The Rising of The Sun of Righteousness

"At evening-time it shall be light." -Zechariah 14:7 [KJV]

Then must it be miraculous; for nothing short of a supernatural work could produce such an effect. Sunrise at even-tide is contrary to nature; and the rising of the Sun of righteousness is a work of grace. Pause then, my soul, over the promise, and see whether such an event hath taken place in thy circumstances. As every thing in Jesus, and His salvation, in respect to His church and people, is the sole result of grace, not nature; so all the Lord's dispensations carry with them the same evidences. It is even-time in the soul, yea, midnight darkness, ere first the Lord shines in upon it; it is so in all the after dispensations, when some more than ordinary manifestation is made; it is among the blessed methods of grace, when the Lord surprizeth His people with some rich visits of His love and mercy. "I said, (cried the church, at a time when the waters of the sanctuary ran low) My way is hidden from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God."  

But it is in creature weakness that Creator strength is manifested; and when we are most weak in ourselves, then is the time to be most strong in the Lord. We have a lovely example of this in the case of the patriarch Jacob. His beloved Joseph was torn in pieces, as the poor patriarch thought, by wild beasts; a famine compelled him to send his sons into Egypt to buy corn, and there Simeon, another son was detained; and the governor of Egypt declared, that until Benjamin, Jacob's youngest son, was sent, Simeon should not return. Under these discouraging circumstances, the poor father cried out, "Joseph is not, and Simeon is and will you take Benjamin also?"  

All these things not, are against me. But the sequel proved that all these things were for him, and all working out a deliverance for him and his household, in which the church of Jesus (which was to be formed from the house of Jacob) should triumph for ever. "At evening-time it shall be light." The Lord sometimes, and perhaps not unfrequently, induces darkness, that His light may be more striking. He hedges up His people's way with thorns, that the almighty hand, which removes them, may be more plainly seen. Oh! it is blessed to be brought low, to be surrounded sometimes with difficulties, to see no way of escape, and all human resources fail, purposely that our extremity may be the Lord's opportunity, and when we are most low, Jesus may be most exalted.  

My soul! is it now even-tide in the soul, as it is even-tide in the day? Art thou stripped, humbled, convinced of thy nothingness? Oh! look to all precious, all-suitable Jesus. Hear what the Lord saith in Isaiah 41:17-18, "When the poor and the needy seek for water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I, the LORD, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open rivers in dry places, and fountains in the midst of valleys." "At evening-time it shall be light." 

-Robert Hawker (1753-1827 A.D.)