2 Samuel 23:4 And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds… This was a prediction of the advent of Christ uttered by David as his last words: not, probably, the last words that he ever spoke, but the last recorded of his public and inspired utterances. I. HE COMES FROM WITHOUT. The hope of the world, according to the teaching of the Scriptures, is not in itself. Just as this morning the earth's face is beautified not by any brilliancy of its own, but by the light that streams from the open heavens, and is reflected by the grateful earth, so when Christ should come He would come to a dark world m the effulgency of the Father's glory, and the brightness of heaven's own light. II. Like the morning without, clouds, the revelation which He will give, and the light and joy which He will shed SHALL BE PERFECT. There shall be nothing imperfect in His personality or in His teaching or works. The revelation of God in Jesus Christ shall be as the light of the morning when the sun ariseth, a morning without clouds. III. Christ's advent would be like the day-dawn because of THE CERTAINTY OF HIS COMING. What, more certain than the morning? You have your dark nights, but then there is the counterbalancing assurance that morning cometh. Yes, the light always succeeds darkness, and day succeeds night. This is the Divine order of things. "God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night, and the evening and the morning were the first day." All God's evenings burst into mornings. God began with darkness and finished with light, that is the idea here. The evening of the world has been dark, tedious, and depressing, but "He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth." IV. THE FULNESS OF HIS GLORY AND BLESSING CONNECTED WITH HIS ADVENT. He would come to all men alike. V. CHRIST WOULD COME WITH THE GENTLENESS OF THE MORNING. Oh, the gentleness with which the light comes to us! Have you thought of it? There is nothing so gentle. You know that the speed at which light travels is twelve millions of miles per minute. An engine that comes at seventy miles an hour comes dashing through everything in its way; but the light that comes at the rate of 200,000 miles per second has not knocked any of us down yet, nay, not even an insect in its feeble flight. It comes direct from the sun, through space, at the rate of 200,000 miles per second, and yet this sensitive eye of ours, which is hurt if you but touch it with even a feather, and is injured even if a breeze comes at the rate of sixty or seventy miles an hour, and still more if water were splashed against it with any force, receives that ray without the consciousness of being touched at all. Anything else but the light, coming at this fearful velocity, would kill us, yet the eye takes in the light and is thankful for it. The most sensitive nerve is only gratified. Christ's advent is compared to this coming of that light. Such is the gentle grace of Christ. He comes to enlighten the world — comes with the great impetus of almighty love that began in eternity — and yet a love that falls as gentle as the day of light upon an infant's eyes. VI. HIS COMING SHALL BE ALL THE MORE GLORIOUS BECAUSE OF THE DARKNESS AND SORROW WHICH HAVE PRECEDED IT: "When the tender grass springeth out of the earth through clear shining after rain." It would not be so glorious if the darkness had not preceded it, and the rain had not come. If you would see things clearly, go out in the morning. Just when the sun rises, everything appears at its best. During the day you have the moist land sending up heated vapours, and the denser airs mix up with the rarer atmosphere, so that you see nothing clearly. But the morning light is pure and undisturbed, and it is never so pure as when showers of rain have immediately preceded the dawn. Then it seems as if the rain had cleansed the atmosphere. A shower does wonders in purifying air. That is the figure in our text. Just as when a shower has been cleansing the nit of its impurity, and then the pure light of dawn reveals the landscape, there is nothing so glorious in nature; so in thy spiritual realm there is nothing so charming as the revelation of Christ to the heart after its long night of darkness and grief. Oh, if He but dawned upon the darkness of many of you to-day, you would thank God for all the sorrows which have prepared the way for His more clear shining into your heart and life. (D. Davies.) Parallel Verses KJV: And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. |
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