By Ben Van Arragon
Read: Isaiah 60:1-9
“Arise, shine, for your light has come.” (v. 1)
One of the most enduring sources of Advent Bible readings is the book of Isaiah. Even if you avoid church for the entire month of December, you might hear Isaiah’s words set to Handel’s music at a concert or even while you do your shopping.
Many people associate these passages from Isaiah with “the most wonderful time of the year,” but ironically, Isaiah prophesied about the least wonderful time in Israel’s history: the exile to Babylon. This was a time when life was so bad for God’s people that they concluded God had abandoned them.
But it was precisely during this darkest season that God sent his prophets to remind Israel of their brightest hope. The pain and disorientation of the exile were inescapable consequences of Israel’s unfaithfulness. Paradoxically, they were also an essential part of God’s plan to redeem the world.
In Isaiah, God calls Israel “a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isa. 49:6). God used the exile to send his people to the ends of the earth. They brought their worship and God’s word wherever they went. They carried God’s light to the nations.
During difficult times, disappointment and disorientation may feel overwhelming. But God’s people never face the darkness alone. The light of God’s presence is always available. We claim it when we devote ourselves to worship and Scripture. As we wait for God to complete his redemptive work in our dark world, we carry the light.
As you pray, ask God to dispel the darkness with the light of his presence.
—————
Ben Van Arragon is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. After twenty years of congregational ministry, he now serves his denomination as a pastor wellbeing consultant in Grand Rapids.
Read: Isaiah 60:1-9
“Arise, shine, for your light has come.” (v. 1)
One of the most enduring sources of Advent Bible readings is the book of Isaiah. Even if you avoid church for the entire month of December, you might hear Isaiah’s words set to Handel’s music at a concert or even while you do your shopping.
Many people associate these passages from Isaiah with “the most wonderful time of the year,” but ironically, Isaiah prophesied about the least wonderful time in Israel’s history: the exile to Babylon. This was a time when life was so bad for God’s people that they concluded God had abandoned them.
But it was precisely during this darkest season that God sent his prophets to remind Israel of their brightest hope. The pain and disorientation of the exile were inescapable consequences of Israel’s unfaithfulness. Paradoxically, they were also an essential part of God’s plan to redeem the world.
In Isaiah, God calls Israel “a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth” (Isa. 49:6). God used the exile to send his people to the ends of the earth. They brought their worship and God’s word wherever they went. They carried God’s light to the nations.
During difficult times, disappointment and disorientation may feel overwhelming. But God’s people never face the darkness alone. The light of God’s presence is always available. We claim it when we devote ourselves to worship and Scripture. As we wait for God to complete his redemptive work in our dark world, we carry the light.
As you pray, ask God to dispel the darkness with the light of his presence.
—————
Ben Van Arragon is an ordained minister in the Christian Reformed Church in North America. After twenty years of congregational ministry, he now serves his denomination as a pastor wellbeing consultant in Grand Rapids.
