December 2nd: I Am The Light of the World
A Promise of the Coming Light
by Debbie Roberts
“The people who walk in (spiritual) darkness will see a great Light. Those who live in the dark land, the Light will shine on them.” Matthew 4:16 AMP
No one can walk and truly live in darkness…we need Light.
My husband calls me “his little bat” because I love sitting in the dark. Sitting in the dark removes all visual distractions and quiets my soul (mind, will and emotions). But I can’t live there. No one can walk and truly live in darkness…we need Light.
Matthew 4:16 is quoting Isaiah 9:2. If we go back to verse one, we see that Isaiah is prophesying a promise to Zebulun and Naphtali. These two tribes in northern Israel had once again been walking in their sinful ways and utter darkness. No one can walk and truly live in darkness…we need Light.
I am sure, like me, you have tried to walk through a pitch-black room. In the darkness, we lose all sense of direction and can’t see what is right in front of us. I have banged my head on a door frame more than once, because I was confident I knew where I was going, even in the dark. No one can walk and truly live in darkness…we need Light.
Under God’s judgment, Zebulun and Naphtali got a lot more than a bump on the head. They suffered greatly under the Assyrian, Tiglath-Pileser III, who conquered them in 734 and 732 BC (2 Kings 15:29). I am sure they were feeling that all was lost…hopeless. BUT GOD (sigh…don’t you just love those two words) gave Isaiah the promise of a coming Savior to encourage them. This promise came in the midst of darkness, and it was a promise of hope for God’s people. It was a promise of Light, Light at the end of a dark tunnel. No one can walk and truly live in darkness…we need Light.
Just like Israel, we too, were once in spiritual darkness—rejecting God and turning to our own sinful ways. And just like Israel, we deserve judgment. BUT GOD in His kindness, sent His only Son, Jesus, God in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16) to call us out of our spiritual darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). He is the ultimate proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel,” for He would be the Light of the world (John 8:12). Thank you, Father God, for sending your Son into our darkness. Thank you that in Him is the fountain of Life, and in His Light we see Light (Psalm 36:9).