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Series Wrap-Up: The Lord Is My Light

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Today we wrap-up February’s series The Lord is My Light, reflections on the Light of God.

We began this month with a look at light in creation in both Genesis and the Gospel of John. Creation began as God spoke light into being and separated it from darkness. Christ, the Word, was with God from the beginning. Creation was accomplished through Christ, and in Christ is life that is the light of men (John 1:3-4). And while the light of Christ will one day obliterate the night and illuminate heaven for eternity (Revelation 21:22-24), today that Light shines in the darkness.

We then looked at the life-giving nature of light. Both biologically and spiritually, life begins with and is sustained by light. “The Lord is our life-giving light – our Creator, our Provider, and our Sustainer from whom all life flows. When our energy wanes, physically, emotionally, or spiritually, we can turn to God, our light source and life source, for healing and nourishment, for knowledge and wisdom.”

Ali wrote about how Christ’s light illuminates us.  He’s the true light, our source of light. And His light within us makes us as lanterns and the Church as a lit city on an otherwise dark hillside. She said, “Jesus’ light will never stop. He will always be the true light of life. Because God is light, and in Him is no darkness. And when He puts His light in me, my little candle can shine brightly in my dark little corner, bringing glory to the Father.”

Kristee then shared in her post Though I Sit in Darkness  about truth that pierces with hope into our darkest moments. “Though I sat in the darkness, believing the lies about hopelessness, the Lord would be my light. I prayed and the Spirit gently showed me the truth. My darkness became light again. The Lord shows what is true. He is our hope. He is our light.”

Writing about the grief of losing her father in a post titled When the Darkness Deepens, Sabrina reminded us that the Holy Spirit is always near. “This we can depend upon: even in our darkest night, Jehovah Shammah, “The Lord is There,” is with us. He sees us. He sees the darkness, and He has overcome it (John 16:33). Jesus is, in fact, the Light of the World and shines His light into all our darkness—our sin, our pain, our unbelief—and it is not dark to Him, but bright as day. Even in our Sheol-like moments, He is there holding onto us and waiting to lead us on.”

And on Tuesday, guest author Bethany Williams wrote on the marvelous, merciful light of God as Peter described in 1 Peter 2:9.  “I began praying for my children last year: ‘Please, Lord, keep them in your Light.’ With the many darknesses our whole world has experienced in recent years, with so many darknesses within the culture around them, with the humility that I do not know all the days in their futures, I’ve begun to pray with imagery of God’s light surrounding my children. I pray they can always see Jesus in the dark.”

What a beautiful image to hold in prayer for our children.

The People Who Walked in Darkness Have Seen a Great Light

As we wrap up this end-of-winter month of reflections on light, I am reminded of something I read a few years ago. I wish I could recall where. While we may not know the exact day of Christ’s birth, and there may be historical and cultural factors that played into the designation of December 25th as Christmas, there is also beautiful providence in the fact that, in the northern hemisphere, our celebration of the Incarnation falls just after the very darkest day of the year. This winter, December 21st is the longest night of the year. Then Christmas dawns just as the light begins to advance again on the dark, slowly and steadily exchanging minutes of night for minutes of light until spring breaks through. On December 25th, there is no evidence of spring. The hardest, longest freezes and winter storms may yet be ahead. But already the forces have come into play that assuredly bring spring.

There is such beauty and comfort in the arrival of light. Centuries before the birth of Christ, the Son of God, here with us, the prophet Isaiah wrote:

“The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
    on them has light shone.
For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
(Isaiah 9:2,6)

 

His Marvelous Light

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Guest author Bethany Williams joins us in the last week of our series on The Lord Is My Light, inviting us to step into God’s marvelous light.

In church one Sunday last month, my 12 year old son turned to me after the closing prayer and asked, “Did you know we wouldn’t see color if we didn’t have light?”  All the way down the balcony stairs and the church hall, he explained the way light provides color because of different wavelengths, some of which are absorbed and some reflected.  I already knew the physics, and I think his older sister gave me the same lesson two years ago, but I loved listening to him explain with his enthusiasm of fresh understanding.  We talked about color, our senses, what new things we might be able to see in heaven one day, and what we may be missing now that we don’t even know.  The very next day my friend Jennifer asked me to guest write on reflections of light and darkness in Scripture, which just made me smile at God’s timing.

During Sunday morning worship today, due to a technical accident, the sanctuary lights went out for a couple of seconds.  Everyone laughed and the preacher, quoting an old anecdote from Dr. Gardner Taylor, said, “It’s okay, we can see Jesus in the dark.”  Later in the service, the preacher proceeded to preach on I Peter, including 2:9.  Now, full disclosure, this preacher is my husband, but he had no memory of how, weeks ago, I had chosen I Peter 2:9 to write on this day.  I smiled again at God’s timing.

So it is with God’s light; when we begin to look for God’s light, we see it more and more.

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (I Peter 2:9-10).

I Peter 2:9-10 is beautiful to read.  It is encouraging to see our identity as God’s chosen people.  We love reading and hearing the adjectives—chosen, royal, holy.  And the phrase that makes our hearts swell—marvelous light.  These verses remind us who we are and how we live, as God’s people of the light.  We may have started in the dark, but we spend our lives proclaiming how God called us out to place us instead in His light.

And this light is nearly too good to place into words; it’s marvelous and full of mercy.  It’s not a part of our lives over there in the drawer to pull out for a few hours on Sunday morning.  This is the light by which we live our entire lives.

In this same chapter from Peter, we read that this all seems like foolishness to those outside of the light.  Jesus, our cornerstone, is rejected and considered an offense to many. (I Peter 2:7-8)

While our children played at a park, a friend who I had been telling about Jesus asked me very pointedly how much I care if my child grows up to practice Christianity.  I got the feeling she thought the right answer for a parent would be to let children find  whatever “spiritual path” they felt like.  I was so gobsmacked that I rambled a good bit as I tried to explain how dearly I desire for my children to always know Jesus.  I wish I had better prepared for such a question ahead of our playdate at the park.  Perhaps I would have had handy this C.S. Lewis quote from The Weight of Glory: “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it I see everything else.”

This love of Jesus, this marvelous light He has called us into, changes how we see everything.

I wish I had thought to tell her in that moment of how I began praying for my children last year: “Please, Lord, keep them in your Light.”  With the many darknesses our whole world has experienced in recent years, with so many darknesses within the culture around them, with the humility that I do not know all the days in their futures, I’ve begun to pray with imagery of God’s light surrounding my children.  I pray they can always see Jesus in the dark.

It’s important to take seriously that living in God’s light requires obedience, sacrifice, and suffering.  Living in His light does not necessarily always feel the same as the song refrain “walking on sunshine.”  We know from the rest of Peter’s letters and his life that he did not mean it would be easy.  This life of faith in God’s light is better than easy, it is marvelous and full of mercy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bethany Williams is a teacher, encourager, advocate, and writer.  She loves teaching high school Theology and focusing on her four children at home.  She is happily a clergy spouse, adoptive and biological mom, and treasures a little knack for eliciting laughter in church small groups.

 

 

 

When the Darkness Deepens

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“Abide with me: fast falls the eventide;
the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.”
—Abide with me: fast falls the eventide, Verse One, Henry Francis Lyte

 

Just over a year ago, I was in the hospital with my stepmother and sister, waiting for my dad to take his last breaths on earth. A Muslim all his life, he had always shied away from spiritual conversations with me. While he was in a medically-induced coma, hooked up to a ventilator, I cried, shared the gospel, and sang hymns to him, unable to know what he could hear or understand.

When the moment came, after weeks of waiting, I felt numb. But the night before the funeral, as I contemplated where my dad’s spirit might be and having to face the day ahead without a single brother or sister in Christ, separated by a thousand miles from my husband and children, I was broken. Indeed, it felt like the darkest moment of my life, devoid of hope. I remember lying flat on the floor in the guest room at my parents’ house, pouring out my grief to the Lord, feeling like I was drowning in the overwhelming hopelessness and aloneness of it all.

“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” (Psalm 139:7‭-‬10)

 

 

His Spirit’s Presence

In that moment, when I felt more isolated and lost than I ever had, I pleaded with the Lord to grant me the peace that only comes with recognizing His Spirit within me (John 14:27, Philippians 4:7). While Dad was in the hospital, I had been reading a book about anxiety and been really impacted by a chapter on the Holy Spirit. In it, the author talked about how easily we envision God as our Father, encircling us with His loving arms, or Jesus as our Savior-Shepherd, gently leading us. But because we cannot easily personify the Spirit, we don’t often focus on the truth that, if we are in Christ, we are never separated from this third Person of the Trinity.

In truth, we can grieve or quench the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30, 1 Thessalonians 5:19). We can grow hearts that are calloused by sin and distracted by the world. We can focus on self to the extent that exalting God first is the last thing on our minds. But if we have accepted Christ’s work on the cross for us, we are His forevermore, and He has sealed us with His Holy Spirit. As we strive to be like Christ, we can continually open up our hearts and minds to the Spirit’s work in us.

And when we feel like we have nothing left—our strength, our hope, our ability to even take the next step forward has failed—we can cry out to His Spirit to carry us. We can ask the Lord the same thing that Paul asked on behalf of the Ephesian church:

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might.” (Ephesians 1:17‭-‬19, emphasis added)

 

Like the Psalmist, only with greater assurity because of Christ, we can rest in God’s presence always. Not only are we never alone, but like only God can, our Heavenly Father can increase our awareness of His presence. And when we are unable to focus on the hope we have, “the Helper, the Holy Spirit … will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance”  Jesus’ words (John 14:26), the truths that will uphold us and sustain us when everything is falling apart.

 

His Light Shines

 

“If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.” (Psalm 139:11‭-‬12)

This we can depend upon: even in our darkest night, Jehovah Shammah, “The Lord is There,” is with us. He sees us. He sees the darkness, and He has overcome it (John 16:33). Jesus is, in fact, the Light of the World and shines His light into all our darkness—our sin, our pain, our unbelief—and it is not dark to Him, but bright as day. Even in our Sheol-like moments, He is there holding onto us and waiting to lead us on. Though we may forget to abide with Him, always, ever He abides with us.

“Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes.
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven’s morning breaks and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.”
—Abide with me: fast falls the eventide, Verse Five, Henry Francis Lyte

 

Into what darkness in your life will you allow the Lord to shine His light?

Though I Sit in Darkness…

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I cried as I locked myself in the bathroom. I had just yelled at my kids. I had not stayed calm. I had failed.

It was an awful day.

I was getting over a bad cold and didn’t feel well. The weather wasn’t great, so the kids were trapped in the house. There had been fit after fit after fit, and school wasn’t getting done.

It was an awful, terrible day.

I fought with my husband that morning. My teen was in a super grumpy mood and not able to deal. And my kid with OCD was reacting to changes in plans exactly the way kids with OCD act when their plans fall apart–explosively.

It was an awful, horrible, terrible day–in a string of awful, horrible, terrible days.

I wasn’t able to be hopeful anymore. This mess of yuck was going to be how the rest of my life would go.  There would be no peace. There would be no relief. It would be chaos and awfulness until the end. I was a failure.

Life is Hard

I wish I could say the thoughts I wrote above are rare in my life, but the truth is I have several of these moments a month.

My life is hard. Homeschooling is hard. Actively choosing to parent in a way that is different than how you were parented is hard. Parenting kids with trauma histories is hard.

The circumstances of your life are probably different than mine, but I bet you could list them out and come to the same conclusion: your life is hard.

And when the hard gets too hard, it’s easy to believe the lies you tell yourself: I’m a failure. It will never get better. There is no hope.

You’ve fallen. You’re sitting in darkness.

Protecting Truth

Psalm 40:11 says, “May your love and your truth always protect me.”

When I memorized that psalm, I wondered over that verse eleven. I understood wanting God’s love to protect you. That made sense. But how does truth protect you? Gradually, as I studied the chapter, I realized God’s truth protects us in moments like this–when you’re believing the lies you tell yourself.

…I Will Rise

Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in the darkness, the Lord will be my light. Micah 7:8

Micah 7:8 shows the power of God’s truth to protect us when we are surrounded by darkness and failure.

I felt like a failure. I felt hopeless.

But the truth is–though I had fallen and not been the mom I wanted to be, I would rise. Though I sat in the darkness, believing the lies about hopelessness, the Lord would be my light.

I prayed and the Spirit gently showed me the truth. My darkness became light again.

The Lord shows what is true.

He is our hope.

He is our light.

Let Him shine in your darkness. Let his truth protect you.

Though you have fallen, you will rise. Though you sit in the darkness, the Lord will be your light.

Let Your Light Shine

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When I was a kid, my family lived about a year without electricity, in a remote area of Colorado. We had no neighbors for miles. No electricity was even available to us at our little corner of the world, because no poles or cables even came close to our property. That meant no street lights (had there even been a street), and no city lights in the distance. When it got dark, it was dark! Old fashioned oil lamps lit our living room and bedrooms as dusk arrived. A little light expelled a lot of darkness.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His followers that they were the light of the world. Since we are also His followers, those words apply to us, too:

14“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:14-16)

Jesus calls His followers a light and then compares us to a lamp. That simple statement tells us a lot!

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A Lamp Held High

In Jesus’ day, the Roman Empire was nearing its peak. So the lamp we should imagine was likely much improved from the small, flattened, bowl-like “lamp” of King David’s time, 1,000 years before. The lamp Jesus referred to was likely a bit more like what we’d typically imagine – a lamp with a longer handle and small spout, with the flame arising from the top. However, this lamp was still pretty small and needed to be elevated so that its light could be cast farther.

Even if Jesus’ listeners had the smaller, older style of lamp, this same principle is true. To be effective, someone must place the lamp on a stand, not under a basket! Because the flame was so small and many baskets in Jesus’ day were large and tightly woven, placing a basket on top was nonsensical; it would completely extinguish the light!

Though we are “the light of the world” we are also like that little lamp. A lamp that hasn’t been lit has no light to shed of its own accord. No, we are like an unlit lamp until we receive the true light into our hearts. Another flame, or Light, has to come along and light us: Jesus.

Then we can shine brightly in the darkness.

…that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world… (Philippians 2:15)

 

A City on a Hill

Let’s think for a minute about the imagery used in these verses.

It may seem obvious, but Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount on a… well… a little mountain or hill. When He mentioned the words, “city on a hill,” they could easily imagine a city right there in one of the hills around them, all lit up in the dark of night, a beacon of safety and protection. A city that couldn’t be hidden.

What a reminder that we, too, aren’t hidden. If we are true Christ followers, then we shine His light from within us, through our actions (our “good works” in verse 16), for the world to see.

Look what Barnes’ Notes on the Bible has to say about the “city on a hill”:

“Perhaps Jesus pointed to such a city, and told his disciples that they were like it. Their actions could not be hid. The eyes of the world were upon them. They must be seen; and as this was the case, they ought to be holy, harmless, and undefiled.”

 

Light in the Darkness

Today, a church (the Church of the Beatitudes) marks the spot where we believe Jesus gave this sermon. It’s on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Interestingly, that area is known for its black basalt. The homes built in that area in Jesus’ day were made of the black rock. If the home even had any windows, they were typically very small. I’m sure you can imagine the importance of light in such a setting! And wouldn’t even the smallest of flames contrast greatly against such a dismal environment?

I’m sure that Jesus’ original listeners understood it firsthand: the light seems to shine brighter when the night is so dark.

 

Jesus Is the True Light

The only way we can shine Jesus’ light is to first have His light within us. Like the lamp that needs another flame to light it, we need Jesus.

4In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. …9The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:4-5, 9-13)

 

12Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.  (John 8:12)

 

Because Jesus is fully God, we know that He is light, because the Bible tells us that God is light. It isn’t part of who He is, or something that He has, but it’s His very essence.

 

God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

 

It’s only once we’ve experienced Jesus, the light of life, that we can then shine His light.

 

We Share and Reflect His Light

So, what does it mean to “shine?”

According to John 5:16 (found above), we shine by letting others see the “good works” that result from having Jesus in our lives. Other parts of the Bible might call this fruit. When we have Jesus’ Holy Spirit within us, there will be a result: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (The list in Galatians 5:22-23 is not exhaustive, but indicative of the result of the Holy Spirit in a Believer’s life.)

When others see this light from our “lamp”, they, too, can give glory to the Father!

As Christians, it is our job to shine in the darkness. It is our privilege, honor, and responsibility to be Christ’s representatives, His ambassadors, in this dark, spiritually starved world. And the most beautiful part of that is that we don’t have to shine alone! We have the Spirit’s help and the help of our brothers and sisters in Christ!

Like Paul did in the Book of Acts, we share the Gospel, shining God’s light to others to:

…open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (Acts 26:18)

Interesting Facts about Light

Did you know that a wave of light never stops going? I recently learned that even a tiny lightwave will continue shining forever. Forever! It never fades or burns out. Apparently, the only way to get it to stop it from traveling is to block it or absorb it (like with a shadow). I’m not super sciency, so the fact that light travels forever surprised me!

I also learned that a single candle flame on a dark night can be seen by the naked eye for over a mile and half. Binoculars make it visible for over 10 miles.

These simple facts illustrate this: Jesus’ light will never stop. He will always be the true light of life. Because God is light, and in Him is no darkness. And when He puts His light in me, my little candle can shine brightly in my dark little corner, bringing glory to the Father.

Until He calls me home to Him.

How are you shining His light in your dark corner? Let’s shine brightly and give Him all the glory!

Blessings,

Ali

Life-Giving Light

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life giving light

As we delve into a month of reflections on “The Lord is My Light,” I find myself turning over the idea of light, life-giving light.

What do I know about light, from Scripture, from observation, and from school?

Light was the beginning of creation, and it was created by the spoken Word of God (Genesis 1:3-4). It was separated from the darkness; it penetrates the darkness; and it is not overcome by darkness (Genesis 1:4-5, John 1:5).

Light illuminates our way, revealing paths that were hidden by darkness, allowing for sure footing. Light dissipates the confusion of darkness, where we cannot tell what is present and what is not. By revealing both our surroundings and the actions of people, light makes dangerous places safe.

And light fuels life on earth.

It is this point I’d like to explore a bit more today. Humor my inner scientist for a moment. I just can’t get over the beauty here!

Physics tells us that light is energy. Light can be transferred to objects, and it changes them in the process. When an object absorbs light, it is warmed, as its teeny molecules begin to quiver faster.

From a biologic perspective, the daylight created in Genesis 1 fuels all life on earth. Light received by plants is converted to other forms of energy. This light-fueled plant life is the foundation for every ecosystem. Whether you’re a vegetarian or a “second-tier vegetarian” as my son, who eats animals that eat plants, calls himself, every calorie you use for life and growth originates with light. 

Just as God tenderly grows and nourishes our bodies with sunlight-fueled food, His light is similarly the origin and sustenance of our life. For human life began with the breath of God (Genesis 2:7) and has been sustained by Him every moment since.

The Bible tells us that God’s light shines on everyone.

“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:9).

God’s common grace gives us ALL light. He gives us life and health. He designed our bodies to heal from injury and illness. He reveals truth, shines into darkness, and limits the evil that is yet with us on earth. God’s light gives light to everyone.

And yet, also, the fullness of life, life eternal, comes by being re-born of God and following Jesus.

“He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:10-13)

His way is the way of life, illuminated by His word. Not only was the first breath of human life an extension of God’s breath, but also Christians have been revived and brought to life again by His Spirit, first bestowed on the apostles in the breath of Christ (John 20:22).

The Lord is our life-giving light – our Creator, our Provider, and our Sustainer from whom all life flows. When our energy wanes, physically, emotionally, or spiritually, we can turn to God, our light source and life source, for healing and nourishment, for knowledge and wisdom.

Maybe take a prayer walk today in whatever sunlight makes it your way this February day. Soak in God’s goodness, surrender your way in exchange for his, and breathe in His life.

Series Intro: The Lord is My Light

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This month, the DoNotDepart blog will be exploring the Light of God in a series titled, “The Lord is My Light.” Join us as we reflect on light, from the beginning of both Genesis the Gospel of John through the last chapters of Revelation.

I know, I know.
This beautiful passage is so familiar that it’s easy to read through it quickly.
But humor me, slow down, and take it in for a minute, letting it sink in at the pace of poetry.

 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
(John 1:1-4, emphasis mine)

With this passage, John introduces his Gospel in parallel to the creation narrative of Genesis, which also begins with light and its distinction from darkness:

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.”
(Genesis 1:1-4, emphasis mine)

With these two “beginnings” God reveals so much to us about Who He is and what our world is like. Just skimming the surface, I see that:

  • God the Father, the Son (the Word), and the Holy Spirit have been from the very beginning.
  •  Light entered the world through the spoken, creative word of God …
  • … and also through the life within Christ.
  • The presence of light in our world does not (yet) mean the absence of darkness.
  • The darkness has been separated from the light.
  • Light shines in the darkness, and light is victorious. “Darkness has not overcome it.”

That fourth statement sits particularly heavy with me today: The presence of light in our world does not (yet) mean the absence of darkness.

While the Bible beautifully depicts light and all the character of God and freedom for us that light embodies, the Bible also graphically depicts darkness. And you know what strikes me as weird? I somehow find that comforting. Because I see the darkness around me. We all see the darkness around us. That the Bible also depicts the darkness that remains all around us is somehow validating and grounding to me.

Horrors of war, like those depicted in the book of Habakkuk, rage on around the globe.
Just last week a dear friend shared with me some of her childhood experiences, and frankly, I had not truly understood that things that evil happen around here. It is too much for words. The darkness around us is far darker than I generally perceive. Sometimes, it threatens to overwhelm.

And yet that darkness is neither uncontested nor victorious. The light shines in the darkness, and darkness has not overcome it.

As we live in this “already” and also “not yet” age in which Christ has come incarnate, defeated death, and risen victorious, our world still spins in alternating darkness and light, day and night. We know that one day, the light will shine so brilliantly from the Son, the Lamb of God, that night will be no more (Revelation 21:23-25).  In the meanwhile, we enter places of darkness with the light of Christ, participating in the still-raging battle between the two with the hopeful assurance of victory.

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
    of whom shall I be afraid?
(Psalm 27:1)

Join me in prayer and worship, declaring Christ’s victory over darkness:

 

Jesus, Lamb of God

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Today we continue our look at the names of Jesus with a title pronounced by John the Baptist at the very beginning of Jesus’s ministry: The Lamb of God.

Lamb of God

Today is the third day without running water at our house, thanks to a broken pipe. Without water for washing dishes and clothes, bathing, and flushing toilets, I’ve become increasingly aware of “clean” and “unclean.” It takes a lot of effort to keep things clean! It’s hard to keep a kitchen clean, floors clean, and bodies clean without running water. It seems we, and our things, require continual washing to stay even “clean enough,” which is as high as my standards get right now.

This is true of our spiritual lives as well as our physical lives!

In preparing people’s hearts for Jesus, John the Baptist called people to repent, to turn away from sin, pointing them instead toward Jesus Christ. John the Baptist, seeing Jesus, declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29)”

While the phrase “Lamb of God” may be familiar to us. It must have been striking to first century Jews to hear this description applied to a man. The Jews were accustomed to the sacrifice of animals to atone for sin, but the suggestion that a man would fill this role may have been shocking.

Why would this man from Galilee be called the Lamb of God? 

Entire books could be written exploring Jesus as the Lamb of God. The theology here begins with the rift between man and God created by sin. God established the blood of the lamb as the way of salvation when Moses led the enslaved Israelites out of Egypt.

And then in the laws recorded in the books of Leviticus and Numbers, God outlines the Day of Atonement rituals and the animal sacrifices as sin and guilt offerings, cleansing the Israelites of sin (Leviticus 16:30). To summarize very briefly, the blood of animal sacrifices provided temporary reconciliation between the Israelites and God, but atonement had to be sought again and again.

The Passover Lamb

The twelfth chapter of Exodus outlines the instructions God gave the Israelites for the first Passover, and it was celebrated similarly thereafter on the dates outlined in Scripture. In Jesus’s time, Passover was celebrated in Jerusalem.

On the 10th of Nisan each year, flawless, male, year-old lambs were brought from the surrounding areas, like Bethlehem, where they were carefully raised by area shepherds. They were brought into Jerusalem and held for four days. The lambs were inspected for blemish and, if found to be perfect, they were sacrificed just before evening on Nisan 14th. Each family then spread the blood of the lamb on their door posts and ate its meat, along with wine and unleavened bread, as they retold the story of the first Passover, recounting how God had redeemed Israel from slavery in Egypt and brought them to freedom.

Also the Passover Lamb

And then one year, in the days just before Passover, Jesus of Nazareth entered Jerusalem on a donkey on Nisan 10. The crowds waved palm branches and cried, “Hosanna!”

Jesus taught, and he cleansed the Temple. He ate in the upper room with his disciples, prayed in the garden, was betrayed, and sat trial.

Just the Passover lambs were brought into the city on Nisan 10th and examined before the sacrifice, so was Christ. As the lambs were confirmed to be faultless, so did Pilate declare of Jesus: “I find no guilt in him,” (John 18:38). He had entered Jerusalem as He had lived His life, without sin, though on the cross He bore all our sin.

Jesus was crucified, giving up His spirit about 3pm on Nisan 14, as the Passover lambs were sacrificed.

Washed in the Blood of the Lamb

With this final sacrifice, Jesus Christ covered our sin completely, ending forever the need for blood sacrifices in the Temple. As Jesus spoke to his disciples the night that he was betrayed, “this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).

It’s hard to keep things clean. As I’ve been reminded this week, keeping people and homes even just “clean enough” requires a lot of water – washing and re-washing — not so different from the system of repeated animal sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins. But Christ… well, nothing else in life that makes us completely, faultlessly clean. His sacrifice and forgiveness are all-encompassing and completely sufficient. There is, as they say power in the blood of the Lamb.

 

 

A Timeline of Holy Week

 

 

Jesus as Messiah

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My husband and I aren’t usually into documentaries, but we recently watched two separate films focusing on two very different mountaineers. One was about a Canadian man who was out in nature every chance he had and loved solo climbs with as little gear as possible (that means no ropes!). He also eschewed social media (and even cell phones at times) and self-promotion, considering climbing to be a spiritual endeavor. 

The other documentary was about an ex-military Nepalese man who wanted to set new records and purposefully worked with sherpas (mountain guides) to bring attention to his country’s long history of paving the way for record-breaking men to reach the summit. He once posted a picture of a long line of people waiting to summit Mt. Everest, and it went viral around the globe.

It was so intriguing to see and learn about such differing personalities and approaches to mountaineering in these two men who shared an intense passion for the sport. I couldn’t help but think of Jesus—both the man the crowds wanted Him to be and the Man He actually was and is.

Who the Crowds Were

Before we look at who they thought Jesus was, we need to look at who the crowds were. 

 

“Likely, they are peasants and farmers and fishermen—the poor, the lower classes of society, the ‘people of the land.’ But they are also tax collectors, … prostitutes, and those labeled ‘sinners’ by the religious powers that be. … They are mostly Israelites, Galileans, and Judeans, people who worship the God of Israel while under occupation by the Roman Empire. But some of them are Gentiles, non-Israelites. … Jesus seems to love the crowds of Galilee. For the most part, he avoids Jerusalem and the larger cities and spends his time near the sea, in the farms and smaller villages.”1

 

We know from the Gospels that Jesus had compassion “for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9:36). Jesus healed their sick and raised their dead. He cast out demons and forgave sins. He spoke to them plainly and in parables.

We also know that the crowds didn’t always know quite what to make of Jesus:

 

“Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, ‘Who do the crowds say that I am?’ And they answered, ‘John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.’ Then he said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ And Peter answered, ‘The Christ of God.’” (Luke 9:18‭-‬20)

 

Who the Crowds Thought Jesus Was

The name Jesus was most often called by the apostles (besides “Jesus” perhaps) was the word “Christ” from the Greek or the word “Messiah” from Hebrew, both meaning “anointed one”. By the time of Jesus’ ministry, there had been much discussion and speculation among the Jews about the promised messiah (There were, in fact, many proposed messiahs before and after Jesus’ time.).

After the feeding of the five thousand, the crowd exclaimed, “‘This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!’” (John 6:14) And Jesus’ response? “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” (v. 15, emphasis added) 

Jesus knew that it wasn’t time for such attention to be drawn to Him, for it was not yet His time to go to the cross. He saw their hearts and knew that they were like the Israelites in 1 Samuel 8 who, even after being warned by Samuel that they were rejecting God as their king said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” (1 Samuel 8:19‭-‬20)

The masses were tired of being under Roman occupation and wanted a king who could overthrow the powers that be and restore Israel as a nation.

 

Jesus Is So Much More

About a century after Jesus’ death and resurrection, a man named Bar Kochba led troops in an uprising against Rome. As he won some early skirmishes, Jews started to believe that this man was the messiah and would be the deliverer they needed from their Roman oppressors.

 

“The fight began in earnest in 135 CE— and it was a disaster. Rome crushed the uprising and over half a million Jews were slain and hundreds of thousand more exiled.”2

 

Even when the Jews got the man they wanted, he wasn’t the Man they needed. Kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall but who we are before the Living God is what will last for eternity. It’s as if the majority of those listening to Jesus’ teaching were crying with the psalmist, “Rise up; come to our help!” (Psalm 44:26a) They were begging Jesus to heal them and feed them and relieve them from the very real struggles they were living in. Jesus saw those needs and was moved to relieve some of their suffering.

But more than rescue from political unrest, the Jews and Gentiles needed to realize their deepest, truest need:

 

“Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!” (Psalm 44:26b, emphasis added)

 

We could host a whole series on messianic prophecies, what they meant, and how they have been or will be fulfilled. Pages and pages could be filled detailing cultural context and what the Jews were looking for in a deliverer. The simple truth is that we are the crowds. We all have wanted Jesus to fit into our neat little box of what we think He should be for us. But Jesus is so, so much more.

 

The Servant King

Jesus came to this world humbly and left this world humbly, as well. The very powers that the people hoped He would overthrow were the ones who asked if He should be crucified or set free. And the crowds who had so recently hailed Him as king on His triumphant entry in Jerusalem were many of the same people who cried “Crucify Him!” He was the unexpected servant King—Son of David, Son of Man, and Son of God—the One who was born to die for the sins of all who would believe in Him. 

One day, this Messiah, this Deliverer will return to rule and reign over all of creation “so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10‭-‬11). But for now, He is slowly growing His kingdom on earth, and it starts with our hearts. Jesus deserves to be King of our hearts. How is He calling you to give Him greater reign in your life today?

Jesus is the Way

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All this month on the blog, we are examining the names of Jesus, and this month we start with “the Way.”

When my daughters were old enough to hold the chunky shapes in their chubby fists, the shape sorter toy came out of the toy bin and we’d play with it together. To get the square into the bucket, we’d carefully turn the shape in just the right way so that it would fit through the corresponding square-shaped hole. The star went through the star-shaped hole; the circle went through the circle-shaped hole, and so on. As my toddler daughters tried to put a star into the square, they found that it didn’t work. It wasn’t the right way to play with this toy.

We live in an age where many ways seem right— a “you do it your way, I’ll do it mine” mentality. And while that might be ok (even healthy) in some scenarios, there is one area where this way of thinking just doesn’t work.

Jesus is the Way

There is a way, and His name is Jesus. Let’s look at John 14:6 and talk about it a bit together.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

In this short verse, Jesus is making a very big claim. He is saying that there is only one way to get to God, and He is it!

But what does that really mean?

Please forgive my imperfect analogy, but it’s a little like my shape sorter. There is only one right shape that can fit through its matching hole. When the shape and hole don’t match, the toy doesn’t work. (I know, I know– technically, it won’t work if you try to put the correct piece in sideways or off-center and so forth, but we’ll ignore that. Let’s just focus on needing the right piece.)

In our case, there is only one right “hole” to get to God. It’s a Jesus-shaped hole. So, we must be shaped like Him in order to pass through. How can this happen? Well, since Jesus is the Way, we must come to Jesus in saving faith. Then we get the Holy Spirit. The Spirit in us (“Jesus in our hearts”) matches the Jesus-shaped hole, so we can then go right on through to the Father’s presence.

It’s so simple!

And yet, it’s beautifully rich. God loves us so much that He sent His only Son (John 3:16) to save us from our sins. (Matthew 1:21, John 10:9) All we must do is confess His Lordship and believe in Him. (Romans 10:9) He then washes us clean (1 John 1:7, Hebrews 10:10). That’s all it takes to get the Jesus-shape in order to “fit into the hole” (have access to God). Then we can have a relationship with God the Father. And with that relationship comes eternal salvation! But not only that– there is also fruit of the Spirit, companionship with God and others, grace, peace, guidance, strength, and more.

This Way is a Relief

Toddlers often struggle when they play with a shape sorter by themselves. Getting the right shape and then fitting it in correctly can be a struggle. This reminds me a little of how it looks when we humans try to save ourselves on our own power.

We can look at the world around us to see how humans have tried either to get to God apart from Christ or tried to work their own salvation.

Money, power, fame, security, and health aren’t evil, but if we are relying on them to be our salvation they will fail us every time. If we put them before God, they become our idols. We’ll never be satisfied and we’ll never feel secure enough. There’s always something to work toward and the bar usually winds up raising just a little higher. (After all, for just one example, how much money is really enough?) These things just aren’t the Way.

There is great relief in trusting Jesus! Rather than struggling to make our own way, like struggling to fit a star into a square-shaped hole, we can rest in Jesus. He is the perfect sacrifice to open the door to God the Father. He has already done everything that needed to be done to fulfill God’s requirements. All we must do is come to Him in childlike faith, yoking ourselves to Him.

“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:29-30)

Praise God for sending His Son, Jesus, to be the Way! I pray we all rest in His easy yoke today.

In Christ, the very precious Way,
Ali

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