"It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.…I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves…" [Isa 49:6, 8-9]
In one of His most well-known sermons, perhaps the most famous, often called the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, regarding us, His disciples, “ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.” [Mt 5:14] As Christians in whom God dwells – but not just in whom He dwells, but through whom He now lives, (even as Luke wrote of “all that Jesus began both to do and teach,” but did not stop, for “after [He was taken up]…He through The Holy Spirit had given commandments unto the apostles,” and to us. [Acts 1:1-2]) – yes, as men and women in whom The God of Eternity dwells, we are the light of the world. What an awesome and incredible thing that He whom “the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain,” would come to dwell in our hearts, seeking a “place of…rest,” making us a source of His light. [1 Ki 8:27, Isa 66:1-2] And because He has come to make our hearts His dwelling place, He therefore lives in and through us; and so, Jesus can rightly say, “ye are the light of the world,” for truly it is Christ Jesus who is the Light: as He said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” [Jn 8:12]
It is only because Jesus is “the light of the world” that His saints can also be called lights of the world. And just as Jesus said, “neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house,” [Mt 5:15] so too we are to allow Christ, The True Light, to shine and live through us. For again, as we are admonished and encouraged,
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you both to design and to do of His good pleasure. [Therefore], do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth [Jesus], The Word of Life…” [Phil 2:12-16]
Because The Lord lives in us, we are obligated to allow Him to live out of us: to be lights, as He was a light. But what reveals to us here the awesome glory of God, is the vessel. For, “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” [2 Cor 4:7] God is so powerful; the light and life of Jesus Christ is so magnificent and awesome, (for, “the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness could not overcome it.” [Jn 1:5]), that He can even use vessels so earthy, so dirty, so impure, so inefficient, so unworthy, as ours. A thousand praises to God who chooses to live through us and use us. Isaiah speaks of this also, when The LORD says regarding Christ, The Messiah,
“And He said, it is a light thing that thou shouldest be my Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” [Isa 49:6]
In the immediate context, The LORD speaks directly to His Righteous Servant, who is Jesus, The Christ. However, reading in Acts, it says,
“Then Paul and Barnabas said…lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath The Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.” [Acts 13:46-47]
That which was commissioned and promised to Christ, is given to us; for He lives in us and through us. What glory, and what honor! That we should be for His tool and for His glory; that we should be used to do that which God promised Jesus. Again, we do see the wonderful power of God who can use such lowly saints as us. It is even as if a master musician were to play a gloriously complex sonnet upon an instrument of only one string, and half broken at that. Praise be to God, the master musician, and the master craftsman: for we are “His workmanship, [His creative invention].” [Eph 2:9] And so, with only clay vessels to use, our God fulfils that which is written, using us to create the most brilliant of attracting lights to a dark and dying world; as it is written,
“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.” [Isa 60:2-3]
The second portion of the passage to which we come today is also found in the forty-ninth chapter of Isaiah, which reveals to us another role and commission given to Jesus. The LORD said one reason He has come is, “that thou mayest say to the prisoners, go forth; to them that are in darkness, shew yourselves.” [Isa 49:9]
There was a certain occasion in Jesus’ life on earth where, “as He spake [certain] words, many believed on Him.” [Jn 8:30] And to that, Jesus said, “to those Jews which believed on Him,”
“If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” [Jn 8:31-32]
It was not just enough, Jesus said, for them to have believed on Him: for belief without fruit is erroneous belief, even as it says, “faith without works is dead.” [f.f., Jam 2:20, 26] One of the good fruits of true belief is an abiding in Jesus’ words, as He says. And that constant abiding, which produces life and fruit, (for again, Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you…No more can ye [produce fruit], except ye abide in me…If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered…[and] burned.” [Jn 15:4-6]), also produces freedom. As Jesus said, “the truth shall make you free.” In context, Jesus speaks of sin, saying, “verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever is committing sin is the servant of sin,” and that, “if The Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” [Jn 8:34, 36] We can see therefore, that Jesus promises us freedom. Freedom, liberty from sin, is one of God’s main and greatest promises to us. This is shown to us too in that Jesus’ name means Yahweh Saves; as the angel said, “and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins.” [Mt 1:21]
But whereas this freedom sometimes appears elusive, God frankly gives it to us, and says that Jesus, and as we have seen – we too – came/was sent “that [He] mayest say to the prisoners, go forth; to them that are in darkness, shew yourselves.” [Isa 49:9] What a beautiful word from our Lord. Are you a saint of our dear God? Are you, dear man, dear woman, those whom God views tenderly, even as His own? Are you saved, having believed and continuing to yet believe? And if so, do you dwell in darkness? Do you feel bound? Then feel it and be there no longer, good Christian: as Christ has said, so may you hear today loudly and triumphantly as your word from God to experience light and freedom: “GO FORTH,” and, “SHEW YOURSELVES.” As Paul steadfastly perceived a certain man “had faith to be healed,” thus “said with a loud voice, stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped [up] and walked,” [Acts 14:9-10] so too may your faith, if so be you have faith, be released in this word: “go forth[!]” Or, if you be in darkness, “shew yourselves[!]” Yes, if you be imprisoned by sin, be there no longer; you abide in a cell with no lock and without warrant or law: be free! For you have been crucified with Christ and have been raised up in glorious freedom, having been seated with Him in the heavenlies. If you are trapped in darkness, swallowed up in the pit, be there no more: for the blood of Christ has bought the rope to which you may cling and be lifted out! Good Christian, dear reader, today be in prison no longer; today be in darkness no further – come forth, and be free: yea, show yourself, and step into the glorious light and favorable countenance of your God’s glory.
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