This year, it was extra special, because smack-dab on the summer solstice,
in the middle of the day --11:59 a.m. to be exact,
just in time to experience high noon on the longest day of the year--
my second grandson was born.
I am now the incredibly blessed grandma of a winter solstice grandson with platinum blond hair,
(James Michael, 12/23/2018, held by his mother, my daughter)
and a summer solstice grandson with surprisingly black hair.
(Preston Daniel, 6/20/2020, held by his father, my son)
I always wonder if the Second Coming of Christ will occur at the summer solstice, that He, by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself (Philippians 3:21), will transform the longest day of the year into a day of glory that will never, ever end.
The first time He came, Jesus entered the physical universe as it was descending into darkness, the darkness that had entered the world through the sin of Adam and Eve.
"You may surely eat of every tree of the garden," God instructed Adam, "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17)
In that beautiful garden, where life and light never came to an end, who knows how long Adam and Eve lived in happy obedience? It could have been weeks, or days, or it could have been only a few hours. It could have been a millennia. In that time, there was no death.
Adam and Eve did not even have any knowledge of death. All they had known was good, plenty, satisfaction, joy and peace. When they worked, they did so with every skill and every resource. Every job they did was rewarding, gratifying, fruitful and fulfilling. No aphids ate their roses, nor did fungi blight their tomatoes. Drought? No such thing! Tornadoes? Never. Every aspect of their lives unfolded unhindered, under the benevolent direction of God. It was always summer, but never oppressively hot, and in the cool of the day, they walked side-by-side with the Lord.
And then the serpent came to tempt them to turn away from this loving Father who provided so generously and bountifully for them. There were things the Lord was keeping from them, the serpent said, things God did not want them to know.
As with every effective lie, there was a kernel of truth in what the serpent said. God had created all things, and then pronounced them good, good, good, good, good and very good (Genesis 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). Adam and Eve lived in the midst of abundant goodness, experiencing and knowing it every day. What was God keeping from them? He was keeping them from evil, warning them to stay away from the knowledge of evil. Like the good, good Father that He is, He knew that they would not like evil, that it would hurt them and bring them sorrow.
So yes, God knew more than Adam and Eve knew, and He had warned them that evil would bring death. Yet, how could two innocent beings in paradise, who had never known pain or want of any kind, understand what death was? They had no framework within which to imagine death. All they had was God's kind and lavish provision of good. In hindsight, we can argue that they ought to have trusted in God because of the goodness they had already received from Him. Yet, we must understand that they had no negative experience to enable them to comprehend the perfection of their situation.
"Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" the serpent asked Eve.
"We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden," Eve replied, "but God said, 'You shall not eat of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
And then that humdinger of a lie: the serpent told Eve, "You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
O, dear brothers and sisters of the earth, please see what the enemy wants to do to us. He knows the grace of God, the love God has for His masterpiece of creation, the man and woman whom He created to reflect the glory of His own likeness. Satan wants to destroy us, destroy the mirroring of God's image, obscure the glory, darken the lights. Satan knew that God, who is love, would not temperamentally dash us into oblivion for our disobedience, so he said, "You will not surely die." And, to many, it looks as though they didn't. Just as flowers cut from a garden remain beautiful for awhile, so Adam and Eve looked across at one another after eating the fruit, surmising that things seemed mostly okay. Yet, in that moment of disobedience, that one bad decision which visited misery over all the earth in its wake, the beginning of death came into the world. Life was cloven from its Source. Two immortal beings lost their immortality and began to fade. What would have lasted forever suddenly became subject to death; every flower blossom and blade of grass, every bird, fish and rabbit, every elephant and giraffe, suddenly faced a death sentence. I often wonder if it was at this juncture when God instituted reproduction, a mitigating factor to enable the continuity of life, even in the face of death (this idea helps clear a bit of my confusion over 1 Timothy 2:15).
It occurs to me: The entrance of sin and death into the world coordinates symbolically with the fall equinox. Winter is not here, but the decay, the deterioration has begun. There will be no going backward to summer, only a journey through winter with the hope of rebirth.
Darkness increases daily until the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. But instead of dissolving into eternal death at the point of the winter solstice, we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Jesus came to deliver us from death and offer eternal life to all who will turn from rebellion, accepting His gracious forgiveness through the blood of His cross. That tiny baby born in a stable, the light of the world, came to turn the tide in a new direction. The change began small, but it's growing towards infinity even now. As a reminder, every year by January 1, daylight will have increased by approximately 2.5 minutes, and the increase accelerates as the spring equinox approaches.
We celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus at the spring equinox. The spring equinox is when the balance of light and dark in a day shifts to more light than dark. After the fall equinox, each day contains more dark than light, ever increasing in darkness until it culminates in the darkest day on the winter solstice. The beauty of the winter solstice is that light begins to increase as soon as it passes! And the beauty of the spring equinox is that light begins to overshadow darkness. Christ is risen! The sin debt is settled, paid by the only human who could live a perfect life, God Himself in flesh. We need only come to Him in faith and receive His Spirit, who lovingly connects us back to our Source of life.
I am sure that God planned these life rhythms purposefully and led us to celebrate His feasts at the most appropriate times of the year.
And this is why I think that it is quite possible that the Return of Christ, the Second Coming, will happen around the summer solstice. That year, when it comes, the passing of the summer solstice will not mean that days begin once more to shorten. Instead, our days will lengthen and lengthen, until there is no more night at all, only light, forever and ever, on the beautiful day that knows no end.
And night will be no more.
They will need no light of lamp or sun,
for the Lord God will be their light,
and they will reign forever and ever!
~Revelation 22:5
Dear Lord, may my sweet summer and winter solstice grandsons live to know you and trust you and worship you. May they love you with all their hearts, souls and minds, and may we all live together in glory for eternity. Amen.
My secret grammy names for them are Spero, for the blond boy of hope,
and Nico, for the summer boy of victory.
I only think these names in my head,
and pray by them.
