Hey, I'm this time around, I'm talking to the person in the car. No, I know you think I mean somebody else. No, I actually do mean you. Yeah, you know how I mean you? Because when you were a kid, you went to the Christian bookstore and you bought an accompaniment track of DC Talks, I Wanna Be in the Light, and then you sang it at church, and it was awesome. And you were very, very proud of it, but also very, very nervous and very, very relieved to be done. I want you to know that I think you did a killer job and thank you for doing it. Also, please try to stay on the road because your mind is blown right now. Because yes, I am actually talking to you. Do you guys know that song by DC Talk that my friend in the car sang?
SPEAKER_00Have you heard that one? It's actually a really nice song. I want to be in the light as you are in the light. I want to, what is it, guys? Shine like the stars in the heavens, and then something, something else, nine or that's been a while since I've heard the song. It was just a really nice song.
SPEAKER_01It's the one where DC Talk quit being a uh goofy children's rap group from the 80s and started trying to do more grown-up sounding things. It really was uh a great principle to make a song about because this is, as we're discussing, very central to what it is to be a Christian. It's like the function of being a kingdom citizen is to be this light in this darkness. And I talked yesterday a little bit, I think it was yesterday, uh, that all kinds of blends together. I talked recently about how the motif of salt and what exact attribute of salt we're really talking about here is a little bit confusing. But with light, it's not confusing at all because the Bible talks about it all the time. I mean, it's illumination, it's clarity, it's truth, it's the reality of God, it's the presence of God, and really all of those things pretty neatly mushed together into one thing. But I had to think about it. I was like, you know what? I just asked everybody to assume that I was telling the truth. And if the Bible says that so much, I should read you the Bible about it. And so I decided that today we are going to do a bit of a Bible marathon about this whole concept of the light of God. And part of what I want to look at at this is the existing scriptures that the original audience would have had in the back of their heads, as well as the scriptures that flowed out of what Jesus was saying and informed the authors of the rest of the New Testament as they talked further about this light concept that Jesus introduced. By the time we get to the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew has already reminded his audience of the motif of light in the Old Testament and is already making the connection with all of that stuff that we spend all that time on with the backstory and the what do you call it, genealogy and all of the ticking of the boxes in the first few chapters in chapter four, verse 16. Why do I not? I'm not gonna flip over there. I'm pretty sure it's 16. He talks about, he employs a reference to the very famous Isaiah chapter 9, the one you always hear at Christmas, the one we've read several times. But gonna load this one in light of this, see what I did, in light of this conversation about light. 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, page turn, as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the days of Midian's defeat, you've shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. And remember, it goes into all that language about war and conflict being done, and unto us a child is born, and the government will be on his shoulders and be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, he'll reign on David's throne. All of that language that, I mean, that might be the most known, most repeated promise of God for people at the time of Jesus who were hoping that those promises of God could still be counted on. And what does it all start with? There's this light that is dawned. Jesus knows that. He knows exactly what he's drawing on there. Matthew knows that. He knows what he's drawing on. That would have been in the mind of every person who knew anything about the scriptures who was sitting there listening to Jesus talk. Uh, Psalm 119, 105. You know what? You there in the car. I bet you did this one with an accompaniment track in church too. Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Thy word is lamp to my feet, and light unto Yeah, you got that one? That was Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith. Oh, if it was Michael W. Smith and I didn't do it right, just a second, let me change my nose. The word is lamp to my hey, that guy is amazing, but it's like half of the sound comes through the nose. I don't know how he does it. I can't properly imitate that. But yeah, I mean it's super famous Bible, but the idea here is again that the word of God is a light on the path. And what when you connect the dots between the idea of the word of God and of light with John chapter one, it gets even thicker. I mean, think about this. Here, John is gonna use word capital W, logos, logos. This is the word incarnate, the word become flesh. He's likening Jesus to this light, to the path. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made. Without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God, his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light. He came only as a witness to the light, the true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. You there in the car, the one that sang these songs and that has the kid in classical conversations. I bet when I was doing that, you were just like, I know that one in Latin. It's like the only Bible verse I know in Latin because my kid had to memorize it. I'm not kidding. I'm talking to you, not anyone else. You, right there. I'm not going to say your name because I don't want to embarrass you or have you get a bunch of emails, but I know who you are and I'm talking to you. John 8.12, I mean John really hits on this whole theme of light, including in his epistles, that is the letters that he wrote later on. John 8.12, when Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, I'm the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. And then in 1 John, that's the first of the letters that John wrote that are included in the Bible, these letters are called epistles. It goes like this This is the message we've heard from him and declare to you. God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and don't live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he's in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth isn't in us. But if we confess our sins, he's faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. You probably remember that one too. John 12 is the verse 35. Then Jesus told them, You're going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark doesn't know where they're going. Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of the light. When he'd finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them. Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still wouldn't believe him. And that's John fleshing out this light and darkness. And when he's with them, they can see stuff. But as soon as he's not standing there, they have a tougher time figuring out what's going on. James 1:17. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows. I know you there who are driving in the car, who has the kids in classical conversations and did that Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith song as well as that DC Talk song. You thought about doing that shine down your light on me song by Amy Grant, but you were like, uh, I guess it's a little bit technical. It's a little bit too rocky. I don't think they'd probably like that one in church. So you didn't, but you thought about it. Yeah, I'm not kidding. I'm talking to you. And it's just comical to me that you still think I'm making this up and I don't literally actually know who you are, and that your friend didn't actually call me and tell me all these things about you, so that I would say these things on here and completely mess with your brain. It's just funny that you still think this is random and that I'm making it up. I'm not. I'm talking about you. Psalm 27:1. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Acts 18.37, which really flows out of Jesus' lesser commission in Matthew chapter 10, that we're going to get to, says, For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. That is exactly in keeping with the role that Jesus is saying kingdom citizens are supposed to play in the passage we're looking at in Matthew chapter 5 right now. Proverbs 623, bouncing back to what the people on the hill would have already remembered from the Bibles they had. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life. Isaiah 42, 6, I am the Lord, I've called you in righteousness, I will take you by the hand and keep you, I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations. And I'll land the plane here. Go all the way back to the beginning, Genesis, the account of creation. Yeah, there are some Christians who take this as largely metaphorical. There are some who take it as entirely literal. I am not interested in ever settling that debate between people, but what I am interested in is this one little verse that I think applies both literally and metaphorically. I mean, here you have an account of the God who holds himself out as being the initiator of all things and the designer of all things, basically making an analogy for himself that he can pound home through the rest of his document as he interacts with the people he created. He says, and God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. In all of this language that we're looking at here, and what we've looked at doesn't even scratch the surface. In all of this language, we are not seeing the authors of the Bible, the God character behind it, drawing on some phenomenon that somebody else observed or that somebody else made up. We are seeing these authors who purport to be inspired by God drawing on an image that God made four verses into the whole document at the very dawn of existence that proves to be this ultra-reliable description of the difference between what we'll ultimately come to call the world kingdom and the truer, realer kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. I don't think that's an accident. I realize that was a bit of a Bible avalanche, but I'm very fond of this book. And I think it was super important to take a little bit of time on this to really think through what this imagery would have conjured in the minds of Jesus' original audience, and to really think through how Jesus' words fire an arc forward that is completed in a whole bunch of other thoughts throughout the New Testament and even in the lives of people who sign up for this thing today. This episode was brought to you by the person in their car who sang those songs at church and whose kid does the Latin training in New John chapter one in Latin. Again, I'm not going to say your name because I don't want to embarrass you, but if you think this was all by chance, you are completely mistaken. If you want to shoot me an email, we'll try to connect the next time I'm in town where you live. Maybe we can grab a bite to eat or something. We can have a good laugh about how this all went down. I'm Matt, this is a 10-minute Bible hour podcast. More on this stuff, Magnana.