Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the hip. Then you will look and be radiant, your heart will throb and swell with joy; the wealth on the seas will be brought to you to you the riches of the nations will come. Herds of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah. And all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and incense and proclaiming the praise of the Lord. (Isaiah 60:1-6)

 

 

     The light of God always overcomes the darkness of the world. That seems to be the message of Scripture pretty much from the very beginning. “Let there be light,” God says in the creation story of Genesis. “And there was light.” What's the story talking about? Is God basically creating a light bulb – something that can turn dark into light or night into day? That's not a bad analogy actually. I've actually heard it argued that the single invention that changed life more than anything else was Thomas Edison's light bulb. For the most part, before the light bulb, day was day and night was night. Sure, you could keep lanterns or gas lamps going but they were smelly and dirty. So people tended to order their lives around the sun. You went to bed when the sun set and you woke up when the sun rose. The light bulb changed everything. It offered a cheap and clean way to overcome darkness. All of a sudden it didn't matter that it was night anymore. It was still bright enough that you could do pretty much whatever you wanted to do. The light bulb was truly a revolution in human society. Let there be light, indeed. Thank you, Thomas Edison – although, as in all things, I suppose it could be debated whether the result has been good or bad.

 

     When God spoke the words “let there be light” it was good. It was also revolutionary, but in a different way. God wasn't inventing a light bulb. In the context of creation, what was being created with those words was wisdom, or knowledge. In the Book of Proverbs, wisdom is personified and given a voice, and in Proverbs 8:22 wisdom cries out, “the Lord brought me forth as the first of His works.” That's a harkening back to the Genesis creation story, when light was God's first creation. There's the biblical link between light and wisdom. And with the creation of wisdom (or knowledge) God's work could go forth, because by the very act of creation knowledge of God was possible. The first things we learn about God are what we see around us – because it all comes from God. The painting tells us something about the artist; the novel tells us something about the author; the sculpture tells us something about the sculptor. In the same way, the creation tells us something about the Creator. In essence, the creation story of the Bible makes the point for us that it is God's very nature to desire to be revealed and known and understood by those whom God has created. And while the creation itself bears witness to that God, there's both a special privilege and a special responsibility granted to those who have seen that witness and responded to it and entered into a life-giving relationship with God.

 

     But not everyone responds to the signs; not everyone sees the presence of God around them. That seems strange to those of us who do see God, who do know God and who do feel God's presence; those of us who just know that God is, in fact, with us. But it's true. So many people don't see the signs of God's presence, or at least they don't live as if the signs of God's presence are of any great importance to their lives. “... darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples ...” is the way Isaiah described the situation of his day – almost 3000 years ago. It's surprising how little some things change in 3000 years isn't it. If light is the knowledge of God's presence, and darkness is ignorance about God's presence, then the words still ring true, don't they: “... darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples ...” An Ipsos Reid poll taken in 2011 suggested that 30% of Canadians say flat out that they don't believe in God. What was even more interesting was that 28% of people who call themselves Protestants say they don't believe in God. That's interesting. Don't worry. I'm not going to ask for a show of hands! I just find that number interesting. The numbers who don't believe in God vary from survey to survey, but they all indicate the same trend. If darkness is the lack of knowledge of God, then indeed “... darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples...” As believers, that trend could make us fall into despair. It could make us give up. All too often it makes us feel as if our only choice is to hang on for as long as we can as if the future holds no hope for us. But, there is another option. We could choose to be light.

 

     In Isaiah's day, the prophet didn't give in to despair. Not at all. He recognized that the darkness was a challenge but he felt that it should motivate the people of God. “See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the people, but the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you.” The presence of darkness is in fact an opportunity. If the sun was always shining, 24 hours a day year round, then Thomas Edison would never have had to invent the light bulb. There would have been no point to it. But darkness was a reality, and it was something that could be overcome. The spiritual darkness of the modern world can be overcome by those upon whom the Lord has risen – which I hope includes those of us who are here today, unless you're among the 28% of Protestants who don't believe in God! But assuming that you do believe in God then “... the Lord rises upon you and His glory appears over you.” In other words, you ought to be noticed! The glory of the Lord shining upon you should make a difference in you that people see. But in a world where increasing numbers of people not only don't see the light, but aren't even really interested in it – and are sometimes even antagonistic toward it – the unfortunate truth is that sometimes we actually prefer not to be seen. Jesus understood that could potentially be a problem for His people. In Matthew 5, Jesus said, “are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.” He's right of course. It makes no sense to be a light but then hide yourself so that the light can't be seen. But sometimes it's tempting. If the trend is away from God – away from the light – then there's a huge temptation to fit in; to be part of the crowd; to choose the path of least resistance. And sometimes it happens. Sometimes we make that choice. That's always happened with God's people. “Give us a king!” the people of Israel cried, “so that we can be like all the other nations!” “Don't ask us to talk about God,” so many of God's people say today. “Just let us be like everyone else.” Don't ever talk about faith, we're told. Religion is a private matter, people say. Thank God for the example of prophets like Isaiah – who must have been tempted at times by those same feelings, but who chose to let “the glory of the Lord” shine through them.

 

     When you live as if what you believe about God makes a difference in your lives – which means both talking about it and actively living it out – it does make a difference. As Isaiah said to God's people so long ago, “nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” I'm not sure whether we're going to have much of an impact on nations or kings. But on the other hand we know we won't have an impact on anyone if we hide the light that God gives us and try to obscure the glory of the Lord that rests upon us.

 

     It's a huge responsibility to be enlightened by “the glory of the Lord!” So huge that we're probably all tempted to back away from it from time to time. But also huge enough that I hope that we're all able to set aside our reluctance, seize the opportunities before us, and let “the glory of the Lord” shine from us, both in what we say and in how we live!