Mark 16:2, 6: And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb . . . And he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
Is there any significance to the fact that Jesus Christ rose early in the morning and Mark records that Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome went to the tomb "when the sun had risen?"
May this Bible study revolutionize the way you think about the created sun as a pointer to the risen Son of God, and may every sunrise you ever see for the rest of your life remind you of King Jesus' and His resurrection from the dead! The sun and the sunrise ought to remind us of Jesus Christ (Who made the created sun and everything else!), and it ought to point us to His resurrection from the dead!
What was the first thing God spoke into existence in Genesis 1? Light! Just as the first thing God created in the first creation was light, so the first thing that dawned in the new creation was light: the light of the risen sun and, more importantly, the light of the risen Son – Jesus Christ our LORD!
1. God Uses The Created Sun To Describe Himself In His Word
Psalm 84:11: For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
Why is the created sun such a fitting metaphor for God? Why would God use the created sun to describe Himself?
a. The sun is the brightest of lights: The sun provides light to the world. You can't look at it – it is so bright it will burn your eyes!
God is light and in Him is no darkness at all – He is pure and holy and without sin and set apart!
b. The sun is powerful: Dr. Louis Barbier: The Sun's output is 5 x 10 (to the 23rd power) horsepower. How much is that? It is enough energy to melt a bridge of ice 2 miles wide, 1 mile thick, and extending the entire way from the earth to the sun (93 million miles), in one second.
The Sun releases energy at a mass-energy conversion rate of 4.26 million metric tons per second, which produces the equivalent of 38,460 septillion (1 with 24 zero’s after it) watts per second. To put that in perspective, this is the equivalent of about 9.192×10 (to the 10th power) megatons of TNT per second, or 1,820,000,000 Tsar Bombas – the most powerful thermonuclear bomb ever built - 3,333 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The visible part of the sun is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, while temperatures in the core reach more than 27 million degrees F. One would need to explode 100 billion tons of dynamite every second to match the energy produced by the sun, according to NASA.
God is all powerful! He is King! He is sovereign! He made the sun and upholds the sun!
c. The sun is big: The sun is 1,000 times heavier than the largest planet, Jupiter, and it is more than 300,000 times heavier than earth. The sun lies at the heart of the solar system, where it is by far the largest object. It holds 99.8 percent of the solar system's mass and is roughly 109 times the diameter of the earth — about one million earths could fit inside the sun.
God is big! Children's Song: My God is so big and so strong and so mighty; There's nothing my God cannot do!
Psalm 8:3: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place
d. The sun is beautiful: Sunrises and sunsets are beautiful! Gorgeous beauty! We look and stand in awe!
God is the most beautiful of all beings! He is more beautiful than all the beauty of His creation combined!
Psalm 27:4: One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.
e. The sun sustains life and provides for us: We need the sun to survive – light, heat, food, energy
We cannot survive without God. God gives life and provides for all of our needs.
Philippians 4:19: And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
f. The sun is the center of the solar system and holds all the planets in their proper orbit: The sun is at the heart and center of the solar system and all the planets revolve around the sun.
God is the center of the universe! God holds everything together! Our lives should revolve around God and point to God and glorify God!
Matthew 22:36-38: Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
Colossians 1:17: And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
2. God Uses The Created Sun As A Metaphor To Describe Jesus Christ – The Messiah
a. Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness: Malachi 4:2: But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings.
John Calvin: There is indeed no doubt but that Malachi calls Christ the Sun of righteousness . . . The meaning then of the word sun, when metaphorically applied to Christ, is this, - that He is called a sun, because without Him we cannot but wander and go astray, but that by His guidance we shall keep in the right way.
b. Jesus is our righteousness: Jeremiah 23:5-6: I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.'
c. Jesus is the Sun like a Bridegroom: Psalm 19:1-5: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their measuring line goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber
d. Jesus is the Rising Sun that gives light: Luke 1:76-79: And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace."
e. Jesus shined light on the Gentiles: Matthew 4:13-16: And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles - the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned."
f. Jesus face shone like the sun at His transfiguration: Matthew 17:1-2: And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun
g. Jesus if the Bright and Morning Star: Revelation 22:16: I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.
h. Jesus is the Star that came out of Jacob: Numbers 24:17: I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel
i. Jesus face is like the sun shining in full strength: Revelation 1:13-18: and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like wool, as white as snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades."
Jonathan Edwards: He who made the sun to be a type of Christ saw [it fitting] that when Christ died, [it] should be darkened, that while Christ's sufferings on the cross continued, and he was deprived of joy and comfort, the sun should be deprived of light. That the sun is a type of Christ was probably one reason why Christ's resurrection was about the time of the rising of the sun, i.e. its first rising by its light, because the rising of the sun is a type of the resurrection of Christ . . . .
3. We, The People Of God, Are Being Conformed Into The Image Of The Risen Son, Jesus Christ
Romans 8:29: For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son
Matthew 13:41-43: The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
4. The Son, Jesus Christ, Is The Light Of The World
John 8:12: Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
D. A. Carson: The light metaphor is steeped in Old Testament allusions. The glory of the very presence of God in the cloud that led the children of Israel to the Promised Land (Exodus 13:21-22) and protected them from those who would destroy them (Exodus 14:19-25). The Israelites were trained to sing, "The LORD is my light and my salvation" (Psalm 27:1). The word of God, the law of God is a light to guide the path of those who cherish instruction (Psalm 119:105; Proverbs 6:23); God's light is shed in revelation (Ezekiel 1:4, 13, 26-28) and salvation (Habakkuk 3:3-4). Light is Yahweh in action (Psalm 44:3). Isaiah tells us that the servant of the LORD was appointed as a light to the Gentiles, that he might bring God's salvation to the ends of the earth.
Kennedy Adarkwa: Throughout history, nobody has made such a bold, unapologetic, and emphatic statement besides Jesus. Herod the Great could not make such a statement; Caesar Augustus could not make such a proposition. Julius Caesar could not make such affirmation. Napoleon Bonaparte could not make such an assertion. Moses did not make such proclamation. Buddha could not make such a declaration. Krishna could not make such an announcement. Mohammed could not make such an utterance. The reason is obvious. These were powerful men and leaders in their own right, but all of them were mortals and finite. Death would not allow them to utter such a declaration. This is a statement of Deity; it is a declaration of Divinity and Immortality.
John 12:46: I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
Spurgeon: To some, the rising of this Sun will bring healing and blessing; but to others it will bring scorching and withering.
Our only hope is the Gospel - repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ Who died and rose again to save sinners.
Ephesians 5:14: Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
5. There Will Be No Created Sun In Heaven Because The Son (Jesus Christ) Will Be Our Everlasting Light
Revelation 21:23: And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
Spurgeon: Jesus, like the sun, is the center and soul of all things, the fullness of all good, the lamp that lights us, the fire that warms us, the magnet that guides and controls us; he is the source and fountain of all life, beauty, fruitfulness, and strength; he is the fosterer of tender herbs of penitence, the quickener of the vital sap of grace, the ripener of fruits of holiness, and the life of everything that grows within the garden of the Lord. Whereas to adore the sun would be idolatry; it were treason not to worship ardently the divine Sun of Righteousness.
When you take the Bible remember that Christ is the center of the Scriptures. Do not put election in the center; some do, and they make a one-sided system. Do not put man in the center, - some do, and they fall into grievous errors. Christ is the center of the entire system of the Gospel, and all will be seen to move with regularity when you perceive that he is the chief fixed point; you cannot be right in the rest unless you think rightly of him. He is the center and King of all truth.
He is the center of the Church too. Not the pastor, not the church itself, not any rule or government, no bishop, no priest, and no pope can be our center, Christ alone is our central sun. We follow as planets where he leads the way: around him we revolve, and we own no other Lord.
Let it be so in the world that even there Christ governs and is the center of all history. You will understand history better when you know this, for this is the key of the world's story, the reason for the rise and fall of empires. You shall understand all things when you know Immanuel, God with us.
And let him have this place in your hearts. There enthrone him! Establish him as the central sun, and let him rule your entire being, enlightening your understanding, warming your hearts, filling all your powers, passions, and faculties with the fullness of his presence. To have Christ in us, the hope of glory – oh, what blessedness! But let us take care that it is so, for we know not Christ aright unless we give him such a place in our hearts as the sun occupies in God's world.
Not just once a year: He is risen! He is risen indeed!
Not just once a week: He is risen! He is risen indeed!
But every day the sun rises - which is every day - may we remember and rejoice that He is risen! He is risen! He is risen indeed!
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