If the sun could be turned off like a light switch, how long do you think we would last? According to a Popular Science article, the average surface temperature of Earth would drop below 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Most plants would die within three weeks, and humans wouldn't survive much longer without living in submarines. Moreover, without the sun's gravitational pull holding the solar system together, Earth would be flung into outer space.

  At the beginning of the book of Daniel, it appears that Israel had lost their Sun. The God who had given them life and held them together for centuries handed them over to the Babylonians (Daniel 1:2). The temple and palaces of Jerusalem were burned to the ground, and its walls destroyed (2 Chronicles 36:19). But though the book begins on a dark note, the first chapter ends with a ray of hope by referencing Cyrus, whose name means "sun."

  Over 150 years before Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 BC, God called him "My shepherd" and declared, "He shall perform all My pleasure" (Isaiah 44:28). In 538 BC, Cyrus acknowledged God's plan to "build Him a house at Jerusalem" (Ezra 1:2) and decreed that the Jews should return to rebuild the temple. What a dramatic reversal of Judah's fate!

  Cyrus foreshadowed Jesus, "the Sun of Righteousness" (Malachi 4:2) and "the good shepherd" (John 10:11). Like Cyrus in the time of Daniel, Jesus came to "set at liberty those who are oppressed" (Luke 4:18). The name Jesus means "Yahweh saves," for "He will save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).

  Jesus reversed our fate when He died for our sins and rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4). He defeated the devil and reclaimed us as His living temples (1 Corinthians 6:19). Cyrus gave hope to ancient Israel when he freed them from Babylonian captivity and sent them home. Jesus gives us hope by freeing us from sin and promising to take us to our heavenly home. There, He will be our temple, and His glory will outshine the sun (Revelation 21:22, 23).

 

Reflect: How does the Sun's victory over the devil's darkness give me hope?