THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
[p. 373] THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
Genesis 3: 22 - 24; Malachi 4: 1 - 3
I have just read these two passages, not exactly to attempt to expound them, but more for the sake of the contrast which they present. You see it is the contrast of two men: that of the man driven out, and the Sun of righteousness arising with healing in His wings. The contrast between the two is what I want to speak a little of tonight, and to try to shew you that the Sun of righteousness has come into view for us, and how we stand in relation to Him. I think it is a point of great moment to seize the idea of the Sun of righteousness. We have often read the verse in the prophecy, but I am not sure whether we have apprehended the force and bearing of it. That is the great point with regard to scripture; not simply to dwell on statements of scripture, but to know the import of those statements. Taking scripture up in a dogmatic way is not the best way. Many rest on statements of scripture, but we want to know the why and the how of all that scripture sets forth, and that is what the Spirit of God reveals. For instance, if you take the very simple expression we get here, “the Sun of righteousness”, what is the import of “the Sun of righteousness”? Have you studied that? I want to bring it before you in contrast to what I read in the beginning of Genesis. It has often been said, that in Genesis we get all the roots, and in Revelation the full blown fruit. Genesis is the beginning, and you get the ultimate close of things in the Revelation. Scripture is one connected whole, shewing how God works out His way, and what the end of that way is. Scripture is not the invention of man. I do not think men would ever have agreed to traverse all that ground. Scripture was not written contemporaneously. It was written at different times and by different people; but it is one [p. 374] complete whole. Genesis gives the beginning of things, and the working out of God’s way is brought before us until you come to the final issue in the Revelation. You get the complete disentanglement of good and evil, so that each, in final result, finds its own place. You have presented to you in the Revelation on the one hand the lake of fire, and on the other hand the new heaven and the new earth. I take the meaning of that to be that God is pleased to bring before us the ultimate result, and to shew us that evil and good in ultimate result each find their own place. Evil finds its place with the source of evil in the lake of fire, and all good finds its place with God; and that is the new heaven and the new earth. Now, if we go back to Genesis, what we find is, that the man is driven out of paradise. He was no longer to be in the place which God frequented. The garden of Eden was where the tree of life was, it was the place which God frequented, and from that place God drove out the man. That man’s sun set in darkness. It is a remarkable fact, but you scarcely get any further mention of that man — of Adam. You read that he begat a son in his own likeness, and another son, and that he died. But as to the history of that man, we have none. That man is looked at in scripture as the man by whom sin came into the world, and death by sin, and the effect of this is he went into distance and darkness and death as the result of sin. He came under the power of death. That is what came to pass in Adam as the result of sin. Man had rebelled against God, had disobeyed Him, and had become alienated in heart from God, and God drove him out — his sun set in darkness. That is the fact in regard to man whatever appearance man may get in the world. With all man’s boasting, where is the man who evades death? Whatever advances men may make in the world in the way of discovery, man has not found any way to evade death. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin”. Neither can men find God. Indeed they are content to be without God, and they [p. 375] are becoming increasingly so, because they know if God comes in they will be rebuked. I believe that is why people hate scripture, because God rebukes them in it. God will not condone sin, pride, lust: if God comes in all that is rebuked, therefore men are content to be without God. But they cannot evade death. Man cannot relieve himself of the consequence of sin; he suffers many an ill in this world (disguise it as he may), and the course of man down here terminates in death, and that inevitably. In that respect the most intelligent, the most cultured and refined man really does not differ from the savage: “One thing befalleth them” — death. Death is the common end of savage and civilised. The sun of man set in darkness because he rebelled against God; he practically lost God and went into death and darkness.
Now, in contrast, we get in the end of Malachi, “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings”. The figure employed is an extremely beautiful one, “the Sun of righteousness”. I have no doubt that like every other prophecy, its literal application refers to the kingdom in the future; I do not think in strict application it refers to the present moment, but to Israel. “Ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord, of hosts”.
That no doubt applies actually to Israel in the coming of the Sun above the horizon; that I may come to presently, as God may help me, but the Sun of righteousness is hidden now; He has not yet arisen above the horizon of man’s vision. The sun in natural things is there in the early morning, but you do not see it until it is above the horizon; it is there all night long, but you do not see it in the night because the sun is set. It is gone below the horizon of man’s vision. But the sun is there. When the morning comes you first see the morning star before the sun rises with healing in his [p. 376] wings. We find in natural things that people are sickly and weak unless they have plenty of the light and warmth of the sun; health does not flourish where people do not get the beneficial effects of the sun. Delicate people go to climes and parts of the world where they can have the benefit of the sun’s light and warmth. Well, we read here that the Sun of righteousness arises with healing in His wings. Now, there can be no question that the allusion is to Christ, and to the truth of the character in which Christ will arise in the time to come. I was saying at the beginning that man’s sun has set in death and darkness, but I come a little closer; here, Israel’s sun had set in darkness and death. They were in captivity. God had allowed them to be scattered and brought into captivity to the gentiles. Jerusalem was in bondage to gentile power and the sun of Israel had set in darkness. It was a dark moment for the Jews in Malachi’s day; it was some four or five hundred years before Christ came; and they got no more prophetic word after this. The prophetic word was the light of the people so long as it continued; but it ceased. Israel was to be a light in the world, but here the light of Israel had set in darkness and death.
Now you get a contrast to this in the promise: “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings”. That is what I dwell upon for a moment, it is so extremely important as it throws light on the coming day. That is what will come to pass; the Sun of righteousness will arise with healing in His wings in regard to this world; and this world in a kind of way will be healed; you get the thought in John 1: 29, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”; He baptizes with the Holy Spirit; He gives life to the world; He came to save the world. That will be fulfilled when the Sun of righteousness arises with healing in His wings, and everything will then be revived for God. Everything that God ever set up upon the earth will be revived for [p. 377] God. Israel will be revived, the nations will be revived; everything will be revived for God in that day when the Sun of righteousness arises with healing in His wings.
My point now is, as God may help me, to give you an idea of the Sun of righteousness, and to attempt to bring before you, if I can, that for us, that is for faith, the Sun of righteousness is already there; and I go a point further, that we, as believers, stand in relation to the Sun of righteousness. Now I will tell you what I understand by the Sun of righteousness; I understand the Sun of righteousness to be the Head and centre of the universe of bliss,
“Of the vast universe of bliss,
The centre Thou and Sun”.
We have often sung these verses and I think they are very just.
Every one knows that the sun in nature is the centre and I might say the head of the physical universe; so is Christ to the universe of bliss. Christ is the Sun of righteousness. Christ has appeared. When the prophet Malachi wrote Christ had not appeared, they had to wait hundreds of years for the appearing of Christ. But for us the Sun of righteousness has come upon the scene. It is not simply that Christ was personally the righteous One; He was that. But it is this, that in Christ shines out all the righteousness and the love of God. He was the righteous One as Man down here. In Him God was glorified. Christ is spoken of repeatedly as the righteous One. Peter charged home upon the Jews that they had crucified the righteous One. But that is not all. He is the Sun of righteousness in whom the righteousness and love of God shine out. There are two things which we owe to the sun — light and warmth. In Christ you get the righteousness and love of God, that is, light and warmth shine out in Him. That is what has come to light in Him. All has come to light in Him. All is declared; God is declared — “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom [p. 378] of the Father, he hath declared him”. God is declared in righteousness, and God is declared in love in the death of Christ. Christ could not be holden of death. He has been raised again from amongst the dead, and in Him we get all the light of the righteousness and love of God. He is the Sun of righteousness who rises with healing in His wings, and the righteousness and love of God in their bearing towards man are declared in Him. There would have been no object in the declaration of God, in the revelation of Himself, except in relation to men. But God has come out in relation to man, and has declared Himself to man in Christ. God has shone out in righteousness and love. God loved man, and because He loved man God has brought in righteousness for man. He has declared Himself in righteousness to man, and He has provided righteousness for man in Christ. In the work of redemption in which righteousness was provided for man, God shone out, and two things came to pass: redemption was accomplished and righteousness was provided for man. But in that same death of Christ God is declared in righteousness and love. Christ has risen and He is the Sun of righteousness in relation to the universe of bliss. But all that I am speaking of had no need to come to pass had not sin come into the world. He came in consequence of the fall. Man fell and the whole system fell with him. All fell with Adam. We see it all around us. Sin is around us and death by sin. You may attempt to attribute it to other causes, but the fact is there whatever the cause may be. The most clever man can give no cause for it. The only account is the divine account. “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”. Adam fell and all fell with him. But now the great point for us is, that the Sun of righteousness has come upon the scene. And He is the Sun of righteousness in regard to man. God has been pleased to declare Himself in Christ — the Sun of righteousness. Not only was righteousness provided for man (that [p. 379] man might be covered in the presence of God), but God Himself was declared in righteousness and in love.
I now turn your attention to two or three passages in the New Testament. “The people which sat in darkness saw great light”. Matthew 4: 16. “That ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light”. 1 Peter 2: 9. “The darkness is passing” (not is past) “and the true light already shines”. 1 John 2: 8. Now I just want to touch on these passages for a moment. The moment Christ came a great light sprang up. Israel had been, indeed was, in darkness. The glory of God had departed from the temple. Ichabod was practically written on the people. The prophetic word had ceased, it had died out from them; there was no longer prophetic word or vision. The people were in that strait in Malachi’s time. Then, in the advent of Christ, in due time a great light sprang up. Matthew 4. He was the great luminary — the Sun of righteousness had come upon the scene. The light had not yet come out in Him, but the great light was there. I pass on to 1 Peter 2: 9. There the apostle is speaking to the Jews, and what he could say to them was this, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light”. What was His marvellous light? The Sun of righteousness. God had called the Jew out of the darkness in which the Jew was. The Jew had lapsed into darkness as dense as the darkness of the gentile, in spite of all that he claimed to have — the oracles of God, &c. But God had called them out of darkness into His light. In Christ the light shone. God had come out in Christ, God was declared in love and righteousness in regard to man. On the other hand, righteousness was provided for man. Man could be justified by the grace of God, and so could come into the light. The Jew could enjoy the revelation of God made in Christ, because in connection with it there was the announcement of God’s grace to him. It would be entirely impossible for man to enjoy the revelation of God in love and righteousness without that man being at the same time made conscious of the grace of God by which he was justified in the eyes of God. Both things come out in divine perfection: righteousness for man so that man can be justified in the eyes of God, and God declared in love so that man can come into the light. God has been pleased to shine out and has called us out of darkness into His marvellous light, so that our joy and enjoyment and our life may be in the light of God’s revelation in Christ. Now look at 1 John 2: 8. This is confirmatory. In Christ and in christians the darkness is passing (not “is past”, that is going a little too far). “The true light now shineth”. Mark this — you have the Sun of righteousness, and for faith the Sun now shines. I could not say He has arisen above the horizon of this world’s view, and He has not yet arisen to Israel. But the true light now shines — His marvellous light — and as I said before, it is not simply the fact but the import of the fact. The object and point is that man’s soul may live in all the light of God’s blessed revelation of Himself. I am convinced of this, it is the only place where man can find happiness and blessing. I do not care what men of the world may set up to have found, it is not possible for man to find real happiness except in the revelation of God. Supposing a man may find out anything, may make the most tremendous advances in science and in the discovery and application of natural laws, yet he gets to no kind of certainty, and there can be no certainty outside revelation, and there is no real guarantee for happiness apart from revelation. God is declared in Christ, and man can be (I know it) supremely content in the light of the revelation of God. Not only has God provided righteousness for man, that man may be justified from everything in His eye, but also that man may enjoy the revelation and declaration of Himself which God has been pleased to give in the great [p. 381] light that now shines, and that in that light we may live. If any one asked me where I live as a christian, I should say, I do not live on earth as a christian and I do not live in heaven. But I will tell you where I live. I live in the light of God’s love and righteousness in Christ. I cannot find the light in the common things of this life. I have to take up the common things but I do not find the light there. I find the light of God in my own soul, “his marvellous light”, the declaration of Himself in Christ. In the physical universe everything is maintained in relation to the sun, every planet, &c. It is not simply that every planet stands in relation to the sun, but there are certain physical laws by which every planet is held in relation to the sun. There is exactly the same principle in regard to the universe of bliss, that is, that universe of which Christ is the centre and the sun. We come into relation to the Sun by faith. It is in the faith of Christ that we come into relation with Him. But then also provision is made in order to maintain us in relation to Him. He communicates to the believer living water. “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”. John 4: 13, 14. Christ is presented, the great Light is presented to man as the Object of faith. In Him is expressed the grace of God. But it is that man may believe in Him; that they may come into relation to the Sun of righteousness and the universe of bliss. The Sun of righteousness communicates of His Spirit that men may be maintained in relation to Him, and may not be moved away from Him.
I know of no existing power that could detach the earth from its relation to the sun, or the moon from its relation to this earth. All are held by the influence of natural laws. So, in regard to the Sun of righteousness, He imparts to the believer living water that the believer may be maintained in relation to Him, so that he is [p. 382] righteous even as Christ is righteous. That is a wonderful thing. The essence and power of christianity is that Christ imparts living water in order that we may be maintained in relation to Him. The meaning and force of living water is twofold. One is, it assures our hearts of the love of God, it contents us, we are so satisfied with the love of God that the living water springs up in the believer in response to that love; and so your heart is maintained in the consciousness of the love of God, your heart responds to it and you are maintained in relation to the One who so loves you. The Sun of righteousness is the One in whom that love is revealed, and the living water maintains the believer in relation to Him and his heart is kept in content. You have nothing to desire. Nothing but the knowledge of God’s love will ever keep the heart of man in content, so that a man can say — I have nothing to wish for; I have got the greatest thing in the universe; and not only do I know the love of God, but love to God springs up in my heart.
Another fact consequent on the reception of the Spirit is, that you move in the orbit in which God has been pleased to set you. He has set you and me and every believer in relation to the Sun of righteousness, and it is the Spirit that maintains us in relation to that Sun. Christ Himself as Man here in humiliation was the righteous One and moved in the divinely appointed orbit. My path as a christian is to walk as Christ walked; I am not only kept by the Spirit of life, but I move in the divinely appointed orbit, that is, the path of God’s will. The Spirit is life because of righteousness. I will tell you what marks a christian: he is in the path of God’s will. And what is the path of God’s will? It is practical righteousness. I stand in relation to Christ. He is my righteousness in the eye of God, and I am kept in the orbit God has appointed me to. It means fidelity in every relationship in which God has been pleased to set me. Fidelity in my relationship to God — to Christ — and to those who are in Christ. Righteousness is really fulfilled [p. 383] in love. Love is the fulfilment of the law. I carry out practical righteousness because I am in relation to the Sun of righteousness. I do not think there is any one I love so well as God; and I love Christ in whom God is revealed. If I love God, I love Christ, and then if I love Christ, I love those who are Christ’s. Love goes all round. And I am formed down here by the Spirit of love, and I am maintained in practical righteousness; I walk and am maintained down here in the orbit in which God has placed me. Now all that I have been speaking of is christianity in its very first principles; I have not spoken of anything profound. The Sun of righteousness has arisen for us. We are brought into His marvellous light, into the light of God’s declaration of Himself in Christ. For us, therefore, the darkness is passing and the true light now shineth. It is perfectly deplorable to me to see christians striving to attach christianity to a path and place in this world. That is not according to God. You want to be in the light of God’s world. There is a world which God has before Him of which Christ is the centre and the sun. All will come into light very shortly. The Sun of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings. But then the Sun has come into presence, and we are brought into relationship to the Sun, and we are established and maintained in relation to the Sun. And the practical outcome of it is this, that righteousness is fulfilled in us, the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled in those who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. There must be no turning back; there must be separation from the world which has sprung from Adam. You can never set that man up again. God intended to abolish that man in the death of Christ in order that He might communicate to man His Spirit. That man was brought to an end in the death of Christ, so that God might impart the Spirit of another Man to the one who believes in Christ. We have been brought by faith through grace to believe in Christ. He has given to [p. 384] us His Spirit that we may be maintained in relation to Him who is the Sun of righteousness, that righteousness may be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness”. I speak of these things because I desire that ministry should have the proper effect of setting the people of God free from the entanglements of this world. I am convinced that you never will enjoy deliverance except as your soul lives in the light of God’s world, and I ask any reasonable person, ‘Is not God’s world far better than man’s world?’ Man’s world is a system in which man has glory, and in which man seeks glory. But I will tell you the principles that rule in man’s world, principles which were declared hundreds of years ago, but which are exactly the same today: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. The great principles that rule in God’s world, of which Christ is the centre and sun, are love and righteousness. Everything there is pervaded by divine love, and has its spring in divine love, and there too is the great principle of righteousness, that is, that in every direction fidelity is maintained in every divinely appointed relationship. I ask any thoughtful person whether that is ever to be brought to pass in this world? Is man going to give up lust and pride? He might as well give up himself. Is not God’s world better than that, where everything is pervaded by divine love, where all is maintained in divine righteousness? That is what will come to pass in God’s world. It will come to pass even in Israel’s history; the very nations upon earth will be affected by it. Israel will cry in that day, “God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations”.
Is not that better than anything man can produce? That is God’s world, of which Christ is the centre and sun, and now we are maintained in the light of it by His Spirit, that we may be here to walk in the orbit which God [p. 385] has been pleased to appoint for us in relation to the Sun of righteousness.
May God give us to understand these very simple principles much more distinctly.