He Is In the Sun

Yesterday in the late afternoon as we got in the car, my younger children marveled at the incredible sunset they saw before them. They observed the beautiful pink color spread across the sky as the sun set behind the horizon and created an amazing panorama amidst the clouds. The sun is one of the most powerful physical symbols we have on earth to remind us of the Son of God. Many scriptures connect the sun with the Savior. In modern revelation the Lord said, “As also he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:7). The light of the sun should remind us that He created it. In Joseph Smith’s vision of the celestial world, he said this: “These are they whose bodies are celestial, whose glory is that of the sun, even the glory of God, the highest of all, whose glory the sun of the firmament is written of as being typical” (Doctrine and Covenants 76:70). The best analogy for the glory of the celestial world, the place where the Savior dwells, is the sun because it is so bright. When Joseph had a vision of the Savior, he described Him this way: “His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah, saying” (Doctrine and Covenants 110:3). The countenance of the Savior is like the brightness of the sun. I love these words of Isaiah which encourage us to connect the Lord with the sun: “I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness” (Isaiah 45:5-7). A knowledge of Jesus Christ will one day be as ubiquitous as the rising of the sun. He formed the light, and each day we see the sun we should be reminded of Him.

                In the Book of Mormon the sun is also a powerful symbol of the Savior’s birth and death. Samuel the Lamanite prophesied, “Therefore, there shall be one day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night; and this shall be unto you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born” (Helaman 14:4). That is exactly what happened, “And it came to pass that there was no darkness in all that night, but it was as light as though it was mid-day. And it came to pass that the sun did rise in the morning again, according to its proper order; and they knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born, because of the sign which had been given” (3 Nephi 1:19). As we watch the sunset each day we should be reminded of the birth of Jesus Christ and the night when there was no darkness at the going down of the sun. Samuel also prophesied, “But behold, as I said unto you concerning another sign, a sign of his death, behold, in that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his light unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of three days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead” (Helaman 14:20). This too came to pass: “And there was not any light seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor the moon, nor the stars, for so great were the mists of darkness which were upon the face of the land” (3 Nephi 8:22). When the Son of God died, light went out of the world. The setting sun should also remind us of that day when He died on the cross for each of us.   

                Other scriptures speak of a day when the sun will no longer be needed because Jesus alone will give us enough light. Isaiah wrote, “The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended” (Isaiah 60:19-20). John saw in his vision: “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Revelation 21:23). He also wrote of a future day, And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:5). In modern revelation the coming of the Savior to the earth is described this way: “And so great shall be the glory of his presence that the sun shall hide his face in shame, and the moon shall withhold its light, and the stars shall be hurled from their places” (Doctrine and Covenants 133:49). So great will be the brightness and glory of the Savior upon His return, that the light of the sun will no longer be needed. The sun should stand as a powerful reminder to us each day that He created it and gave it light, that even the sun was affected when He was born and died, and that His glory is greater than that even of the sun.