“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.  For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples;  but the Lord will Arise upon you, and His glory will be seen upon you.  And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” —Isaiah 60:1-3

I just had to throw that passage in one more time since it precedes this week’s memory verse.  AND because it puts a lump in my throat every time I read it.  The Light has come, friend, and HE IS RISEN!  But where did the Light go?  In John 8:12-20, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”  Three of His followers actually witnessed the manifestation of that glory in the transfiguration of Christ which we read about in Matthew 17:12-20.  In this passage Jesus articulates what was about to happen to the Light.  He was going to die and rise again. Later in John 8, Jesus says that He is going somewhere that those who are dead in their sins cannot come, somewhere not of this world.  That somewhere is exactly what Isaiah is describing in Isaiah 60:19,20:

“The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.  Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself;  for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.”

Our final week of study is going to focus a lot more on the ultimate fulfillment of that prophecy, so this devo is actually just a teaser for week 31 when we’ll be diving into the book of Revelation 🙂  But I want to leave you with this quote from the same Apostle John who was one of the witnesses to the transfiguration of Jesus Christ and who was later given the vision of the city to come where that same Lord whom he saw crucified, risen and ascended into glory will reign as our everlasting light.  

“This is the message we have heard from Him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.   If we say we have fellowship with Him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.  If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:5-9).”

That’s a lot of ifs, so lets break them down.

IF we say we’re Christians but are walking in darkness, 

THEN we’re lying.

IF we are truly walking with Christ in the light, 

THEN we will be in fellowship with other Christians

AND the blood of Jesus has cleansed us from all our sins!

IF we say that we’re not sinners,

THEN we’re lying.

IF we confess our sins,

THEN He’ll forgive us and cleanse us from unrighteousness!

That’s the Gospel folks.   There’s darkness and there’s light.  There’s fellowship with Christ and His church and there’s not. 

There’s confession and forgiveness and the righteousness that comes from being cleansed from your sins and there’s living a lie.  There are no grey areas when it comes to salvation.

Oh friend, has that light shone on you?  Have you come to the brightness of His rising?  It’s there in black and white.  If you confess to Christ that you are a sinner in need of His forgiveness, He who is faithful and just will cleanse you from all your unrighteousness.