“And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear nor
dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor
night; but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.”-
Zechariah 14:6-7.
As we read the Scriptures, we are continually startled by fresh discoveries
of the magnificence of God. Our attention is fixed upon a passage, and
presently sparklets of fire and glory dart forth. It strikes us; we are
struck by it. Hence these bright coruscations. Our admiration is excited. We
could not have thought that so much light could possibly lie concealed within
a few words. Our text thus reveals to us in a remarkable manner the
penetration, the discernment, the clear-sightedness of God. To our weak
vision the current of human affairs is like twilight. It is not altogether
dark, for it is broken with some gleams of hope. Nor is it altogether bright,
for heavy masses of darkness intervene. It is neither day nor night. There is
a mingle-mangle of good and evil, a strange confused mixture, wherein the
powers of darkness con tend with the powers of light. But it is not so with
God. With him, it is one clear day. What we think to be confusion, is order
before his eye. Where we see advance and retrogression, he sees perpetual
progress. We full often bemoan our circumstances as altogether disastrous,
while God, who seeth the end from the beginning, is working out his ordained
purpose. Our God maketh the clouds to be the dust of his feet, and the winds
to be his chariot. He sees order in the tempest and the whirlwind. When the
bosom of earth heaves with earthquake, he hears music in every throb and when
earth and heaven seem mingled in one wild disorder and storm, his hand is in
the midst of all, so marking, that every particle of matter should be
obedient to his settled laws, and that all things should work together to
produce one glorious result. “Things are not what they seem.” Oh! how good it
is for us to know that this world’s history is not so black and bad as to our
dim senses it would appear. God is writing it out, sometimes with a heavy
pen; but when complete, it will read like one great poem, magnificent in its
plan, and perfect in all its details. At the present hour there may be much
in the condition of our country to cause anxiety or even to create alarm. And
it is not hard to point certainly to many things that seem to augur no good.
But there always were evil prophets. There always have been times and crises
when dark portents favoured unwelcome predictions. But thus far the fury of
every tempest has been mitigated; a sweet calm has followed each perilous
swell of the ocean, and the good old ship has kept afloat England’s flag-we
fondly believe:-
“The flag that’s braved a thousand years,
The battle and the breeze,”
will not be run down yet. We thank God that the history of our deliverances
supplies us with fair omens of an ever-gracious Providence. Let us comfort
ourselves with the belief that there is a future of peace and prosperity
within her borders and of influence for good among the nations of the world
for Britain and British Christians.* Then let each man brace up his sinews
for the fight, and struggle for the right Bright days are assuredly in store
for those who lift the standard and unfurl the flag of righteousness and
truth. “At evening time it shall be light.” Even now it is “one day” which is
known to the Lord.
As our time is brief, I mean to confine your attention to one clause of the
text, “At evening time it shall be light.” It seems to be a rule in God’s
dispensations that his light should break upon men gradually; and when it
appears about to suffer an eclipse it will brighten up and shine with
extraordinary lustre. “At evening time it shall be light.” Of this mode of
God’s procedure we will take five illustrations.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
