January 13, 2021
By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. – Luke 1:78-79
When it comes to Scripture, the prophetic word and the poetic word seems to go hand-in-hand. Upon hearing what God would do, the priest Zechariah (father of John the Baptist) was stricken mute. However, upon seeing the revelation of his son, the promise God made him, realized, John is filled with the Holy Spirit and begins to speak.
What we read in this prophecy is a picture of what God is doing for his people, but all of it is not about his own son, John. Zechariah is telling the people that salvation is near, and God is keeping his promises to the people of Israel – their salvation will come with the forgiveness of their sins.
The final lines of this prophetic word are shared above. I interpret these to be telling about a new dawning of light that is meant for the minds of the people who would see the same revelation as Zechariah. We might think of it the same as what the apostle Paul would later say in his letter to the Romans: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds…(Romans 12:2). Both of these, I believe, are pointing us to see something that may at times be beyond us. The words of “darkness” and “shadow” tell us that the revelation of things to come may not be seen by those who do not see through this coming light. There may be those who cannot see the path to peace because such darkness, such shadow has too tight a hold on them.
Given the events of the past week, I think there is a darkness that many of us, as Americans, and as Christians need to overcome. It is a darkness that seeks to blind us from seeing truth, from seeing peace, and moreover blinds us from seeing one another as those who are loved by God. We all might have points of disagreement on the many issues that face us in our modern world; however, violence is never the answer to those disagreements. Hate is never a way to help one see truth. The pathway our feet must walk is one of peace.
I know we all continue to watch as we wait to see what might happen next, but I pray that in our watching we would ask ourselves whether we are watching with the light of Christ showing us the path of peace, or blinded by a darkness or a shadow of death?
My hope is that we would allow Christ to light our way, to show us that peace is where the Spirit of the Lord is, that loving our neighbor (all our neighbors) is still of the utmost importance, and that God is with the brokenhearted. Our hearts are broken right now, and only God’s love could mend us together again.
Grace & Peace,
Sam