“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” - Matthew 5:14-16
The ancient world was dark. That’s not a figure of speech; the omnipresence of light in modern life is something we often take for granted. We have street lights, we have flashlights, our electrical grid is ubiquitous—very few of us have experienced utter darkness.
In the ancient world, the night meant something different than it means to us. You couldn’t work through the night like we do. You couldn’t gather or make food. You couldn’t fight. In fact, you were pretty vulnerable. Unless there was a full moon (and even then you walked in thick shadows) you had the light immediately around you, and then there was out there.
But there is another kind of ubiquitous light we tend to take for granted.
Imagine a world where God did not speak. Where we did not have the light of his law to guide our personal and societal morality. This was the other kind of darkness that plagued the ancient world, save one little city on a hill. And it is this kind of ubiquitous light I fear we take for granted the most.
As we end chapter one of the book of Revelation, we are given something of a riddle—and then almost immediately the riddle is answered. John writes:
“Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man,” - Revelation 1:12
And a few verses later:
“As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” - Revelation 1:20
The Lights in the Heavens
The blotting out of the sun
Before we get into talking about lamps in stands, we have to talk about lamps in the sky.
The universe began with light. As if we were dropped suddenly into a brand new day. And when God made the heavens and the earth, what he made for himself was a dwelling place. The cosmos was his house. And the house was full of light. When we drive by homes and see the lights on inside, we know someone is home. And it was just so with God as he walked with man in the garden. All was full of light.
But when man sinned, the cosmic house of God was plunged into utter darkness. The lights went out and God vacated the premises.
It was at this separation that we can see the true symbolism of the sun, moon and stars emerge. We will have to revisit the subject of the sun, moon and stars in more detail later because the eschatological implications are enormous; for now, suffice it to say, the features of the heavens image to us the unseen spiritual reality. Remember that revealing an unseen reality to us in the language of symbols is what the book of Revelation is all about.
“For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor.” - Psalm 84:11
(Recall from part 8 the prayer of Numbers 6 and the shining of the face of Christ like the sun in full strength.)
Though mankind was still granted the grace of living under the literal sunlight by day, the privilege of dwelling with the God the sun imaged was snatched away. Symbolically speaking, the sun—the favor of God on man—was blotted out that day that Adam sinned. Darkness fell. We’re left with the lights that rule the night: the moon and the stars.
The emergence of the stars
Man walked in darkness, but just like our dark nights are not without their graces, the spiritual darkness of the ancient world was not left without some form of spiritual illuminations. An unbroken line of Adam’s descendants still continued to receive instructions from God throughout the Old Testament.
For a while, it was only the patriarchs who heard from God. These, like stars across the blackness of the world, prophesied of things to come. It’s no coincidence that Abraham was promised that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars. Nor was it arbitrary that Joseph dreamed of stars bowing to the sun and moon.
“And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above;
and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”- Daniel 12:3
The prophets of the Old Testament were points of light which dispensed the word of God and turned many to righteousness. There is a similar theme going on in our Revelation passage where the seven stars in the hand of Christ represent the ones who speak forth God’s word.
The final prophet was announced with a brilliant star.
The moon on its circuit
What about the moon?
“He made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.” - Psalm 104:19
Israel kept their calendar and Sabbaths according to the cycles of the moon—it was the hinge on which the Old Testament appointments turned. Every month brought the celebration of the new moon. In fact, when God gave the law to the nation of Israel, the sign of the covenant was the Sabbaths.
This was not just the weekly Sabbaths, but all the holy days (called High Sabbaths) that marked the signs and seasons of the Israelite year. Through the darkness of the old world, the lesser light ruled—that lesser light was the mosaic covenant. It was a shadow of things to come. No less a light, but one that paled in comparison and faded away at the rising of the sun.
The waning of the moon, the rising of the sun again
You can often see the moon in the sky during the day, but doesn’t serve a purpose as far as illumination is concerned during the day. In the light of the sun, the light of the moon becomes obsolete. Its light is not needed and adds nothing to the light of the sun. And we are told as much about the mosaic covenant (along with its Sabbaths) in Hebrews:
“In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.” - Hebrews 8:13
And vanish it did, as completely as the night vanishes.
The night began to fade, the moon waned, the stars dimmed, and the morning began to dawn. That is to say: Christ came into the world.
“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.” - Isaiah 9:2
“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.” - John 1:4-5,9
“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
- Revelation 22:16
The law was no longer needed. The morning star was the final star to shine before the night gave way to the full strength of the sun. Now we walk in the light.
And yet, the world is still dark. How can it be both?
Awake, O Sleeper
It goes back to one of the first important lessons of the book of Revelation. We are observing things that are already… and not yet.
Spiritually, all of these things have been fulfilled. If you are in Christ, you are living in the light of the sun, you are his house, the lights are on and God dwells in you! It is a place where there is no more night. But in your flesh, you still move through a dark world. And in this world, you are as much a point of light against the black sky as the prophets of the Old Testament were. You are numbered among the stars and God knows your name. Like the stars, you are suspended between the heavens and the earth, giving light to the world, but symbolizing something beyond this time and place.
“for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light.” - Ephesians 5:8-14a
But if you are not in Christ, you are still in darkness. Look up at the sky and see the story that it tells! Look at the moon and the stars—look at God’s law and his saints casting shadows in your dark night.
“Therefore it says,
’Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.’” - Ephesians 5:14b
Until the Stars Fall
We so casually take for granted how well lit the world is right now. Not because of street lights, but because of the presence of God with his saints. For more than half of human history, the whole world lived without knowing, without seeing, without God. Only one little people held the torch. It was only Israel! And look at what God has done in illuminating the world! The places you can go and not find God’s lamp giving light to feet is growing smaller and smaller. There are as many lights shining the glory of God across time and space as there are stars in the sky, and every day God adds more stars to his galaxy.
The former dispensationalist in me believes that the world is getting darker and will sink into darkness until even the moon and stars will no longer give their light. That is true. But until the moon turns black and the stars fall, the post- (or a-)millennial in me knows that the growing darkness makes the stars shine more brightly. It can be, and it is, both.
One day, the night will end. The world will be as it once was—full of light. God will remake the cosmos and the shining sun we dwell under in our hearts we will step into in the flesh. Until then, look up. See the story written in the stars. They are a testimony of what Christ has done. And then look in the mirror. See the story written in you. Your life testifies in concert with the stars (Job 38:7).
“The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” - Psalm 19:1
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