p. 1 | THE MORNING COMETH by Eliza A. Otis

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 27, 1898

“THE MORNING COMETH.”

By Eliza A. Otis

Night has its stars and its moon, but its brightness is not like that of the day. All that is beautiful in earth wakens with the morning. The singing birds break into grand choruses of melody. The whispering leaves stir anew in shimmering gladness. Each opening flower, baptized with dew, exhales fresh fragrance, and man opens his eyes from his long night of slumber to a world of sunlight and of beauty. The very stars are hidden by the light, and the far-off circling worlds wheel

on their courses, unmarked by us, unseen by human eyes in the effulgence of the day.

This earth-life is to man the night-time of his being. The shadows are about him—the mystery of the future; and like far-off stars are the hopes which shine to light the horizon of his soul. He sees now “as through a glass darkly.” The sun of God’s visible presence does not yet shine on him, for here he may not see the Father “face to face,” for the mists of sin envelop him so that his vision is not clear. Sin has dominion here, and Christ has not come into the full glory of His earthly kingdom. “My kingdom is not of this world,” He declares. The pomp and vanities of earth form no part of it, and He has commanded us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Think of the glory and the joy of this life when God’s will is “done on earth as it is in heaven.” The earth will lack nothing then of heavenly bliss, and then God will dwell among men.

O, this glorious coming of the kingdom of Christ, when the wicked shall no longer hold the rulership of the earth! Then the long night of sin will be ended, and the promise of God will be fulfilled, that “the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning.”

This verse of the psalmist gives us the full assurance that the morning is coming—the morning of the resurrection, when God’s children shall wake from the tomb triumphant over evil and rejoicing forevermore in the power of redeeming love. Then will His kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

“In the morning.” That means the dawn of a new day for this unhappy earth, one without a night, when the Sun of Righteousness shall shine forth with healing in His beams. It means a dawn bright with the love of our Father and the joy of His presence. The halo of immortal life will be about us, and sinless man will walk with God as he did in Eden.

That “morning” will come to every Christian who makes ready for it. And how is he to make ready for it?—By keeping God’s commandments and hasting for His coming. Supposing that a dear friend from afar whom we had never seen were coming to visit us, one to whose gifts we owed the best that we had in life. He sends us word that he is coming, and that he will be with us soon. Should we not set about with eagerness to make ready for his coming? How speedily we should put our house in order, and prepare for him the best that we could give. We should not count the cost nor spare our efforts to give him fitting welcome. But here is our best Friend, who has said, “Behold, I come quickly,” and shall we fail to prepare our hearts for His coming? And the world also is to be made ready for the Lord’s appearance. Our duty is not done if we simply take thought of our own safety. We must have a care for others and awaken them to their need of preparation. Let us cry aloud, “Watchman, watchman, what of the night?” and the response will ring out through all the arches of time, “The morning cometh.”

And that will be a glorious morning, when all the purposes of God toward this earth shall be fulfilled, and His grand plan of redemption perfected. There is much in the providences of God that is mystery to us now, but then it will all be made plain. God’s children will discover that many things which they deemed evils were but Jacob’s ladder by which they might climb upward. “In the morning” God’s plans concerning the human race will be revealed, and will be no longer a mystery.—Eliza A. Otis, in Los Angeles Sunday Times.