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Our Scripture meditation is based on Isaiah 62:1-4, the Old Testament reading for next week. 

[1] For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.

This passage is a prophesy about Jesus, a striking image of the Messiah. Jesus is the righteousness that went forth as brightness, the Christ who brought salvation as a burning torch.  

This passage brought to mind a comet racing across the night sky. A comet coming so close to earth that its tail is clearly visible. A comet that that outshines the constellations of stars. Jesus is this comet, this brightness, this burning torch. Isaiah 9:2 tells us: ‘The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.’

In the Church Year this is the season of Epiphany. We celebrate Jesus being revealed, shining forth to the nations. Jesus blazed across Judea for a little over three years. The Jewish leaders and Roman rulers thought they had extinguished him on Mount Calvary. Yet Jesus, whose face “shone like the sun” on the Mount of Transfiguration, was raised from the dead. (Matthew 17:2, 28:9-10)

After Jesus ascended into heaven there was a risk that his powerful light would finally dim. Yet on Pentecost the Holy Spirit alighted like tongues of fire above the apostles. From that day forward, God’s people have taken the light of Christ around the world, crisscrossing the globe. In Philippians chapter 2 we are told we “shine as lights in the world.” That light is Jesus. 

Our Scripture meditation is based on Isaiah 62:1-4, the Old Testament reading for next week. 

[1] For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch.

This passage is a prophesy about Jesus, a striking image of the Messiah. Jesus is the righteousness that went forth as brightness, the Christ who brought salvation as a burning torch.  

This passage brought to my mind a comet racing across the sky. A comet coming so close to earth that its tail is clearly visible. A comet that that outshines the constellations of stars. Jesus is this comet, this brightness, this burning torch. After all, Isaiah chapter 9:2 says: ‘The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.’

In the Church Year this is the season of Epiphany. We celebrate Jesus being revealed, shining forth to the nations. Jesus blazed across Judea for a little over three years. The Jewish leaders and Roman rulers thought they had extinguished him on Mount Calvary. Yet Jesus, whose face “shone like the sun” on the Mount of Transfiguration, was raised from the dead. (Matthew 17:2, 28:9-10)

After Jesus ascended into heaven there was a risk that his powerful light would finally dim. Yet on Pentecost the Holy Spirit alighted like tongues of fire above the apostles. From that day forward, God’s people have taken the light of Christ around the world, crisscrossing the globe. In Philippians chapter 2 we are told we “shine as lights in the world.” The light that we shine is Jesus.