Children of the light! Children of the day!

Glorious titles for all the children of God.

God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

The Word who became flesh is the light of the world.

That light shined in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. In Adam all men became darkness, which is the description of man’s total depravity by nature. That darkness describes the depravity of man as the condition in which he is the antithesis of God. Man is conceived and born dead in trespasses and sins. In that condition he stands in enmity against the living God. Man says no to God’s yes and yes to God’s no. Man is ignorant of God and of the purposes of God. The spiritual things of God are foolishness to man, and he cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned. Man also exists in an alliance with all the spiritual forces of darkness and together with them opposes God and all that is of God. Over that alliance of the powers of darkness, the wrath of God operates, so that he brings all who are of the night and of the darkness into the outer darkness of hell.

We are not of the night nor of the darkness!

Wonder of grace! We are children of the light and children of the day. The Father of lights, in whom there is no shadow of turning, has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. He has taken all whom he appointed to salvation to be of his party in the world. He has begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, in which he brought to light life and immortality. And in his light we see light!

Now the night is far spent, and the day is at hand. It is the time when the coming of the eternal day of the new heavens and the new earth is about to break in upon the world with all its fullness, glory, and perfection. That day broke into the darkness of the world with the promise of the coming of Christ in the garden of Eden. The coming of that day the saints of the old dispensation saw with increasing clarity. The light of that day pierced the darkness of the world with the coming of the Dayspring from on high, who was born in Bethlehem. That light appeared to be extinguished in the darkness of Golgotha and yet reappeared with greater intensity in the resurrection of Christ. Now the Dayspring’s light shines with growing intensity in the darkness of this sin-cursed world until at last that light will bathe the world in its brilliant brightness when the Lord appears on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Yes, you all are children of the light and of the day. God has caused the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ to shine in your hearts. He has not appointed you to wrath but to obtain salvation in Jesus Christ, our Lord. In the day of the Lord, he will give to you your place in that eternal city, where the doors are never shut and the Son of God is the light of it and there is no night!

Let us then not sleep, as do others! But let us watch and be sober, for the day is at hand.