Christ the Sun of Righteousness
John 3:19
Light has come into the world...
Clement of Alexandria Exhortation to the Heathen
The image of God is His own Word, the natural Son of the (eternal) Mind, the divine Word, and the original Light of Light.
2 Samuel 23:4 (KJV)
And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth...
Isaiah 9:2
The people who walk in darkness, will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.
Isaiah 42:16 (NASB)
I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, In paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them And rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do, And I will not leave them undone.
Isaiah 60:1
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
Malachi 4:2
For you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.
Ezekiel 43:2
And I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east...the land was radiant with his glory.
Luke 1:77-79 (KJV)
Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
(NLT) (The Christ) will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven (the Dawn from on high) is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.
Hebrews 1:2-3 (ESV)
(God)...has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high...
1 Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Hippolytus of Rome (c.170-c.236)
A heavenly light more brilliant than all others sheds its radiance everywhere, and he who was begotten before the morning star and all the stars of heaven, Christ, mighty and immortal, shines upon all creatures more brightly than the sun.
St. Augustine
I thank Thee, O my Light, that Thou didst shine upon me; that Thou didst teach my soul what Thou wouldst be to me, and didst incline Thy face in pity unto me. Thou, Lord, hast become my Hope, my Comfort, my Strength, my All! In Thee doth my soul rejoice. The darkness vanished from before mine eyes, and I beheld Thee, the Sun of Righteousness. When I loved darkness, I knew Thee not, but wandered on from night to night. But Thou didst lead me out of that blindness; Thou didst take me by the hand and call me to Thee, and now I can thank Thee, and Thy mighty voice which hath penetrated to my inmost heart.
St. Ambrose of Milan
Let your door stand open to receive Him, unlock your soul to Him, offer Him a welcome in your mind, and then you will see the riches of simplicity, the treasures of peace, the joy of grace. Throw wide the gate of your heart, stand before the sun of the everlasting light.
Desiderius Erasmus
O Thou, who art the true Sun of the world, evermore rising, and never going down; who, by Thy most wholesome appearing and sight dost nourish, and make joyful all things, as well that are in heaven, as also that are on earth; we beseech Thee mercifully and favorably to shine into our hearts, that the night and darkness of sin, and the mists of error on every side, being driven away, Thou brightly shining within our hearts, we may all our life long go without any stumbling or offence, and may walk as in the day-time, being pure and clean from the works of darkness, and abounding in all good works which Thou hast prepared for us to walk in.
George Swinnock "The Fading Of The Flesh - An Exhortation To Men To Choose God For Their Portion" on Psalm 73:26
A man who sees a candle after fourteen years, having been born in a dark dungeon, wonders at its glory, delights in beholding it, and inquires into its nature. Bring him afterwards into the open air to behold the sun, and all his wonder will be directed to this great luminary. Man is taken up with the candle of creature comforts. Let him once see the sun of righteousness, the all-sufficient and eternal God, the excellence of his glorious being, and that which was glorious before has no more glory in comparison to the sight of God.
Nathanael Vincent, “How May We Grow in the Knowledge of Christ?”
He is called ‘the sun of righteousness’ (Malachi 4:2); therefore, in the business of justification, all other righteousness should vanish as the stars do at sunrise.
John Smith Select Discourses “The True Way of Attaining Divine Knowledge”
There is a knowing of Truth as it is in Jesus, as it is in a Christ-like nature, as it is in that sweet, mild, humble, and loving Spirit of Jesus, which spreads itself like a morning sun upon the souls of good men, full of life and light. It profits little to know Christ Himself after the flesh; but he gives his Spirit to good men that search the deep things of God. There is an inward beauty, life and loveliness in divine Truth, which can be known only when it is digested into life and practice.
John Owen, Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ applied to Sinners and Saints
https://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/sdg/owen/gloryofchrist.pdf
Let us live in the constant contemplation of the glory of Christ, and virtue will proceed from him to repair all our decays, to renew a right spirit within us, and to cause us to abound in all duties of obedience … when the mind is filled with thoughts of Christ and his glory, when the soul thereon cleaves unto him with intense affections, they will cast out, or not give admittance unto, those causes of spiritual weakness and indisposition. … And nothing will so much excite and encourage our souls hereunto as a constant view of Christ and his glory.
To behold [the glory of Christ] is not a work of fancy or imagination; it is not conversing with an image framed by the art of men without, or that of our own fancy within, but of faith exercised on divine revelations. This direction he gives us himself (John 5:39): “Search the scriptures; for they are they which testify of me.”
Augustus H. Franké Christ the Sum and Substance of all the Holy Scriptures
Where there is much of the cross there is much light; where there is little of the cross there is much darkness and much folly.
A.W. Tozer Renewed Day by Day
An English merchant and the renowned poet, William Blake, stood watching the sun come up out of the sea. The bright yellow disk of the sun emerged, gliding the water and painting the sky with a thousand colors. "Ah! I see gold!" the merchant said. Blake answered, "I see the glory of God! And I hear a multitude of the heavenly host crying, 'The whole earth is full of His glory.'" (Isaiah 6:3, Psalm 72:19)
[William Blake “A Vision of the Last Judgment” - When the sun rises, (I do not) see a round disc of fire…I see an innumerable company of the heavenly host crying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty!” ]
F.B. Meyer on John 8:12 "I am the Light of the World: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
It was the Feast of Tabernacles when our Lord uttered the words of our text, and it is supposed they were lighting the two great candelabra, which commemorated the fire-cloud that led the desert march. It was in direct allusion to the fiery pillar that our Lord used this metaphor. What that was to Israel, He is to His Church.
Hans Sachs “The Wittenberg Nightingale”, 1523
Luther teaches that we all
Are involved in Adam's fall.
If man beholds himself within,
He feels the bite and curse of sin.
When dread, despair, and terror seize,
Contrite he falls upon his knees.
Then breaks for him the light of day
Then the gospel may have sway.
Then sees he Christ of God the Son,
Who for us all things has done.
The law fulfilled, the debt is paid,
Death overcome, the curse allayed,
Hell destroyed, the devil bound,
Grace for us with God has found.
Christ, the Lamb, removes all sin,
By faith alone in Christ we win.
William Cowper c. 1770
A glory gilds the sacred page,
Majestic like the sun;
It gives a light to every age;
It gives, but borrows none.
The Spirit breathes upon the Word
And brings the truth to sight;
Precepts and promises afford
A sanctifying light.
The hand that gave it still supplies
The gracious light and heat;
His truths upon the nations rise;
They rise, but never set.
Let everlasting thanks be Thine
For such a bright display.
As makes a world of darkness shine
With beams of heavenly day.
My soul rejoices to pursue
The steps of Him I love,
Till glory breaks upon my view
In brighter worlds above.
Psalm 36:9b
In your light we see light.
(NLT) You are the light by which we see.
Richard Baxter, “Mr. Baxter’s Dying Thoughts” (on Philippians 1:23), 1683, in The Practical Works of Richard Baxter
It must be a light from heaven that must show me heaven.
Thomas Guthrie
Way To Life, “The Unchangeable Word”, 1863
Rob us of the Bible, and our sky has lost its sun.
Speaking To The Heart, “The True Test”, 1873
It is in His light that we see light clearly.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones “The Light Shines in the Darkness” on John 1:1-18
https://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/book-of-john/the-light-shines-in-the-darkness/
It takes light from heaven to enlighten our darkness, to give us understanding and knowledge, and this light comes from the blessed Light, Christ Himself.
May God enable us to realize that if we are Christians it is because the light is shining into our darkness, the darkness that was so deep that we could not even recognize the light, the darkness that was so deep that it made us hate the light, the darkness that was so deep that it made us reject the light. (John 3:19-20)
But the light is shining. It has penetrated the darkness and has given us this blessed illumination, and we have come to know Him, whom to know is light and life and glory.
“The Light of God” on Luke 1:76-79
C.S. Lewis in a paper given to The Oxford Socratic Club, "Is Theology Poetry?", 1945
I believe in Christianity as I believe in the rising sun; not because I see it, but by it I can see all else.