Light Shines in the DarknessSample

Weʼve been taught a great many truths that are commonly accepted, but we often miss the facts. Perhaps one of the most common false truths we believe is that the time before Jesus was the time for judgment, but after Jesus is the time of love and mercy and grace. Or, as my eighth grade history teacher expressed, this idea, “God got soft in the New Testament after he had a kid.” 

This perspective makes sense from a certain limited point of view. The preaching of the gospel is the message that God saves sinners by sheer grace through Jesus Christ! That is the best good news imaginable! But notice the flip side to this good news: the wrath of God abides on all who reject Christ the Lord. 

We have been taught to think that because Jesus is gracious that he is not also just; but, in fact, Jesusʼ very coming was an act of righteous judgment. Remember, for four hundred years, the people waited for the coming of the Messiah, but Malachi warned, “Who can endure the day of his coming… For he is like a refiner's fire” (Mal. 3:2). As Jesus himself said, “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49). 

When truth is revealed, falsehoods are shown for what they are. Every truth condemns lies. As the dawning of heavenly Light, Christ revealed that the world stood judged already: “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” (John 3:19). 

We often long for the world to be made right, but fail to realize that this can only happen by overturning the world as it is. The old world that was given over to sin and enslaved by the devil would rage against the dawning of Jesusʼ kingdom, of course. But this only confirmed that the coming of Christ meant that this world was at an end. 

The dawning of the new world has begun.While God has graciously overlooked the times of ignorance, now the times of patience are over. God has appointed that one man, Jesus Christ, will judge the world in righteousness, and has demonstrated this by raising him from the dead. Now everyone, everywhere is commanded to repent and believe.