post tenebras lux

Lord, give us ears to hear and the grace to listen, whether of Your chosen people, or the nations, or among those who are one in Body, members one of another:

Do we make night into day, saying, “The light is near,” in the presence of darkness?” (Job 17:12)

Do we call evil good and good evil; do we set darkness for light and light for darkness? (Isaiah 5:20)

Let us seek the Lord that we may live, lest He break forth like a fire that consumes with none to quench it. Who among us, in the sight of the Lord, stands to say, “I have not turned justice into wormwood, and I have not cast righteousness down to the earth? (Amos 5:6-7)

Behold the people sitting in darkness saw a great light.  Upon those seated in the land under the shadow of death, a light dawned to guide our feet toward peace. He who is our light made us His light that we might walk as children of light. He became a servant on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the Hebrew fathers and for the people of the nations to glorify God.  He opened our eyes so we may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God.  God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those He has sanctified to Himself, becoming the righteousness of God in Him.  God’s beloved Son declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus the Messiah our Lord, born of a virgin a descendant of David, suffered as the Prophets and Moses said would take place.  Because of His resurrection from the dead, He became the first to proclaim light to the Jewish people and the people of the nations.

Thanks be to God who said, “I will make darkness into light before the blind.  I will lead the blind in a way they do not know; I will guide them in paths they do not know.  I will make darkness into light before them.”  Thanks be to God, who has qualified us to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.   Thanks be to God, who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light that we may proclaim His excellencies.  Thanks be to God, for He delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus, the Messiah, His Anointed, the King of Israel, Ruler of the nations, Savior of the world and Lord of His church.  The Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed or put to shame.”   

God now declares everyone should repent. He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man He has appointed—Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews—having furnished proof to all people everywhere by raising Him from the dead.  God has appointed Him as Judge of the living and the dead.  Of Him, all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.  To this end, the Messiah, God’s Anointed, died and lived again so that He might be Lord both of the dead and the living.  He is the Judge, the One who can save and destroy.  Behold!  The Lord Jesus is the Judge standing right at the door.  He is the One who will bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and will disclose the motives of our hearts so the praise for each will come from God, our conscience bearing witness, and our thoughts alternately accusing or defending us on that day when God will judge our secrets through Jesus, His Anointed.

Whoever believes in Him proclaims glad tidings of good news.  The Giver of Life and Liberty lives!  We are not ashamed of this gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jews first and to those of us from the nations.  For in it, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. His faith gives us the gift of our faith counted as righteousness by believing in Him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. His waiting on the Father’s word that makes His enemies a footstool for His feet provides us with the endurance to wait for Him, fixing our hope entirely on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Since we have the same Spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us together in His presence. The word is near each of us, in our mouth and in or heart — if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing His riches on all who call on Him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

The Lord Jesus Himself said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life.” Can we hear Him?  Will we abide in Him so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming?  Do we want to be like Him, seeing Him as He is? 

The Lord Jesus Himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”  What do we have that we have not received? What keeps us from giving to others what we have been given? He has risen, ascended, and is coming again!

The Lord Jesus Himself said, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and hell.  Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.  I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.  Yes, I am coming quickly.”

Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.  If anyone has no love for the Lord, let that one be accursed. May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with us all.  Amen.