To be light to our world we need to walk in the light of the Lord

In the Old Testament part of my blog we are coming towards the end of the Minor Prophets. We are currently in the latter half of Zechariah, and then there is just Malachi to do. After that I am going to move on to the major prophets, starting with Isaiah. I write these things a few weeks or months in advance, so am already working on Isaiah. Before the verse by verse stuff starts to appear you may get one or two taster blogs, of which this is one where I will look at Chapter 2:1-5. Chapter 1 has consisted mostly of a damning indictment of the state of Judah and Jerusalem, but also including promises of salvation. In Isaiah 2:1-5 we get one of primary motivating reasons for why the people should return to the Lord.

In the last days Jerusalem will be the dominant nation in the world. Other nations, and many peoples will stream to it and want to go to the mountain of the Lord to receive wisdom and guidance. The Law will go out from Zion, and peace will come upon the earth, with the famous promise of swords being beaten into ploughshares.

Now we should remember the state of the nation at the time Isaiah gave this prophecy. Judah was not powerful. Assyria was the dominant nation, and would soon threaten Jerusalem herself. Later on Babylon would come and decimate Jerusalem. After this a series of nations would dominate Israel. So far we have not seen a literal fulfilment of this prophecy, but we have seen the firstfruits of this. The gospel of Jesus Christ has gone, and is going, out to all the world. Peoples from all cultures and backgrounds are turning to Christ and seeking to learn His ways. But there is a greater fulfilment to come, one that will only happen when Israel herself turns to Christ, recognising her own need of a saviour, and recognising that Jesus Christ is that Saviour.

The section closes with Isaiah urging the people to “walk in the light of the Lord”, for they have such a great future in Him, and only in Him.  

How can we apply this to the West? The gospel has influenced the West in more ways than we care to admit. Sadly, Western societies are seeking to divest themselves of all Christian influence as quickly as they can. But they do this not realising that in doing so they are digging away at the very foundations on which our society is built. There can only be one result of this, that is the collapse of society. We are already seeing this, perhaps the most visible and costly example is the breakdown of family life.

And what is the church doing? Tragically much of the church is adopting the ways of the world. But God’s promises that are found in Isaiah 2:1-5 still stand. The ungodly structures and influences that we see in the West will pass away, “the mighty man will become tinder, and his work a spark; both will burn together with no one to quench the fire” (Isaiah 1:31). If the West continues in the direction it is going it will at some point set fire to itself and burn to become nothing at all. Only a most foolish church would think it wise to back such a society, A wise church would follow Isaiah’s call to “walk in the the light of the Lord”, only then can we offer light to our society.

We should walk in the light of the Lord, not the darkness of the world. For it is God’s ways that will prevail, it is His ways that will bring true peace and well being to the world.