The Son's Warmth
The days are getting shorter, …. and I don’t like it. I really like having the sun wake me to new day.
This morning when I was reading a verse caught my eye - Isaiah 42:7b "and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house”. This is a similar instance to Isaiah 61 which is likely the text that Jesus read in the synagogue in Luke 4:16-21. What caught my attention was not the quote itself, but the implication of its meaning. I immediately thought of 1 Peter 2:9b "called you out of darkness into his marvellous light”. The context of Isaiah is the bound person in the prison cell. Prisons in that day and throughout the Bible times were often caves or holes in the ground, unlit and very dark. The indication of the story where Paul and Silas were in prison (Acts 1616-40) is that the prison was dark enough, without any light, that the jailer was going to kill himself because he couldn’t see the prisoners. Notice he calls for a light (vs 29) after being told by Paul not to harm himself. In the promised salvation of the work of Jesus Christ, GOD is creating a great set of images for the redeemed to consider. You are in a dungeon, with no light, no personal method of escape, and I will come and rescue you and bring you out into the light.
The reason I miss the mornings as the summer days go away, is that my favorite moments are to sit with a cup of coffee and feel the beginning of the warmth that comes as the sun ascends into the morning sky. (Early morning fishing trips or photography trips, and even on a front porch - never get enough of it).
I wonder if we remember enough the thought that Christ has saved us and brought us out of darkness, the warmth of his face shining on us?
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. 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. (Isaiah 60:1-3)