When Darkness Covers The Earth, God's Light Will Shine

This morning I started reading out Isaah 60, and ended up reading about the last days, as described by Jesus in Matthew 24.  Rather than focusing on the last days, I was thinking about the Church's response to those times.

Rather than these End times being a dark message, as Christians we must understand that this will be the hour that the Church will shine forth. At the beginning of Isaiah 60, the time is described well (Isaiah 60:1-4).


1 “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. 2 See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. 4 “Lift up your eyes and look about you: All assemble and come to you; your sons come from afar, and your daughters are carried on the arm."


Darkness is symbolic of evil, so in this verse the Lord is speaking of dark and evil times for the earth, and even darker and more evil times for the people. I liken it to the growing anti-Christian movement, and clear move away from the things of God in our media and culture (clearly not exclusively) and how people are moving farther and farther from the light of Christ. The cloud of deception is becoming thicker, and with that the power of evil grows.


I believe we, as the Church, will shine forth brightly for several reasons. We will have the light of Christ in our lives and will live differently. God will bring His Glory to bear on the Church - in other words He will inhabit His people in ways that are evident to all. I would expect this would include signs and wonders, miracles, healings, etc. Those who have eyes to see will be drawn to the Church and it will be a glorious time, and God will be mightily present, and Glorified.


Yes Lord, we look for the day that the Church will once more be filled with Your Glory, and stand as a bright shining light to the whole world. We recognize that this means the world will be a darker place, and that the deception covering the people will be greater. We pray for the Grace to be those shinging lights, in a fallen world. Matthew Henry, in his commentary, likened this to the time Israel was in Eygpt and though the plagues were striking Eygpt, in Goshen the Israelites were unaffected. Unlike those times, people will be able to come and become part of the Church, and come into the light. So not only will they be drawn to the light, they will be able to enter in! They will literally become sons and daughters - which is the language of inclusion.


Amen Lord!