Day 18: Healing For Those Who Fear His Name

Yesterday we finished with this wonderful parable that the substance of the sun is God the Father. The radiance of the glory of the sun is Jesus Christ, the Son. The rays that convey that radiance to you and me, that's the Holy Spirit.

The other thing we’ve seen about the sun, as it represents Jesus, is that it always carries with it the promise of sunrise after darkness. This is clearly predicted in Malachi, chapter 4, verses 1 and 2:

“‘Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘Not a root or a branch will be left to them. But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.’” (NIV)

So the Scripture warns us there's coming a time of God's wrath and indignation on the wicked and the rebellious but at the same time, in the midst of the warning, God gives us a promise of deliverance and help that comes in the person of the Son of Righteousness, that's the Lord Jesus. Out of all the midst of the anguish and the tribulation and the darkness, there's going to arise that Bright Morning Star, the Sun of Righteousness with healing in its wings. It's going to bring deliverance and healing, rest and peace to those, it says, who revere or fear God's name. There's got to be an inner preparation before that Sun of Righteousness will arise for us with healing and with deliverance. That means that something has got to happen inside each one of us personally. It's important to see this.

I'd like to point out to you what Peter says in his 2nd Epistle, chapter 1, verses 16 and 19. He's speaking about the promise of the coming of the Lord Jesus in glory and he says it requires preparation on our part. He says:

“We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.’ [Peter is looking back in his memory to that scene on the Mount of Transfiguration when Jesus was transfigured before their eyes and they saw Him in His glory and in his majesty and in His brightness, so he says, ‘Remember, it was not just a theory; it's something we've witnessed. But then he goes on to say:] We have the words of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.’” (NIV)

The Morning Star is Jesus rising in our hearts. It's not his coming in power and glory to judge the universe, but an inner, personal experience. When we have come to know Him personally, through the revelation of God's Word and the prophesies of Scripture and we've come to a quiet, unshakeable inner confidence that Jesus is coming back to reign. The Sun of Righteousness is going to rise for those who fear God's name.

I wonder today if you have that inner assurance, if the return of Jesus in Glory is a reality for you. Has that Morning Star risen in your heart? The Scripture says that we do well to pay attention to the prophesies of the Bible. If we will fasten our minds on the Word of God and meditate on it and let the Holy Spirit speak to us through it, He will make the return of Jesus something very real, something about which we're absolutely confident. It will be like a star rising in our hearts and then it will be there until the day dawns, until the actual great event takes place, until the Son of Righteousness arises out of the darkness of anguish and tribulation to give fresh light and hope to the people of this Earth. So, cultivate that awareness that Jesus is coming. Let it be a star that rises in your heart.