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Advent Resolutions: The Christ Candle – Light

We are into the second week into February.  More than 10% of 2017 is gone and we will never get it back. Where are you in your New Year’s Advent Wreath Resolution?

mage used under creative commons license available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The large white candle in the center represents Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, the Light of the world. Jesus knocks on the door of our heart and invites us to follow Him. There are two types of light in this world: physical and spiritual. I believe Jesus is speaking of spiritual light here in John 8:12.  He is claiming to be the only source of spiritual truth. Since He is the light of the world, he will enable us to see where we are going. If we follow in His footsteps we will stay on the path of righteousness.

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12, JKV)

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. It is a 2D photograph (by unknown photographer) of an original oil painting entitled Light of the World by William Holman Hunt. The painting is housed in the Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, England. This image is in Public Domain because the artist died in 1910.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1, JKV)

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Lighthouses are an international symbol of a beacon of safety and guidance. Some of them indicated the entrance into a harbor. Others showed sailors where dangerous cliffs and reefs lurked. Lighthouses kept sailors off the rocks in calm, as well as stormy weather. Christ, the living word and light of the world can keep us from running aground on the rocky shores of life or the shallows of a sandy beach. The light from a lighthouse can keep us safe amidst life’s storms and tempests. If Christ is on our side and guiding us, of whom or what should we be afraid? After all, he calmed the storm using just his words.

38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? 39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? (Mark 4: 38-41, KJV)

A photograph of Rembrandt’s oil painting Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee, from 1632. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. Therefore it is also in public domain.

God guided His people with His light throughout the whole Bible. In the wilderness, as the Hebrews fled Egypt, God used a pillar of a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire during the night to guide the steps of the Hebrews as they fled Egypt.

 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people. (Exodus 13: 21 & 22, KJV)

With Christ guiding us, what is our final destination?

And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. (Rev 21:22-24, JKV)

“And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” Revelations 21: 22 & 23 (KJV).  “A new heaven and new earth”, an etching by Pieter van der Borcht from the Phillip Medhurst Collection. The date of the print is most likely 1650 to 1660. The image is available under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.

Are you glorifying and honoring God as the light of the world, as well as your life and world?

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord‘s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.  O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. (Isaiah 2: 2-5, KJV)

Is it ironic that the United Nations is man’s attempt to eliminate wars? How has that worked? Since the UN was founded after 1945, there have been more than 140 wars somewhere in the world. That’s an average of slightly more than two wars per year. Man’s only hope for peace is God, and walking in His way and in the light he provides us.

In 2017, are you walking in God’s light and working toward His peace?  Are you helping others to find this path?