Jesus was the dayspring from on high

JESUS WAS THE DAYSPRING FROM ON HIGH
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
New King James Version
Through the tender mercy of our God, With which the
Dayspringfrom on high has visitedus;
LUKE 1:78
5 ReasonsWhy The Dayspring From On High Is Christ
March 3, 2018 by Travis
Many of us believe that “the dayspring from on high” in Luke chapter 1 verse
78 refers to Jesus Christ. This has been the belief of conservative Christians
for at leastfive centuries.
In the year 1537, JohnRogers published the Matthew’s Bible with this note:
“Christ is the day spring and giveth light to them that sit in darkness ofthe
ignorance of God.” Also, in the late 17th century, Dr. John Collinges
confidently wrote in what is knownas Matthew Poole’s EnglishAnnotations
on the Holy Bible, “It is for certain Christ is meant” as the dayspring.
The problem is it’s difficult to know, without further study, who or what the
dayspring from on high is at first glance. Dr. John Collinges, along with
others throughout the centuries, believed for certain that it was Christ. This is
what we agree to believe, but the question is why.

There are at least5 reasons why the dayspring from on high is Jesus Christ.
However, it’s somewhatdifficult to arrive at this conclusionwithout looking
at related Scriptures and “rightly dividing the word of truth.”
The Bible says, “In the mouth of two or three witnessesshallevery word be
established.” Below are five witnessesto prove that the dayspring from on
high is Christ.
So let’s get started…
#1 The Spirit testifies of Christ
The first step, before making any conclusions, is we need to getthe context,
which is found in Luke 1:67-79. When we read these Scriptures, we read the
prophecy of Zacharias. The Bible says, “Zacharias wasfilled with the Holy
Ghostand prophesied.” Zacharias was the secondman mentioned in the Bible
as being “filled with the Holy Ghost.” Johnthe Baptist, his son, was the first
said to be filled (Luke 1:15). Both men are known for bearing witness of
Christ.
The first thing Zacharias did when he was filled with the Spirit was prophesy.
This reminds us of the importance of waiting on the power of the Spirit before
prophesying. Often when someone is filled with the Spirit, he begins to
proclaim truth (Acts 2:4; Acts 4:8, 31, Acts 13:9-10).
Zacharias prophesiedof the salvationthe Lord God of Israel had brought to
the people. This salvationcould be in none other than Jesus Christ, for the
Spirit testifies of Him (John 15:26). Therefore, here is one reasonto believe
Jesus is the dayspring Zacharias declares. Forthe Spirit testifies of Him.
#2 The Salvation messageproves Christ is the dayspring from on high
The Bible says at the end of Zacharias prophecy, “Through the tender mercy
of our God… the dayspring from on high hath visited us.” And at the start of
his prophecy, he says, “Blessedbe the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited
and redeemedhis people.” The point is this: There are two visitations found in
these Scriptures; however, the context only suggestsone person: the Lord
God. Therefore, the dayspring must be a reference to God.

The Bible says that the Lord God of Israelhath visited and redeemed His
people. It also says through God’s mercy the dayspring hath visited us (the
people). This is obviously a prophecy of the coming Saviour and Redeemer.
However, it says through the mercy of God, the dayspring hath visited us,
seemingly speaking ofsomeone otherthan the Lord God. Often the Bible
speaks like this to prove the deity of Christ, because in reality, God came as
Christ (1 Timothy 3:16). We see further examples of this in creation, for God
createdeverything by Christ (John 1:1-3; Col. 1:9-20), yet it was God who
createdeverything. Therefore, the visitation from on high was Jesus Christ,
sent from God, as God in the flesh.
In reference to Christ, the Bible says, “He came unto his own, and his own
receivedhim not.” The Son of God is the stone which the builders (Jews)
rejected(Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17). The dayspring from on
high is a person, and that person is Jesus Christ, because Jesus visitedthe
people. Hopefully you can see the correlation.
We also know that this is a reference to Christ, because He is our Redeemer
(Isaiah 54:5). Zacharias’prophecy brings hope of salvation and redemption.
His own sonwas to “To give knowledge ofsalvationunto his people by the
remissionof their sins.” And we know there is salvation in none other than
Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).
# 3 The Scriptures support Christ as the dayspring
The Scriptures are the final authority for everything a Christian should
believe about God and life. They approve or disapprove our actions, beliefs,
and doctrine (teaching). There are times when we have difficulty interpreting
God’s Word. In these times, the best action is to compare other Scriptures.
The Bible does a fantastic job of explaining itself!
To get greaterinsight to a word, usually the best practice is to look at the first
place it’s mentioned in the Bible. In our case, the dayspring from on high isn’t
mentioned, but we do find the word dayspring in the book of Job (Job 38:12-
15).

The dayspring in Joband Luke are somewhatdifferent, in that the dayspring
in Luke is from on high. The Bible says the Lord dwelleth on high (Psalms
113:5-6). Therefore, we have scriptural support that the dayspring from on
high is the Lord Jesus Christ!
In Job’s account, Godspeaks to him about the condition of wickedmen, He
says, “And from the wicked, their light is withholden.” This can imply two
things: 1) The dayspring is something that gives light; 2) The light reserved
for the wickedwas held back at this time.
In contrastto the condition of the wicked, which is darkness, the dayspring in
Job denotes light. The Bible says it stands as a garment to give light upon the
Earth (v. 14). Furthermore, light is often used in the Bible as a garment
(Psalms. 104:1-6).
Looking at Luke 1:79, we see the purpose of the dayspring from on high is
also “To give light;” therefore, the dayspring in both accounts gives light.
The Bible uses the word dayspring as a light in these verses ofJob and Luke.
Therefore, we conclude that the dayspring is a light, even as the Matthew’s
Bible says.
#4 The Son of Zacharias preached Christ as the light
Seeing that the dayspring from on high is God, and knowing that Jesus Christ
was God manifest, we can alreadyconclude that the dayspring in Luke’s
Gospelis a metaphor for Christ. However, it never hurts to dig a little deeper.
The dayspring is a light, and we know from John the Baptist’s witness Jesus
was that light.
John 1:6-13: There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The
same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through
him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sentto bear witness of
that Light. 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh
into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and
the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his ownreceivedhim
not. 12 But as many as receivedhim, to them gave he power to become the

sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John and his father Zacharias both proclaimed the same light. It’s obvious the
true light in these Scriptures is Christ. It is Jesus Christ coming as the Lord
God of Israelto bring salvation. Again, this salvationis only in Christ.
Therefore, through the witness of the son of Zacharias, we know who
Zacharias meant when he spoke ofthe dayspring from on high. It was the
Saviour of the people:Jesus Christ.
#5 The Son of God declares Himself as the light
Christians believe Jesus Christ is the light of men (John 1:4). The Bible says in
John chapter 1 verse 7, John the Baptist “came for a witness, to bear witness
of the light, that all men through him might believe.”
John confessedthat he was not the Christ (John 1:20), but his purpose was to
testify of Christ. His testimony was so that men might believe Jesus was the
light of the world. Even Jesus Himself said on different occasionsthat He was
the “light of the world” (John 8:12, 9:5). The dayspring from on high is
another way to say the light of the world, because it is the garment of the
world, and the garment is light.
The problem is “men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds
were evil” (John 3:19). Men who rejectJesus Christ love darkness!Life
without Christ is dark. All unbelievers are in a state of darkness. There only
hope is that enlighten them with the knowledge ofChrist.
Jesus Christ first came to the Jews to bring about salvation, but they did not
receive Him, instead they crucified Him! The Bible says, “The people which
satin darkness saw greatlight, and to them which sat in the region and
shadow of death light is sprung up.” This is the dayspring from on high! The
fifth reasonto believe Jesus is the dayspring from on high is because He said
so.

The Dayspring from on High
BY HENRY M. MORRIS, PH.D. |
THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2008
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"Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high
hath visited us." (Luke 1:78)
This is an unusual, but beautiful, name of the coming Saviorgiven Him by
Zacharias when he was "filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied" (Luke
1:67). In that same prophecy, Zacharias also calledthat coming one "the
Highest" and "the Lord" who would "give knowledge ofsalvationunto his
people by the remissionof their sins" (vv. 76-77). Justsix months later, Jesus
was born.
The Greek wordhere translated "dayspring" is so translatedonly this one
time. It refers to the metaphoricalspring from which the sun springs forth
eachday, and so is usually translated simply as "the east." It is interesting
that it is used three times in connectionwith the story of the wise men "from
the east" who saw "his star in the east" and then, when they reached

Bethlehem once again, "the star, which they saw in the east," ledthem to the
one who was Himself "the dayspring" (Matthew 2:1-2, 9).
There is one other sunrise appropriately presagedhere. Many years later the
women who had tearfully watchedthe Lord being crucified and buried, came
to His sepulcherto anoint Him with sweetspices "atthe rising of the sun"
(Mark 16:2) immediately after He had risen from the dead. Here a closely
related word is the word translated"rising."
There is anothergreat sunrise coming, as promised in the last chapter of the
Old Testament. "Butunto you that fear my name shall the Sun of
righteousness arise with healing in his wings" (Malachi4:2). He who is
Himself "the light of the world" (John 8:12) will somedayeven replace the sun
in the new Jerusalem. There will never be another sunrise after that, for
"there shall be no night there . . . neither light of the sun; for the Lord God
giveth them light" (Revelation22:5). HMM
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Course Of The Christian Life
Luke 1:74, 75
W. Clarkson
These words of Zacharias will very well indicate the course through which a
Christian life passes from its commencementto its close.
I. IT BEGINS IN SPIRITUAL EMANCIPATION. "We being delivered out of
the hand of our enemies." In order to "walk in newness oflife," we must be

rescuedfrom the thraldom of sin. And there is a twofold deliverance that we
need. One is from the condemnation of our guilt; for we cannot rest and
rejoice in the love of God while we are under a troubled sense of the Divine
displeasure, while we feel and know that our "sin has separatedbetween"
ourselves and our heavenly Father. The other is from the bondage of evil. So
long as we are "held in the cords of our sins," we are helplessly disobedient; it
is only when we have learnt to hate sin, and, loathing it, to leave it behind us,
that we are free to walk in the path of righteousness. This double
emancipation is wrought for us by the Lord whose waythe sonof Zacharias
was to prepare. By faith in him, the greatPropitiation for our sins (1 John
2:2), we have full and free forgiveness, so that all the guilty past may be
removed from our sight; and in the presence ofa crucified Redeemer"the
flesh and its affections are crucified," we die to our old selfand our old
iniquities, the tolerance ofsin is slain, we hate that which we loved and
embracedbefore, we are "deliveredout of the hand of our enemies."
II. IT PROCEEDSALONG THE PATH OF FILIAL SERVICE. We "serve
him without fear." Here are two elements - obedience and happiness. As soon
as we unite ourselves to our Lord and Savior, we live to serve. "None ofus
liveth to himself;" "We thus judge,... that we who live should not live unto
ourselves, but unto him who died for us" (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15). And this is
the only true life of man. The animal may live for itself, though even the
higher animals live rather for others than for themselves. But all whom we
should care to emulate live to serve. It is not the sentence passed, it is the
heritage conferredupon us, that in Christ Jesus we live to serve God - to serve
him by direct worship and obedience, and also, indirectly, by serving the
children of his love and the creatures of his care. And we serve in love; and
therefore without fear - without that fearwhich means bondage; for "perfect
love castethout fear." It is with no hesitating and reluctant step that we walk
in the ways of God; it is our joy to do his bidding; we "delight to do his will:
yea, his Law is within our heart" (Psalm40:8). "We have not receivedthe
spirit of bondage againto fear;" our spirit is the spirit of happy childhood,
which runs to fulfill its Father's word.

III. IT MOVES TOWARDS PERFECTEXCELLENCEOF CHARACTER.
"In holiness and righteousness before him." Here are three elements of the
Christian life.
1. A holy hatred of evil; leading us to condemn it in ourselves and in others,
and prompting us to expel and extirpate it to the utmost of our power.
2. The pursuit and practice of all that is equitable; endeavoring to do and to
promote that which is just in all the relations in which we stand to others, or
they to one another.
3. Piety; doing every right thing as unto Christ our Lord; living consciously
"before him;" so that all our rectitude of heart and excellencyof behavior is
something more than a habit of life; it is a sacrifice unto our Savior.
IV. IT PERSEVERESEVEN TO THE END. "All our days." There is no
break in our course. Our upward and onward path may be undulating, but it
is continuous, and is evermaking for the summit. We do not retire, or resign,
or abdicate, in this noblest work, in this sacredoffice of being "servantof the
Lord," "king and priest unto God." Having loved his own, our Masterloved
them unto the end (John 13:1); and loving him whom we have not seen, and
rejoicing in him with unspeakable joy, we are faithful unto death, and we
know that
"To him that overcometh
A crown of life shall be;
He with the King of glory
Shall reign eternally." C.

Biblical Illustrator
Through the tender mercy of our God.
Luke 1:78
Christ's advent
Dr. Scott.
I. A VERY AFFECTING VIEW OF THE STATE OF MANKIND BEFORE
CHRIST CAME. "Darkness andthe shadow of death."
1. Ignorant of the moral characterof God.
2. Ignorant of the purity of God's law.
3. Ignorant as to the evil nature and dreadful consequencesofsin.
4. Ignorant as to the true source of happiness.
5. Ignorant regarding the future state.
II. A VERY INTERESTINGDESCRIPTION OF THE SAVIOUR. "The
Dayspring."
1. The great source oflight;
(1)Natural;
(2)intellectual;

(3)rational;
(4)spiritual.
2. The dayspring is gradual and progressive.
(1)Revelationhas wakedfuller and fuller throughout the ages.
(2)The increasing enlightenment of individuals.
3. The dayspring is certain and irresistible. The darkestmoral clouds must
eventually succumb to the bright beams shed by the Sun of Righteousness.
4. The day-spring is free, and common to all.
III. A VERY ENCOURAGING REPRESENTATIONOF THE DESIGN OF
CHRIST'S MISSION.
1. TO give light. He has shownHimself
(1)in the dignity of His person;
(2)in the perfectionof His atonement;
(3)in the fulness of His grace;
(4)in the willingness to save which He has manifested;
(5)in the discoveryHe has made of the means of cleansing from moral guilt.
2. To give peace.
(1)Peacewith God;
(2)peace with our fellow-men;
(3)peace with ourselves.Noticein conclusion:
1. The infinite condescensionofJehovahin inter. posing on our behalf.
2. The Christian's duty and privilege.
(1)His duty is to trust in the Lord in time of darkness.

(2)His privilege sometimes is to walk in the light of God's countenance.
3. The miserable state of those who hear the goodnews, and yet hold aloof.
4. If the pleasures of religion be so great upon earth, what must be the
enjoyment of believers in the upper world?
(Dr. Scott.)
The tender mercy of our God
C. H. Spurgeon.
The original is, "The mercy of the heart of our God." This seems to mean not
only tenderness, but much more. The mercy of the heart of Godis, of course,
the mercy of His greattenderness, the mercy of His infinite gentleness and
consideration;but other thoughts also come forth from the expression, like
bees from a hive. It means the mercy of God's very soul. The heart is the seat
and centre of life, and mercy is to God as His own life. Mercy is of the Divine
essence;there is no God apart from His heart, and mercy lies in the heart of
God. Noris this all; the mercy of God's heart means His hearty mercy, His
cordial delight in mercy. Remissionof sins is a business into which the Lord
throws His heart. He forgives with an intensity of will and readiness of soul.
God made heaven and earth with His fingers, but He gave His Sonwith His
heart in order that He might save sinners. The eternal God has thrown His
whole soul into the business of redeeming men.
I. God shows His tender mercy in that HE DEIGNS TO VISIT US. He has not
merely pitied us from a distance, and sent us relief by wayof the ladder which
Jacobsaw, but He has Himself visited us.
1. God's greatvisit to us is the incarnation of our blessedLord and Saviour
Jesus Christ.
2. The proclamation of the gospelin a nation, or to any individual, is a visit of
God's mercy.

3. He has visited some of us in a more remarkable manner still, for by the
Holy Spirit He has enteredinto our hearts, and changedthe current of our
lives. He has turned our affections towards that which is right by enlightening
our judgments. He has led us to the confessionof sin, He has brought us to the
acceptanceofHis mercy through the atoning blood; and so He has truly saved
us.
II. God shows His tender mercy in that HE VISITS US AS THE
DAYSPRING FROM ON HIGH He does not come to us in Christ, or by His
Spirit, as a tempest, as when He came from Paran, with ten thousand of His
holy ones, in all the pomp of His fiery law; but He has visited us as smiling
morn, which in gentle glory floods the world with joy. He has come, moreover,
not as a blaze which will soondie down, but as a light which will lastour day,
yea, last for ever. After the long dark and coldnight of our misery, the Lord
cometh in the fittest and most effectualmanner; neither as lightning, nor
candle, nor flaming meteor, but as the sun which begins the day.
1. The visitation of the Lord to us is as the dayspring, because it suits our eye.
Day, when it first breaks in the east, has not the blaze of burning noon about
it; but peeps forth as a grey light, which gradually increases.So did Christ
come;dimly, as it were, at first, at Bethlehem, but by and by He will appear in
all the glory of the Father. So does the Spirit of God come to us in gradual
progress. The revelationof God to eachindividual is made in form and
manner tenderly agreeable to the condition and capacityof the favoured one.
He shows us just so much of Himself as to delight us without utterly
overwhelming us with the excessofbrightness.
2. The visits of God are like the dayspring, because they end our darkness.
Our night is ended once for all when we behold God visiting us in Christ
Jesus. Our day may cloud over, but night will not return.
3. Christ's coming into the world is as the morning light, because He comes
with such a largeness ofpresentblessing. He is the Light which lighteneth
every man. There is other light.

4. Christ's coming is as the dayspring, because He brings us hope of greater
glory yet to come. The dayspring is not the noon, but it is the sure guarantee
of it; and so the First Advent is the pledge of the glory to be revealed.
III. There is another instance of greattenderness in this, that THE LORD
VISITS US IN OUR WRY LOWEST ESTATE. Godcomes to us as the
morning, which does not wait for man, nor tarry for the sons of men. He gives
with gladness to those who have no deservings of any kind (Romans 5:6, 8).
He comes to us when we are —
1. In our sins.
2. In darkness.
3. In ruin.
IV. Our God shows His tender mercy, in that HE VISITS US WITH SUCH
WONDERFULAND JOYFUL RESULTS. Imagine a caravanin the desert,
which has long lost its way, and is famishing. The sun has long gone down,
and the darkness has causedevery one's heart to droop. All around them is a
waste ofsand, and an Egyptian darkness. There they must remain and die
unless they can find the track. They feel themselves to be in a fearful case, for
hungry and thirsty, their soul fainteth in them. They cannoteven sleepfor
fear. Heavier and heavier the night comes down, and the damps are on the
tents, chilling the souls of the travellers. What is to be done? How they watch!
Alas, no star comforts them! At lastthe watchmen cry, "The morning
cometh!" It breaks over the sea ofsand, and, what is better, it reveals a heap
which had been set up as a waymark, and the travellers have found the track.
The dayspring has savedthem from swift destruction by discovering the way
of peace. Conclusion:If the tender mercy of God has visited us; let us exhibit
tender mercy in our dealings with our fellow-men.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
The gradual development of redemption
J. O. Davies.

Our subject matter is the gradual development of redemption, like the sun,
"shining more and more unto perfect day."
I. THERE IS A GRADUALNESS IN ALL THE WORKS OF GOD. In the
physical sphere, gradual development is a universal law. At first, all was a
chaos of lifeless matter, then vegetable life appeared, then low forms of brute
life, then the mammal, and then the man. The world did not reachits present
state in a few seconds — the chaos did not become a cosmos in an hour. In the
first day's work we only see power;but in the secondday's work we see
wisdom; and in the third day's work we see goodness;and thus from step to
step we advance, until the sixth day brings forth the crowning glory, man, the
lord of creation, filled with the harmonies of the skies. Creationis not a
fungus-growth, but a gradual oak-growthIn the intellectual and moral
spheres there is gradualness. Evenour consciousness develops. Natural
consciousnessdevelops gradually, and the reflective consciousnessofthe
profound thinker is only a further development of the natural. We grow step
by step. Our educationproceeds gradually. The prince and the pauper must
begin with the alphabet and the multiplication table, and then onward, "line
upon line, and precept upon precept." Our greatdiscoveries have been
gradual. How slowlydid the astrologyof the ancients develop into our
nineteenth-century astronomy! How gradually did the alchemy of the fathers
grow into the modern chemistry of a Faraday!And, again, in the moral
sphere there is gradual development. The new man in Christ Jesus is not
made of full stature all at once. For a time, he is "a little one in Christ," then
he "grows in grace," and, finally, he reaches unto "the measure of the stature
of the fulness of Christ."
II. WE REASON FROM ANALOGY THAT THE GRADUALNESS WE
FIND IN NATURE AND MAN MAY ALSO BE EXPECTED IN THE
PROGRESS OF REDEMPTION,FOR GOD IS THE AUTHOR OF BOTH.
The God of the rock and star is also the Codof the Bible, and we are not
surprised to find this gradual development in Revelationfour thousand years
intervening betweenthe fall of the first Adam and the advent of the second
Adam. Redemption grew as the world grew — it grew as the human grace
grew — slowly. As far as we know, God was powerful enough to bring about
redemption sooner;but for some wise purpose, He left the world in the dim

starlight for forty centuries. Why this slowness?He is never in a hurry, for He
"seeththe end from the beginning." The march of the Hebrews from Egypt to
Canaan, if they had taken a direct route, would have only occupiedthem a
few months; but the Lord kept them in the lone desertfor forty years. The
Divine is never in a hurry. Jesus Christ spent thirty years on earth before He
performed one miracle — no hurry! And, indeed, we rejoice in this
gradualness. We cordially thank God for it. And why? Simply because a full-
orbed revelation all at once would overwhelm us. If the natural sun were to
reachits meridian at once, the tender greenof earth would be reduced to
ashes. "O God, how gracious Thouart to revealThyself gradually unto us in a
manner adapted to our weak capacities.It is no punishment to withhold these
mighty mysteries from us, but a mercy." And, besides, friends, we would not
be satisfiedwith a little Christ, that could be fully and completelyrevealed in
a century or two. We are greatsinners, and we need a greatChrist to save us
— a Christ that demands, not six thousand years, but all the countless years of
eternity to reveal Him to the full. And, blessedbe God, that Christ is to be
found in our glorious gospel. And let us not think that the development of
relation is yet at an end. No, far from it.
III. THE DEVELOPMENT OF REDEMPTIONFROM STAGE TO STAGE.
(J. O. Davies.)
Waiting for the dayspring
J. O. Davies.
Many a hoary seerlongedfor the dayspring, but saw it not. A sweetWelsh
evangelisthas a very striking illustration on this point. About Christmas time,
John the elder brother is expectedhome from London by the midnight train.
All the younger children are in ecstasy, andthey all wish to stay up until his
arrival. "Pray, father, let us stay up to wait John home," is the universal
petition. But the reply is, "No, my dear ones, it will be too long for you to wait;
you must go to rest; you shall see John in the morning — not sooner."
Friends, the ancient prophets expecteda Saviour — their Elder Brother Jesus.

How delighted they would be to see Him in the flesh; but they were compelled
to enter the cold bed of the grave before His arrival. David cried, "Father, let
me see the Horn of Salvationof which I sang so well." "No, My child, you
must retire." Job implored, "Father, let me see my living Redeemer." "No,
My child, you must retire; but you shall see him after you awake onthe
resurrectionmorning." Malachicried, "Father, I am about the last of them
all; do let me see the Sun of Righteousnessofwhich I sang so sweetly." "No,
My child, you must retire to rest; it will be too long for you to wait." And they
silently retired into their cold graves to rest. But at last, hoary-headedSimeon
advanced, and earnestlyimplored, "Oh! my Father, the train is nearly in,
according to my brother Daniel's table; do let me stay up to see the
ConsolationofIsrael." "Yes, My child, thy request is granted," said the
Father, and the old saint was allowedto see the daybreak, and so delighted
was he with its splendour that he prayed for death — (what a strong saint!) —
"Lord, now lettestThou Thy servantdepart in peace, for mine eyes have seen
Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people — a
light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel! "Thank
heaven, the Sun has risen, and the world is now envelopedin a glorious day!
(J. O. Davies.)
The mercy of God
A. Garry, M. A.
— A living sense ofthe tender mercy of God should actuate us in the path of
duty, and on the way to heaven. In what respects the tender mercy of God is
displayed towards His creatures.
I. IN THE CHARACTER WHICH GOD HAS THOUGHT FIT TO ASSUME
TOWARDS HIS DEPENDENTCREATURES. He feels towards us as a
parent for His offspring Who but a father would have devisedsuch a scheme
of redemption?
II. IN THE TEMPORALGOOD HIS TENDERMERCYIS MANIFEST. The
merciful arrangementwhich marks the course of human life. Forinstance, an

infant is more dependent upon the aid of others than any other creature; to
meet this necessity, Godhas graciouslymade the strongestofall human
instincts that of a mother's affection for her child. Here His tender mercy is
abundantly shown. Again, as we advance in life, God's mercy is no less
exhibited. It was necessaryfor Him to mark His disapprobation of sin by what
is calleda curse. Instead of bodily deformity and constantpain, the curse was
that we should labour, which is at once a greatsource of health and happiness.
Even death is so introduced to us that he ceasesin his approachto wearthe
aspectof the king of terrors, and is regardedas a kind friend come to relieve
us of wearinessand pain. The mercy of God is evident in the affections
incident to life; saints, apostles, andmartyrs have experienced the blessedness
of suffering. Then think of the positive blessings with which God has, in His
mercy, chosento sweetenthe cup of mortal existence. We are born in a
Christian land; health, &c. How improving to our souls must be a right
considerationof the Divine mercies.
(A. Garry, M. A.)
God's mercy towards a dark world
G. Brooks.
I. THE CONDITION OF THE WORLD PREVIOUSLY TO THE ADVENT
OF CHRIST.
1. A state of ignorance.
2. A state of danger.
II. THE MERCYOF GOD TOWARD THE WORLD IN THAT
CONDITION.
1. Undeserved.
2. Unsolicited.
3. Seasonable.

III. THE MANNER IN WHICH THE MERCYOF GOD WAS
MANIFESTED.
1. He sent His sonto enlighten it in its ignorance.
2. He sent His sonto guide it in its danger.
(G. Brooks.)
Darkness anddanger
W. Hardman, LL. D.
There are beneath the suburbs of the ancient city of Rome many dark and
narrow passages, excavatedin the soft stone. These are calledthe catacombs,
and were used as burial places by the early Christians. These passagesare
very many, crossing and re-crossing eachother, and stretching for an
immense distance underground in a most bewildering manner. So
complicatedand puzzling is this labyrinth of subterraneangalleries that it is
most dangerous to explore them without a guide. A young artist once ventured
to visit them alone, taking with him a few candles, and ensuring his safe
return by a ball of twine, one end of which he fastenedsecurelyoutside. After
a time, he satdown to sketchin one of the gloomy recesses, having, as he
thought, made his end of the clue safe under a stone. But rising suddenly to
alter his sketch, he overturned and extinguished his candle. He hastenedto
strike a match, but found that through some forgetfulness only two or three
remained, and in his nervous haste he failed to getthese to ignite. He now
hurriedly sought the line to guide him back to the entrance, but he could
nowhere find it. It had slipped from its place. In vain he sought for it; casting
himself on the ground, he felt for it in every direction, but could nowhere
discoverit. He despaired of ever againreaching the daylight; he thought he
must die of hunger, wandering through the hopeless maze of those dark
passages;but just as he threw himself in utter despondencyonce more on the
earth, he felt something beneath his hand. It was the twine — and he was safe!
Thus the Gentiles "satin darkness";thus the heathen world gropedafter
truth. They were lost in the gloomy recesses ofignorance and doubt. But the

goodnews of a Redeemercame like a guiding clue, leading them into the
warmth and light and sunshine of Christianity.
(W. Hardman, LL. D.)
The necessityand glory of Christ
Bishop E. Steere.
The dayspring signifies the sun. The worship of the sun was the greatestofthe
heathen worships. How glorious the sun is! How necessary!An apt emblem of
the necessityand the glory of Christ. Without Him we could have no check, no
conscience, andtherefore no peace, and no confidence. But then, if Christ be
so necessary, how is it that men can live in ignorance of Him? Are there not
blind men in the world? They are very apt images of unbelievers The sun
brings up corn and fruit for them as for us. They feel his warmth, and seek it
out, not to see him, but because it is warmer. So men of the world are helped
and comfortedby the virtues of Christians, and what goes on unseenby
themselves. And so they are honest, and so forth, because it is the best policy,
and sheds a sunny glow overtheir lives. And all the while they have never seen
or known Him, and have only heard of Him with the hearing of the ear. The
blind do not see the sun in summer rising higher in the heavens;they only feel
that it is warmer. So these do not see Christ's kingdom enlarging itself, but
only rejoice that there is more honesty and kindliness abroad. In this way the
world feels and knows that it is the better for Christ's coming. Very different
is it with those whose eyes are opened, and who really see. Theyknow in
whom they have believed. They are guided into the way of peace.
(Bishop E. Steere.)
The dayspring from on high
J. C. Philpot.
We may notice three things in the text: —

I. A DECLARATION OF A MOST BLESSED FACT — "The daypring from
on high hath visited us."
II. THE SOURCE AND ORIGIN OF THAT BLESSED FACT "Throughthe
tender mercy of our God."
III. ITS DIVINE FRUITS AND CONSEQUENCES."TO give light to them
that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way
of peace."
I. In looking at these three points connectedwith, and springing out of the
text, I shall rather invert their order; and consider, first, the original spring
and source of the blessings mentioned in the text. This is set forth in the
words, "Through the tender mercy of our God." Mercy is the source and
fountain of all our spiritual blessings. Butwhat is mercy? It embraces several
particulars.
1. It embraces a feeling of pity and compassion. Butpity and compassiondo
not fill up the whole idea of mercy; for we read, that God's "tender mercies
are over all His works" (Psalm145:9). Thus the Lord, in sparing Nineveh,
"remembered even the cattle (Jonah 4:11). And when He causedthe waters of
the deluge to assuage itwas because he " remembered Noah, and every living
thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark" (Genesis 8:1). There is
in the bosomof their Creatormercy and pity even for the brute creation. As
full of mercy, He also "relieveth the fatherless and widow" (Psalm146:9); and
"loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment" (Deuteronomy10:18).
2. We must, therefore, add to the idea of pity and compassion, anothermark,
that of pardon, in order to show what mercy is as extended to the family of
God. Forthe Lord's people are sinners; and as such, being transgressorsof
God's holy law, need pardon and forgiveness.
3. But in order to complete the full descriptionof mercy, we must ever view it
as flowing through the blood and obedience ofImmanuel. Mercy, was not, like
creation, a mere display of an attribute of Jehovah. If I may use the
expression, it costthe Godheada price: "Ye are bought with a price" (1
Corinthians 6:20). But there is an expressionin the text that heightens, and

casts a sweetlight upon this mercy. It is there calledtender mercy; literally, as
it is in the margin, "bowels of mercy." Not mere mercy; but "tender mercy."
Not cold and naked mercy; but mercy flowing forth out of the bowels of
Divine compassion. Now nothing but " tender mercy" could ever look down
with compassionupon the sons of men, or pluck out of the depths of the fall
such ruined wretches. Butto view mercy in its real character, we must go to
Calvary.
II. But we pass on to considerthat solemndeclaration, that blessedfact
containedin the words — " Whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited
us." There is a connection, you will observe, betwixt the "tender mercy of
God," and the visiting of "the dayspring from on high." The "tender mercy of
God" is the fountain, and the "visiting of the dayspring from on high" is the
stream. Let us then endeavour, if God enable us, to unfold the mind of the
Spirit in the words. First. What is meant by the expression"dayspring?" By
"dayspring" is meant the day-dawn, the herald of the rising sun, the change
from darkness to light, the first approachof morn; in one word, the spring of
the day. But what is this "dayspring" spiritually? It is the intimation of the
rising of the Sun of Righteousness. It is not the same thing as the Sun of
Righteousness;but it is the herald of His approach;the beams which the
rising sun casts upon the benighted world, announcing the coming of Jesus,
"the King in His beauty." This expressionwas singularly applicable in the
mouth of Zacharias. The Lord of life and glory had not then appeared; He
was still in the womb of the Virgin Mary. But His forerunner, John, had
appearedas the precursor, the herald of His approach, and was sent to
announce that the Sun of Righteousnesswas aboutto arise. But there is
another, an experimental meaning, connectedwith the words. "The dayspring
from on high" is not to be confined to the approachof the Son of God in the
flesh; but it may be extended to signify the appearance ofthe Sonof God in
the heart. Now, "the dayspring from on high" visits the soul with the very
first Divine intimation dropped into the conscience respecting the Person,
work, love, and blood of the Son of God. Until this day-dawn beams upon the
soul, it is for the most part ignorant of the way by which a sinner is to be
saved. But the first "dayspring from on high" which usually visits the soul is
from a view by precious faith of the glorious person of Immanuel. Until we see

by the eye of faith the glorious Personof "Immanuel, God with us," there is
no day-dawn in the heart. But, in looking at the glorious Personof the Son of
God, we catcha faith's view of His atoning blood, and see it to be of infinite
dignity. So also with respectto the glorious righteousness ofImmanuel. But
what a sweetnessthere is in the expression, "visitedus!" What is conveyed by
it One idea containedin it is, that it is the act of a friend. If I have a friend,
and I visit him, my visit is a mark of my friendship and affection. But another
idea connectedwith the word " visit," is that of unexpectedness. Is it not so
sometimes naturally? We have an unexpected visit. We may have been
looking for our friend to call; but the time passes away, and no well-known
rap is heard at our door. We wonder why our friend delays his coming so
long. But perhaps, when we are leastexpecting it, the form of our friend
appears. So spiritually. We may be longing and languishing, hoping, and
expecting the visit of the day-spring from on high;" but it does not appear; the
Lord delayeth His coming; there is no intimation of His appearing, no putting
in of His hand by the hole of the door, no looking in through the lattice, no
glimpse nor glance ofHis lovely countenance, But perhaps, when least
expected, and leastanticipated; when the mind is so deeply sunk as scarcelyto
dare to hope, so shut up in unbelief as hardly able to vent forth a sigh, "the
dayspring from on high" will visit the soul, and be all the more precious for
coming so suddenly and unexpectedly.
III. But this "day-spring from on high" visits the soul to produce certain
effects. Two ofthem are specifiedin the text. "To give light to them that sit in
darkness, and in the shadow of death;" that is one: "to guide our feet in the
way of peace;" that is the other.
1. "To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death." Is
this what "the dayspring from on high" visiting us is to do? Must we not then
know something of the experience here described to be blest with the visit?
But let us look at the words a little more closely. "To suchas sit in darkness."
What is the darkness here spokenof? Is it merely what I may call moral
darkness? Naturaldarkness?No;it is not the darkness of unregeneracy;it is
not the darkness of sin and profanity; nor is it the darkness of a mere empty
profession. These things are indeed darkness, gross darkness;but those who
are thus blinded by the god of this world never sit experimentally in darkness.

They are like the Jews ofold, who said, "We see;therefore their sin
remaineth." "We dark? we ignorant? we scorn the idea." Such is the
language ofempty profession. Batthe Lord's own quickened, tender-hearted
family often painfully know what it is to sit in darkness. But whence does this
darkness arise. Strange to say, it arises from light. Darknessas darkness is
never seen. Darkness as darknessis never felt. Light is neededto see darkness;
life is required to feel darkness. There are children in Hungary born and bred
at the bottom of a mine. Do these children ever know what darkness is, like
one who comes downthere out of the broad light of day? Were they not told
there was a sun above — did not some tidings of the light of day reachtheir
ears, they might live and die ignorant that there was a sun in the heavens. So
spiritually. Man, born and bred in the depths of nature's mine, does not know
that he is dark; but when Divine light enters into his soul, that discovers to
him his darkness;for it is the light which makes manifest all things; as the
apostle says, "Butall things that are reproved are made manifest by the light;
for whatsoeverdoth make manifest is light" (Ephesians 5:13). Thus, it is the
light of God's teaching in a man's consciencethat makes him know his
darkness;and Divine life in his soul makes it felt. But what does darkness
imply? The absence of everything that brings light and peace into the heart.
But there is one word in the text which conveys to my mind much, that is,
"sitting in darkness." Theyare not representedas standing; that might imply
a mere momentary transition from light to darkness. Theyare not
representedas running; that might imply they would soonget out of the
darkness. Theyare not representedas lying down; that might lead to suppose
they were satisfiedwith their darkness. But they are representedas sitting in
darkness. Thensurely they are not dead. Nor do they sit at ease and at rest;
but are in that posture, because they canneither move backwardor forward,
nor turn either to the right hand or to the left. In ancientmedals that were
struck when Jerusalemwas led captive by the Romans, she is representedas
sitting on the ground. The same thing is intimated in Psalm137:1, 2. "By the
rivers of Babylon, there we satdown; yea we wept, when we remembered
Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof." Sitting
was with the ancients the posture of mourning. Job "satdown among the
ashes;" (Job 2:8); and his friends " satdown with him upon the ground"
(verse 13). "Her gates,"says Isaiah(Isaiah3:26), "shalllament and mourn;

and she, being desolate, shallsit on the ground." Sitting implies also a
continuance in the state;a waiting, a watching, a desiring, a looking out for
the light to come. But again. There is another word added, which throws light
upon the characterofthose who are visited from time to time with "the
dayspring from on high." They sit not only in darkness, but in the shadow of
death. How expressive this word is — "the shadow of death!" There are
severalideas, in my mind, connectedwith the word. We will look, first, at the
idea containedin the expression"death." Deathwith respectto the family of
God wears two aspects. There is death experimental in their hearts, that is,
deadness in their frames;and there is death temporal — the separationof soul
from the body. Each of these kinds of death casts attimes a gloomy shadow
over the souls of God's people. The word is very expressive. They are not
sitting in death: were they sitting there, they would be dead altogether;but
they are sitting in the shadow of death. Observe, death has lostits reality to
them; it now can only casta shadow, oftena gloomy shadow, over their souls;
but there is no substance. The quickening of the Spirit of Godin them has
destroyedthe substance of death spiritually; and the death and resurrection of
Jesus has destroyedthe substance of death naturally. Yet, though the gloomy
monster, deadness ofsoul, and that ghastly king of terrors, the death of the
body, have been disarmed and destroyedby "Immanuel, Godwith us;" yet
eachof them casts at times a gloomy, darkling shadow over the souls of those
that fear God. Is not your soul, poor child of God, exercised from time to time
with this inward death? Deadness in prayer, deadness in reading the word,
deadness in hearing the truth, deadness in desires after the Lord, deadness to
everything, holy, spiritual, heavenly, and divine? Do you not feel a torpidity, a
numbness, a carnality, a worldliness, that seemat times to freeze up every
desire of your soul? I do. O how this cold, clammy monster death seems to
wrap its benumbing arms around a man's soul! I have read of a voyager, who,
whilst looking for shells on a desert rock, was suddenly caughtin the arms of
a huge polypus, a sea monster. The sickening sensationproduced by this cold
and clammy monster clasping him with his huge suckers, anddrawing him to
his jaws to devour him, he describes as being unutterable, and he was only
rescuedby the captain's coming to his aid with a knife. I may compare,
perhaps, our frequent deadness of soul clasping its arms around every desire
of our heart, to the clasping of this poor man in the clammy arms of the sea

monster. How it benumbs and paralyzes every breathing of our soul
Godward! How all prayer, all panting desire, all languishing affection, all
spirituality and heavenly-mindedness, all solid worship, all filial confidence,
all the fruits and graces ofthe Spirit are blighted and withered by the
deathliness that we so continually feel!
2. But there is another word added, another result of the visiting of "the
dayspring from on high" — "to guide our feet into the way of peace." The
way of peace? Doesnotthat comprehend all? Do those that fearGod want
anything but peace? Whatdo we want? The way of war, of enmity, of
rebellion, of restlessness? No. We wantthe way of peace. But what is implied
in the expression? Peaceimplies two things. It implies, first, reconciliation
from a state of enmity; and secondly, the felt enjoyment of this reconciliation
in the heart. But we want guiding in the way. And when "the dayspring from
on high" visits the soul, it guides the feet into the way. There is something very
sweetin the expression. It does not drive, does not force, but opens a door, and
enables the soul to enter in; discovers the way, and gives the soul faith to walk
in it.
(J. C. Philpot.)
The tenderness of God
P. B. Power, M. A.
God is not only energetic, but tender also in action. He is the God of the
dewdrops, as well as the God of the thundershowers;the God of the tender
grass blade, as much as of the mountain oak. We read of great machines
which are able to crush iron bars, and yet they can touch so gently as not to
break the shell of the smallestegg;as it is with them, so it is with the hand of
the MostHigh: He can crush a world, and yet bind up a wound. And great
need have we of tenderness in our low estate;a little thing would crush us; we
have such bruised and feeble souls, that unless we had One who would deal
tenderly with us, we must soonbe destroyed. There are many soul diseasesto
which a tender hand alone can minister; just as there are many states of body

which need tender and patient nursing, and which cannot otherwise be
successfullydealt with, even by any amount of skill. This tenderness we see
continually in action, in woman's ministrations in ordinary life. Her voice has
notes more sweetand soft than can be distilled from any instrument of music;
her hand has a touch more delicate and fine than ever the breath of any
summer's breeze; it is to her that man carries the stories of his sorrows;it is
she that has to soothe his heavy, aching head; well as he thinks he cando
without her, in the more exciting scenes oflife, he finds he is not independent
when the time comes for suffering and grief. And what makes woman equal to
sustaining the heavy burden thus castupon her? How comes the ivy to be able
to sustain the oak around which it used to cling, ornamenting it, while it
owned its lordship and strength I She does all in the powerof the tenderness
of her nature; ruggedand uncouth would life indeed be if such tenderness
were withdrawn. But pass awayto Divine things — from woman, to Him that
was born of woman, and what do we find but tenderness of actionin Him?
That tenderness which in any of mankind is but a spark from the fire, is
perfect in His bosom;its fulness is there; and it is continually being shown to
them.
(P. B. Power, M. A.)
Explanation of the imagery
F. Godet, D. D.
A caravanmisses its way, and is lost in the desert; the unfortunate pilgrims,
overtakenby night, are sitting down in the midst of this fearful darkness,
expecting death. All at once a bright starrises in the horizon and lights up the
plain: the travellers, taking courage atthis sight, arise, and by the light of this
star find the road which leads them to the end of their journey.
(F. Godet, D. D.)
The night of humanity

R. Rothe, D. D.
It may seemstrange that we should call the condition of our race before
Christ's appearance night — darkness and shadow of death. But what is the
meaning of its being night? It is night where the light is wanting that lightens
our way, in whose brightness we are able to distinguish and understand the
value of the things around us; that light that shows us where there are ways to
walk in, the aims which we should pursue, and the means by which we may
attain them. Where there is such certainty of knowledge and work there is
day; where that is wanting, the light canonly be a dim one; even with open
eyes, all knowledge is only fancy, all work only groping in the dark. There no
life canbring forth fruit; it may be filled with all kinds of beautiful dreams,
but only with dreams; but upon the dream follows an awakening with more
bitter pain the more beautiful the dreams were Was it really night upon the
earth, before the Saviour came? Yes, we dare not judge otherwise:it was
night. Men had indeed attempted to make artificial light, but it did not really
illuminate. The focus in which at last all rays must converge, in order to show
themselves as truth, was wanting. It was really night — cold, dark, unlovely
night.
(R. Rothe, D. D.)
The Dayspring from on high: Christ as the Dawn
C. S. Robinson, D. D.
This splendid figure of speech is taken from the dawn of morning on the night.
And in order to understand fully the force of the rhetoric, we must bear in
mind one of the natural phenomena of those easternregions. So pure is the
atmosphere there, so far south, that clouds in the skyare not usual save in the
rainy season. There seemsreallynothing to hinder the sun's going down,
nothing to get in the way of his rising again. When he sets, he goes abruptly
behind the adjacenthill; when he rises, he comes up unannounced, and in a
quick moment is altogetheron hand for his daily work — that is to say, there
is positively no twilight, as we describe it, in those latitudes. The instant the

day reaches its natural close, the sun appears to slide down the skywithout
any leave-taking. Justso when the dawn starts. When yesterday's monarch
dismisses himself, and it is time for to-day's to succeedhim, there he is,
unheralded and serenelyunhurried, calmly seatedin his shining pavilion of
clearMr. Zacharias seizes this astonishing figure, and turns it to account. For
four centuries it had been dark — dark with sin, ignorance, oppression — and
now in one excitedinstant of disclosure, the Sun of Righteousnesshad risen
with healing in His wings. No wonder his heart was full; no wonder his
dumbness gave way, and his glad voice lifted such a song!Let us keepsinging
on, and always singing on about the dayspring from on high which has visited
us. The light of the gospelis a gleam of the light of heaven. Oh, what will the
full splendour of the noon be by and by? When the Gauls had tastedthe wine
of Italy, they beganto ask where the grapes grew, and they would never be
quiet till they came there.
(C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The sun an emblem of Christ
Bishop Trower.
The sun is the fountain of light to this lowerworld. Day by day it rises on us
with its gladdening beams, and with the return of light is connectedthe sense
of reviving power in ourselves;invigorated health and cheerfulness;renewed
and willing application to appointed duties. God Himself has made it the ruler
over the day. All nature seems to ownits influence. The flowers that drooped,
or closedtheir leaves during the night, expand themselves againwhen the sun
arises. The gorgeouscolours with which the clouds that were lately dark are
now illuminated, bespeak the return of the absent king; and the clouds
themselves are scatteredat his approach. The loathsome or savage creatures
that love darkness now "getthem awaytogether, and lay down in their dens.
Man goethforth to his work and to his labour until the evening." Christ is to
the moral world what the sun is to the natural world; the source oflife, and
health, and motion. He is the "Sun of Righteousness,"becausethe robe of
righteousness in which His people "shine" is the light from Him which they

reflect; and on this accountHis Church is said to be "clothedwith the sun."
And the inward righteousness also, in which they are createdanew after the
image of God, is derived from His illuminating presence in their hearts. And
He rises on us "with healing in His wings," because He brings with Him, day
by day, spiritual health to those who are diseasedin soul, comfort to those
who mourn, rest to the wearyand heavy-laden. The world had long lain in
darkness and the shadow of death, waiting with earnestexpectationfor the
first tokens of the "dayspring from on high," even as travellers in a starless
night, or as they that watch in loneliness and weariness, waitwith eager
longing for the burst of morning. At length the Sun of Righteousness arose,
when He who was with the Fatherfrom all eternity was born at Bethlehem,
and took our nature upon Him. And as the light from the morning sun travels
with inconceivable speedto the remotestcorners of the earth, and penetrates
into the darkest recesses, so did the light from the Sun of Righteousness
penetrate the dark places of the earth. It scatteredthe mists of ignorance and
sin, and calledforth from the garden of God's Church those fruits and flowers
which it could never otherwise have borne. Nor is His powerto heal and
comfort diminished by the lapse of years. As the sun in the heavens has the
same quickening and cheering powerover the material world, as in the day
when God first formed it and setit in the heavens;so have the beams of the
Sun of Righteousnessthe same efficacyto healthe wounded conscience, andto
comfort the afflicted soul, as when they first shone upon His humble followers.
(Bishop Trower.)
Safetyin the light of day
Sunday SchoolTimes.
A band of fugitives were crossing aneasterndesert. The night was dark, but
they determined to push on. Soonthey lost their way, and had to spend the
night in anxiety and fear. It seemedas if the night would never pass. But
almost all at once the sun arose, bringing daylight and showing the way of
safety. Not one of them ever forgotthat sun-rising. So to us, in our
wanderings, the Dayspring has arisen, pointing out the way of safety.

Illustrate by the case ofa man in an open boat, or a traveller crossing a moor
at night, and uncertain of his way A cloud passes from the sky, and the
polestaris seen. Then he knows the way of safety.
(Sunday SchoolTimes.)
Christ our Dayspring
John Waugh.
How pertinent is that question of the Almighty as it breaks from the
whirlwind, "Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days, and caused
the dayspring to know his place?" He who has adjusted the movements of all
the orbs of light, brings the glow of the newborn day to gladden those who
wait for the retiring darkness. Christour dayspring burst upon the world in
the prophetic period of the Divine arrangement. Our spiritual sun-rising, so
long waitedfor, came for the banishment of sin, and the introduction of all
righteousness. Christis the only dayspring of light to the darkenedsoul. The
visible creation, conveying by symbols and material manifestations the
thoughts of God, can bring to rest to a soul in which there is a constantstrife
betweenconscienceandpassionThe political aspects ofsocietywill afford
little hope; successin measures of reform will seemhardly valuable enough to
compensate for their outlay of exertion, science, in all its departments, will
appear but as a perplexing maze, till our dayspring, knowing its place in the
counsels ofInfinite Wisdom is seenabove them all, heralding the splendours
of redemption. Agnosticismwould be the sad inheritance of all, just leading us
to know that we could not know;that the secretsofthe universe could never
be explained; that we, ourselves, were but perplexities and contradictions, if
our dayspring, shining above all science, overall human wants and industries,
above all human ignorance, will, and pride, could not be seenby faith, verified
by fact, and relied upon by experience.
(John Waugh.)

God's tender mercy
C. H. Spurgeon.
My proclamationcertifies to thee, O trembling heart, that this mercy is tender
mercy. Thy bones are broken to-night, thy heart is wounded, thy spirits are
dried up, and thou art ready to despair; but I tell thee that God has tender
mercy for such as thou art. As I satin the hospital, yesterday, and saw the
many cases ofmaimed limbs and gushing wounds, I could but think how
tender the nurses ought to be, and how downy should be the surgeon's finger
as he setthe brokenbone or bound up the sore. Doubtless there are some
persons who have iron bands and hard hearts, and so, while they are bone-
setting or binding up wounds, they do it roughly, and cause the patient much
pain. But, O sinner, therein is the tender mercy of our God setforth, which,
like a dayspring from on high, hath visited us; "a bruised reed will He not
break, nor quench the smoking flax." He crowneth us with loving-kindnesses,
and with tender mercies;He bindeth up the brokenin heart, and healeth all
their wounds. Like as a mother comfortethher children, even so doth the
Lord comfort His people, and like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord
pitieth them that fear Him. My Lord is as gracious in the manner of His
mercy as in the matter of it. Glory be to His name! O sinner, come to the
gentle Jesus and live.
(C. H. Spurgeon.)
Sunshine
Dr. Talmage.
We think that all our city folk ought somehow to get every week a few hours
in the clear, unmixed sunshine as the Lord pours it out of the heavens. Last
Sabbath was a day of unusual duties, and Monday morning, with loud-
clamouring work all about us, we said our call this morning is to the fields.
We made a bold dash, and at a speedthat no one dared halt, we were soon
beyond the city limits. As we hastenedpast, a brother clergymanshouted,
"Whither away?" We answered — "In quest of sunshine!" And was there

ever a brighter luxury? The cup of the morning had been washedout by a
shower;the leaves, autumn-turned, shivered their fiery splendour across the
path; the hum of the city became fainter, and we found what we wanted
floating on the lake, tangledin the bushes, rippling among the greengrass,
dripping from the sky — sunshine. Glorious sunshine! With it we filled our
eyelids, our mouth, our hands. We openedour entire physical capacityto take
it in. We took out our soul and saturated it in the lush light. We absorbedit in
all our pores, and rolled it around our nerves;and after we could hold no
more inside, lifted our face and held it so aslantthat it ran down over us —
the sunshine. What do the blind do without seeing it? How can the factory
employees geton without feeling it? Let all the ministry on Monday morning
be turned out into it. By the following Saturday night it will ripen all the
acidity out of the sermons. The world wants more sunshine in its disposition,
in its business, in its charities, in its theology. For ten thousand of the aches,
and pains, and irritations of men and women, we commend the sunshine. It
soothes betterthan morphine. It stimulates more than champagne. It is the
best plaister for a wound. The goodSamaritan poured out into the fallen
traveller's gashmore of this than wine and oil. Florence Nightingale usedit on
Crimean battle-fields. Take it into all the alleys, on board all the ships, by all
the sick-beds. Nota phial full, nor a cup full, nor a decanterfull, but a soul
full. It is goodfor spleen, for liver complaint, for neuralgia, for rheumatism,
for failing fortunes, for melancholy. We suspectthat heaven itself is only more
sunshine.
(Dr. Talmage.)
Philosophy and Christianity
Coleridge.
Philosophy, in the night of Paganism, was like the fire-fly of the tropics
making itself visible, but not irradiating the darkness. ButChristianity,
revealing the Sun of Righteousness, sheds more than the full sunlight of those
tropics on all that we need to see, whetherfor time or eternity.

(Coleridge.)
Beholding the sun
Dr. Talmage.
I have read that near the North Pole, the night lasting for months and months,
when the people expect the day is about to dawn, some messengersgo up on
the highestpoint to watch;and when they see the first streak of day they put
on their brightest possible apparel, and embrace eachother and cry, " Behold
the sun!" and the cry goes through all the land, "Beholdthe sun!" Some of
you have been trudging on in the darkness of sin. It has been a long and
wearisome night for your soul; but now I cry, "Beholdthe Sun of
Righteousnessrising with healing in His wings!" or, to quote from the chapter
that I read at the beginning, "The Dayspring from on high hath visited us to
give light to them that are in darkness."Beholdthe sun! Behold the sun!
Would God that every blinded eye might now see it!
(Dr. Talmage.)
A light in a dark place
A steamboatwas once carrying a load of passengers up one of the Western
rivers. It was a very dark night. The waters were dark, the soil was black, and
not a starwas to be seen. The air was full of sleetand mist, and altogetherit
made a night when "the darkness couldbe felt." The steamboathad struck a
snag, and was leaking very fast and beginning to sink. The captainat once ran
her ashore and lashed her to the bank. The plank was thrust out, and
everybody was requestedto go ashore just as quickly as possible. It was
thought that if all could only lighten the boat they might save it, while if all
remained on board, all would soongo down together. But it was so dark, the
passengerscouldnot see either the plank or the shore. The sleetwas falling
thick and covering everything with ice. The cold wild waters of the river were
rushing past beneath, and not offering a very warm receptionto any who

might fall over. So the company all stoodstill, not daring to move. Like Paul,
they chose "to stay with the ship." They seemedto feel that it was better to
stay and share the fate of the boat than to step off — they knew mot where;
"better to endure the ills they had, than to fly to those they knew net of." The
captain was as much perplexed as the people. To urge them to hurry off might
produce a panic, and make them rush off and push one another into the river.
Yet he knew they could not remain long on deck without danger. But he was
equal to the emergency. Calling from the upper deck, he told them to be quiet
and wait, and he would land them all safe on shore. He then leapedon to the
bank with some of his men, and, taking a basketofpitch coaland arranging it
in a proper place, he struck a match and lit it. In a few moments it blazed up
bright and clear, and, in the words of John Hay.
"Burnt a hole in the night."
R. Cordley, D. D.
The whole hillside, and bank, and boat, and river, just glowedin the
brightness. It was a wild but beautiful scene — darkness everywhere but just
there where they needed light. All excitement and fear ceased, and the people
calmly and safely passedone by one over the plank to the solid shore. Never
did light seemso grateful and so beautiful as it did shooting up there in that
dark place. The expression, "lightin a dark place," gaineda new meaning to
all who felt its blessednesson that dark and perilous night. The Bible speaks
of Christ as a "light to them that sit in darkness," andHis truth as a "light
that shineth in a dark place." There are a greatmany dark places in our life,
but there is no darker place than our sins. Everybody has been troubled about
these, and nobody ever knew what to do with them. A greatmany people
don't think anything about them. So those men on that steamboatmight have
lain down and gone to sleep. They might say, "We cannotsee the way off, and
we may just as well take our ease."So men often forgettheir sins and feel easy
about them. But wheneverthey do think of them, they are troubled and don't
know what to do with them. They don't know how to get rid of them, and the
wisestmen have been just as much in the dark as the most ignorant. This has

always been a very dark place. The river is very wild, the shore is unseen and
the wayto it is unknown. A greatmany people have stoodhere, like those men
on the steamboat, waiting for light and not knowing what to do. Christ lets
light shine right on this dark place. He shows how men can getrid of their sins
and be forgiven. He shows us the way. He is the way. The river is just as deep,
and the shore is just as far off as it was before, but we can see it all, and find
our way to where it is safe and solid. When we come to see how fearful it is to
be in the dark, and not know what to do, we can then know how beautiful and
grateful it is to have a "light shining in a dark place."
(R. Cordley, D. D.)
We notice then
W. Toase.
I. THE ORIGIN OF OUR REDEMPTION— "the tender mercy of our God."
But though it be true that all the attributes of God were engagedin planning
and in executing the work of our redemption, it must be observed, that the
mercy of God appears by far the most conspicuous. Whatis its nature? Mercy
is the pity of the heart; that I believe will be admitted by all to be a fair and
correctrendering of the word. Is there not misery enough on the part of man
to excite the mercy and compassionof God? We ask, again, to what extent was
the mercy of God exercisedin the work of human redemption? It extends to
the utmost limits of the human family. Mercy then, originated the plan of
human salvation. Let us consider —
II. ITS PROGRESS. This plan was not developed all at once;it was
communicated under different dispensations and by progressive degrees, as
the minds of men were prepared to receive it. The dayspring from on high, the
greatlight, the great luminary of our world, is come. Now, light is remarkable
for the power of communication: everything, you know, is tinged and
irradiated by the light of the sun. The light which the sun sends forth, as the
greatmedium of light, diffuses itself everywhere;and here we have a fair
representationof the powerof communication which Jesus Christ possesses,

in reference to the knowledge whichis essentialto the happiness of man; for
whereverHe is, there is light; whereverHis word is, there is truth; and it is
said of this word of His, "the entrance of it giveth light." Light, again, is
remarkable for the rapidity of its flight. Displaybut a glimmering taper on
the summit of a mountain, and it reaches the eye, placed at any given distance,
in a moment. And here we may be reminded of the rapidity of the flight of
mercy, to meet the misery of man. And we may be reminded here, too, of
another important fact, connectedwith this part of our subject — the
disposition there ever is, on the part of the Saviour, to meet the case ofa poor
penitent sinner, or an afflicted believer. But again, light is remarkable for its
purity and grateful influence. The influence of light is the most agreeable,
notwithstanding the velocity with which it moves, to that most delicate of all
our organs, the eye. It is a pleasantthing to behold the sun. When this light
directed you to the Lamb of God, and when, in the exercise ofyour faith, you
availed yourselves of the benefits resulting from His redeeming acts, how
grateful was its influence! It communicated light to your understanding, and
peace and joy unspeakable to your hearts. But the text tells us that it came
"from on high." Why, then, Jesus Christ Himself must have existed before He
came into this world; and if He existedbefore He came into the world, He
must have existed as God Almighty. Now, that this was the case,is very clear,
from various parts of Scripture. "In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God: the same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything
made that was made." But, in the text, we read of Him in regardto His
human nature. The dayspring from on high assumedthe nature of man below,
and in that nature became man's suffering substitute. He came from on high
— He visited us for this purpose. I statedbefore, and I must now recur to it,
that the light to which our text alludes, was gradual in its communication.
There was a ray of it to shine on the patriarchs, a brighter ray still shone on
the minds of the prophets; but it was when the types receivedtheir
accomplishmentin the plains of Bethlehem — that the words of this text were
literally verified. "The dayspring from on high visited us," coming to this
world of ours to diffuse His light and life, and liberty, and salvation, from one
end of the earth to another.

III. THE GRAND DESIGN OF THIS AMAZING EVENT — "To give light,"
says the inspired writer — to whom? "to them that sit in darkness and in the
shadow of death." By this darkness we arc to understand the ignorance which
is common to man; and, by death, we are to understand that moral death
which reigns in the minds and spirits of men, togetherwith that eternal death,
to which, as sinners, we are exposed. Now, where a shadow is, the substance
cannot be far off. We need not here go into the state of the heathen world, at
the time of our Saviour's advent, for it must be generallyknown to every one
now hearing me: it was indeed a state of darkness and death; nor into the
state of the Jewishpeople, for it. too, was a state of ignorance. But, on what
subjects does He enlighten men? First of all, touching the being and
perfections of God. If you go into the records of the wisestand best of the
heathen philosophers, whether of Egypt, Greece, orRome, you find no clear
and distinct revelationexisting respecting God. tie came, next, to enlighten
men touching their own moral state and condition. Now, that all is not right
with man must be obvious. Is man happy? He is not — he is miserable as well
as wicked. Well, then, there must be something wrong; something must have
happened to our world. Let us, then, thank God that, in the midst of darkness
and misery, we have the greatlight shining upon us, telling us how sin entered
our world, the end to which it would lead, and the extent to which it would
prevail, if we were not delivered from its power. But He came to give light
upon another subject — He came to give the light of salvation. If He had
merely discoveredto us our disease andleft us to perish in it, we should have
been the worse, in place of being bettered, by our knowledge. Butwe come,
brethren, to the light; and here we find mercy and truth met together, and
righteousness andpeace embracing eachother — truth inflexible as a rock,
and mercy, tender as a parent's tears, yearning over you with infinite
compassion. He came to give light upon anothersubject — namely, the rule of
our duty. What, then, must be the rule? Take it, first, in reference to God, it
commands us to love Him supremely; take it in reference to man, and it
enjoins thus much upon us — "Whatsoeverye would that men should do to
you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets." But Christ
came to give light on anothersubject — a future state. But Jesus Christ came
to give more than light: He came to give peace — "to guide our feet into the
way of peace." Ican merely mention particulars here. To procure peace was

the grand objectof our Saviour's advent. He was to be called"the repairer of
the breach— the restorerof the paths to dwell in." And as He came to
procure peace, He came also to apply it. You will easilyperceive a difference
betweenpeace procured and peace applied. He came to give peace — He came
also to maintain it in the hearts of His people, causing it to grow and increase
more and more, until the subject of it is, at last, brought home to himself to be
one with the Lord. Did our salvation, then, originate in the mercy of God? Let
us learn from it a lessonofhumility. But again, were the developments of this
mercy gradual? Did it not all shine out at once? Whatlessonought we to
derive from this circumstance? Mark this, then; your Christianity ought to be
progressive — purer, and having more of principle to-day than yesterday;
and more of principle, purity, and disinterestedness to-morrow than to-day. It
should be gradual and progressive in its progress, both as to principle and
practice. Lastly: Was this light sent for the goodof the whole world? Then let
us endeavour to diffuse it universally throughout the world.
(W. Toase.)
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(78) Through the tender mercy.—Literally, on accountof the bowels of mercy
of our God. After this manner the Jews spoke ofwhat we should call“the
heart” of God. The word was a favourite one with St. Paul, as in the Greek of
2Corinthians 7:15; Philippians 1:8, Php_2:1; Colossians3:12. The pity that
moved the heart of Godis thought of, not as the instrument through which,
but that on accountof which, the work of the Baptistwas to be accomplished.
The dayspring from on high.—The English word expresses the force of the
Greek very beautifully. The dawn is seenin the Eastrising upward, breaking
through the darkness. We must remember, however, that the word had

acquired another speciallyMessianic association, throughits use in the LXX.
version as the equivalent for the “Branch,” “that which springs upward,” of
Jeremiah23:5; Zechariah 3:8. Here the thought of the sunrise is prominent,
and it connects itselfwith such predictions as, “The glory of the Lord hath
risen upon thee” (Isaiah 60:1), “The sun of righteousness shallrise” (Malachi
4:2). What had become a Messianic name is taken in its primary sense, and
turned into a parable.
Hath visited us.—Better, hath lookedupon us.
MacLaren's Expositions
Luke
ZACHARIAS’S HYMN
THE DAYSPRING FROM ON HIGH
Luke 1:78 - Luke 1:79.
As the dawn is ushered in by the notes of birds, so the rising of the Sun of
Righteousnesswas heraldedby song, Mary and Zacharias brought their
praises and welcome to the unborn Christ, the angels hoveredwith heavenly
music over His cradle, and Simeon took the child in his arms and blessedit.
The human members of this choir may be regardedas the last of the psalmists
and prophets, and the first of Christian singers. The song of Zacharias, from
which my text is taken, is steepedin Old Testamentallusions, and redolent of
the ancientspirit, but it transcends that. Its early part is purely national, and
hails the coming of the Messiahchiefly as the deliverer of Israelfrom foreign
oppressors, thougheven in it their deliverance is regardedmostly as the

means to an end, and the end one very appropriate on the lips of a priestly
prophet-viz. sacerdotalservice by the whole nation ‘in holiness and
righteousness alltheir days.’
But in this latter portion, which is separatedfrom the former by the pathetic,
incidental, and slight reference to the singer’s own child, the national limits
are far surpassed. The song soars above them, and pierces to the very heart
and kernelof Christ’s work. ‘The dayspring from on high hath visited us, to
give light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our
feet into the way of peace.’Nothing deeper, nothing wider, nothing truer
about the mission and issue of Christ’s coming could be spoken. And thus we
have to look at the three things that lie in this text, as bearing upon our
conceptions ofChrist and His work-the darkness, the dawn, and the directing
light.
I. The darkness.
Zacharias, as becomes the last of the prophets, and a man whose whole
religious life was nourished upon the ancient Scriptures, speaks almost
entirely in Old Testamentphraseologyin this song. And his description of
‘them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death’ is takenalmost verbally
from the greatwords from the Book ofthe Prophet Isaiah, who speaks,in
immediate connectionwith his prophecy of the coming of the Christ, of ‘the
people that walk in darkness and them that dwell,’ or sit, ‘in the shadow of
death, upon whom the light hath shined.’
The picture that rises before us is that of a group of travellers benighted,
bewildered, huddled togetherin the dark, afraid to move for fearof pitfalls,
precipices, wild beasts, and enemies;and so sighing for the day and compelled
to be inactive till it comes. Thatis the picture of humanity apart from Jesus

Christ, a darkness so intense, so tragic, that it is, as it were, the very shadow of
the ultimate and essentialdarkness whichis death, and in it men are sitting
torpid, unable to find their way and afraid to move.
Now darkness, allthe world over, is the emblem of three things-ignorance,
impurity, sorrow. And all men who are rent awayfrom Jesus Christ, or on
whom His beams have not yet fallen, this text tells us, have that triple curse
lying upon them.
Ignorance. Think of what, without Jesus Christ, the world has deemedof the
unseen, and of the God, if there be a God, that may inhabit there. He has been
to them a greatPeradventure, a greatTerror, a greatInscrutable, a stone-
eyed Fate, a thin, nebulous Nothing, with no emotion, no attributes, no heart,
no ear to hear, the nearestapproach to nonentity, according to the despairing
saying of a masterof philosophy, that ‘pure Being is equal to pure Nothing.’
And if all men do not rise to such heights of melancholy abstractionas that,
still how little there is of blessedcertainty, how little clearnessofconceptionof
a Divine Personthat turns to us with love and tenderness in His heart, apart
from Christ and His teaching!If you take awayfrom civilised men all the
knowledge ofGod that they owe to Jesus Christ, what have you left? The
ladder by which they climbed is kickedawayby a great many people
nowadays, but it is to Him that they owe the very conceptions in the name of
which some of them turn round and deny Him.
Ignorance of God, ignorance of one’s own self and of one’s deepestduties, and
ignorance of that solemnfuture, the fact of which is plain to most men, but the
how of which is such a blank mystery but for Jesus Christ-these things are
elements of the darkness that wraps the world. Go to heathendom if you want
to see the problem workedout, as to what men know outside of the revelation
which culminates in Jesus Christ. And take your own hearts, dear friends who
stand aside from that sweetLord and light of our lives, and ask yourselves,

What do I know, with a certainty which is to me as valid, as-yea!more valid
than that given by sense and outward perceptions? What do I know of God
that I do not owe to Jesus Christ? Nothing. You may guess much, you may
hope a little, you may dread a greatdeal, you may question more than all, but
you will know nothing.
Well, then, further, this solemn emblem stands for impurity. And we have
only to consult our ownhearts to feel how true it is about us all, that we dwell
in a region all darkened, if not by the coarse transgressionswhich men
consentto call sins, yet darkenedmore subtly and oftentimes more hopelessly
by the obscurationof pure selfishness and living to myself and by myself.
Wherever that comes, it is like the mists that stealup from some poisonous
marsh, and shut out stars and sky, and drape the whole country in a
melancholy veil. It is white but it is poisonous, it is white but it is darkness all
the same. There are other kinds of sin than the sins that break the Ten
Commandments; there are other kinds of sin than the sins that the world
takes cognisanceof. The worstpoisons are the tastelessones, andcolourless
gases are ladenwith fatal power. We may walk in a darkness that may be felt,
though there be nothing in our lives that men callsin, and little there of which
our consciencesare as yet educatedenough to be ashamed. Rent from God,
man lives to himself, and so is sunk in darkness.
And what shall I say about the third of the doleful triad of which this
pregnant emblem is the recognisedsymbolall the world over? Surely, though
earth be full of blessing, and life of possibilities of joy, no man travels very far
along the road without feeling that the burden of sorrow is a burden that we
all have to carry. There are blessings in plenty, there is mirth more than
enough. There is ‘the laughter’ which is ‘the crackling of thorns’ under a pot.
There are plenty of distractions and amusements, ‘blessings more plentiful
than hope’; but yet the ground tone of every human life, when the first flush
of inexperience and novelty has worn off, apart from God, is sadness,
conscious ofitself sometimes, and driven to all manner of foolish attempts at

forgetfulness, unconscious ofitselfsometimes, and knowing not what is the
disease ofwhich it languishes. There it is, like some persistentminor in a great
piece of music, wailing on through all the embroidery and lightsomeness ofthe
cheerfuller and loftier notes. ‘Every heart knowethits own bitterness,’and
every heart has a bitterness of its own to know.
I do not understand how it is that men who have no religion in them can bear
their own sorrows and see their neighbours’ and not go mad. Sometimes the
world seems to me to be moving round its centralsun with a doleful
atmosphere of sighs wherever it goes, andall the mirth and stir and bustle are
but like a thin crust of grass with flowers upon it, castacross the sulphurous
depths of some volcano that may slumber for a while, but is there all the same.
Brother! you and I, awayfrom Jesus Christ, have to face the certainties of
ignorance, ofsin, of sorrow-ignoranceunenlightened, sin unconquered,
sorrow uncomforted.
And then comes the other tragic, and yet most picturesque emblem in the
representationhere: ‘They sit in darkness.’Yes!what can they do, poor
creatures? Theyknow not where to go. The light has left them, inactivity is a
necessity. And so, with folded hands, they wish for the day, or try to forgetthe
night by lighting some little torch of their own that only serves to make
darkness visible, and dies all too soon, leaving them to lie down in sorrow.
But, you say, ‘What nonsense!Inactivity! look at the fierce energy of life in
our Westernlands.’ Well, grant it all, there may be plenty of material activity
attendant upon inward stagnationand torpor. But, again, I would like to ask
how much of the most godless, commercial,artistic, intellectualactivity of so-
calledcivilised and Christian countries is owing to the stimulus and ferment
that Jesus Christ brought. If you want to see how true it is that men without

Him sit in the darkness, go to heathen lands, and see the stagnation, the
torpor, there.
Now, dear brethren, all this is true about us, in the measure in which we do
not participate by faith and love, welcoming Him into our hearts in the
illumination that Jesus Christ brings. And what I want to do is to lay upon the
hearts and consciences ofeachof us here this thought, that the solemn, tragic
picture of my text is the picture of me, separate from Christ, howeverI may
try to concealit from myself, and to mask it from other people by busying
myself with inferior knowledges,by avoiding to listen to the answerthat
consciencegives to the question as to my moral character, and by befooling
myself with noisy joys and tumultuous pleasures, in which there is no
pleasure.
II. Now, note secondly, the dayspring, or dawn.
My text, in the part on which I have just been speaking, links itself with
ancient Messianic prophecy, and this expression, ‘the dayspring from on
high.’ also links itself with other prophecies of the same sort. Almost the last
word of prophecy before the four centuries of silence which Mary and
Zacharias broke, was, ‘Unto you that fear His name shall the Sun of
Righteousnessarise with healing in His beams.’ There can be little doubt, I
think, that the allusion of my text is to these all but the last words of the
prophet Malachi. Forthat final chapter of the Old Testamentcolours the song
both of Mary and of Zacharias. And it is to be observed that the Greek
translation of the Hebrew uses the same verb, of which the cognate noun is
here employed, for the rising of the Sun of Righteousness. The picturesque old
English word ‘dayspring’ means neither more nor less than sunrising. And it
is here used practically as a name for Jesus Christ, who is Himself the Sun,
representedas rising over a darkenedearth, and yet, with a singular neglect

of the propriety of the metaphor, as descending from on high, not to shine on
us from the sky, but to ‘visit us’ on earth.
Jesus Christ Himself, over and over again, said by implication, and more than
once by direct claim, ‘I am the Light of the world.’ And my text is the
anticipation, perhaps from lips that did not fully understand the whole
significance ofthe prophecy which they spoke, ofthese later declarations. I
have said that the darkness is the emblem of three baleful things, of the
converse ofwhich light is the symbol. As the darkness speaksto us of
ignorance, so Christ, as the Sun illumines us with the light of ‘the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.’ Fordoubt we have blessed
certainty, for a far-off God we have the knowledge ofGod close athand. For
an impassive will or a stony-eyed fate we have the knowledge {and not only
the wistful yearning after the knowledge}ofa loving heart, warm and
throbbing. Our God is no unemotional abstraction, but a living Personwho
can love, who can pity, and we are speaking more than poetry when we say,
God is compassion, and compassionis God. This we know because ‘He that
hath seenMe hath seenthe Father.’And the solid certainty of a loving God,
tender, pitying, mighty to help, quick to hear, ready to forgive, waiting to
bless, is borne into our hearts, and comes there, sweetas the sunshine, when
we turn ourselves to the light of Christ.
In like manner the darkness, born of our own sin, which wraps our hearts,
and shuts out so much that is fair and sweetand strong, will pass away if we
turn ourselves to Him. His light pouring into our souls will hurt the eye at
first, but it will hurt to cure. The darkness ofsin and alienation will pass, and
the true light will shine.
The darkness ofsorrow-well!it will not cease, but He will ‘smooth the raven
down of darkness till it smiles,’ and He will bring into our griefs such a spirit
of quiet submission as that they shall change into a solemn scornof ills, and be

almost like gladnesses. Peace, whichis better than exuberant delight, will
come to quiet the sorrow of the soulthat trusts in Jesus Christ. The day which
is knowledge, purity, gladsomeness,the cheerful day will be ours if we hold by
Him. We ‘are all the children of the light and of the day’; we ‘are not of the
night nor of darkness.’
Brother, it is possible to grope at noontide as in the dark, and in all the blaze
of Christ’s revelation still to be left in the Cimmerian folds of midnight gloom.
You can shut your eyes to the sunshine; have you opened your hearts to its
coming?
I cannot dwell {your time will not allow of it} upon the other points connected
with this description of the day spring, except just to point out in passing the
singular force and depth of the words-whichI suppose are more forcible and
deep than he who spoke them understood at the time that visitation was
described. The dayspring is ‘from on high.’ This Sun has come down on to the
earth. It has not risen on a far-off horizon, but it has come down and visited
us, and walks among us. This Sun, our life-star, ‘hath had elsewhere its
setting, and cometh from afar.’ ForHe that rises upon us as the Light of life,
hath descendedfrom the heavens, and was, before He appearedamongst men.
And His coming is a divine visitation. The word here ‘hath visited us’ {or
‘shall visit us,’ as the RevisedVersion varies it}, is chiefly employed in the Old
Testamentto describe the divine acts of self-revelation, and these, mostly
redemptive acts. Zacharias employs it in that sense in the earlier portion of
the song, where he says that ‘God hath visited and redeemed His people.’ And
so from the use of this word we gather these two thoughts-God comes to us
when Christ comes to us, and His coming is wondrous, blessednearness, and
nearness to eachof us. ‘What is man that Thou shouldst be mindful of him, or
the sonof man that Thou shouldst visit him?’ said the old Psalmist. We say
‘What is man that the Dayspring from on high should come down upon earth,

and round His immortal beams, should, as it were, castthe veil and
obscurationof a human form; and so walk amongst us, the embodied Light
and the Incarnate God?’‘The dayspring from on high hath visited us.’
III. Lastly, note the directing by the light.
‘To guide our feetinto the way of peace.’This Sun stoops to the office of the
star that moved before the wise men and hovered over His cradle, and
becomes to eachindividual soul a guide and director. The picture of my text, I
suppose, carries us on to the morning, when the benighted travellers catchthe
first gleams of the rising sun and resume their activity, and there is a cheerful
stir through the encampment and the way is open before them once more, and
they are ready to walk in it. The force of the metaphor, however, implies more
than that, for it speaks to us of the wonder that this universal Light should
become the specialguide of eachindividual soul, and should not merely hang
in the heavens, to castthe broad radiance of its beams over the whole surface
of the earth, but should move before eachman, a light unto his feetand a
lamp to his path, in specialmanifestationto him of his duty and his life’s
pilgrimage.
There is only one way of peace, and that is to follow His beams and to be
directed by His preceding us. Then we shall realise the most indispensable of
all the conditions of peace-Christbrings you and me the reconciliationwhich
puts us at peace with God, which is the foundation of all other tranquillity.
And He will guide docile feetinto the way of peace in yet another fashion-in
that the following of His example, the cleaving to Him, the holding by His
skirts or by His hand, and the treading in His footsteps, is the only way by
which the heart can receive the solid satisfactionin which it rests, and the
consciencecanceasefrom accusing and stinging. The way of wisdom is a path
of pleasantness anda way of peace. Only they who walk in Christ’s footsteps
have quiet hearts and are at amity with God, in concordwith themselves,

friends of mankind, and at peace with circumstances. There is no strife within,
no strained relations or hostile alienation to God, no gnawing unrest of
unsatisfied desires, no pricks of accusing conscience;for the man who puts his
hand into Christ’s hand, and says, ‘Order Thou my footsteps by Thy word’;
‘Where Thou goestI will go, and what Thou commandestI will do.’
Brother, put thy hand out from the darkness and claspHis, and ‘the darkness
shall be light about thee’; and He will fulfil His own promise when He said, ‘I
am the Light of the world. He that followethMe shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the Light of life.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
1:67-80 Zacharias uttered a prophecy concerning the kingdom and salvation
of the Messiah. The gospelbrings light with it; in it the day dawns. In John
the Baptistit began to break, and increasedapace to the perfect day. The
gospelis discovering;it shows that about which we were utterly in the dark; it
is to give light to those that sit in darkness, the light of the knowledge ofthe
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It is reviving; it brings light to those
that sit in the shadow of death, as condemned prisoners in the dungeon. It is
directing; it is to guide our feet in the way of peace, into that way which will
bring us to peace atlast, Ro 3:17. John gave proofs of strong faith, vigorous
and holy affections, and of being above the fear and love of the world. Thus he
ripened for usefulness;but he lived a retired life, till he came forward openly
as the forerunner of the Messiah. Let us follow peace with all men, as well as
seek peacewith God and our own consciences.And if it be the will of God that
we live unknown to the world, still let us diligently seek to grow strong in the
grace ofJesus Christ.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
Whereby the dayspring ... - The word "dayspring" means the morning light,
the aurora, the rising of the sun. It is called the dayspring "from on high"
because the light of the gospelshines forth from heaven. God is its Author,
and through His mercy it shines upon people. There is here, doubtless, a

reference to Isaiah60:1-2; indeed, almost the very words of that place are
quoted. Compare also Revelation22:16.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
78. Through the tender mercy of our God—the sole spring, necessarily, of all
salvationfor sinners.
dayspring from on high—either Christ Himself, as the "Sun of righteousness"
(Mal 4:2), arising on a dark world [Beza, Grotius, Calvin, De Wette,
Olshausen, &c.], or the light which He sheds. The sense, ofcourse, is one.
Matthew Poole's Commentary
In the Greek it is, through the bowels of mercy. An ordinary expression, and
very natural, to signify greatand deep compassion, Genesis43:30 1 Kings
3:26. Our remission of sin flowethfrom God’s bowels of mercy; it depends not
upon our satisfactionsand penances, (as papists dream), but God’s free and
tender love; yet God must be just, and declare his righteousness while he
justifieth the ungodly.
Whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us, anatolhex uqouv. Some
think that the Greek wordanswereththe Hebrew word, translated the
Branch, Jeremiah 23:5 Zechariah3:8: the seventy interpreters translate it by
anatolhn, Jeremiah33:15. Those texts manifestly relate to Christ, who is
calledthere the Branch. Others think it rather answereththe Hebrew word
dwa we translate it a greatlight. Others think it should be translated the East.
So they say Christ is calledZechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12; but we translate it
the Branchin both those places. Be it the Branch, or the Light, or Dayspring,
or the East, it is certainChrist is meant, who is calledthe Sun of
righteousness, Malachi4:2. That Godmight be just in the remissionof our
sins, he sent Christ to visit us, and in our nature to die for us.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Through the tender mercy of our God,.... or"bowels ofmercy", to which the
forgiveness ofsin is owing;the source and spring of pardon, is the free grace

and abundant mercy of God; it takes its rise from thence, though it is
channelled in the blood and sacrifice ofChrist; and which no way derogates
from, but rather heightens the riches of God's grace and mercy: for it was
mercy that moved God to enter into a covenantwith his Son, in which
forgiveness ofsin is promised; and it was mercy to setforth his Son, in his
eternal purposes and decrees;and to send him forth in the fulness of time, to
shed his blood for the remissionof sins; it was the mercy of God to us, that
provided a lamb for a burnt offering, and then acceptedofthe sacrifice and
satisfactionofhis Son, in our room and stead, and forgave all our sins, for his
sake;and whateverthe pardon of our sins costGod and Christ, it is all free
grace and mercy to us: it is owing not to the absolute mercy of God, or to the
mercy of God as an absolute God, but to the mercy of "our" God; our God in
Christ, our covenantGod and Father, whose bowels yearnedtowards us, and
whose pity is that of a tender parent: whereby
the day spring from on high hath visited us: the word here used, and is
translated "the day spring", is the same which the Septuagintuse, in
Jeremiah23:5 where the Messiahis spokenof, under the name of the
"branch": and undoubtedly the MessiahJesus, is intended here, who is the
man, that branch, that has grown up out of his place;not from below, but
from above; and who is the phosphorus, or bringer of light, that bright and
morning star, that sun of righteousness, who has light in himself, and
communicates light to others; even light natural, spiritual, and eternal; and
with his rays and beams of light, life, and love, refreshes, exhilarates, and
warms, the hearts of his people: and by the "visit" he has made in our
"horizon", is meant his assumption of human nature; which, like a friendly
visit, proceededfrom pure love to the children of God; and was a drawing
near unto them, for it was a taking on him their nature, in which he
representedtheir persons;and was done through much difficulty and great
condescension, since he was in the form of God, and thought it no robbery to
be equal with him; and his stay on earth in this nature, was but for a little
while; so that on all accounts, it may be truly calleda "visit": and which, as
the remissionof sin is wholly owing to the tender mercy of our God, who put
him upon it, calledhim to it, sent him forth made of a woman, and in the
likeness ofsinful flesh, to obtain eternal redemption, in which mercy and

Jesus was the dayspring from on high

Jesus was the dayspring from on high

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Jesus was the dayspring from on high