In our last devotional, we considered the fact that God is light. We introduced the idea that since the Lord Jesus is light, He, like light, reveals.
In the CEV, 1 John 1:5, reads, "Jesus told us that God is light and doesn’t have any darkness in him. Now we are telling you."
Light enables us to see things we could not see before. This is exactly what John means here in 1 John 1:5. In the same way that light reveals reality, God does, as well. God, through His Son, Jesus Christ, opens the eyes of mankind's heart and life comes into focus and we see more clearly. This does not happen in one moment. It is a gradual process. This explains the purpose of God sending His Spirit into human hearts, so that we might see reality.
Light reveals, and so does God. The mysteries of life will gradually unfold and become increasingly clear, as the light shines upon them. When I first met Jesus Christ and began to understand His message. Bit by bit things began to become more clear. I must tell you that many questions remain, but I am no longer confused. The road ahead is more clear, and I have discovered that the solution to my troubles remain within me. The problem really has never been outside of me.
As I began to see that the source of most of my problems were within me, I began to understand that He was the solution to those problems. The mystery of what the scriptures refer to as the flesh was gradually being revealed to me by the light as He revealed it to me through His word. That is what God does. He is light and His light reveals our darkness.
I have discovered that the answers of this life are best discovered as the Lord Jesus pushes back the darkness, even the darkness I discover within my own soul. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is not just a feature of Christianity, it is the main event. His resurrection is not only a demonstration of the Father’s power, it is also a validation of the offering that the Lord Jesus made on our behalf. God was satisfied with the sacrifice Christ offered for the sins of all mankind. He said, “It is finished!” God said, “I am satisfied”. Then God raised Him, and He ascended to the right hand of God to intercede for His people. The resurrection then is the greatest event in history. It is the most significant expression of the power of God on behalf of all who would believe. We are saved to be raised from the dead and to spend eternity in heaven with Him and those who have gone before. The purpose of salvation is a resurrected people.
Because Christ conquered death, because He conquered sin, we will be raised to dwell with Him forever. Romans 10:9-10, “If you confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
That is necessary for salvation. That’s why the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 says, “It is this truth of the resurrection which you heard, and which you received, and which you believed, and in which you stand.” It is the very essence of the gospel.
These many years that I have tried to walk with Him, He has been faithful to shine His light into the darkness that I yet find to be in my soul. This darkness has always been there. In fact, even though He has shone His light in there, the darkness will never be dispelled this side of heaven. The fact that He is the light, he is faithfully, daily freeing me from my own darkness.
In addition to revealing to me the dangers of the darkness, He also reveals to me the joys of His light. His light reveals what everyone is so desperately searching for in this world. What is that, you ask? Hope. And the Christian's hope is directly connected to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The stone was rolled away so we could see in to the tomb, to see that He is risen. God is the light that reveals the good and the bad. And, as He reveals the good and the bad to us, we discover that we are being freed from the darkness and freed to the light. In this light there is hope unspeakable.
Bonaparte once said, "leaders are dealers in hope." Let me encourage you today to give a little hope to those around you. They could use it. They, too, are being freed from the darkness into his wonderful light.
But that is not light's only quality. Light also measures, which will be the topic of our next devotional. See you then, as we contemplate the Light that measures.
