0 Rom. xi. 15.
Mill.
Isai. lx. 19, 20. The sun shall be no more thy light by day ; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee : but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down ; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
AS there are many passages in the prophets which admit of a mystical,, as well as literal, meaning, so there are many which must be interpreted altogether in a mystical sense. There was nothing in the state of the Jews after their return from Babylon that could in any wise be called an accomplishment of the chapter before us. The whole passage can relate to
nothing but the future prosperity of the Christian church. There is a time coming when the Church shall exchange its despised, impoverished, persecuted state for a state of felicity and honour; when its spiritual blessings in particular shall be both perma- nent and abundant, as an earnest of that infinite and everlasting happiness which its members shall enjoy in a better world.
The text may be understood as referring, I. To the millennial period —
The terms here used, import that the prosperity of the Church shall one day be,
1. Exalted in its degree —
[The shining of the sun and moon may well be understood as expressing the greatest temporal happiness. But we are not to suppose that there will be a total privation of temporal blessings from the Church : (on the contrary, there is reason to expect that its prosperity, in respect of outward things, will be greatly increased.) The positive declarations must here, as in many other passages, be understood in a comparative sense3, and as implying, that the spiritual state of the Church will be so exalted as altogether to eclipse the greatest of earthly comforts : they shall be lost as it were, in the enjoy- ment which the saints shall have of God. This is beautifully represented as though the sun and moon hid their heads through shame b ; and it is even now realized in the experience of those who enjoy much of the light of God's countenance. What "glorying in God" there will be in that day we may conceive, if we only suppose every member of the Church adopting the sentiments and language of " the sweet singer of Israel0" — ]
2. Lasting in its duration —
[As the shining of the sun and moon imports prosperity, so does the withdrawing of their light imply the heaviest cala- mities. That the Church will have no mixture of bitterness in her cup, we do not suppose : but, as, by means of her in- timate communion with God, her earthly joys will be no joys, so, by the same means, her earthly sorrows will be no sorrows : they will be all forgotten, as it were, in the abundance of her exalted happiness. This effect has often arisen from fellowship with God : Paul and Silas, notwithstanding their backs were torn with scourges, and their feet were fastened in the stocks,
a Hos. vi. G. t> Isai. xxiv. 23. c Ps. cxlv. 1 — 12.
1003.] the church's prosperity. 557
sang praises to God at midnight'1 : and many, far inferior to them in gifts, have also been enabled to " glory in tribulation." How much more then shall this be the case when God shall take to him his great power, and reign on earth, and the graces of all his people be proportionably increased ! Surely " their days of mourning shall be ended ;" or, if a cloud occasionally intervene for a moment, their sun shall never set, their moon shall never be withdrawn ; yea, the very clouds themselves shall only occasion the light to burst forth again with greater splendour e.]
The text however will not receive its full accom- plishment till we come,