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In this article we will investigate the metaphor found in Matthew 5:14, where Christ proclaimed, “You are the light of the world.” We will further explore the biblical definition of light. The metaphor is located in, what is known as, the Sermon on the Mount. John Stott wrote that the Sermon on the Mount is “the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus,” the “least understood,” and the “least obeyed.”[1] This is an indication that perhaps Christians are experiencing an identity crisis. We would, therefore, do well to use this essay to assist in self-assessment and seek opportunities to repent.
We may, during the course of this essay, interchange the term Christian with disciple. The Sermon on the Mount contrasts a disciple’s life compared to life in the world. According to Jesus’ teaching, the two are mutually exclusive. Christians should be countercultural; but most of all, Christians should be like Jesus (John 13:15, Phil 2:5).[2]
A WORLD IN NEED OF LIGHT
On Christmas Eve, 1968, while orbiting the moon for the first time in history, the crew of the Apollo 8 broadcasted words from the creation story of the Bible. They read:
We may, during the course of this essay, interchange the term Christian with disciple. The Sermon on the Mount contrasts a disciple’s life compared to life in the world. According to Jesus’ teaching, the two are mutually exclusive. Christians should be countercultural; but most of all, Christians should be like Jesus (John 13:15, Phil 2:5).[2]
A WORLD IN NEED OF LIGHT
On Christmas Eve, 1968, while orbiting the moon for the first time in history, the crew of the Apollo 8 broadcasted words from the creation story of the Bible. They read:
. . . . And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. (Gen 1:1-5)
One thing that was needed in 1968 was light. A pall of darkness had fallen on the world. North Korea seized the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo; the North Vietnamese launched the Tet Offensive, a turning point in the Vietnam War; and American soldiers massacred 347 civilians at My Lai. Two major American leaders, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy, were shot and killed.[3]
The three astronauts, Borman, Lovell, and Anders, were pictured on the cover TIME Magazine.[4] They were chosen as Men of the Year for 1968, recognizing them as the most influential people of the preceding year. Their successful mission represented hope, like the rising of the brightly lit earth they had photographed peering over the horizon of the desolate lunar landscape. In the 21st Century, times seem just as dark and we long for relief. The world is weary of the media persistently reporting on war, of natural calamities, and of death. Like the Psalmist of Scriptures, many are asking, “Who can show us any good?” (Ps 4:6a).
AN HISTORICAL REFERENCE TO LIGHT
After the Flood, God chose Abraham to light the world. Abraham was chosen so that all peoples on earth would be blessed through him (Gen 12:2-3). When Abraham was feeling small and helpless because he had “not yet received the things promised” (Heb 11:3), God took him outside to show him a night sky filled with stars. God said to him, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them. . . . So shall your offspring be” (Gen 15:5). It was not the black background that Abraham focused on, but the thousand points of light that bolstered his faith. At that moment, he no longer depended on his own human abilities, but he believed God (Gen 15:6) who had placed all the stars in the sky (Ps 136:7).
In his 1989 inaugural speech, President George H.W. Bush encouraged a new age of volunteerism and hope with a similar metaphor, saying, “I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the nation, doing good.”[5]
Throughout their history, Israel struggled to believe the promise given to Abraham. Their unbelief and disobedience to the covenant often led them into darkness. But, God sent prophets to them to call them to repentance and bring them hope for a better day. Such was the case when Isaiah spoke not only for their present time, but for a time hundreds of years into their future, when he said:
The three astronauts, Borman, Lovell, and Anders, were pictured on the cover TIME Magazine.[4] They were chosen as Men of the Year for 1968, recognizing them as the most influential people of the preceding year. Their successful mission represented hope, like the rising of the brightly lit earth they had photographed peering over the horizon of the desolate lunar landscape. In the 21st Century, times seem just as dark and we long for relief. The world is weary of the media persistently reporting on war, of natural calamities, and of death. Like the Psalmist of Scriptures, many are asking, “Who can show us any good?” (Ps 4:6a).
AN HISTORICAL REFERENCE TO LIGHT
After the Flood, God chose Abraham to light the world. Abraham was chosen so that all peoples on earth would be blessed through him (Gen 12:2-3). When Abraham was feeling small and helpless because he had “not yet received the things promised” (Heb 11:3), God took him outside to show him a night sky filled with stars. God said to him, “Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them. . . . So shall your offspring be” (Gen 15:5). It was not the black background that Abraham focused on, but the thousand points of light that bolstered his faith. At that moment, he no longer depended on his own human abilities, but he believed God (Gen 15:6) who had placed all the stars in the sky (Ps 136:7).
In his 1989 inaugural speech, President George H.W. Bush encouraged a new age of volunteerism and hope with a similar metaphor, saying, “I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the nation, doing good.”[5]
Throughout their history, Israel struggled to believe the promise given to Abraham. Their unbelief and disobedience to the covenant often led them into darkness. But, God sent prophets to them to call them to repentance and bring them hope for a better day. Such was the case when Isaiah spoke not only for their present time, but for a time hundreds of years into their future, when he said:
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. . . . The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. (Isa 9:1-2)
What did Isaiah mean by alluding to a light? Obviously, it can mean little else but a reference to the Messiah. Several verses later, Isaiah makes this clear when he declares, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6). It is, therefore, through this Messiah that God fulfilled his covenant to Abraham that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 12:3).
The Hebrew Scriptures tell the story of how God chose Israel to teach the rest of the world about Him. He called them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Ex 19:6). Why would God call them priests? What is significant about this title? A priest does not live for himself. Instead, he lives purposefully as an intercessor between God and man. Paul reminded the Church of Rome of his priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God to the Gentiles (Rom 15:16). The duty of a priest is defined in Hebrews where it states: “Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins” (5.1). It follows, then, that a kingdom of priests would have the distinction of making God known to the other nations for the purpose of establishing a relationship between them. In one sense, God chose Israel to bring the world spiritual light. Peter extended this notion to the church when he told them: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet 2:9).
The nation of Israel arose from a small nomadic tribe to settle into Canaan, the land promised to Abraham’s descendants. Their location was significant to their mission. They stood along the major trade routes between the northeastern civilizations of Assyria, Persia, and Babylon, to the north, and the south western empire of Egypt. Although the Arabian Desert was on their eastern border, the Mediterranean offered them nautical access to the continents of Europe and Africa. Ray Vander Laan suggests that Israel was on the “crossroads of the world.”[6]
Israel was on display for all to see. When they sinned, the nations observed that God punished them. When Israel lived in holy obedience, the nations observed how God blessed them. Representative of their holiness was the temple worship in Jerusalem. In a pilgrim’s song, it reads: “Jerusalem, well-built city, built as a place for worship! The city to which the tribes ascend, all God's tribes go up to worship, To give thanks to the name of God—this is what it means to be Israel” (Ps 122:3-4, Msg). The Midrash is a compilation of commentaries on the Tanakh (the Old Testament). It states: “Jerusalem is the light of the world. And who is the light of Jerusalem? The Holy One, blessed be He” (Breishith Rabba 59:8).[7]
The contents of the temple were even more significant than Jerusalem or the temple itself. It contained the Ark of the Covenant, which in turn, contained the stones on which the Ten Commandments (the Word of God) were carved. The Ark represented God’s presence, or glory (doxa), and so it was positioned in the most holy place in the temple. Besides other contents, there was a lamp stand (menorah). According to J.D. Douglas, “The lamp stand often symbolically represents God's perfect leadership in showing his people their way. It also represents the Holy Spirit.”[8] It might be suggested that these two things, the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, residing in the Christian, are the sources that make the Christian the light of the world that Jesus refers to in Matthew 5:14. Moreover, the allusion to the City of Jerusalem might represent the observable positioning of Christians as a “city on a hill.”
See Part 2 of this article.
1 John R. Stott. The Message of the Sermon on the Mount. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1978), 15.
2 Unless otherwise specified, all Scripture references are from the New International Version of the Bible.
3 "1968." Year by Year. Fact Monster. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, publishing as Fact Monster, 2000–2007), 24 Feb 2007 <http://www.factmonster.com/year/1968.html>
4 “Men of the Year.” TIME Magazine. 3 January 1978.
5 Inaugural Address of George Bush January 20, 1989. The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. (21 February 2007) <http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/bush.htm>.
6 Raynard Vander Lann. That the World May Know: Teacher’s/Leader’s Guide for Faith Lessons 1-5. (Colorado Springs: Focus on the Family, 1995), 11.
7 Samuel Rapaport, tr. Tales and Maxims from the Midrash. (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1907) Scanned at sacred-texts.com, January 2003. J.B. Hare redactor. 63.
8 J.D. Douglas. “Light.” New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words. Revised ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999).
The Hebrew Scriptures tell the story of how God chose Israel to teach the rest of the world about Him. He called them a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Ex 19:6). Why would God call them priests? What is significant about this title? A priest does not live for himself. Instead, he lives purposefully as an intercessor between God and man. Paul reminded the Church of Rome of his priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God to the Gentiles (Rom 15:16). The duty of a priest is defined in Hebrews where it states: “Every high priest is selected from among men and is appointed to represent them in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins” (5.1). It follows, then, that a kingdom of priests would have the distinction of making God known to the other nations for the purpose of establishing a relationship between them. In one sense, God chose Israel to bring the world spiritual light. Peter extended this notion to the church when he told them: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Pet 2:9).
The nation of Israel arose from a small nomadic tribe to settle into Canaan, the land promised to Abraham’s descendants. Their location was significant to their mission. They stood along the major trade routes between the northeastern civilizations of Assyria, Persia, and Babylon, to the north, and the south western empire of Egypt. Although the Arabian Desert was on their eastern border, the Mediterranean offered them nautical access to the continents of Europe and Africa. Ray Vander Laan suggests that Israel was on the “crossroads of the world.”[6]
Israel was on display for all to see. When they sinned, the nations observed that God punished them. When Israel lived in holy obedience, the nations observed how God blessed them. Representative of their holiness was the temple worship in Jerusalem. In a pilgrim’s song, it reads: “Jerusalem, well-built city, built as a place for worship! The city to which the tribes ascend, all God's tribes go up to worship, To give thanks to the name of God—this is what it means to be Israel” (Ps 122:3-4, Msg). The Midrash is a compilation of commentaries on the Tanakh (the Old Testament). It states: “Jerusalem is the light of the world. And who is the light of Jerusalem? The Holy One, blessed be He” (Breishith Rabba 59:8).[7]
The contents of the temple were even more significant than Jerusalem or the temple itself. It contained the Ark of the Covenant, which in turn, contained the stones on which the Ten Commandments (the Word of God) were carved. The Ark represented God’s presence, or glory (doxa), and so it was positioned in the most holy place in the temple. Besides other contents, there was a lamp stand (menorah). According to J.D. Douglas, “The lamp stand often symbolically represents God's perfect leadership in showing his people their way. It also represents the Holy Spirit.”[8] It might be suggested that these two things, the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, residing in the Christian, are the sources that make the Christian the light of the world that Jesus refers to in Matthew 5:14. Moreover, the allusion to the City of Jerusalem might represent the observable positioning of Christians as a “city on a hill.”
See Part 2 of this article.
1 John R. Stott. The Message of the Sermon on the Mount. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1978), 15.
2 Unless otherwise specified, all Scripture references are from the New International Version of the Bible.
3 "1968." Year by Year. Fact Monster. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, publishing as Fact Monster, 2000–2007), 24 Feb 2007 <http://www.factmonster.com/year/1968.html>
4 “Men of the Year.” TIME Magazine. 3 January 1978.
5 Inaugural Address of George Bush January 20, 1989. The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. (21 February 2007) <http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/presiden/inaug/bush.htm>.
6 Raynard Vander Lann. That the World May Know: Teacher’s/Leader’s Guide for Faith Lessons 1-5. (Colorado Springs: Focus on the Family, 1995), 11.
7 Samuel Rapaport, tr. Tales and Maxims from the Midrash. (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1907) Scanned at sacred-texts.com, January 2003. J.B. Hare redactor. 63.
8 J.D. Douglas. “Light.” New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words. Revised ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999).
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