Malachi 4:2 But to you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth… We with the early Fathers take our Lord to be "the Sun of Righteousness." The mass of the sun being so vastly greater than that of all the planets and satellites taken together, constitutes it a suitable centre of light, heat, and gravitation; and therefore a striking emblem of Christ. Of the many points of resemblance we will examine two. The darkness which precedes the dawn, and the gradual growth of the light. These are seen — I. IN THE GROWTH OF CHRISTIANITY. At the dawn of Christianity there was a darkness like that of Egypt, "that might be felt." Darkness is the symbol of ignorance and sin. The intellectual greatness of the Augustan age is seen in its poets, philosophers, etc.; but the flowers grew on a marshy and rotten soil. Classical writers confirm St. Paul's testimony in Romans chap. Romans 1. to the awful moral degradation of the time. The "dayspring from on high" appears, and gradually asserts its power over the darkness. Christian teachers penetrated where the Roman legions never trod. Persecution did not arrest the wave. When the northern barbarians overwhelmed the Roman Empire, they had to yield to a power greater than their own — that of the Cross. The glory of the meridian sun must fill the earth. II. IN THE GROWTH OF THE CHRISTIAN. Before conversion our hearts were "dark, void and formless," like the original world. The spirit of man is illumined by the Sun of Righteousness, and chaos becomes cosmos. This growth is gradual. Three stages of Christian growth. God calls, touches, blesses; which corresponds in some sort to assent, affiance, and assurance. Growth in religion is mainly characterised by thought of ourselves at its beginning, by consideration for others as we advance in holiness, and by a desire for the glory of God when more matured. Is Christ growing in us? We must be advancing or receding. If Christ be growing in us, certain effects will follow. His light will cleanse and purify; and shining from us, it will give us influence on others. (J. S. Pilkington, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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