The sun is the very centerpiece of our solar system. It is a ball of plasma that by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, is heated to incandescence. It’s composed of 75% hydrogen and 25% helium. At its core, the temperature of the sun reaches a staggering 27 million degrees! The sun radiates its energy as visible light, ultraviolet light and infrared radiation. It is without question the most important source of energy for life on earth.

            Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth. And it was so. And God made the two great lights- the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day” (Genesis 1:14-19).

            This account, of the fourth day, of the creation of all things, is a marvelous revelation of just how awesome and powerful our God is. We learn from later revelation that it was Jesus, the second member of the God-head, the Son of God, who created all things. John wrote, “All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). This “logos” or “word” that dwelt with God before the creation of all things was said to have “put on flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1-2, 14). This is the one and only, the supreme and superior, Jesus Christ. He literally spoke the sun, moon and stars into existence. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and the host of them by the breath of His mouth” (Psalm 33:6). “He spoke and it was done, He commanded and it stood firm” (Psalm 33:9). And to think that all of this power, and all of this energy that he expended in creating this (which the power and energy had to come from somewhere) didn’t deplete from Him one iota of His greatness or ability to do.

            We learn early on that nature obeys the voice of God (Genesis 1-2). He created it with all its laws and detailed and delicate innerworkings. All throughout human history, as much as the Bible has revealed to us, we know that when the Son spoke, the sun listened. In Joshua 10, Joshua requested that the “sun stand still and the moon stop”. While this writer believes that this is accommodative language, set from the point of view of the one making the request, it matters little whether the earth quit rotating or the sun suspended, the point is that Joshua requested more time and God intervened at that request. Nature obeyed. The sun stood still. This historical fact is not a lone instance we read about in the Bible. The Chinese, Incas and Aztecs, Babylonians and Persians all record in their history a day that was twice as long as any other recorded day. Herodotus, an ancient historian, narrates that while in Egypt, priest showed him their temple records, and that he read of a day which was twice the natural length of any day that had ever been recorded (Robert Boyd, Boyds Bible Handbook, pp.122,123).

            Joshuas instance of Gods power to suspend the natural course of planetary, universal involvement, is not itself alone in the Bible. God gave a sign in the book of Amos to when He would have ended Israel as the world had always known it. Israel had repeatedly trampled all over Gods law and His divine system of worship or appealing to Him. He had already spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, that, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not according to the covenant I made with their fathers on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people” (Jeremiah 31:31-33). The fact that God was going to end the covenant was well established. The reason for the abolition of the covenant was well established. So, when Amos writes, (see Amos 8:3-10 for context), we see a sign given in Amos 8:9, which states, “And on that day, declares the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight”. When did this take place? Did this event ever occur in human history?

            Jesus has been betrayed and condemned. He has been pierced with three stakes that are holding Him to a cross, suspended between heaven and earth. It is at this point that the sign occurs. In Matthew 27:45, we read, “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.” So, from “high noon” until three o’clock, the sun went down and the earth got dark in “clear day”. It is during this time the Son makes a declaration, one of seven from the cross, “IT IS FINISHED”. We read more commentary on this occurrence from the inspired pen of the Apostle Paul. When he writes, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross” (Colossians 2:12). It was in the act of Gods giving the perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ, that he “filled full” the law and everything God sent Him to do and be. Jesus, then, nullifies the system of Judaism and that old contract and purchased the church with His blood (Acts 20:28).

            Now, we have noted that the “Son” was the creator of all things. He spoke the sun into existence. The sun has obeyed Him in multiple instances. All of nature seems to harken unto His voice (Matthew 8:27). That fact speaks volumes. The Sun, Moon, and Starry host obey the voice of the Son. The storms and all of nature bow before His command. What should be our response when the Son speaks?

            When the Son says, “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16), what should be our response? Should we mock it and say, “it doesn’t really mean that”? Should we ignore it and say, “God is too loving to make strict stipulations” or “He knows my heart”? Is that a proper response to Jesus, the Son? Is that how creation responded to His voice? Nope, only prideful man deems himself worthy to argue with God (Matthew 7:22). Only prideful man deems himself powerful enough to withstand God, and that somehow God will bend His will to fit mans desires.

            When the Son says, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15), do we believe that to be someone else’s job? When the Son demands of any follower of His to deny themselves, take up their cross and follow Him daily (Luke 9:23), is there any room to deviate from those instructions?

            When the Son says, “He that puts away his wife and marries another, except it be for fornication, commits adultery, and he that marries her which is put away commits adultery” (Matthew 19:9). Do you or I have any right to circumvent that divine marriage law? Can we make apology for it? Can we fenagle our way around it for our sons or daughters?

            WHAT DO WE DO WHEN THE SON SPEAKS?

Let me suggest three things we need to do when the Son speaks.

1. We need to LISTEN.

            There is not a man alive who has ever had anything more important to say than the Son of God. His words are spirit and life (John 6:63). “If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him and sup with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20). “Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness” (Hebrews 3:7-8). The greatest need of this hour in men’s lives is to simply listen to Jesus. When Jesus says Baptism saves and some “Johnny come lately” comes along and says it doesn’t, listen to Jesus!

2. We need to OBEY.

            Many men have heard the Son speak, they listened to what He said, but failed to submit. There will be no salvation without submission. “And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all that OBEY Him” (Hebrews 5:9). I am mindful of the “rich, young, ruler” (Matthew 19; Mark 10; Luke 18) upon hearing the words of Jesus, went away full of sorrow (Mark 10:22). I can’t help but think of the multitudes who followed after the Son. They saw Him perform miracles (John 6:2), and He fed them (John 6:12). They followed Him at all cost (John 6:24-25). Then came the moment when the Son spoke (John 6:26-65). The hard truth was less palatable than the miraculous loaves and fish (John 6:60). And when the Son spoke, the multitude left (John 6:66). The miracles they witnessed and the food they ate benefitted them none- the only thing to benefit the human frame in this existence is obedience to Jesus.

3. We need to REPEAT.

            Whatever the Son has spoken should be exactly what you and I speak. Whatever the Son has revealed on any given subject should be the position is ascribe and the stance that I take. I need to tell people of the Son, the center of all human history. The centerpiece of human creation and redemption. The one who gave the sun every ounce of its glory and majesty. It is He, the Son, who should have complete sway over our lives. It is He that should energize us, like the sun energies the earth. It is He, the Son, who causes exponential growth in the lives of those who submit to His will. As the sun gives opportunity to grow to every living thing- the Son grants to all the greatest opportunity ever afforded, to be like Him (1 John 3:2). If we will listen, obey and repeat, we will make a difference in our lives and in those about us.

What will you do when the Son speaks?