Christ's Light Exposes the Darkness

1 This is a vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:

2 In the last days, the mountain of the Lord’s house
will be the highest of all—
the most important place on earth.
It will be raised above the other hills,
and people from all over the world will stream there to worship.
3 People from many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of Jacob’s God.
There he will teach us his ways,
and we will walk in his paths.”
For the Lord’s teaching will go out from Zion;
his word will go out from Jerusalem.
4 The Lord will mediate between nations
and will settle international disputes.
They will hammer their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will no longer fight against nation,
nor train for war anymore.

A Warning of Judgment
5 Come, descendants of Jacob,
let us walk in the light of the Lord!
6 For the Lord has rejected his people,
the descendants of Jacob,
because they have filled their land with practices from the East
and with sorcerers, as the Philistines do.
They have made alliances with pagans.
7 Israel is full of silver and gold;
there is no end to its treasures.
Their land is full of warhorses;
there is no end to its chariots.
8 Their land is full of idols;
the people worship things they have made
with their own hands.
9 So now they will be humbled,
and all will be brought low—
do not forgive them.
10 Crawl into caves in the rocks.
Hide in the dust
from the terror of the Lord
and the glory of his majesty.
11 Human pride will be brought down,
and human arrogance will be humbled.
Only the Lord will be exalted
on that day of judgment.

Here’s a question: Does the light of God draw you near or send you into hiding? What a question, you may say! How can anyone not be drawn to the light of God?

The prophet Isaiah was drawn to the light. In his excitement he wanted God’s people in Jerusalem (and in all of Judah) to see what he saw. In the midst of darkness and fear he saw ahead of him a guiding light. He wanted the people of God to see what he was seeing. He called on them all to join him in walking “in the light of the Lord.”

But not all of Isaiah’s neighbors shared his passion. Isaiah’s fellow citizens had been attracted to the paganism of the ancient world. “They are full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines … Their land is full of idols …”

In the following verses Isaiah describes the result of the people’s spiritual stubbornness. He cynically advises them to run and hide in the rocks, away from the awesome scene of the splendor of the majesty of the Lord.

What happens when Christ, the “light of the world” (John 8:12), draws near to you? By Christ’s Spirit we receive the humility to allow that light to illumine every dark corner of our lives. But there is more. By that same Spirit we can be drawn into a faith relationship with Jesus that fills us with his holiness.

Thank you, Lord, for the impact of Christ’s presence on many millions of people in the world today. Help me to reflect more of his light in my own life. Amen.