Brighter than the Sun

Strong and Courageous

September 21, 2018

 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy  But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”  And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.  Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” Exodus 33:18-23 ESV

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 Revelation 1:16-18 ESV

In these two passages of scripture, we see The Father and Jesus dwelling in pure brilliant and amazingly bright light. In Revelation chapter 1, Jesus is being metaphorically compared to the sun. These comparisons are rooted in the idea that we have no greater visual comparison to the unaided eye. We know about the majesty of our sun. One cannot gaze directly at it without seriously damaging their eyesight.

 Also the sun is vital for any life to survive on our planet. This is a no brainer, however the fact remains that without it, we would not be here. Both the size and type of star have to be just right for us. The distance to planet earth also has to be in a significantly narrow range.

Andrew Wilson in his book titled Incomparable, Explorations in the Character of God describes some of the attributes of the sun being compared to Jesus as follows. “Just think for a minute about what it means for Jesus to be compared to the sun. The sun is unthinkably massive containing more than 99.8 percent of the total mass of the entire solar system. Jupiter, a planet that is itself 318 times the size of the earth; and on this earth, takes up most of the remaining 0.2 percent; you are just one six-billionth of the population, separated from everyone else by oceans, mountains and 6,800 different languages. In other words, compared to you, the sun is very large.”

Wilson goes further to say, “The sun is so powerful that in one second, it emits more energy than we humans have generated in all of human history: 92 billion one-megaton nuclear bombs, every second. So does Jesus, only more so.”

We must remember just how awesome Jesus is in power and might. The scriptures say that He holds all authority. He is much more than just a good teacher or a friend. Let’s focus on looking at the messiah with an attitude of awe and reverence. If we see him in the perspective that John had with “His face shinning like the Sun in full strength,” we may end up like John, “falling at His feet as though dead.”