Spurgeon: July PM
* 07/10/PM
"And the evening and the morning were the first day."
--Genesis 1:5
The evening was "darkness" and the morning was "light," and
yet the two together are called by the name that is given to
the light alone ! This is somewhat remarkable, but it has an
exact analogy in spiritual experience. In every believer there
is darkness and light, and yet he is not to be named a sinner
because there is sin in him, but he is to be named a saint
because he possesses some degree of holiness. This will be a
most comforting thought to those who are mourning their
infirmities, and who ask, "Can I be a child of God while there
is so much darkness in me?" Yes; for you, like the day, take not
your name from the evening, but from the morning; and you are
spoken of in the word of God as if you were even now perfectly
holy as you will be soon. You are called the child of light,
though there is darkness in you still. You are named after what
is the predominating quality in the sight of God, which will one
day be the only principle remaining. Observe that the evening
comes first . Naturally we are darkness first in order of time,
and the gloom is often first in our mournful apprehension,
driving us to cry out in deep humiliation, "God be merciful to
me, a sinner." The place of the morning is second, it dawns when
grace overcomes nature. It is a blessed aphorism of John Bunyan,
"That which is last, lasts for ever." That which is first,
yields in due season to the last; but nothing comes after the
last. So that though you are naturally darkness, when once you
become light in the Lord, there is no evening to follow; "thy
sun shall no more go down." The first day in this life is an
evening and a morning; but the second day, when we shall be with
God, for ever, shall be a day with no evening, but one, sacred,
high, eternal noon.