KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES

The Word of God turns man's attention repeatedly to the heavens. "The heavens declare the glory of God... day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge" (Ps. 19:1-2). The heavens do not speak English, yet they speak to every Englishman and every American. They speak in every language to every people. The Old Testament closes with God directing man to look to the heavens. God says, in effect, "Look up to the heavens, and don't miss it, because it's important!" "Unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings" (Mal.4:2). The Old Testament closes pointing a finger to the East, to the sunrise, proclaiming that all who fear the Lord are to look in that direction because there is the promise of sunrise. It points us to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Sun of Righteousness, arising with healing rays over the horizon of this earth-realm. And, brothers and sisters, that is a fitting figure, because the Lord comes to usher in a NEW DAY.

A person who speaks only the English language can take a book written in French, and, while he may not be able to read it except with much hesitation and mispronunciation, still he can struggle through it after a fashion. Occasionally he will come to a word which closely resembles the English with which he is familiar. But, because he knows nothing of the meaning of French words, no matter how well he can read the text, it means nothing to him until he learns what each individual French word means. Even so Christians who read Bible prophecy, if they do not understand the prophetical language, are confronted with a similar problem. Prophecy is invariably written in prophetical terms, And unless one understands the meaning of each individual term, though he may be able to read the text fluently, yet he has no understanding of what he reads. So, before one can understand prophecy, he first must receive a revelation of the prophetic language. Fortunately the Word furnishes us with the keys to prophetical terms, by which we may through the Spirit become proficient in the prophetic language.

There are many terms used in prophecy, such as stars, moon, sun, sea, rivers, trees, mountains, hills, islands, valleys, heaven, earth, beasts, horns, eyes, etc., etc. In our last study we considered the mystery of the Morning Star. There are stars revealed in the prophetic Word of God which portray the plan and purpose of God. If we go to the last book in the Bible, the book of Revelation, we see three things: the first is that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the Morning Star (Rev. 22:16); secondly, we see that all the stars mentioned in the book are people (Rev. 1:20; 9:1, etc.); thirdly, the Morning Star is involved with the promise of the Lord to the overcomers, and is promised to all who overcome (Rev. 2:29). The giving of the Morning Star involves an impartation of the Christ. The Morning Star is a glory of the Christ within, as HE shines in the darkness of our weakness and inability and frustration GIVING A VISION OF AND HOPE FOR THE DAWNING OF THE FULL DAY. There is a remnant of God's people over the whole earth today into whose hearts has shined the Morning Star. And, in thus receiving the Morning Star, do they not in turn BECOME THE MORNING STAR? Flooded with HIS LIFE AND LIGHT they become the herald, the harbinger of the near-approaching dawn.

Long centuries ago in Babylon the aged prophet Daniel received this challenging and assuring word from the Lord: "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever" (Dan. 12:3). There are many other stars besides the Morning Star in God's glorious celestial realm, His spiritual heavens. Here the signification of stars is identified with the saints. Each member of God's elect is one star in God's spiritual universe. You are a star in God's economy! You are appointed to have an eternal fixed position in God's heavenly Kingdom as a star, as a shining one, as a luminary. There are different degrees of glory to the stars, "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. SO ALSO IS THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD" (I Cor. 15:41-42). As one star outshines another in glory so it is in the Kingdom of God. Stars have different dimensions of glory. The greatest of all stars signified to us is the Sun Himself, Jesus Christ our Lord. But there are vast multitudes of stars having different degrees of glory in the Kingdom of God - but they are all called "wise" stars and they all "turn many to righteousness," therefore they burn as bright lights in the Father's Kingdom. Stars are bright lights that give light where there is darkness. Who ARE the wise? The margin reads "teachers" in place of "wise." "They that be TEACHERS shall shine as the brightness of the firmament." That is, of course, those who teach the truth, and lead others to a knowledge of the truth that makes men free.

I am sure every reader of these lines is familiar with the old song, "Will There Be Any Stars In My Crown?" There is no scripture to indicate that the saints will wear "starry crowns," but there is scripture which is greater by far! It is the privilege of all who treasure the beautiful hope of sonship to dwell upon the consolations of this marvelous promise, "And they that be teachers shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever." God's universe embraces all places. This little world of ours, and each star and sun and planet are but tiny grains of sand on the seashore of infinity. Each one is small indeed in relation to all the rest of the systems, and in relation to limitless space. A conception of its magnitude can be gathered only from the stellar worlds themselves. What are those stars, in the likeness of which the teachers of righteousness are to shine forever and ever? How much of brightness, and majesty, and length of days, is involved in this comparison?

The sun of our own solar system is one of these stars. If we compare it with this globe upon which we live (our handiest standard of measurement), we find it an orb of no small magnitude and magnificence. Our earth is nearly eight thousand miles in diameter, but the sun's diameter is eight hundred sixty-four thousand miles. In size it is one million three hundred thousand times as large as our globe. In the matter of its substance, it would balance three hundred thirty-two thousand worlds like ours. What immensity is this! Yet this is far from being the largest or the brightest of the orbs in the heavens. The sun's proximity, only some ninety-three million miles from us, gives him with us a controling presence and influence. But far away in the depths of space, so far that they appear like mere points of light, blaze other orbs of vaster size and greater glory.

There are stars, as, for instance, Arcturus, which emits light equivalent to one hundred fifty-eight of our suns; Capella, one hundred eighty-five; and so on, until at last we reach the great star Rigel, in the constellation of Orion which floods the celestial spaces with a brilliance fifteen thousand times that of the ponderous orb which lights and controls our solar system! Why, then, does it not appear more luminous to us? Ah, its distance is equivalent to thirty-three million diameters of the earth's orbit; and the latter is one hundred eighty-six million miles! Figures are weak to express such distances. It will be sufficient to say that its glowing light must traverse space as only light travels - one hundred eighty-six thousand miles a second - for a period of more than ten years before it reaches this world of ours. There are many other stars which are hundreds of light-years from our solar system. A few years pass away, and all things earthly gather the mold of age and the odor of decay. But the stars shine on in their glory as in the beginning. Centuries and cycles have gone by, kingdoms have arisen and slowly passed away. Yet the stars' brightness is not dimmed, nor their force abated. The dew of youth still seems fresh upon them. No faltering motion reveals the decreptitude of age. These shine on in undiminished glory through all the ages of time.

Thus shall those wise and blessed sons of God shine who turn the inhabitants of the world to righteousness. Thus shall their ministry and their years roll on from age to age until that wonderful age of all ages, the dispensation of the fullness of times wherein everything in heaven and in earth and in all realms is gathered together into one in Christ and God becomes All-in-all. What glories lie beyond this, we cannot yet know. Of this we may be sure: we who are redeemed have entered a progressive institution, a Kingdom in which stagnation will never enter. We will ever go on "from glory to glory," for "of the increase of His government ... THERE SHALL BE NO END" (Isa. 9:7). We will never come to the place where we can sit down with folded hands and say, "This is the end." We, who have been born into the heavenly realm, have entered a stage of action, we have become active agents in the greatest development program ever conceived. A whole universe awaits our touch and guiding hand. "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? Thou hast put ALL THINGS in subjection under his feet. For in that He put ALL in subjection under him, He left N-O-T-H-I-N-G that is not put under him. But we see NOT YET all things put under him (man). But we SEE JESUS..." (Heb. 2:6-9). Surely these words can mean nothing less than UNIVERSAL DOMINION!

Away out there in the blue is a Kingdom of life and light and love for every son of God to explore and develop and perfect. And if ever, in all the countless ages to come, that Kingdom should become too small or overcrowded for its citizens, let us remember that we, being as He is, are therefore, one and all, the very same kind of Beings as He who simply spoke the Word, and lo! the present worlds appeared. Being like Him, we will also be creators, one and all, and not destroyers, as in our human state. "WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM.

God says that men enter His heavenly Kingdom by being born into it (Jn. 3:5). Men do not die to go to heaven, they are born there. And then after they are born into that state - after they become heavenly beings - they can lay up, by their obedience to the heavenly Father, heavenly riches which will not only be a place, but royal pomp and splendor and majesty and dominion beyond compare. Sonship does not only entitle one to residence in God's limitless and eternal domain, but to the ownership and rule of that domain, in proportion to qualifying in service now. Oh, that it were possible to lift men up above the shadows, and give them just a glimpse of something higher! Mortal minds are so entirely inadequate; human eyes so dim; human ears so dull!

Heaven is not a mansion over the hilltop, not the gratifying of the needs and desires of this vessel of clay. It is not that which will bring creature comfort. It is not a state of eternal creature enjoyment and rest. The celestial realm is something infinitely higher. it is eminence, power, majesty, glory. It is becoming the same kind of a Being as the One who made the worlds (Jn. 10:34-36; I Jn. 3:2), and will bring, not inactive rest with fluttering wings and strumming harps, which in a few short hours even becomes exceedingly tiresome, but activity and accomplishments far surpassing that of earth's limitation. And it includes kingship and priesthood over God's eternal and infinite domain. It is dominion and power and influence far above that which earth can contemplate or even imagine. And then the place which we receive after entering this heavenly state is not heaven, but that which we receive as a consequence of our entrance into the celestial sphere. The place is the reward which faithful heavenly beings will receive as their very own, a part of their inheritance, heavenly real estate.

The stars are distant lights. They shine in other spheres. There is no doubt that vast numbers of these stars are "suns" like unto our own, the centers of great solar systems, with heavenly bodies that revolve around them, perhaps populated by beings of which we know nothing at this preaent time. Thus will it be in the Kingdom of the Son, in the spiritual heavens of God's universal and eternal dominion. Each son of God will be a star, a sun, shining forth in living and everlasting lustre. Each member of the elect will faithfully radiate his beams of life and light and love, shining in those spheres which the omniscient Father shall allot to them. Thus each shall become the central star of a spiritual solar system composed of myriads of creatures in God's glorious creation which revolve around them, unto whom they shine as the revelation of God's nature, glory and power. And thus shall the scripture be fulfilled, "Then shall the righteous SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the Kingdom of their FATHER. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Mat. 13:43). The Kingdom does not, become the Kingdom of the "Father" until Christ, having "put all enemies under His feet," including the last enemy death, has "delivered up the Kingdom to God, EVEN THE FATHER" and God becomes "All-in-all" (I Cor. 15:24-28). What glorious and ineffable prospects lie before us!

There is also a negative aspect to the stars - "falling stars." Today we see those who, as falling stars, blaze their way across the heavens. They make a spectacular entrance, and shine brilliantly for a season, and just as suddenly they are gone - their light becoming darkness. Ah, they have done mighty works, they have preached to multitudes, they have cast out devils, they have healed the sick, they have prophesied in His name, they called Him Lord; but they were not subject to His law, His order, His purpose. They were "doing their own thing" and perverting the light into the building of their own kingdoms. He will say to them, "I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity" (Mat. 7:23).

There are also those stars described as "wandering stars." Jude 12 and 13 tells us, "These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; WANDERING STARS, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." So many who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ today are not stars, there is no radiance of His glory from their lives. Some, however, are stars, but they are wandering stars. Do you know what a wandering star is? In our universe a proper star has a certain position and fixed orbit. It continues in its appointed course steadfastly. But there are some stars with no fixed position or orbit: they are wandering stars. They are stars, but they are not steadfast stars. If you follow them you will be misled. If you accompany them they will not take you anywhere in God. These possess no clear vision of God's purposes, no stable comprehension of His plan, no submission to His dealings, no learning of His ways, no dedication to His principles, no putting on of His mind, no divine order in their walk. These are tossed to and fro by every "new" teaching, wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, the prey of the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men - personality followers. They ever seek some "new thing," and let a new revelation come along, or a new teacher come to town, and they will run after him and flock around him for a season, but there is no fruit of God in their walk; just as quickly they cool off to the excitement of the "new," and wait for the next sensation to appear. They themselves are wandering stars: they have no ground, no foundation, no standing, no goal toward which they are unswervingly moving under the guiding and disciplining hand of the Father. Today they say this, and tomorrow they say that; they are wandering. Be careful! You will never arrive at sonship by following a wandering star. If you are wandering you are wasting your time. If you would go to a certain place, get out your map, get on the right road and in the right lane; and as you drive, you will reach your destination. Above all we would BE His stars, bright shining as the sun. In the entertainment world, the "movie stars" shine from their false and lofty skies. God, at the same time, is exalting His sons, the "moving stars" of the heavenlies, that they may swallow up all lesser lights. In becoming Christ-centered, we become life and light to those worlds which rotate around us. We follow on in our prescribed course, in the order and harmony of God's spiritual universe!

The Lord Himself is the Bright and Morning Star. Hear what the apostle Peter says about the Morning Star. "Whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto A LIGHT THAT SHINES IN A DARK PLACE, until the day dawn, and the Day Star arise in your hearts" (II Pet. 1:19). Every person understands what the Morning Star is. The Morning Star appears at the darkest part of the night. It is seen and greeted only by a few who are watching for it. The rest of the world is asleep. The sun, on the contrary, floods the whole world with light and awakens and gives life to all nature. Before its illuminating rays the darkness and shadows of night are scattered.

The dark place where the Morning Star shines is IN OUR HEARTS. The place where the Day Star arises is likewise IN OUR HEARTS. We should not be obliged to present lengthy arguments to prove that without God the heart of man is hopelessly dark, incurably carnal, and desperately wicked. It is most enlightening to read the words of Jeremiah who said by inspiration of the Holy Spirit that "the heart is deceitful ABOVE ALL THINGS, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" (Jer. 17:9). To the enlightened mind of this prophet, the depth of iniquity to which the human heart is capable is so great that it is beyond the ability of any man to comprehend. As a friend has said, "We should not find this so amazing a passage of scripture were it not for one important thing. Jeremiah did not list an exception, saying, 'The heart is deceitful above all things EXCEPT THE DEVIL!' He merely stated that the heart is deceitful above all things, PERIOD! Since Jeremiah spake by the Spirit of God this could not possibly have been a slip of the tongue or something uttered before it was thought through. If the heart is deceitful above ALL THINGS, it naturally follows that there is nothing more deceitful. The heart of man, then, is the MOST DECEITFUL THING IN THE WORLD!"

There is no doubt whatever in my mind that Jesus had this very scripture in mind when He spoke the words recorded in Mk. 7:15-23. "There is NOTHING from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: ALL THESE THINGS COME FROM WITHIN, and defile the man" (Mk. 7:15,21-23). Every sin category imaginable is contained in this discourse. Everything that a man could ever think or do that is evil is said by Jesus to come OUT OF THE HEART OF MAN. What an incredibly dark place, the human heart! No wonder the apostle made the heart of man the location of the Morning Star - the star that appears at the blackest part of the night!

Man today wants to hear nothing about the depravity of his heart, the utter corruptness of man's nature. Twentieth century man has endeavored to forget it, to deny it, to ignore it, to turn his back upon it, to get away from it, to escape it, and hope in some way that it will just go away and leave him alone. But it will not! The reality of man's sin has filled to overflowing the prisons and mental hospitals of this nation until they sprawl as endless cities. Wing after wing of these institutions is filled with people who are there primarily because their lives are overwhelmed and crushed by their sin which they've striven to ignore or deny. When will we face reality for the way it is and seek God's remedy for it instead of our own daubing at the surface blemishes of the fatal cancer within? Even Freud, unbeliever that he was, in his psychoanalytic studies probed deep into the soul of men. There, as he plunged down into that subbasement of the human soul which he called the "id," he found lurking in all the crevices and corners of that soul such foulness, such unbelievable hate, such attitudes towards those whom they were supposed to love, such lust and greed and pride, that he himself was shocked at what he discovered. But he was unknowingly putting his imprimatur on the Word of God which says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God ... The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? ... I the Lord search the heart."

Ah - the Lord searches the heart! And just how does He do this? The wise man replies, "The SPIRIT OF MAN is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly" (Prov. 20:27). The Psalmist adds this inspired insight: "For Thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness" (Ps. 18:28). Can we not see by this that it is when OUR SPIRIT IS LIGHTED BY HIS SPIRIT that the Morning Star appears over the horizon of our inward darkness? Blessed harbinger of the dawn! It means just this - the Spirit of God in our spirit searches into the dispositions and affections of the soul, praises what is good, condemns what is evil, while announcing the imminent arising of the Sun of Righteousness whose healing rays shall scatter the night, transforming the nature until the heart is purified into the image of God. To many of us now His light may seem no more than the flickering of a candle, shining in the darkness of our lives, but once His light shines upon us, such a response is created in our dead and dormant hearts that we find ourselves quickened with hope and expectation. When the light of the Star divine comes shining into the darkened recesses of the soul, that man can never be the same again. Once Jesus, the light of the world, shines upon him, never again will he be satisfied with the outer darkness of this world.

Every man's life is his own castle of many rooms. By His indwelling Spirit, the candle of the Lord has been moving from one room to the next, silently, carrying the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. He has been challenging every activity, deed, act, word, and even every thought and intent of our lives. Now we come to the close, and just as we are ushering our heavenly investigator to the last room of the castle of our lives, as we are walking down the hall, He stops, looks down and says, "What is this?" We had devoutly hoped that He would not notice that trap door set so securely in the floor. Hardly anyone knew about it at all; and casually we toss it off. "Oh, that's just the basement, Lord. You really wouldn't want to go down there." "Oh," He answers, "but I would. In fact that's why I came - to go down there." So, over all your protestations His will wins out. You lift that creaking door, and as it opens, there is the odor of stinking flesh and hidden corruption and the sound of bats' wings, and a circular, narrow stairway leads down into the inky blackness below. With anxious heart, you follow Christ down those stairs, wondering what evils shall be brought into His light. As the shadows flee before that light which radiates from Him, you reach the floor of the basement with all of its darkened chambers and its unclean imagery. There is no place to hide, for the light that comes from Christ reveals all. Jesus has come, the Morning Star has appeared, the candle of the Lord has come to search the heart and reveal the very depth of the secrets, the suppressed attitudes, secret motives, hidden desires, concealed ambitions, all the darkness of the soul. Thank God! He does not uncover our iniquity to destroy us, but to save us and purify unto Himself a people to show forth His glory in the earth.

Years ago when farmers were clearing land they had great trouble with the stumps of trees. It was easy to cut down the tree but to burn out the stump was a long and torturous process. Finally somebody invented a machine that had a long boom and a huge hook. This hook was planted around the stump between the roots. Then there was a whirring of machinery and a grinding of wheels and levers, and the stump of the treewas ripped from the ground despite the desperate clinging of the roots to their accustomed earth. The. Living Word of God is the hook which would go down into the dark soil of our hearts and pull out the stump, root, and all the very last vestiges of carnality, self and wickedness. The wonderful law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus - there is nothing like this law found in all the legislation of ancient or modern history. All the enactments of princes and potentates may cover the deeds, acts and words of their servants. But only God can command the heart. The greatest tyrant who ever lived could do nothing to quell the hatred that raged like a tempest in the hearts of his subjects. He could do nothing to hush the curses that smote him like white lightning. Here, therefore, we see the signature of God, for only God searches the heart, and gives promise of the dawn!

All sin is but the perversion of that which is legitamate in its proper order. Sex, for example, is a wonderful and beautiful thing in the order of God, but misused it is demeaning and creates problems of guilt, distrust, broken homes, venereal disease, etc. Within the marriage union it is holy, the apt figure for the spiritual love and union between Christ and the Church; but out of order expresses itself in fornication, adultery, homosexuality, bestiality and all manner of uncleanness. All the false religiousness of the Babylon system is but the perversion of the holy things of God. Spiritual truth and reality lowered to the carnal plane, and joined to fleshly zeal, results in organized spiritual darkness - RELIGION.

Man's nature is saturated with powerful drives of desire, ambition and creativeness. It has been said that the powerful horses of desire and ambition have to be dealt within some way. There have been numerous proposals for dealing with these wild horses that gallop in the breast of every one of us. The Buddhist has his suggestion. Guatama, the Prince, recommended very simply that we shoot these wild horses, thus ending all desire, and get rid of all ambition. Thus we would rid ourselves of all misery. The behavioral psychologist today has an opposite view from that of Guatama Buddha. He declares that we should simply let the horses run wild. Whether you are age five, ten or twenty-five, just do the thing that feels good. Let it all hang out. Then what do you have? You have a society just like ours, where you cannot walk the streets in safety at night. You are afraid to send your children to some schools, lest they not come home at all, with or without an education. But God has something to say about those wild horses. He says that we are not to shoot them and we are not to let them go; but we are to tame them. We are to harness them, ride them and redirect them to God's glory. Some people say, "You have never tried to ride my wild horses. That wild horse of lust - I have tried to tame it and have landed on my back in the dust. That wild horse of ambition for the things of THIS WORLD has thrown me many a time. We will never be able to tame them, and it is folly for us even to try." But when Christ comes in HE CAN TAME THE WILDEST HORSE. This One who tamed the raging waves of the sea of Galilee can tame the raging horses in our hearts. That desire can be redirected. That ambition can be redirected. That zeal can be harnessed. Our drives are not to be annihilated; rather they are to be sublimated. They should be purified and reprogrammed to a higher and greater cause - the cause of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ - the cause of the Kingdom of God. Our passions need to be purified and our desires distilled of all carnal thoughts and self-interest, yielded unto the Spirit of God, as instruments of righteousness. When the Spirit of God takes control of our lives, when the soul is subjugated and joined to the spirit, we can say, "My soul panteth after Thee, O God" (Ps. 42:1). How many people are panting after the transient things of this world! How few can honestly say, "As the hart pants after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God!"

God has made us to reach for something more glorious than the stars, which will live forever, for the eternal Kingdom of God. With such a grand and glorious goal set before us, millions of Christians are simply digging for clams in the mud flats of material blessing and prosperity for the here and now, and a mansion and a harp in that glory world above. What eternal and infinite loss attends such paltry goals!

The Morning Star is the candle of the Lord that shines in the dark place of the heart, searching all the inward parts of the desires, affections and nature. The Sun of Righteousness is the arising of the glory of the Lord shining in His full strength and majesty, dispelling the darkness, bringing in the day of victory, life and glory. In scripture the sun is called the Day Star - it is the star of the day. It is the one star in God's vast universe which gives us the light of day. And just as the natural sun is the center of our physical solar system, so the spiritual sun, or Day Star, is the center of our spiritual solar system. The Day Star typifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He is spoken of in Mal. 4:2 as the Sun of Righteousness who arises with healing in His rays. Peter calls Him the Day Star which arises IN OUR HEARTS. The entire Kingdom of God revolves around this Sun of Righteousness who is the Day Star. The saints of God revolve around the Lord Jesus Christ, the center of our spiritual solar system.

Thus, in the prophetic scriptures the Lord is symbolized by the sun. The natural sun is the brightest luminary in the natural heavens. And to help us in correctly interpreting the meaning of the spiritual sun, Gen. 1:16 informs us that God made "the greater light (the sun) to RULE the day, and the lesser light (the moon) to RULE the night." Here we first have the idea of both the sun and the moon being RULERS. Then we find that God, the supreme Ruler, is called in the Word a "Sun." "For the Lord God is a SUN and a shield" (Ps. 84:11). "Thy SUN shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine EVERLASTING LIGHT" (Isa. 60:20).

The comfort and hope of the Morning Star and the dazzling brilliance of the Day Star both originate in the hearts of God's elect. But the scriptures are clear that their influence is destined to extend to the world and beyond to the farthest reaches of creation. "I am the light of THE WORLD," said Jesus, and again, "YE are the light of THE WORLD" (Jn. 8:12; Mat. 5:4). John on Patmos, beholding with astonishment the glistering glory of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, exclaimed with the voice of jubilation, "And the NATIONS of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it ... and they shall bring the glory and honour of the NATIONS into it" (Rev. 21:24,26). To which the prophet Isaiah adds his testimony, saying, "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the GLORY OF THE LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but THE LORD SHALL ARISE UPON THEE, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the GENTILES (NATIONS) SHALL COME TO THY LIGHT, and kings to the brightness of thy rising" (Isa. 60:1-3).

One of the most beautiful word pictures of the Lord's coming is painted by the prophet Malachi when he likens the manifestation of Christ to the Sun - the "Sun of Righteousness." This "Sun" will rise, declares the prophet, with "healing in His wings." Here the rays of the sun are likened to great wings upon which it rises, and under the shadow of which is found health and life - "healing." It is the rising of this "Sun" that will scatter the mists and gloom of the long night of sin and weeping through which the human race has been stumbling over the broad road leading to destruction. When the sun rises the face of nature is changed. When He who "rules the day" appears in fullness of strength, the whole world answers to the mighty change; evil is judged; the oppressor is broken to pieces and the captive set free. He who "rules in righteousness" chases all before Him which is unsuited to His sway, and brings in the long sighed-for Sabbath for creation.

There has been a dawn for us and, blessed be God! there shall be a dawn for all creation. The peoples of our planet will not remain in the icy clutches of an ever-deepening darkness until all hope is gone, until there is nothing but total darkness and death. No, light will appear - more light than the world has ever seen - at the arising of the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His rays. The whole face of this old world is yet to be changed by the arising of the Sun of Righteousness within His people!

There will be no unsolved problems anywhere not taken care of by the bright shining of the glory of the Lord through His sons, for nothing short of a universal dispensation of this glorious Sun's healing rays can fulfill Jesus' own promise concerning the manner and object of His coming. Consider the problem of war. Today we find mankind devastated by the ravages of war, revolution and anarchy. But in due time, the LORD will say to the raging nations, "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen (nations), I will be exalted in the earth" (Ps. 46:10). It will be then that the nations will "beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks," and NATIONS shall learn war no more (Mic. 4:1-4). We hear much these days about poverty. Poverty is indeed one of the major problems in the world. But through the wise rule and gracious administration of the sons of God, a "feast of fat things" will be made "unto all people," and every man will dwell under his vine and fig tree, and there will be none to molest nor make afraid (Isa. 25:6; Mic. 4:4). We read further concerning this problem that God's Christ "shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor... for He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and he that hath no helper (the forgotten man)" (Ps. 72:4,12).

The problems of religion will also be solved. Today earth's millions worship a multiplicity of gods, and even those who attempt to worship the true God are hopelessly divided into factional groups from which there comes a jargon of conflicting claims, dogmas, and doctrines, some even claiming that God is dead. But all this will be changed, for the proclamation of the Lord is that Mystery Babylon shall with violence be thrown down and burned with fire, for strong is the Lord that judgeth her. And the promise of the Lord is sure: "For then will I turn to the people a pure language (understanding of God), that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve Him with one consent" (Zeph. 3:9).

Then there is the major problem of sickness and death. Unless this problem can be solved, mankind will still need endlessly to travel through the valley of the shadow of death. In such an event there could be no lasting happiness anywhere, for every happy home would be intermittently blighted by that dread enemy which counts its victims by the billions. But the Spirit of God has testified, "The creation itself ALSO shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Rom. 8:21). The power of that blessed One who broke up funerals in Judea more than nineteen centuries ago simply by raising the dead to life again will be demonstrated, not on behalf of a limited few, but for the restoration of all the families of the earth. Hallelujah - what a Saviour!

The enlightening rays of the Sun of Righteousness will fill the earth, not only your earth and my earth, but that earth out there - until all the shadows and darkness and night have been chased away. This means that all doctrines of devils, all superstitions, all human creeds and dogmas, all human precepts by which men are taught to fear God rather than to love Him; all political intrigues, all humanistic education and institutions, as well as the thousand and one other evils which plague a dying world, are to be swept away, replaced by the glorious KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD AND HIS TRANSFORMING GRACE. With the glory of God filling the earth, there will come also the destruction of all the myriad citadels of sin and vice and crime. As that glorious Sun of Righteousness forces its healing rays into the various dens of iniquity, the hells of this world, the satanic darkness of these rendezvous of evil will give place to the glorious enlightenment of the NEW DAY.

There will not be a nook or corner in the earth where the light from that glorious Sun will not penetrate. The warmth of its healing rays will pervade the slums of our great cities and radiate into the institutions of suffering which we call hospitals. The prospect for the suffering peoples of earth is truly a marvelous one. It has been well said that the hopes of the world are as bright as the promises of God, and these are very bright indeed. And not only bright, but sure. How glad we are to know that the limited scope of God's Kingdom in the earth today is not the end of the matter! And how blessed we are with the knowledge that the Christ does not arise to destroy the earth, but to bless the people with peace, health, provision and life, and that through the powerful agencies of His Kingdom He will fulfill all the grand promises of sages and prophets, that all the families of the earth shall truly be blessed.

The Sun of Righteousness shall arise and arise and arise until there is no more night anywhere in God's vast universe. No man anywhere will be able to escape the glory of God. The apostle John said that GRACE AND TRUTH came by Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:17). Grace literally means, THE INFLUENCE OF GOD upon the heart and its reflection in the life; and the apostle Paul declared that "where SIN ABOUNDED, grace did MUCH MORE ABOUND" (Rom. 5:20). In the light of that plain scripture let the preachers attempt to tell us that God does not plan to enlighten and deliver the WHOLE WORLD! We praise God that there is a RISING OF LIGHT and we are already in the dawn of it, yea, WE ARE THE DAWN OF IT, for WE are the firstfruits of God's creatures, and it will shine over ALL THE WORLD even unto the West, that part from which darkness comes, and there will be no more darkness.

We have experienced Christ as the Morning Star, the Christ within shining forth in the dense darkness of our carnal state of being. Before us looms the arising of the Sun of Righteousness, the Day Star, swallowing up all into THE DAY of God's fullness. When there is a shipwreck at midnight, with what longing the mariners look for the morning! How often the sigh goes up, When will the day break? Even so must the Christian wait upon God, and rest patiently until HIS LIGHT shines upon him. "My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning" (Ps. 130:6). O my soul, begin each day with the prayer, "Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant ... Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us ... cause Thy face to shine..." (Ps. 31:16; 4:6; 80:3,7,19).

God lights our candle, gives to us the Morning Star, that HIS LIGHT MAY BECOME OUR LIGHT. It is not possible to explain these truths to human satisfaction. The things that eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man MUST BE REVEALED to us by the Spirit. You see, God is light and when that God-light works its way out into our outer-man we begin to shine as the firmament. The Day Star is the OUTRAYING of the Father, the FORTHSHINING of the Son; it is being "filled with all the fullness of God," it is "Christ formed in you" and it is "the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

It is from such a realm of glory and eminence and blessing that Adam fell! Since the transgression in Eden long ago, men's spirits have been fallen. They have no power but to receive light and reflections from without, but in the beginning the spirit of man was designed, not only to RECEIVE light, but to BE light and to GIVE light. This is now a wonderful reality in Christ, for "Ye were sometimes darkness, but now ARE YE LIGHT in the Lord: walk as children of light" (Eph. 5:8). Ah, WE ARE NOW LIGHT IN THE LORD, but the measure of light we now are is small indeed, in comparison with the light that shall be revealed at the manifestation of the sons of God. For the sight of this glorious unveiling the whole creation stands on tip-toe, and it shall come to pass that all that is looked upon by these glorious sons of God will be FLOODED WITH THE LIGHT OF LIFE, for the creation shall then be delivered from the bondage of corruption.

The question is asked concerning God's elect, "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun?" (S. of S. 6:10). "Looketh forth" would better be translated "breaketh forth." "Who is she that BREAKETH FORTH AS THE DAWN?" The imagery here bespeaks the Day Star arising within the body of Christ until the morning so breaks forth through them that they themselves BECOME THE DAWN. It is my conviction that even as I pen these words there is a blessed company of saints scattered across the earth in whom the knowledge of the glory of the Lord is breaking forth as the dawn. "Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: HIS GOING FORTH IS PREPARED AS THE MORNING (DAWN)" (Hos. 6:3). Even the initial glow of His breaking over the horizon is breathtaking and stunning. There is something grand and glorious, sweet and refreshing and inspiring in the morning hour. "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward" (Isa. 58:8).

We have passed through a time of great darkness. It has been a long night of travail - yearning, waiting, longing. Darkness has blinded the minds of men, a deep sleep has been upon the Adamic race, the death of the carnal mind has kept earth's inhabitants in the regions of the shadow of death. But let it be shouted from the housetops - THE LIGHT IS COMING! It is time to cast off all works of darkness, now to be clothed with the armour of light. CHILDREN OF LIGHT, STARS AND SUNS, WE ARE TO BECOME. Birthed into the new age, to bring forth the glory and triumph of His Kingdom. Thank God, the first rays of light of the new day are painting the eastern sky! Thank God, a few of His chosen ones have arisen to behold the glories of the dawn and to drink in the intoxicating freshness of the morn!

Oh, I am so glad the night is passing. It has been such a long night, and the people have been so weary, and they can find no rest, no rest, no rest; for human breasts and human hearts can find no rest until they find it in God. I am glad the night isfar spent; the Day is at hand; that the glory-dawn is piercing through the sky. It is morning, NOT MIDNIGHT as the preachers so loudly proclaim. Hark! Brethren, hark! Do you hear the chariot wheels rolling along the sky? Can you not hear? Can you not see that the heavenly hosts are gathering from all the heavens? Do you not understand that the army of the Lord beyond the veil, and His army on earth, is mustering to the battle? Do you not hear? Have you seen - have you seen a cloud, like unto a man's hand? Already the clouds are passing across the sky, and I hear the sound of abundance of rain, and beyond it I see glories that beggar description. To some of us the Sun of Righteousness has already arisen. Our eyes have seen His coming. Our eyes have seen the glory ofthe coming of the Lord. He is coming with power and great glory, in clouds of power, in clouds of power, IN CLOUDS OF POWER! I see the coming power. I realize something of the touches of that coming power, and the great glory.

"Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?" (Job 38:12-13). Ray Prinzing has so aptly commented on this passage: "Job was in a profound communion with the Lord, and was being challenged with facts and mighty works which were far beyond him. 'Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.' Among the questions proposed to Job came this one: 'Hast thou caused the dayspring (or literally, the dawn) to know his place?' God was doing more than causing Job to recognize His omnipotence and His greatness, but underneath these questions God was also imparting revelation to Job - THAT THERE IS A DAY, THERE IS A DAWN, AND THIS DAY SHALL KNOW HIS PLACE, it shall know its proper timing, it shall know its position, and it shall perform its task and purpose. There is a DAY that shall dawn, and when it does, it will SHAKE THE WICKED, or all wickedness, out of the earth, and righteousness shall be established. IT IS THE DAY OF HIS KINGDOM. Such a day is more than a time element, for this day IS A PEOPLE. And when they have been fully prepared, then shall their going forth, like unto the Son of God, be prepared as the morning, and they shall shine with HIS LIGHT AND GLORY, 'a light to lighten the nations.' "

Praise God, the morning IS PREPARED, the dawn IS BREAKING - a people who embody and personify the hopes of creation, a people who are experiencing deep within the transformations so necessary to bring deliverance to the earth, to change the world. The sun comes up at an early hour of the morning and if you are up at that time you will see it rise, but if you sleep until noon, a great number of important events can transpire before you arise. So the morning can be over before you know what is going on! There are those that are asleep in Zion today. They have been lulled to sleep - and if the blind lead the blind, they both fall into the ditch. They have no understanding of the purposes of God, no comprehension of what is taking place, therefore, they are leading God's people astray and THIS DAY will come upon them unaware and take them.

The reason there is darkness today is because of the false doctrines and dark traditions of the church systems. No wonder God's people are full of unbelief, filled with doubts, and overwhelmed with fears. No wonder they magnify the works of the devil and declare him more than they declare God. They know not the DAY in which we are living, because of the darkness of their minds. They receive death and they feed on darkness all about them. But God has raised you up, my brother, my sister, as a light this very day, that you might dispel the darkness and remove these heavens that men have been dwelling under and establish something completely new in the earth, a new heavens in which the Sun of Righteousness arises with healing in His rays. Bring forth in your life a new likeness, the image of God, that you may declare HIM that is supreme throughout all the earth and that He may reign in every heart. Behold the dawn!

But the popular churches are still lost in dreams. They have not yet awakened. They know not of the dawn. But we who are of the day, and who are not lovers of the drunkenness of false doctrine nor sleepers of the night, have a higher heritage. "We are not of the night, nor of the darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others" (I Thes. 5:5-6). We who have received the love of the truth are heirs to a higher calling. We have privileges, and we have duties to perform. We must be about our Father's business. There must be a parting of the ways. It is time to forsake the shame and error of the harlot system, and time to look up, time to arise and shine. The day is at hand. The night is spent. We must go forth and lead the way for all who will follow. "Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there ghall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean" (Isa. 52:1).

Hallelujah for the Sun of Righteousness!

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