Stronger Light (Sun, Moon, and Stars) is Needed for a Further Growth in Life

photo credit: Strong Sunshine – Wallpapers, online

On the fourth day of God’s process of creation the light-bearers appeared – the sun, the moon, and the stars – for the producing of the higher forms of life (Gen. 1:14-19).

For the generating of life and for the initial forms of life (the plant life) the light of the first day was OK, but for the higher forms of life (animals, birds, and even man) there’s the need for a higher and more specific light. The higher and stronger the light, the higher the life is produced.

The more God shines on us with His light and the higher the light, the more we can grow in life. For us to grow unto maturity in the divine life we need to have more light from God, even to have a stronger and more definite light. The sun, the moon, and the stars are for days, seasons, and years – new beginnings, new seasons, and greater beginnings in our Christian life.

Christ Himself is the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings (Mal. 4:2), and He is making us also the sun in the kingdom of His Father. The church is typified by the moon, composed of those who continually behold Christ and reflect Him, having no light of its own but reflecting Christ the Sun (2 Cor. 3:18).

Christ is the Morning Star, and we all aspire to be the stars shining in this dark age, the overcomers in the church, the messengers in the churches, those who turn others to the way of righteousness and who shine forth Christ in the degradation of the church (Rev. 2:7; Dan. 12:3; Rev. 1:20).

The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars – Stronger Lights and Light-Bearers

The Sun – Christ is the Sun of Righteousness

After we are regenerated by God with His divine life, we need to be those walking in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:5-7). The more we walk in the light, the more we grow in life. Christ is our sun – He is the sun of righteousness with healing in His wings (Mal. 4:2), and we grow up under the shining of Christ.

As He shines, there’s healing in the rays of His shining (His wings), causing the divine life in us to grow. Everything grows when the sun is shining. When the sun is not shining in a certain place, growth cannot happen.

For our growth in the divine life unto maturity, we need the more specific and mature light of the sun! As we experience Christ as the Sun and are infused with Him, we will also become the overcoming ones likened to the sun by the Lord Jesus in Matt. 13:43.

The Moon – the Church, the Wife of Christ

photo credit: Moon and Stars – The church and the Overcomers!

The moon can be considered as a figure of the church. In Joseph’s dream in Gen. 37:9-11 the sun was typifying his father and the moon, his mother (his father’s wife). Christ’s wife, the church, is typified by the moon. The church has “no light of its own” – the church reflects Christ.

Today we are in the church age, and outwardly it is darkness – we are in a very dark age. In this dark age, the church (the moon) reflects the light received from the sun (Christ) by we all beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18; Phil. 2:15).

Just like the moon, sometimes the church as a whole may not be stable in its shining, and we don’t always have “a full moon” but half moon or new moon.

The Stars – Christ and the Overcoming Saints

Due to the degradation of the church, the shining of the moon in this dark age is waning to the point that sometimes people may not even see Christ clearly because the church is not properly reflecting Christ. When the moon wanes, there’s the need for the stars.

Christ is the Morning Star (Rev. 2:28) as a reward to the overcoming saints. Also, the stars in this dark age are the overcoming saints, the messengers of the churches (see Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28; 3:5, 12, 20-21). Christ and His overcomers are the bright shining stars in the time of the degradation of the church (Num. 24:17; 2 Pet. 1:19; Rev. 22:16; Dan. 12:3).

Particularly in these days, as we see the degradation of the church as a whole, we need to aspire to be the overcomers, the messengers in the churches, those vital and living in the church today! We are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14) and we shine as luminaries in the world (Phil. 2:15).

The Light-Bearers are for Signs, Seasons, Days, and Years

God set forth the light-bearers to rule over the day and over the night (Gen. 1:18). The way God rules over Satan and the effects of his rebellion is by shining – He shines in Christ and through the church with the overcomers in the dark age of today. Satan brings in death, darkness, and confusion, but God brings in life, light, and order.

As we allow God to shine in us, as we are under His shining daily in His word and in the church, among the saints, we will grow in life unto maturity and we will become beings of light, light-bearers, to shine forth Christ in today’s age of darkness. The light-bearers are for signs, seasons, days, and years – all of which are shadows of Christ (see Col. 2:16-17).

As we allow Christ to shine in us and over us, as we walk in the light, we will have a fresh new beginning every day, we will have new seasons of growth and maturity, and we will have stronger and greater beginnings periodically for a further growth in life.

Our Christian life should be full of new days, new seasons, and new years, so that we will gain more Christ, shine Him forth in a stronger way, and grow in life unto maturity in a more solid way!

Lord, keep us under Your shining every day, receiving the healing in Your wings and growing in life. Shine over us, in us, in every part of our being, and also shine through us. Make us in reality children of light, the light of the world, those holding forth the word of light and shining as luminaries in this world! Lord, we want to have new beginnings with You every morning! Intensify the light, Lord, and grant us to be under the fourth-day lights for a further and more solid growth in life!

References and Further Reading

• Inspiration: bro. Minoru’s sharing in the message and portions in, Life-study of Genesis (msg. 5), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week / msg 3, The Experience of Christ as Life Portrayed in Genesis 1.
• Buy this book (vol. 1) online here.
• Further reading: recommending Gen. 1:14-16 and the footnotes in the Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Thou art the Sun of righteousness / With healing in Thy wings; / The shining of Thy glorious face / To us Thy riches brings.
  # Then the fourth day lights He set; / Bearers these, more definite. / Richer light to radiate, / Higher life to generate. / Sun, the greater light we see / Ruling day triumphantly; / Yet when darkness fills the skies, / Waxing moon is on the rise! / ’Tis the Church she typifies; / For her light on Christ relies. / In His image meant to be, / She reflects Christ perfectly.
  # Bless me with Thy shining light / And deal with every part. / That I would unreserved be / A channel of Thine heart.