A Great Light

Tuesday, January 22, 2013, 7:06 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with this song:

Trophies of Grace / NewSong

We are trophies of grace

Perfectly placed in the Body

Bought with a price

The supreme sacrifice of our Lord

We were wooed by His Spirit

We were won by His love

Exalted with Him to a heavenly place

We are trophies of grace

Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Isaiah 9:1-7 (NIV 1984):

Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan—

The people walking in darkness

    have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of the shadow of death

    a light has dawned.

You have enlarged the nation

    and increased their joy;

they rejoice before you

    as people rejoice at the harvest,

as men rejoice

    when dividing the plunder.

For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,

    you have shattered

the yoke that burdens them,

    the bar across their shoulders,

    the rod of their oppressor.

Every warrior’s boot used in battle

    and every garment rolled in blood

will be destined for burning,

    will be fuel for the fire.

For to us a child is born,

    to us a son is given,

    and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called

    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace

    there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne

    and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it

    with justice and righteousness

    from that time on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty

    will accomplish this.

In the Future

God had disciplined his people severely because of their refusal to listen to his messenger, Isaiah, and because they chose to turn to man (other nations) for their security and protection instead of trusting in Almighty God. He, thus, sent Assyria against them. They experienced the pain and suffering associated with having an enemy swarming all over their land. Yet, he promised a time of peace when there would be no more gloom or distress.

In the future, he said, he would honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by way of the sea, along the Jordan. Matthew quoted this prophecy (see Matt. 4:13-17) in connection with Jesus Christ being the fulfillment. Jesus had just been baptized of John, he then fasted forty days and nights in the desert, and then he was tempted of the devil in the desert. “When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee” and lived in Capernaum, which was to fulfill these words by Isaiah. Thus, Jesus Christ is the great light seen by the people living in darkness. “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’”

The Great Light

The word light means “God” – “God as a” – the – “source of spiritual illumination and strength.” Light makes seeing possible; is full of illumination and revelation; it makes truths evident; gives understanding; is the opposite of darkness; (see Encarta Dictionary) and is truth. The light shines in the darkness. Darkness is symbolic of gloom and doom, as well as it personifies wickedness and evil. Light opens our eyes to see truth, it is truth, it opposes darkness (sin; evil; wickedness), it exposes the evil, it convicts hearts of sin, it calls for repentance (turning from sin), and it shows the way to God through Jesus Christ.

Paul (Saul), when on the road to Damascus to persecute more believers in Jesus Christ, had the light shine on him, and he was given the commission to open the eyes of the spiritually blind, to turn them from darkness (sin) to light (Christ; truth; salvation), and from the power of Satan (darkness) to God (to the light; to faith in Jesus Christ) so that they could receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are being sanctified and made holy in Christ Jesus through faith in him. And, this is the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ (see Acts 26:16-18; Eph. 4:17-24; and Luke 9:23-25) that we have our eyes opened, that we turn from sin to the truth of the gospel of Christ, and from slavery to sin, and from the control of Satan over our lives to faith in Jesus Christ, and to surrender to his will for our lives.

He Shattered the Yoke

When Jesus Christ came to earth as a baby and took on human flesh, he suffered as we suffer; he was tempted as we are tempted, yet without sin. He was mocked, betrayed, abandoned, despised, rejected, beaten and crucified on a cross for our sins. When he died, our sins died with him. When he was buried, our sins were buried with him. And, when he was resurrected back to life, he conquered death, hell, Satan and sin. Amen! He did all of this so we could go free from slavery to sin, i.e. via his death and resurrection he shattered the yoke of sin that burdened us, which was the rod of our oppressor (Satan; self; sin).

Romans 6:20 says: “When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.” Yet, when we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, “our old self is crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin — because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.” Therefore, we should not let sin reign in our mortal bodies, so that we obey its evil desires. We should not offer the parts of our body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather we should offer ourselves to God (see Ro. 12:1-2), as those who have been brought from death to life; and we should offer the parts of our body to HIM as instruments of righteousness (see Rom. 6).

He Will be Called

Jesus Christ is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. He is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our counselor whom Jesus promised his followers when he was ready to leave the earth. The Father is Father God, and Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace who will rule and who will reign on the earth during a time (the millennium) when war will be no more, when there will be no more sin (Amen), and no more pain and sorrow, and when righteousness instead of evil will rule and reign supreme! Yet, Jesus Christ also has these character traits of counselor (guide; leader; shepherd), father (protector, provider, nurturer), and prince of peace (King of kings and Lord of lords; ruler; and judge).

Yet, his rule does not begin in the millennium. He is King now! For those of us who are in Christ Jesus, he is to be Lord (King; Master) of our hearts and lives. That means he is boss!

Trophies of Grace

The song tells the story of the gospel. We were dead in our sins. We were hopelessly in bondage (slavery) to sin. Jesus Christ, our creator, gave us new life. He delivered us from slavery to sin by his blood shed on the cross for our sins. We, thus, are his trophies (his prizes) of his grace that he won in his victory over Satan, hell, death and sin. He gained for us freedom from sin and eternal life with God in glory. We were bought with the price of his blood, which was our Lord’s supreme sacrifice because he loved us so much. God then wooed us to Christ by his Spirit, and by faith, we put our trust in him.

As trophies of his grace, God has a plan and a purpose for each one of our lives. We are to be for the praise of his glory, and we are predestined to be conformed to (to be obedient to; adapted to) the likeness of his Son (see Ro. 8; and Eph. 1). Jesus said that if anyone would come after him, he must deny (disallow) himself, take up his cross daily (die daily to sin and self) and follow (obey) him. He said if we hold on to our old lives of sin we will lose them for eternity, but if we give up our lives of sin for the sake of Christ, then we will gain eternal life (see Luke 9:23-25). Paul, speaking for God, said that the way we come to know Christ is through forsaking (putting off) our old lives of sin, by being transformed in heart and mind (the working of the Holy Spirit), and by putting on our new lives, “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (see Eph. 4:17-24). This is our destiny!

As the recipients of his grace, we become part of Christ’s body, the church (not the institutional church), and we are each given parts (functions) and gifts (of the Spirit) to use and/or to fill within the body for the encouragement and strengthening of the other members. And, God has chosen the perfect place for each one of us to fit within that body, even if we are the big fat toe, the elbows, the heart, the kidneys, the voice, or the eyes, etc. This part in the body is not speaking of ministries within the institutional church, instituted by the church, but this is speaking of spiritual roles within the body (a spiritual entity) that God has for each one of us to fill, and these roles may not fit with traditional Christianity, but may be outside the box of institutional religion. That’s ok! God knows best!!

Our enemy is Satan, and the war we fight is now a spiritual battle between good and evil. Jesus Christ has won this battle for us, and he has given us the spiritual weapons we need for defeating our enemy and for gaining the victory. Our enemy will use people to fight against us, yet the real battle is with Satan (see Eph. 6:10-20). Our homeland could be swarmed with enemy forces, as Judah faced with Assyria, yet the true battle is won on a spiritual front. We need to just make sure that we don’t turn to men for our hope and salvation, but we put our trust in God alone. He is able to work miracles!

One of the biggest ways in which we fight our enemy and we defeat his work, and we fulfill the roles God has for us within the body of Christ is through being Christ’s representatives in this world, making him known throughout the world. Our lives should shine forth with his light, showing the world what Christ can do for them, as well as we are called to share the truth of his gospel through public and private unashamed declaration of the true gospel of Jesus Christ so that others may be saved. This is the way we fight Satan’s domination over the church and over the lives of the people of this world, as well as we do this through prayer. We can defeat great forces through the power and working of the Holy Spirit within us in breaking down strongholds and seeing people set free! Amen!

The people walking in darkness

    have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of the shadow of death

    a light has dawned.