“No longer will you have the sun for light by day,
Nor for brightness will the moon give you light;
But you will have the Lord for an everlasting light,
And your God for your glory.
20 “Your sun will no longer set,
Nor will your moon wane;
For you will have the Lord for an everlasting light,
And the days of your mourning will be over,” (60:19-20).
A repeat! Twice the Lord tells us we will have Him as an Everlasting Light. Yesterday the picture painted of His people was gruesomely dark, seeming as though things really couldn’t get worse. And while the Jews were facing exile and captivity, the fact is they were really already held captive and in bondage to their sin, reaping the consequences of their evil injustices.
Therefore justice is far from us,
And righteousness does not overtake us;
We hope for light, but behold, darkness,
For brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We grope along the wall like blind men,
We grope like those who have no eyes;
We stumble at midday as in the twilight,
Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men.
11 All of us growl like bears,
And moan sadly like doves;
We hope for justice, but there is none,
For salvation, but it is far from us, (Isaiah 59:2-8).
And truth be told, it often feels like that today when we think on the acts of injustice and evil that seem to be overtaking our society at its very core. And often darkness appears to have the upper hand, choking out the light, leaving us in the gloom of despair as we grope along for the all-elusive glimmer of justice, seemingly to no avail, leaving us to surmise that based on the current condition of our nation, salvation is nowhere near in sight.
But oh, this chapter… just like that, everything changes, like the flip of a switch dispelling the darkness and ushering in the flood of Light.
“Arise, shine; for your light has come,
And the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 “For behold, darkness will cover the earth
And deep darkness the peoples;
But the Lord will rise upon you
And His glory will appear upon you,” (60:1-2).
And the distinction is made between the world and those who are called out and set apart through faith. And we are reminded that the day is coming when His Glorious Light will rise upon all those who live by faith, His Light will cover the earth, and everything that is not of Him will be dispelled.
This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all, (1 John 1:5).
There is nothing of darkness in Holy God, for darkness is everything that He is not; God is Light, darkness is anti-light; and the day is coming when the anti-light will be banished forever, never again to rear its ugly darkness, for He will rise upon us in glory as Our Everlasting Light. And in that day, like the flip of a switch, Our Everlasting Light will establish His throne to bless His people forever.
Consider Him, Our Everlasting Light
This beautiful chapter depicts His restoration and transformation of Zion; the day when He will establish His reign and dispel all darkness; the day when He will gather His people, though once forsaken and hated, and bring them to Himself in honor, joy and experiential knowledge of Him as their Mighty Savior and Redeemer; the day when His people will live in His abundance, gathered and glorified with compassion; the day when there is perfect liberation to come and go freely; the day when violence, devastation and destruction will be no more as His people will be protected within His salvation and righteousness forever; the day when every need will be supplied by the work of His hands and in His perfect time, bringing all glory to Him, Our Everlasting Light.
“Then all your people will be righteous;
They will possess the land forever,
The branch of My planting,
The work of My hands,
That I may be glorified.
22 “The smallest one will become a clan,
And the least one a mighty nation.
I, the Lord, will hasten it in its time,” (60:21-22).
And every promise, every prophecy, every bit of this beautiful chapter will be fulfilled for Zion; and every promise, every prophecy, and every bit of this beautiful chapter foreshadows our ultimate Restoration and Transformation through Jesus Christ, Our Everlasting Light.
Jesus came the first time as the Everlasting Light of men.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men, (John 1:1-4).
Jesus came the first time as the Everlasting Light of the world, Who gives the Light of Life.
Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life,” (John 8:12).
And because Jesus willingly came the first time as the Sinless Lamb of God Who suffered and died for our sins, He conquered the darkness of sin and death.
O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Corinthians 15:55-56).
And Jesus is coming again. But this time, not as the Sacrificial Lamb of God, but as the Victorious King and Everlasting Light. And all who have trusted His Sacrifice for sin, will never again see or feel any darkness, forever and ever… not ever.
And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; 26 and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; 27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, (Revelation 21:23-27).
There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever, (Revelation 22:3-5).
How do we respond to Him, Our Everlasting Light?
Our response must always begin with Truth and Faith.
Do we agree with His Truth by admitting we fall so very short of His glory?
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23).
And if so, have we placed our faith in His gift of salvation through Christ Jesus?
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, (Romans 6:23).
Jesus told us Who He Is; He is Our Everlasting Light. And when Jesus invited all to come to Him, it was His invitation to leave darkness forever and to remain in Him, Our Everlasting Light for all of eternity.
“I have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness,” (John 12:46).
But He also told us that Judgment is passed on all those who love the darkness rather than Him, Our Everlasting Light.
“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21 But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God,” (John 3:19-21).
Our life will demonstrate where our love truly lies. Do we come to Him, Our Everlasting Light, unashamed of what His Light will expose?
Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light, (Ephesians 5:11-13).
But even as believers, we know the tempter is always there, with his deceptive schemes to color darkness as more desirable than the Light, so relentless in his deceptive tactics to trap us in lies, to snuff out the Light of hope and to keep us in the darkness. And that is why we are desperate for Him, Our Everlasting Light, to reveal the Light of His Truth every day.
Let us daily seek to grow in the Light of His Truth through time in His Holy Word as we rely upon His Holy Spirit, that we would be granted the glorious privilege to see Him, Our Everlasting Light.
For with You is the fountain of life;
In Your light we see light, (Psalm 36:9).
Lord, please allow us the privilege of seeing You in Your Word, that You would keep us in the Light of Your Truth; and Lord, as we see You, please conform us to Your image that we would follow You in humility, faith and obedience, that we would practice Truth before You, and with others.
This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin, (1 John 1:5-7).
And Lord, please conform us to Your image, that by faith we would truly live as the light of the world. May we represent You well in all that we do, that when others see us, they would see You, Our Everlasting Light, that they too would desire to know You and bring You glory. Amen.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; 15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven,” (Matthew 5:14-16).