The fourth day arrived, and reconstruction had greatly advanced. Light dispelled darkness, the relation of Heaven to Earth had been established. Dry land and seas were found in their appointed places. Fruitfulness and fertility clothed the scene with verdure, delightful to the eye, and affording sustainment to animals and man, yet to be created.
Then the time arrived when the great luminaries of day and night were placed in right relation to the newly reconstructed scene-the sun, the greater light to rule the day; the moon, the lesser light to rule the night.
We now ask, Of what are they typical? The answer is Christ and the Church. The sun and the moon do not shine at one and the same time. The sun shines by day. The moon by night. That is just the present relation between Christ and His Church. Our Lord, in His earthly life, was the light of men, but wicked men led by religious rulers crucified Him. In His absence the Church is to shine for Him in this world.
Even in Old Testament times Christ was likened to the sun. "Unto you that fear My name shall the SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS arise with healing in His wings" (Mal. 4:22But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. (Malachi 4:2)). That day is still future. Christ will yet reign over this earth. He shall yet have His rights.
But what did our Lord say of Himself when here on earth? It was said of Him at His birth, "The dayspring [margin sunrising] from on high hath visited us" (Luke 1:7878Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, (Luke 1:78)). Our Lord Himself said, "I am the Light of the world" (John 8:1212Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12)). "As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world" (John 9:55As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. (John 9:5)). This last Scripture shows that being cast out of the world, and rejected, He is not now in that character in relation to the world.
The illustration of Sun and Moon supports the view we put forward. The only light the earth gets at night is that which comes from the moon, but the moon has no light of her own; she only sheds forth reflected light. There is strictly no such thing as moonshine. What we call moonshine is in reality reflected sunshine. So the Church has no light, but what she has from Christ. It is an evil thing when the presumption of ecclesiasticism claims that the Church teaches, and puts the authority of the Church equal to, or above, that of the Scriptures.
The moon shines in the night. We have seen how this world is looked at as in darkness, whilst the believer belongs to the day. "Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness" (1 Thess. 5:55Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. (1 Thessalonians 5:5)). So it is the privilege of the Church through its members to pass on the testimony and light of Christ, to witness for Him in this dark world in His absence.