shining brighter and brighter until midday.
19 But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom;
they do not know what makes them stumble.
"The righteousness of the Bible is a path. And we enter into that path through an encounter with the Son of Righteousness, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when He shines into our lives, thats like the first gleam of dawn. Its the beginning of light. And then, as we move on in that path, the words are beautiful: 'The light shines ever brighter till the full light of day.' - Derek Prince
The just both have light themselves and shed light on all around, because they have within them the light of God's Word and God's Spirit..... a steadily increasing light. They go on from strength to strength and glory to glory. - Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Commentary
I used to enjoy watching the dawn break. I haven't done it in many years but, by the sea, or in the mountains, it is a gorgeous sight to see. You see the advent of the sun just topping the horizon and then watch it grow more brilliant. The climax of the sun is noon day, when it's at it's brightest.
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior, it's like the sun breaking. As we walk in the light of His glory and grace and grow in the light of His Word, the light increases in our spiritual life just like the sun grows in brilliance. We also shine forth the light of God in a dark world as a reflection of His Glory!
Philippians 2: 14-15 14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world
Matthew 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
When our end day comes, we will enter into the climax of the Light! We will see Him as He is. And we will walk into eternity with the wondrous light of His Presence! And we will enjoy the government of Christ as He rules His kingdom forever!
"'until the perfect day' of glory comes, a day without clouds; when there will be nothing to interpose between God and them; when there will be no more clouds of darkness, unbelief, doubts, and fears; when the sun will always be seen, no more withdrawn, eclipsed, or set; even Christ, the sun of righteousness, whose glory will always be beheld by the righteous to all eternity: when there will be no more night of affliction, desertion, and death; when the light of knowledge will be clear and perfect, and saints shall see face to face, and know as they are known; and when not only the light of the righteous shall be so clear, distinct, and perfect, but they themselves shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of God. The words may be rendered, "the prepared day"; appointed in the decrees of God, and firmly established by them: the invisible glories of the heavenly state, which make this everlasting day, are things which God has prepared for his people; the kingdom and glory itself, the inheritance of the saints in light, is prepared for them from the foundation of the world. And, since such is the path of the just, who would walk in the ways of the wicked?" - Gill's Notes On The Bible
2 Samuel 23:3-4 3 The God of Israel spoke; the Rock of Israel said to me, He who rules the people with justice, who rules in the fear of God, 4 is like the light of the morning at sunrise of a cloudless dawn, the glistening after the rain on the sprouting grass of the earth.
To make it more emphatic, the writer has juxtaposed two opposites. In Verse 19 we see the opposite of the righteous, "But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble."
Isaiah 59 (NLT)
1 Listen! The LORDs arm is not too weak to save you,
nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call.
2 Its your sins that have cut you off from God.
Because of your sins, he has turned away
and will not listen anymore.
3 Your hands are the hands of murderers,
and your fingers are filthy with sin.
Your lips are full of lies,
and your mouth spews corruption.
4 No one cares about being fair and honest.
The peoples lawsuits are based on lies.
They conceive evil deeds
and then give birth to sin.
5 They hatch deadly snakes
and weave spiders webs.
Whoever eats their eggs will die;
whoever cracks them will hatch a viper.
6 Their webs cant be made into clothing,
and nothing they do is productive.
All their activity is filled with sin,
and violence is their trademark.
7 Their feet run to do evil,
and they rush to commit murder.
They think only about sinning.
Misery and destruction always follow them.
8 They dont know where to find peace
or what it means to be just and good.
They have mapped out crooked roads,
and no one who follows them knows a moments peace.
9 So there is no justice among us,
and we know nothing about right living.
We look for light but find only darkness.
We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.
10 We grope like the blind along a wall,
feeling our way like people without eyes.
Even at brightest noontime,
we stumble as though it were dark.
Among the living,
we are like the dead.
11 We growl like hungry bears;
we moan like mournful doves.
We look for justice, but it never comes.
We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.
12 For our sins are piled up before God
and testify against us.
Yes, we know what sinners we are.
13 We know we have rebelled and have denied the LORD.
We have turned our backs on our God.
We know how unfair and oppressive we have been,
carefully planning our deceitful lies.
14 Our courts oppose the righteous,
and justice is nowhere to be found.
Truth stumbles in the streets,
and honesty has been outlawed.
15 Yes, truth is gone,
and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.
The LORD looked and was displeased
to find there was no justice.
16 He was amazed to see that no one intervened
to help the oppressed.
So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm,
and his justice sustained him.
17 He put on righteousness as his body armor
and placed the helmet of salvation on his head.
He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance
and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.
18 He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds.
His fury will fall on his foes.
He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.
19 In the west, people will respect the name of the LORD;
in the east, they will glorify him.
For he will come like a raging flood tide
driven by the breath of the LORD.
20 The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem
to buy back those in Israel
who have turned from their sins,
says the LORD.
21 And this is my covenant with them, says the LORD. My Spirit will not leave them, and neither will these words I have given you. They will be on your lips and on the lips of your children and your childrens children forever. I, the LORD, have spoken!
Verse 16 above refers to the Messiah.
Isaiah 59:16 (NIV) He saw that there was no one,
he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm achieved salvation for him,
and his own righteousness sustained him.
There was none to intercede with God to turn away his wrath; none to interpose for the support of justice and truth. Yet He engaged his own strength and righteousness for his people... The Son of God shall come to us to be our Redeemer; the Spirit of God shall come to be our Sanctifier... - Matthew Henry Commentary
When it is said that God "wondered" at no champion appearing, we must understand the expression as an anthropomorphism Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him...it became necessary that God should arise in his own Person, and show himself. "His arm" and "his righteousness" were enough; no human aid was needed, or could have added anything to the resistless strength of his might. - Pulpit Commentary
But notice in verses 1-15 describe the darkness of evil, sin. It says our "sins that have cut you off from God" produce darkness, so dark we stumble along in blindness and "among the living we are like the dead". You know, the imagined zombies in horror movies, TV series and books are called "living dead" and that is what sinners without a Savior are like! We are living dead, stumbling about in darkness and decay, rotten with sin to the core. That's really scary!!!!
It's not a movie, it's not made up, imagination. It's the real state of our spirits and if we die in this condition, we go to an eternity of unimaginative hell!
But you don't have to! God has provided a way of salvation and it's open to everyone who will accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God and as the forgiver of your sins. There is only one way to salvation and forgiveness, through Jesus Christ our Savior!
Acts 26:18 (ESV, Jesus speaking to Apostle Paul during his Damascus Road experience) "To open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me".
John 8:12 (ESV) Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.
John 3:19-21 (ESV) And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.
John 12:46 (ESV) I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
- In the opposites presented in these two verses, do you feel like you like you are stumbling in the darkness of sin or have you seen the light of Jesus Christ?
- It matters not where you physically are, it matters where your spirit is. You can be chained in a dark dungeon but the light of Christ is in your spirit. You can be bathed in sunlight on the beach, but your spirit dark with sin. Do you understand the difference between the physical world and the spiritual world?
- "The LORDs arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call." No matter what you've done, Jesus Christ's work on the cross can save you, forgive you, cleanse you. If you think you cannot be saved, you are limiting the power of Jesus Christ. There is no limit to His saving grace and His work covered all sin. You may still have to deal with the consequences of your sin but you are saved, loved by God, one of His children if you grab hold of Jesus Christ as your Savior! Have you done that?
- The path of godly wisdom begins and ends with Jesus Christ. He is God's wisdom. If we follow Christ, our path will lead us in the light. Slowly the wisdom of God will be imparted to us and we will know more and more of His glorious wisdom. Can you journal this in your own words?
- Write a prayer to God based on these two verses.
For all my studies on Proverbs click HERE.