Arise! Shine! Your Light Has Come!

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. (Isaiah 60:1-2, NIV)  

I preached on this text on Sunday and decided to share some thoughts on this passage for today.

Darkness Covers the Earth

It doesn't take much to see the darkness covering the earth in our day. Evil seems to get all the headlines: Ferguson & New York killings and response; ISIS continues to kill almost everyone that isn't ISIS; the lost girls of Nigeria are still lost. Even the natural realm seems to be corrupted: Ebola, Cancer, Alzheimer's, Hurricanes, first drought and now flooding in California. This is to say nothing of spiritual darkness: Robin Williams committed suicide; domestic abuse in the NFL; the continued attacks on Christianity and Christians across the globe; waning church attendance; and a general spiritual malaise and apathy even in many congregations.

The world can be a pretty dark place at times. It can seem overwhelming. If you look at it long enough and closely enough, it's hard not to conclude that hopelessness is the only rational attitude.

It was into a world as dark as ours, and in many ways even darker that Jesus was born. Jesus is born into the Roman world, an empire run by thugs, by intimidation, by public torture and execution and by mercilessly putting down any real or imagined rebellion. They took money in large amounts in the form of taxes and tribute from wealthy and poor, robbing nations of their own inheritance, their own means to thrive.

There was terrible corruption in the Jewish religious system on the day Jesus was born. The high priest was now named for political reasons and not without the approval of Herod. Of this Herod it was said that you would be better off being his dog than his son, since his dogs had a better chance of not being killed by him. This is the Herod who rebuilt the temple. He made it beautiful on the outside, but all of temple worship was tainted by the corruption of compromise with Herod and Rome. While they managed to keep out idols and gentiles from the courts, they allowed the influence of Rome and of Herod in they way they led the people.

Even the Pharisees, who saw themselves as preserving pure Judaism, as opposed to the compromisers, exchanged the intent of the writings of Moses for mere laws and rituals that they believed were required by God for His blessings. They were severe in their devotion to the Bible they had (what we would call the Old Testament), but they had missed the point of turning their hearts to God, and became insistent on mere outward obedience.

Into that world, in an oppressed country, in a small, obscure village, in a barn (because there wasn't any other place for His parents to spend the night), Jesus enters as a baby. Small and helpless: Savior of the world. Before He was 2 years old, that corrupt king (Herod) tried to kill Him by killing all the boys in town.

Into our own personal dark worlds, Jesus comes. He still enters our world, so full of hopelessness and cynicism. He enters through the Spirit, Who still hovers over the dark places, where no one can really live. He enters lives damaged by bullying, by hurtful speech, by prejudices, by abuse of all kinds. He enters our darkness, sometimes unnoticed.

Jesus Appears

Into this dark world the Light begins to shine. Jesus came, not as in idea, not as a projection of hope, nor an apparition. He could be seen, heard, touched (1John 1:1-3). You could shake His hand. If you were close enough, you could count the whiskers on His chin. If He spoke, you could hear his accent. He became a human being, with all our limitations (though He never stopped being God). 

One of the craziest things you'll ever hear is: God was born as a human baby boy. If the Bible didn't say so, and I suggested it, you would have every right to reject the notion as both lunacy and heresy. The absurdity of this--of Jesus being the very Son of God--is one of the things that eventually got Him crucified.

The message Jesus brings is summed up by John in 1John 1:5: This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. When Jesus, being God enters our dark world He brings the light of God with Him. Into this dark world, so full of death enters Jesus: In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. (John 1:4–5). Jesus brings life and light and the darkness doesn't have a chance.

A New Day Dawns

The Lord Himself rises upon us! In Isaiah 60:1 we read the glory of the Lord rises upon us and in verse 2 we read the Lord rises upon us. God's glory and His presence in the Bible are often two ways of talking about the same thing. When God's glory rests over the tabernacle or fills the temple, it is God Himself, His presence resting over the tabernacle and filling the temple. This rising glory is the rising of God's presence upon His people.

His glory rises like the rising of the sun. It signals a new day. The night--the time of darkness--is over! The light chases off the darkness and we can see things as they really are.

The glory of the Lord rises upon us, His people. It doesn't rise over the whole earth (yet). But it does rise upon us. There may be (and is) darkness in our world, but there is supposed to be light among us.

Jesus birth signals the dawn of that new day. History pivots on that point in history. Our calendars reference that point in history (even though, through a miscalculation--Jesus was probably born about 4 B.C.). We who live on this side of Jesus birth, live in a new era. The impact of His birth, His life, His ministry, His death and resurrection, are still felt today.

The light He brings is an everlasting light (Isaiah 60:19). Light bulbs burn out. The sun will eventually burn out (in about 4 billion years or so). Nothing tangible lasts forever. All the light and enlightenment we humans find on our own is fading and temporary. But the light Jesus brings won't go out. It is still shining today. It shines in us who follow and believe in Him. It shines through us.

We can arise and shine, rather than merely arise and reflect, because the God's light is in us, through His Spirit. According to Jesus, we are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14-16). We have a light to shine in this dark world. It is the light of God's glory, God's presence among us and within us.

This is the day of Emmanuel: God with us (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23). And while we might think of Jesus as up in heaven, His promise is to always be with us (Matthew 28:20). He does that now through His Holy Spirit, Who is God with us and God within us.

So Get Up and Glow!

Arise and Shine! In every way the light of God has come into you, shine! In every way His light has transformed you, shine! Remove the bowl and let your light shine (cf. Matthew 5:15). Shine! Blaze! Glow! God Himself is with us and within us. Let Him shine out!

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. (Isaiah 60:1-2, NIV)