The Sun—The Sun of Righteousness
“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.”
HE Jews expected that the coming of the Messiah would exalt every one of the Israelitish race. Their expectations were great, but they were also carnal and sensuous, since they looked for an earthly king, who would make the despised nation victorious over all its enemies, and enrich every man of Abraham’s race. The Scriptures gave them no ground for such universal expectations, but quite the reverse, and the prophet explains that the coming of Christ would certainly be like the rising of the sun, full of glory and of brightness, but the results would not be the same to all. To those who thought that they were righteous, and despised others, but who were wicked in their conversation, the rising ot that sun would bring a burning, withering day. “The day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble.” They shall not be like plants full of sap that would flourish in the tropical heat, but like stubble, which becomes drier and drier, until it takes fire: “and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord, that it shall leave them neither root nor stock,” for so might it be translated, and then the figure would be congruous throughout. It would
* Malachi iv. 2. scorch up the stubble-field in which there was no life, so intense would be the heat. Now that was the consequence of Christ’s coming. The religion of the Jews at His coming was dry and dead, like stubble. The Pharisee thought that he was righteous because he put on a broad phylactery, and tithed anise, and mint, and cummin, and such trifles; the Sadducee thought much of himself because he was a man of common sense, a thinker, a rationalist ;, and other sectaries of that period found equally frivolous grounds for glorying. The ministry of Christ dried them up, and they have ceased to be. We use the name of Pharisee and Sadducee to-day, but there is no person in the world who would like to wear either name.
The result of Christ’s coming, by His Spirit as well as by His personal advent, is always much the same. Revival will not have an equally beneficial effect upon all, To some the rising of this sun will bring healing and blessing, but to others it will bring scorching and withering. Know ye not that the summertide which fills the corn and makes it hang its golden head, blushing in very modesty for the blessing which has come upon it, fetches up also the noxious weeds from their secret lairs? Tares gather encouragement from the sun as well as doth the wheat, and so the bad come to their ripeness as well as the good; but the ripeness of that which is bad is only a hurrying on to destruction: the dryness of the stubble is the preparation for its being utterly consumed, We may well pray for revival, but we must not suppose that to the mere formalist a revival will bring a blessing. It may possibly disgust him, and drive him from religion altogether. He will discover that he has no true religion, as he sees the work of the Spirit of God around him, and so the day of the Lord will to him “burn as an oven,” and being proud and at the same time doing wickedly, his empty profession of religion will consume like the stubble.
The people of God sometimes fall into a condition which they deplore, and the Sun of Righteousness is to arise upon them; for this implies that they were in the dark until then. Whatever other light there may be, we every one of us know that until the sun rises our condition is one of comparative darkness. There are children of God who walk in darkness, dear children of God, too; indeed, I am inclined to think that every child of God gets into the dark sometimes. Some begin with brightness, and then they get a cloudy time in the middle of their experience, while others have their worst darkness at last. Knox and Luther had their sharpest temptations when they came to die. It has been well said that God sometimes puts His children to bed in the dark. It does not matter, for they wake up in the light, in the eternal morning; but a dark season usually happens to us somewhere between the new birth and heaven, perhaps to make the brightness all the brighter when the night shall be for ever ended. Are you in the dark at this moment, and are you wondering at it because everybody else seems so lively in their religion? Does it seem to you as if, though you have been a believer for years, you were never in a worse state than now, while others are rejoicing? Then ask yourself — Do you fear the Lord still? Is your soul humbled in the presence of His majesty, and have you a desire for His glory? Never despair; the Sun shall rise upon you soon. Very clear it is, too, that the children of God may sometimes be in ill-health, for the Sun of Righteousness is to arise upon them with healing in His wings, which would not be so needful a promise if they were not sick. A Christian may be bowed down with grievous spiritual maladies. His*pulse may beat slowly, his heart may become feeble; he may be alive, and that may be about all; lethargy may seize him, palsy may make him tremble despondently, he may have wandered from his God. Alas! even an ague fit may be upon him, in which he shakes with unbelief from head to foot. It may be his eyes have
become so blinded that he cannot see afar off; and
his ears may be dull of hearing, and he may be like the fools in the psalm, whose souls abhored all manner of meat. He may have put away from him the comforts of the promise, and he may be brought very low; yet he shall not die, but live, and proclaim the wotks of the Lord, for the soul sickness of a saint is not unto death. He shall be recovered from it, and he shall sing of the Lord whose name is “Jehovah Rophi, the Lord that healeth thee.” Oh, child of God, if thou art in a sick and sorrowing state, cry mightily unto thy Lord, and the Sun of Righteousness shall arise upon thee with healing in His wings:
Note again, that the children of God may be in a condition of bondage, for when the Sun of Righteousness arises “they shall go forth as calves of the stall.” Understand the figure. The calf in the stall is shut up, tied up with a halter at night, but when the sun rises the calf goes forth to the pasture; the young bullock is set free. So the child of God may be in bondage. The recollection of past sins and present unbelief may halter him up and keep him in the stall, but when the Lord reveals Himself he is set free. Even true children of God may sometimes have to cry like Paul that they are sold under sin; they may forget the blood of redemption for a season, and think themselves still to be slaves, and yet be the true children of God. Hence the beauty of the promise that they shall go forth.
The children of God may be in such a state that they are not growing, for else we should not have the promise, “Ye shall go forth and grow up” when the Sun of Righteousness shall shine. Do you feel as if you had not grown in grace for months? You need the Sun of Righteousness to shine upon you, and you will grow as the plants do. The trees are all bare in winter, and their boughs apparently sear and dead, but bring us the spring sun, and the buds will begin to swell, the leaves will appear, and the trees shall blossom and yield fruit. So shall it be with you. The Lord has not left you. You may have stayed in your growth awhile, but you shall grow again.
“The Sun of Righteousness shall arise.” Child of God in the dark, in prison, ungrowing and unhappy, what a promise is here for you! “The Sun of Righteousness shall arise.” His rising is to do it all, there is nothing for you to do, no works for you to perform in order to get the needed blessing. The Sun of Righteousness shall arise; now, the rising of the sun is one of the most wonderful things in Nature, not merely for its grandeur and beauty, but for its
sublime display of strength. Who could hold back the horses of the sun? What hand could block the golden wheel of his chariot, or bid him stay his course? The time is come for him to rise, and lo, he delights the world with dawn. Holy Spirit, such is Thy power. When it is Thy time to work who can ‘stand against Thee? As~-the sun floods the whole earth with his splendour, and no power can hinder his movements, so will the Holy Spirit work, and none can let Him. Plead ye then this promise, and cry, “O Sun of Righteousness, arise upon those that fear Thee: come now in all Thy majesty and wealth of grace: pour upon us Thy light and heat — and life, and fill this place with Thy glory.”
Fear His name. May the Sun of Righteousness arise, and give you just such clearness and light!