Day 5: Dayspring from on high
“…Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:78-79 - NKJV).
Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
because He has visited and redeemed His people.
He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of His servant David,
as He spoke through His holy prophets,
those of ages past,
salvation from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us,
to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember His holy covenant,
the oath He swore to our father Abraham,
to grant us deliverance from hostile hands,
that we may serve Him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before Him
all the days of our lives.
And you, child, will be called
a prophet of the Most High;
for you will go on before the Lord
to prepare the way for Him,
to give to His people the knowledge of salvation
through the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
by which the Dawn will visit us from on high,
to shine on those who live in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet
into the path of peace.
— The Benedictus (The Song of Zechariah) Luke 1:68-79
When the Lord visits us, it is as the dayspring, because He brings us hope of greater glory yet to come. The first coming of Christ has not at once manifested everything, the dayspring is not the noon, but it is the sure guarantee of it, and so is the First Advent, the pledge of the glory to be revealed...
This coming of the Lord, and of His light, so gradually, and yet so lavishly; so fittingly, and yet so effectually; does it not fill you with gratitude? Every little bird rejoices in the rising of the sun; God has made that great orb to rise so graciously that not even a sparrow trembles at it, but chirps with confidence its happy praises.
Not even a little flower trembles because the great sun is about to flood the heavens, but God has so made the sun to rise that every tiny cup of every flower that blooms opens to drink in the golden light, and is refreshed thereby.
The coming of Christ is just such to us, even to the least and feeblest of us. It is not a stupendous blessing, crushing us by its enormous weight, it is not a mysterious revelation, confounding us by its profundity; but it is simplicity itself, gentleness itself; none the less, but all the more grand and sublime because it is so simple and so tender.
Let us bless God... that He visits us, and that when He visits us, it is as the Dayspring from on high.
~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon ~ The Tender Mercy of Our God, June 27, 1886
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