"Sonrise" - excerpt from "Empire of the Risen Son - Book One: There is Another King: Chapter 20 - The Dawning of the Risen Son" by Steve Gregg.

Sonrise 

When Jesus was born upon the earth, His appearance was heralded as the dawning of day after a long darkness (Isaiah 60:1-3; Malachi 4:1-2;Matthew 4:16;Luke 1:78). Jesus Himself said that He, like the sun, is " the light of the world," (John 8:12), and referred to the time that He would be leaving again as the coming of "the night" (John 9:4). After Jesus had returned to heaven, Paul spoke of the time of His absence as a time of night which would someday end in the dawning of a new "day," at His return (Romans 13:12).

In the meantime, Christ's subjects in this world fill the role of " the light of the world," (Matthew 5:14; Ephesians 5:8; Philippians 2:15; 1 Thessalonians 5:4-8), as does the moon at night, by reflecting the light of the sun back to earth. We anticipate the appearing of Jesus as those who wait for the dawn.

The absence of the Son is the night, and His presence is the day. We are living in the night between the day of His first coming and the day of His second coming. He will return - this time to remain permanently - after which, "there shall be no night there" (Revelation 21:25; 22:5). From that time forward, "all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord" (Numbers 14:21).

An important truth about the second coming has been somewhat obscured by regrettable traditional translations of Matthew 24:27, where the coming of Christ is likened to "the lightning" that "comes from the east and flashes to the west." This way of translating the passage speaks to us of suddenness- like a bolt of lightning suddenly flashing across the sky. But did you ever wonder why Jesus said that the lightning travels from the east to the west? This seems counterintuitive, rather than axiomatic (as Jesus implies it to be). While lightning sometimes may flash in a westerly direction out of the east, it is clear that it may as readily flash in any other direction, or perhaps more commonly, vertically.

The word "lightning" is the Greek astrape. This word is, in fact, the correct term for lightning, but this is not always its meaning. When defined in the lexicons, astrape is said to mean either " lightning" or, more generally, " bright shining. " It is in this ladder sense that the word is used in Luke 11: 36 - " if then you're whole body is full of light having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining [astrape] of a lamp gives you light. "

Interestingly, the same translators who rendered astrape as " lightning," in Matthew 24:27, quite reasonably chose to translate the same word as "bright shining," in Luke 11:36, where it refers to the brightness radiating from a light source. But what prevented them from translating the word this way in Matthew 24:27? Would it not present a very different image if Jesus were to have said, " for as the bright shining comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be"? Instead of a lightning bolt, this would clearly be comparing His coming to a glorious sunrise!

If one should arrive before dawn and watch the eastern horizon, the sky will be observed to change from nearly black to a lighter blue. On the edge of the horizon a ribbon of red-orange will gradually appear, and the whole sky will become progressively lighter and lighter, nearly like daytime even before the upper rim of the sun is visible. Within seconds, the sun will fully present itself, and the dawning of the day is complete.

Is this what Jesus is telling us about His second coming - that His coming will resemble a sunrise, rather than a bolt of lightning? Is it that the Kingdom's glory will increase more and more until the moment Jesus appears in the air and returns to earth after so long an absence? The increasing light is the progressive glorification of the saints into the image of Christ as Paul described (2 Corinthians 3:18). As the people of God stand faithful in trials, these "light afflictions.. work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17). He will return to find a bride who "has made herself ready," (Revelation 19:7) without "spot or wrinkle or any such thing" (Ephesians 5:27). "We know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).

The coming of the Lord resembles a sunrise, and that it's near approach will be heralded by the people of His Kingdom displaying greater and greater likeness to Him. This is the appearing of the "full grain" of the Kingdom "in the head," (Mark 4:28-29), and the transformation of the Body to "a mature man" (Ephesians 4:13). The world will see Christ's image (that is, His glory) in His people as they increasingly surrender to His will, walking in justice, mercy, faithfulness and humility, and exhibiting the holiness and unity that is the fruit of agape love. Thus, the trajectory of the true colonies of the Kingdom will be "like the light of the dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day" (Proverbs 4:18).

"Therefore glorify the Lord in the dawning light, the name of the Lord God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we have heard songs: 'Glory to the righteous!'" (Isaiah 24:15-16).

Excerpt from "Empire of the Risen Son - Book One: There is Another King: Chapter 20 - The Dawning of the Risen Son" by Steve Gregg.