I'm
quite the fanboy when it comes to old school comic books. The
dashing hero with the costume and cape; fighting injustice and
righting wrongs. But, one thing I found out was that the hero was
only as heroic and dazzling as the bad guy was dark and sinister...
For
behold, the darkness shall cover the Earth,
And
deep darkness the people;
No sooner had Isaiah announced the
arrival of brilliant new light, the Prophet warned of a great, deep
darkness covering the Earth. Now, considering he had just pronounced
the judgment of God down on the Nations and to Israel itself, I'm
sure those hearing the prophesies couldn't imagine things getting any
bleaker. But this is precisely what Isaiah was announcing. I mean,
how could they have seen the conquering of Judah, the leading away to
captivity, the hardships of rebuilding only to be overcome by another
conqueror, Rome? Darkness may have been an understatement.
The era surrounding the birth of Christ
was indeed a dark time for the Israelites. Not just to be besieged
or at war or, even, taken into captivity, but to be occupied by the
most unrighteous of peoples, the ROMANS.
But I'm sure it was near impossible for
the people who first heard these prophesies to fully understand the
level of darkness that was coming. It is much like us trying to
comprehend the level of disaster that will come with the end times.
But this darkness was an all too
familiar theme in the Bible. It was into Darkness that God's light
broke through in the very beginning of creation (Genesis 1). It was
Darkness that was the ninth plague announced by Moses to Egypt
(Exodus 10). The prophets all talked about darkness coming. Amos
said of the dreaded day of the Lord:
Amos 5:20
New
King James Version (NKJV)
20
Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light?
Is
it not very dark, with no brightness in it?
But
Isaiah spoke of a deep darkness; something much deeper and more
tragic than the political goings on around the nation of Israel. If
you read Isaiah carefully, you will see that God's issue is with the
darkness found in people's hearts. Chapter five of Isaiah, speaks of
his Beloved (Israel) planting the choice seeds but growing wild
grapes instead!
Isaiah
5:7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of
Israel,
And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.
He looked
for justice, but behold, oppression;
For righteousness, but
behold, a cry for help.
And...
20
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put
darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for
sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
And
prudent in their own sight!
God
was pronouncing judgment through Isaiah to a people who had the world
tilted on it's head. Who celebrated evil deeds and looked with
indignation at those who followed the righteousness path. And, all
the while they did this, they claimed to be his people (because they
were) and continued to follow the sacrifices. In fact, Isaiah opened
up with his petition against Israel in chapter one.
Isaiah1:2
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!
For the Lord has
spoken:
“I have nourished and brought up children,
And they
have rebelled against Me;
This
summed up God's position and justification for what he was about to
do. And this gives us some insight to what things were like in the
times of Jesus ministry. For, instead of learning from the judgment
of God, Israel had apparently lapsed into the same old ways. Maybe
this is why Jesus used Isaiah as scripture for his opening text for
his Earthly ministry.
Luke
4:16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as
His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and
stood up to read.
17
And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had
opened the book, He found the place where it was written:
18
“The
Spirit of the Lord
is
upon
Me,
Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the
poor;
He
has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the
captives
And
recovery of sight to the
blind,
To
set
at liberty those who are oppressed;
19
To
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
This
darkness that had set upon the people by their own actions was due a
break though. For it was the gospel of Matthew that quoted Isaiah
(this very opening scripture) as an answer to a prophecy.
Matthew
4:13 And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which
is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali,
15
“The
land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
By the way of the sea,
beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles:
16
The
people who sat in darkness have seen a great light,
And upon those
who sat in the region and shadow of death
Light has dawned.”
The
crowning joy of this pronouncement of great darkness is that it was
prophesied to be broken! Sometimes, it just pays to keep
reading...actually, when it comes to the WORD, it ALWAYS pays to keep
reading!
Isaiah
60:2 For
behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And
deep darkness the people;
But
the Lord
will
arise over you,
And
His glory will be seen upon you.
The lesson here is that, if we find
ourselves in darkness, the first thing we need to understand is that
it is most always caused by someone's sin. It may not be yours. It
may be because of someone elses. If it is ours, then, we need to
understand that and correct it. If it is someone elses (a parent, a
spouse, a friend, a child, a leader be it either local or national),
then we need to pray for them and take the steps God prescribes.
This anticipates us actually coming to him for the solution.
The second lesson learned is that no
matter the deepness of the darkness, God is always there at the right
time with his unconquerable light!
…...Sometimes the vile villain and
courageous hero resides in the same person...
Let the Lord ARISE over you and in
you...let HIS GLORY be seen UPON you...
Please check out my Kickstarter project and pray about how God would like to get you involved in this every growing project!
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