"Arise, Jerusalem! Let your light shine for all to see. For the glory of the Lord rises to shine on you. Darkness as black as night covers all the nations of the earth, but the glory of the Lord rises and appears over you. All nations will come to your light; mighty kinds will come to see your radiance."
"No longer will you need the sun to shine by day, nor the moon to give its light by night, for the Lord your God will be your everlasting light, and God will be your glory. Your sun will never set; your moon will not go down. For the Lord will be your everlasting light. Your days of mourning will come to an end."
Isaiah 60:1-3, 19-20
Light makes things visible; it illuminates. To light something is to set it burning as a lamp, candle, or fire; to kindle or ignite. I love to find all the various synonyms that can be used to explain and define a word. It brings me greater understanding of the meaning that can be derived from a passage of scripture
In Isaiah 60, I loved the imagery of the light, because when I think of light, I equate it with the brightness of joy, happiness, goodness, and truth. The sunshine of life is the light of Christ within us. God brings to us eternal light, and makes it to dwell inside us. As believers we are forever in God's truth, sharing the resulting joy and happiness. We are no longer in the darkness where we were once so lost. And we don't ever have to go back. Praise God.
This everlasting light that we find with Christ should ignite or kindle a fire of passion in our hearts and souls to know Christ and to make him known. That is what Isaiah was referencing in verse 1 when he said, "Let your light shine for all to see." When we do let our light shine, the radiance of Christ will shine forth through us and draw people to him! I think it is a beautiful picture; to think that God designed it so that we would be his instruments of light in a dark world, bringing the light of day to those who are still lost in the darkness.
Those who feel stuck in an endless string of gray days of despair, pain, and desperation need not despair any longer, because God is our everlasting light. Sometimes when I feel like I am stuck in a string of gray days, I feel as though I am exuding the essence of a gray, rainy, miserable day. But Isaiah 60 gives me such joy and encouragement for those times. I have my own source of light and sunshine for those cloudy days-- it is Christ in me. Hallelujah! I can choose to tap into that light and never have a day completely overshadowed by inner emotional or spiritual dreariness. I want to choose Christ's everlasting light when I rise in the morning of every new day, knowing that I have light inside me, and I just have to let it burst forth and shine like daylight.
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