Your Call to Shine as God's Light

By Dr. Brandon Steenbock, Family Minister

Isaiah 60:1 - Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Darkness. Light. When we lived in MN, we used to drive up to the Twin Cities for a day trip, and we always got back well after dark. The farm fields were dark all around us, but up ahead on the horizon, we could see the glow of our little town.

This is the picture Isaiah paints with his words in this verse, but the focus is on the people in the light - the people of Zion. God is saying, “Get up, make ready, people are coming! They are in the dark! They need the light!”

But the people are not the light. Notice? “Your light has come.” What is this light? A better question is, who is this light? Almost eight hundred years later, the Apostle John answers that question. In John 1:9-10, he writes, “The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.” This is talking, of course, about Jesus Christ, the Light of the World. He is also the glory of the Lord, as John says just a few verses later, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). 

The first people to hear Isaiah’s call were Israelites living in Judea, and Zion (Jerusalem) was to be a place that shone with the light of God’s glory so that people would come and know the true God. The people were not the light. The place was not the light. The Lord was the light - the people just hold it out. 

But Isaiah’s call was pointing forward to the coming of Jesus, and the people of Zion are no longer just the Israelites living in Judea. They are all believers. You are part of “Zion,” and Isaiah’s call is for you, too. “Get up, make ready, people are coming! They are in the dark! They need the light!” Here’s the incredible thing. While Jesus is the light and the glory of the Lord, he says something a little different to you. He says that you are also the light (Matthew 5:14). The amazing thing about Jesus is that he shares his light, calling you into his light and making you a light with him. So now you don’t just hold out the light, you are the light, shining the light of Jesus for all those still coming in out of the darkness.

What does that look like? It starts with things like shoveling your neighbor’s driveway. Like making a meal for your coworker whose parent is in the hospital. Like listening to the barista at the coffee shop when she says she’s having a rough day. It looks like having an open door at your home, inviting people in. 

That’s just holding up the light so they can see that there are places where there is light. But then it goes on, to inviting your neighbor to church. To giving a card with that meal that shares the Gospel specifically. To asking the barista if you can pray with her. To making Jesus part of every conversation in your home so that when you have guests, they know this is a place to know Jesus.