The Light That Is Always On

“Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Egypt – darkness that can be felt,” the LORD said to Moses. So, Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky and total darkness covered Egypt for three days. No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived (Exodus 10:2-23).

Have you ever thought about the comfort light gives? When my husband was small, his father had a grist mill not too far from their home, and sometimes they worked late into the night. He has often expressed the comfort of looking out, especially on a cold night, and seeing the light shining in their house. It told him his mother was there waiting with a hot supper prepared and a fire burning. Light conveys warmth and welcome as nothing else can. A national hotel chain knows this and has coined as its slogan, “We’ll leave the light on for you.”

There is a Light that is always “on.” That Light is Jesus! John 1:4-5 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it!” Jesus said in John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.” Jesus is the light of the world, yet in Matthew 5:14 and 16, He tells His followers, “You are the light of the world.” Then He says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” If Jesus is the light, how can we be the light? How can we shine?

Consider the sun and the moon. On the fourth day of creation, “God made two great lights: the greater light (the sun) to rule the day and the lesser light (the moon) to rule the night… and divide the light from the darkness” (Genesis 1:1618). The greater light, the sun, gives light and heat that influences all the objects in the solar system and allows life to exist on the earth (Encarta Encyclopedia). But the moon has no light of its own – it shines by reflecting the light of the sun! That is also how we shine – we shine by reflecting the light of the Son! Moses spent forty days and nights on the mountain with God (Exodus 34), and when he came off the mountain, his face was shining so brightly that he put a veil over it.

Isaiah 60:19 tells of the time when “No longer will you need the light to shine by day, nor the moon to give its light by night, for the LORD your God will be your everlasting light.” Everlasting light – ever shining light!

The Light is always on!!!