“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.”
- Isaiah 9:2 (NIV)
“The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
- Matthew 4:16 (NIV)
When Matthew wrote His gospel, he wanted to make sure that people knew that Jesus was the “real deal”. Thus, he linked Jesus’ appearance on earth as fulfillment of the major prophecies concerning the Messiah or Christ, the “chosen one”.
Your correspondent has written much about the subject of “light” in this space. Perhaps you’ve noticed that he has often characterized salvation with the metaphor of being delivered from the kingdom of darkness and transported to the kingdom of light.
As the Christmas season envelops us, and as our daylight grows shorter each day for the next two weeks, light becomes a precious resource. Our lives, governed by the movement of the Sun across the sky, search for light once it sets to see our way clear, stay safe, and enjoy additional activities.
In some places of the world where electrification has not arrived, light is a most precious and hard-earned commodity. Indeed, the daily cycle becomes so much more dependent on the Sun’s rise and fall. Once the sun is down, life all but stops.
In a similar way, we should view our Christian practice. Like plants, we should lean toward the Son, seeking His light, bringing all our activities to be under His shining. Like the prophet Isaiah, we recognize that the alternative is deep darkness and, ultimately, death.
How are we doing at “soaking up the Son”?
