may be yours! Other masters can promise you a golden west. Other masters can point you to the hope of a new day when this day has closed; but they all leave the present day in the blackness of darkness; none point you back to a retrieved morning. Jesus does; He offers to rekindle your east. He promises to wash your past blemishes away, to erase the blots from the page of yesterday. He offers to make your badness work for good — to lift the stumbling-blocks you have left upon the highway, and make them the stepping-stones of man. That, my brother, is your prospect of glory — an eastern prospect, a morning prospect. Go forth to meet it! Go forth with youth’s elastic step! There is a step which belongs only to the feet on the threshold; there is a lightness of tread which beginners alone can possess. It may be yours this day. However old, broken, shaken you be, it may be yours this day — shall be yours if you will it. For you the kindling east once more is waiting. For you the star of Bethlehem once more is shining. For you the garments of a child once more are weaving. For you the race of life once more is opening. A second baptism is before you; a new name will be given you; the blood of a higher birth will be the starting of your day. You will retrieve the waste of the vanished years; your glory is coming from the eastern gate.