sun(Son)kissed

The kiss of the sun for pardon, 

The song of the birds for mirth,

One is nearer God's heart in a garden, 

Than anywhere else on earth.

- Dorothy Frances Gurney-

I took this pic of my husband in the garden the other day. Love it - and the poem too - especially the last part which makes so much sense to me. But I didn't really understand the meaning behind the first line about "The kiss of the sun for pardon." Recently tho' our pastor shared a story he wrote in our church newsletter that shed new light (pun intended) on it and I'll never read this poem the same way again.  Tho't to share here the excerpt(my bold emphasis added)that "enlightened" me :)


 "Could there have been a more gracious promise from God? Could there have been a more comforting word to Israel's collective heart? I am referring to God's promise to His people, that after their terrible ordeal of judgment for centuries of sinful rebellion, God would restore them. Particularly the promise we read of in Isaiah 44: 22 - "I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist."


 Now according to the New Testament, we who are "in Christ" have experienced just such a wiping out of our sin guilt, through the grace and mercy of our God in response to the cleansing covering blood of His Son. The Apostle Paul declares most emphatically that there is "no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8: l). Why? Because God has "wiped out our transgressions like a thick cloud." The author to the Hebrews, in order to assure those in Christ of their "better covenant", quotes Jeremiah, that God "will be merciful to their iniquities and will remember their sins no more." (Hebrews 8: 12) Why? Their, (our) sins are no longer around to be remembered. Christ's sacrifice and victory was so profound, God is wholly justified in wiping out our "transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a heavy mist." 


 And how does He wipe them away? As one anonymous author put it, and I am so grateful for this insight, "The Lord wipes out our sin as if a cloud, not as winds blowing it away - but as the sun (by the Son) evaporating it so that particular cloud (sin) can never threaten us again." Think of it, our sins, not simply moved aside only to rush back upon us with renewed condemnation, but evaporated, vanished, gone! Gone! GONE!"


Excerpt from Highland Highlights,
From the Study - by Pastor Peter Temple