May it please God to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let us turn to the
second book of Samuel, chapter 23, and we'll read verse 4. The second book of Samuel, chapter
23, and we'll read verse 4. And he shall be as the light
of the morning. when the sun riseth, even a morning
without clouds, as the tender grass springeth out of the earth
by clear shining after rain. We have in these words a picture
of light shining and the effect of it and the blessing of the
rain which comes upon the ground. So we read, and he shall be as
the light of the morning. Now, we look back in history,
we look back through the Word of God and we realise that there
was that wonderful light when God created the world and then,
of course, when Adam and Eve sinned, darkness descended. And the truth is, the darkness
has descended and does descend upon everyone that is born into
this world. and how needful and necessary
it is that the light may shine into our hearts. And he shall
be as the light of the morning. We know of course when the morning
begins to dawn, the light is not very bright. And again if
we look back to the early days in the history of the world,
the light that was prophesied through the prophets, indeed
through the Lord himself, was not very bright. It was just
a glimmer of hope, a glimmer of light in those grand truths
which were spoken and set before God's ancient people. But nevertheless,
there was that little light the light of the morning and of course
that sun then it didn't stay in that position as it doesn't
today. In a natural way the sun rises
and it rises into the sky and as it rises more light shines. So it was in the Old Testament
days the light rose. The glorious time of Moses, when
the introduction of all that ceremonial law came to pass,
when the tabernacle was erected and furnished, we see there the
light rising, the sun rising. Far more evidence set forth to
the Church of God of the Saviour, the Messiah, the one who would
come to redeem his people. The sun rises and so it did and
although perhaps as we look back now and view that scene and wonder
how Israel of old would have been strengthened and comforted
by such situations, yet we know as we look back even further
to Abraham, the Lord said of him, Abraham saw my day and was
glad. Well, they were glad. It was
a hope. The sun was rising. The shining
into their dark hearts was occurring. The heavenly light was there,
shining forth and how blessed and favoured they were. when
the Holy Spirit directed them to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so we have the evidence from
the Saviour's lips himself that Moses, by faith, saw that day. And then we know we had the wonderful
picture of the Lamb in that Passover night. The Lamb slain, the blood
shed, the safety under the blood. Great significance, wonderful
picture it was to ancient Israel and of course we today can look
back under the light of the New Testament and thank God for the
beautiful picture that we have there Well, what a good thing
it was then. And the sun riseth and he shall
be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth. Indeed,
when the Saviour was revealed. Revealed in types and shadows. That's what it was. It was types
and shadows. It was no more clearer than that. And then of course, there came
then a time, even a morning without clouds. A time when the Lord
Jesus Christ was born into this world. A time when he was revealed
as the only begotten Son of God. What light there was then, there
was no more shadow, it was revealed. Christ was revealed as the saviour
of sinners. We read so much about him in
the New Testament. We read about what his father
said. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. Really no clearer picture. than the sun shining a morning
without clouds. There was nothing then to stand
between. There was the Saviour and there
were his glorious words that he spoke to the people from that
time when he was revealed as the Son of God. We can look back
even in his life when he was a boy. There he was found in
a temple explaining the scriptures and the elders they were amazed. Who was this? There was indeed
the beginning of this morning without clouds. It was indeed
a glorious and wonderful time and the truth is that that sun,
the Saviour, has never sunk. The sun still shines. And when, by faith, the Church
of God view their Saviour, it is really like this, a morning
without clouds. The sun has risen, the Saviour's
risen, and he shines his beams into our heart. What are they? Beams of love. beams of mercy,
beams of grace, shows to us the glory of His work, the wonder
of His salvation, and there's nothing to come between. There
we view Him by faith as the all-sufficient Saviour. What a mercy when you
and I are blessed to see this, the Son of Righteousness arising
with healing in his wings, arising on our behalf to heal us, arising
to take away all our sins. You see when that occurs, it's
clear shining, there's no cloud. We stand complete in him, even
a morning without clouds. Well what a wonderful thing it
is when the Church of God have this view and it is only the
Church of God who are blessed with this view and we have a
little indication of how this occurs in the last part of this
verse as the tender grass Springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain Well, we have this picture then tender grass Springing
up In the ground the seed in the
ground no evidence of any life Until The rain comes And the sun is
shining, the warmth occurs, the seed is germinated and there
is that life evidenced. Now how true that is of a child
of God. There we are by nature in the
ground. Now evidence of life And yet
you see, blessed be God if the seed is there and then what a
wonder it is when the rain comes and the spiritual rain which
is of course the work of the Holy Spirit and it comes upon
us and it has a wonderful and glorious effect just like rain
does upon the grounds to produce that germination of the seed. The Holy Spirit's work in our
souls produces life and it's described here very beautifully
as tender grass springing out of the earth. When God's work
appears in the souls of his people It is like tender grass because
the work produces tenderness in the believer's heart. There's
a beauty, there's a freshness because here is a newborn babe,
a newborn child by the work of the Holy Spirit and it's glorious
to behold. Naturally you see tender grass
springing out of the earth, green and fresh is beautiful to observe
naturally and so it is in a spiritual way when you and I are favoured
with this wonder of this spiritual life springing up, springing
out of the earth. It's a miracle naturally, isn't
it, to see this seed grow and spring out of the earth where
there was no evidence of life. The seed perhaps hidden in the
earth, no one knew it was there until the rain comes and the
sun shines and the germination occurs and the life is evidenced
by the sprouting forth and the springing up of the tender grass. Well, May we have the evidence
in our lives of the same picture. We were dark and dead. No evidence of any life. And there we remained until the
great and glorious time when the Lord sent his Holy Spirit
to produce that life within. Then you see there was a springing
up and there was the evidence. There was now a tender conscience. There was now spiritual life. There was now a different objective. There were now different desires. No longer did this lay hidden
in the ground, but there was this springing out of the earth
by clear shining after rain. No doubt we've seen the situations
when rain has occurred, it may have been misty and overcast
and the rain has has come and then the clouds have parted and
the sun has shone and there is such a wonderful clearness. A clearness. Perhaps if we are
on a high hill or a mountain we realise how far we can see. It's cleared everything. Well
that is just the same really in our spiritual life. when the
Holy Spirit comes and shines into our heart and the righteousness
of Christ comes upon us things appear to our spiritual eyes
as clear and before they were misty, they were hazy we didn't
really view them but now by God's grace we're blessed with this
clear sight What a wonderful blessing it is, what a necessary
blessing it is. And the Church of God can testify
of the blessed experience which we receive by the Spirit of God. Nothing to claim ourselves, you
see a seed in the ground can't do anything. The Lord causes
the rain to come, The Lord causes the sun to shine. The Lord produces
the germination. Without those elements, the seed
remains just in the ground as a dead seed. But wonderful it
is when we do see the seed springing out of the earth. And it's naturally
rejoicing, isn't it? Rejoicing to farmers, rejoicing
to gardeners, to see these things, the seed coming up, the evidence
of life. Nothing more beautiful in nature
than to see this life occurring. There's nothing more glorious
than to see spiritual life in the lives of the people of God. Now there's one big difference. Natural seed will grow, bear
fruit, and die, and fade away. Spiritual seed will grow, bear
fruit, be receded into glory, will not fade away. You see the
life which is received by the born-again sinner is not something
which dies, it is an eternal life, an eternal blessing, and
how wonderful it is. Now let us come back and realize
what this light really is, and he shall be as the light. Who
is the true light? The Lord Jesus Christ. He said
I am the light of the world. He is the light of the world.
Nothing else will bring life into our soul. The Lord Jesus
Christ is that one and glorious one who does shine and bring
light. And in the first chapter of John's
Gospel, a very beautiful chapter it is, and we read about this
There was a man sent from God whose name was John, the same
came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through
him might believe. He was not that light, but was
sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was
in the world, and the world was made by him. and the world knew
him not. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not, but as many as received him. Then gave
he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name. The work of the Holy Spirit produces
that glorious faith to believe. to believe on the Son of God. What a wonderful thing it is
to come and to believe on the Son of God. It's the Spirit's
work. You and I won't do it by nature. You may do it in theory. You
won't do it in practice. In the reality of it, in your
heart, And it's that which has the blessing and it's that which
produces the wonderful effect. And as Jesus himself said in
the 8th chapter of John and the 12th verse, Jesus said, I am
the light of the world. He that follows me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. the light of life what a mercy
today if you and I have received the light of life into our souls
because that light will never go out isn't that something to
rejoice in because it is the light of the Saviour Christ in
you The hope of glory. There's no other hope. No other
hope. But my friends, this Christ is
formed in us. The hope of glory. It's a good
hope. It's a hope that won't founder. It's a hope that won't fail.
And we can rely upon the promises of God. And this light then shines
And it shines brightly. There won't be any real mistake
when that light shines. Because we'll be a different
person. We'll bless God for it. We'll thank God. He's looked
upon us. He's come exactly where we are,
as we might say, to that piece of barren ground that appeared.
and the Holy Spirit came upon us and brought spiritual life. The Apostle phrases it so very
wonderfully when he says, and you hath he quickened who were
dead in trespasses and in sins. By nature that's where we all
were. What a mercy if we're not tonight. What a mercy if tonight we can
agree by God's glorious grace that we have been made spiritually
alive. We have been quickened. We have
been delivered from that condition of death. We've had the evidence
then of the sun shining. We have the evidence of the Lord
Jesus Christ shining into our hearts. And what has that done? I believe it's revealed himself
to our souls as our Saviour. David spoke in the previous chapter
that we read in the 22nd chapter and the 47th verse we read this,
the Lord liveth. David knew it. In God's people
night, the Lord liveth. and blessed be my rock and exalted
be the God of the rock of my salvation. Can we bless God tonight
for the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts, the evidence
that he has been revealed to us not as just an historical
figure but as the one who was willing to give his life that
we might possess life. As the light of life shone into
our hearts and revealed to us the Lord Jesus Christ, there
was rejoicing. We may not have always perhaps
understood it at the time, but yet we had the evidence this
wonderful favour of being amongst those who the Lord had taken
notice of. He hadn't passed us by as we
deserved. It's very humbling isn't it to
realise that we haven't been passed by and this light of the
morning has shone and then as we have been blessed with spiritual
growth and there is of spiritual growth. The Church of God do
grow in grace and in the knowledge of their Lord and Saviour, Jesus
Christ. And the Holy Spirit leads us
into all truth as it is in Jesus. You see, when the sun shines,
when there's a morning without clouds, wow, we see Christ so
much in the Scriptures. We see Him in the Old Testament
where we didn't before. There were clouds there and they
covered the pages and we didn't find Christ. But when the light
shines, the clouds disappear and we see Christ. You know,
just a very glorious and simple example. You think of the 53rd
of Isaiah. You remember, it was that case
of the eunuch. There he was, he was in his chariot
and riding along reading the 53rd of Isaiah, could he understand
it? No, he couldn't. But he was reading
it. And Philip came, remembered by
the Spirit of God, and joined himself to the chariot and he
was asked, who is this about? Is he speaking about himself
or someone else? And then we read these wonderful
words. and beginning at the same scriptures, Philip preached unto
him Jesus. Now what happened? The light
shone, the sun arose, there was clearness now, clearness to such
a great extent that as the apostle preached to him Jesus, preached
him the glorious gospel, he then came to water And what did he
say? What doth hinder me to be baptised?
And the eunuch said, Philip said, if thou believest with all thine
heart, thou mayest. And he said, I believe. Oh, bless
God, my friends, if God has shone this beautiful sun of righteousness
into our hearts, so that as it was with the eunuch, it was really
then a morning without clouds. There was the tender grass springing
up and what did he want to do? What did he want to do? He wanted
to follow the Saviour. There was the example and as
soon as the opportunity presented himself, he desired he might
follow that which the Apostle had clearly spoken to him of. Oh, what a wonderful thing it
is to have the Word of God to encourage us and to direct us. We never lack, you know, with
the Word of God. And what a wonderful thing it is when this sun then
comes, it rises, it's there, it's a little bit kind of, if
you like, above the horizon and it becomes brighter and then
it's as though there's a morning without clouds, nothing to separate
us from the love of God. Clouds didn't come between. I
know they do sometimes in our lives, but it's a wonderful thing
in those early days. In those early days, the tender
grass, when we are tender, when we rejoice in the things of God. And we love to hear spoken of
Jesus. We love to hear of his life.
We love to hear of his death, his sin atoning death. to believe
we have an interest in it. We love to hear of his resurrection. We love to hear of his ascension. My friends, we love to hear of
his intercession because we know now we can pray to God and our
prayers will be accepted in the Beloved. Well, what a wonderful
revelation it is when by the Holy Spirit these things come
upon us. and so these words are very beautiful
and very true and he shall be as the light of the morning when
the sun arises even a morning without clouds as the tender
grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain what
a mercy to have our misty side cleared by the love of Christ
amen