“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.” – Isaiah 60:1-5
LIGHT FOR NOW: When Christ took residence inside you at new birth, you became light personified.
“Lights in the dark world” is not referring to the world being physically dark. The dark world here will be descriptive of men; the darkness will be found in men, men without the light. That’s why in the Greek lexicon, the word “world” carries two underlining meanings since it was translated from two Greek words:
- Kosmos – meaning the inhabitants (man) or earth space.
- Aions – referring to the activities or time space.
While the word “kosmos” speaks of man (the inhabitants) or earth space, the word “aions” speaks of this age, that is, the mode of activities of this age that contradicts God or God’s word. So, by saying “light in the dark world”, we are referring to the “kosmos” as in man not the earth space. However, for man to be in darkness, then his activities (aions) will reveal so. Recall, the use of the words “waters” and “seas” in Genesis 1:2 and Isaiah 60:5 refer to men. Hence, when Isaiah said in verse 5 of Isaiah 60 that “the abundance of the sea shall be converted”, it was referring to people and not the sea in literal terms. You can’t covert a physical sea, that’s why the next statement is “the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee”. The Gentiles refers to people; hence, the use of seas was descriptive of people. So, Isaiah in our key text was discussing salvation, hence the words:
- Arise and shine
Therefore, “let there be light” or “Arise and shine, for thy light is come” will be for salvation. Salvation will be the light shining out of darkness. Christ taking up residence in a man that was in darkness which changes his status from darkness to light is salvation. At new birth, Christ took residence inside you; so you are light personified. We are therefore not shining to be light; we are shining because we are light. Glory!
INSTRUCTION: Let God’s word be the final authority in your life.
CONFESSION: I declare today that I am light personified. I am of the light, not of darkness.
QUOTE: The believer in Christ is light personified
DAILY BIBLE READING: MORNING: JOHN CHAPTER 8; EVENING: JOHN CHAPTER 9