With Jesus, the Sunshine of His Grace Never Ends

"For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." (Psalm 30: 5)

God's anger endured ultimately for six hours, certainly a moment when compared with eternity.

God's wrath was poured out on His Son Jesus, so that we may receive His favor and His life.

Yet looking in the Bible, whenever morning is mentioned, or the sunrise, we see God's grace shining in that context.

When Lot fled from Sodom and Gomorrah, the sun was rising:

"And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city." (Genesis 19: 15)

Later, Lot appealed to God to hide in a small town nearby:

"0Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. 21And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. 22Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. 23The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar." (Genesis 19: 20-23)

 

When the sun rises, you can know that you are safe. When you see more of the Son, you become more like Him, and even when the storms rage, you can walk on the seas without fear.

 

When reading about the morning in the Old Testament, one gets the impression that this morning may come or go.

 

Psalm 30: 5 (Five is the number of grace!) demonstrates a clear parallel: the morning speaks of grace and God's favor, which is life to us!

 

Let's consider also Lamentations, the cries of weeping prophet Jeremiah:

 

"22It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

23They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

24The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him." (Lamentations 3: 22-24)

 

God's  mercies, or His grace towards us, are new every morning, indeed.

 

Yet what Jeremiah prophesied for Jerusalem, we have today in Christ, who is our hope of glory (Colossians 1: 27)

 

Speaking of Jesus as our Sun, let us consider the final prophet and prophecy of Christ Jesus:

 

"2But 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)

 

Jesus is our Sun of righteousness, for in Christ we receive His righteousness, His perfect standing, as well as wisdom, redemption, and sanctification (1 Corinthians 1: 30).

 

Today, because Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father, we walk in His Light, because we have been adopted into God's family, and we are in Christ:

 

"12Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:13Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:" (Colossians 1: 12-14)

 

We are not just waiting for the sunshine of God's grace to shine on us from day to day, but we have been taken out of the darkness of sin and death in our trespasses to alive and shining in God's own Son. We have this life because of Jesus' blood shed for us.

 

John speaks about the power of the Blood of Jesus:

 

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1: 7)

 

 

God is Light (1 John 1: 5), and we who believe on Him walk in this Light, where the blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us. The sun never sets for those who believe on Him, and the Son's grace shines on us ever more:

 

"For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:" (Ephesians 5: 8)

 

"Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness." (1 Thessalonians 5: 5)

 

In Christ, we no longer have to wait for the morning, because Christ, our Sun of righteousness, has brought us into Himself, and in Him we shine forever, and His grace shines on us!