We have a creative God who is first revealed as Creator. Genesis 1:1-3, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…it was formless and void…the Spirit was hovering over the surface of the dark waters…THEN GOD SPOKE “Let there be light” and there was light. God is an artist and even in His art we see His character and His eventual plan. He takes that which is formless and void, wild and waste, and makes it good by bringing light.
There is no coincidence that John’s gospel starts out talking about the Word being God, and creating all things, and giving life which is the light of men shining in darkness and the darkness not overcoming it. So why talk about this? Because it was a set up; from the very beginning God is trying to show us He is creative and His intentions toward us is to bring light and life, to make things new.
Paul continues this language in 1 Thessalonians 5. This is where we get that Jesus will come like a thief in the night, Paul’s next few phrases, “brethren, you are not in darkness and the day will not overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day.” The thief of the night is the sun.
We must now ask ourselves, “What does this have to do with me?”
Both Jesus and later Paul more than invite us, but declare we are, a part of this process of light entering darkness. Jesus said it, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden…” Matthew 5:14 it continues to explain the pervasive nature of light, not that we might be but that we are, it is a declaration! 1 Thessalonians 5 explains again we “are all sons of light and sons of day.”
We are not given the out we so often claim. The way most people talk about their mission or lives as following Christ is that they will be light, eventually. Or we may be light. Or that we are sometimes light. These are not only untrue, but denying that which we are, our very identity and place in the family of God.
My hope in this is not to criticize or heap condemnation if you don’t feel like light or if you feel like a dimly lit wick. Jesus both declares us as light and we are assured in Isaiah 42:3 “A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.” As this continues on declaring God as creator of all things and His intentions for Israel, and carries over to us as the Church in verse 6-7, “And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations, To open blind eyes, To bring out prisoners from the dungeon And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.”
The Lord calls us a city on a hill, a lamp burning, a light to the nations. So I guess my observation and my prayer is pretty simply in the end, God said let their be light, then…
Let us be light.