Come Let Us Walk In The Light Of The Lord

Come let us walk in the light of the Lord wearing the required dress

Text: Is. 2:1-5: Psalm 104:1-9

Light, for most people, refers to light from the sun or from electricity. In Ghana talking about light inevitably refers to electricity. This is because you never know when electricity will be disrupted plunging you into darkness. Although we are accustomed to power failures it does not mean that we can do without light. We need light and without it nothing would grow. We depend on it for life, health and well-being. The Bible, however, talks about another light – a far more important light. When God gave the divine command “Let there be light!” the reference was not to sunlight because the sun had not yet been created. This Light comes from the presence of the Creator, the source of life. For Adam and Eve, the most natural thing in the world was to walk in this light – to know God, to talk to Him, and to share their lives with Him. After all their life came from Him and they were clothed with His light. When they disobeyed God they lost the covering of God’s presence. The immediate result was they hid from Him. This was not God’s desire for man and He did all that was possible for man to be properly clothed and to come and once more walk in the light of the Lord.

The apostle John in Jn 1:9 describes Jesus as ‘the real light - the light that comes into the world and shines on everyone’. The world, unfortunately, loves and prefers the darkness to the light. When the light of the Lord confronted the world, the world very clearly said that they would rather walk in darkness. They hated to walk in the light and wanted nothing to do with the light. The world rejected the idea of walking in the light because as the light dispels the darkness it reveals evil and shows the right way to deal with it. In the dark evil can appear to be something else but in the light it can be clearly discerned. The world therefore preferred to live without the light because they didn’t want the light to expose their nakedness and the evil things they were doing. They wanted to continue doing what they wanted to do. In the words of Isaiah ‘they have rejected the Lord and have turned their backs on Him yet still regularly keep the outward form of their religion. They prayed and went to the Temple, yet persisted in lives that in no way matched their professions of allegiance to the Lord.’

God’s desire is for us to have access to His presence and fellowship with Him. When you desire to come into the presence of a king or a President, you need to be properly clothed by wearing the required dress. If you are not wearing the right attire you will not be allowed anywhere near his presence. The right attire is much more important when coming before the King of Kings. Adam and Eve before their sin could come before God because they were clothed properly. They were clothed with God’s glory and according to Psalm 104:2 God is clothed with light as with a garment. When sin entered into the world the covering light of God’s glory departed and left them naked. When their royal clothing was removed they felt ashamed to be in God’s presence because they knew from experience that they could only approach God clothed. They therefore made aprons out of fig leaves to cover themselves and this was man’s first attempt to make himself acceptable to God, to save himself from the consequences of sin through his own works and self-effort. The fig leaves just could not compare with the previous glory of God’s presence. As in Genesis 3, there must now, because of human sin, be a new basis for coming before God. That basis is clearly revealed and fulfilled in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. When man lost the covering of God’s glory, God brought them clothes to wear made of animal skins. These animals shed their blood to provide a covering for Adam and Eve and foreshadowed God’s ultimate sacrifice, the sacrifice of Christ. Christ shed His blood to provide a covering for our sin. He clothes us with His righteousness so that we can live in His presence. Every human being is meant to be living in the knowledge, presence and love of God and this is why the grace of God is freely available for all who will receive it. The light of Christ always reveals the truth and glorifies God. It reveals our nakedness and that we cannot count on our good works to save us and that only Christ can save us.