Trusting in the Sun of Righteousness

30 MAY

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

SUGGESTED FURTHER READING: John 1:1-18

"Sun" is an appropriate name for Christ, for God the Father has given a much clearer light in the person of Christ than He did formerly by the law and all its appendages.

Christ is called the light of the world, not because the fathers wandered as the blind in darkness and were content with the law as with the dawn or with the moon and stars. We know how the doctrine of the law was so obscure that it may truly be said to be shadowy. When the heavens at length were opened and the gospel was made clear, it was through the rising of the Sun, which brought the full day. Hence it is the peculiar purpose of Christ to illuminate us.

On this account, the first chapter of John says that the true light which illuminates every man that comes into the world existed from the beginning. Yet this light shone in the darkness, for some sparks of reason exist in men, however blinded they became through the fall of Adam and the corruption of nature. Christ is specifically called the light with regard to the faithful, whom He delivers from the blindness by which all by nature have been afflicted, and whom He undertakes to guide by His Spirit.

The meaning, then, of the word, "Sun," when applied to Christ, is that without the Light of the World we can only wander and go astray. But by His guidance we shall keep in the right way. Hence He says, "He who follows me walks not in darkness" (John 8:12).

John Calvin

FOR MEDITATION: 

Without Christ and His light, we would be doomed to wander in darkness. If you are a Christian, thank Him particularly for dispelling the darkness in which you were determined to remain. You could not see the light until the Spirit opened your eyes.

365 Days With Calvin

Selected and Edited by Joel R. Beeke