The Promise of a New Day
The Rev. James H. (Jay) Barry
Lessons: Psalm 143; Matthew 9:18-22; Arcana Coelestia 1577
Let the morning bring me word
of your unfailing love. (Psalm 143:8)
T
hese are comforting words indeed. For those who have been awake in
the night, sometimes through lonely dark hours of uncertainty, fear and
expectation, the first bird sounds and the glow of morning light brings hope,
relief and new energy.
The day is coming–the darkness is ending!
The spiritual parallel couldn’t be clearer: the darkness of despair and dawn
of spiritual light in the human mind – the promise of hope after a time of
hopelessness. This explanation seems obvious, but the Heavenly Doctrines
add a new dimension: when you think of dawn, think of the dawn of love, and
when you think of darkness, think of faith that sustains until the way becomes
clear. (See Apocalypse Explained 444.7) Love and faith – day and night – these
are the two poles of human experience we will explore.
The Scriptural context is from Jeremiah: “The days are surely coming, says
the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the
house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch to
spring up for David, and He shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.
In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.” (Jeremiah
33:14-16)
The prophet is clearly speaking of the coming of the Lord when he speaks
of “a righteous branch to spring up for David.” Jeremiah continues with a
cryptic statement that only the internal sense can explain:
Thus says the Lord, if any of you break my covenant with the day and My covenant
with the night, only then could My covenant with my servant David be broken, so
that he would not have a son on his throne. (Ibid. 33:21)
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