Come Lord Jesus, Light of the World

Series Intro: Learning to Hope

We are in a season of waiting for all sorts of things. In just a few days time, we will be in December, and the world will prepare to welcome 2023, and everyone will be praying for a year without pandemics or wars. We’ve talked a lot about our season of waiting as a church for our new building, and how we want to use this season of waiting as a time to grow. Some of us are counting down the days till we get to open our Christmas presents!

We’re all waiting for something. We’re all planning or at least dreaming about what’s ahead. Living here in Singapore, we like our five-year-plans or even ten-year-plans; those of you who work in the civil service, maybe even thirty-year-plans! And these plans give us something to look forward to. They make our waiting time meaningful because we know that there is something good after the waiting when the thing finally comes.

I remember that when I was seven years old, I thought that the idea of a “surprise birthday party” was such a cool idea; that you could come home and all your friends would be there waiting. But I was also worried that no one would plan it, and I wouldn’t have a surprise birthday, and I would feel very sad. So I told my parents, “Mummy, Daddy, can I have a surprise birthday party?” I guess I didn’t understand what ‘surprise’ meant.

Yes, it defeated the purpose of a “surprise”, but then again at seven years old I was very easily pleased. And in a funny way, knowing that the “surprise” was coming actually made me more excited...

When we read Scripture, we find that the early church was also in a similar place of waiting for something that they already knew was coming.

In 1 Corinthians 16:22 and other early Christian writings, we find the word ‘Maranatha.” Some of you may have heard of this word before. This is an Aramaic phrase that could be translated “The Lord will come” as in a declaration of faith, or more commonly as a prayer: “Come, Lord.”

Now, these were Christians living after the resurrection and ascention of Jesus. They knew that their Lord had already come to earth and fulfilled all that the Law and Prophets of the Old Testament had prophesied. And they believed the promise of the Lord Jesus that He would come again to fulfill all things.

So when the early church prays, “Come Lord Jesus,”

It is how they express faith and confidence in His promise to come again. When a child wants something, their natural tendency is to ask the parent whom they think is more likely to give it to them. To ask for something is to trust that someone to give it to you.

It is also how they express their confidence that He has already come once before. The church is able to pray “Come Lord Jesus” only because they know who this Jesus is. He is Emmanuel, the God who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14), not just some abstract spirit or impersonal ‘Force’…

It is also the way the early church expressed their longing and their continuing hunger for Jesus. They recognise that while Jesus is not with them in the flesh, there is something missing and incomplete. This is the bride of Christ, the church, longing and hungering for her husband to come to her. And no matter how much time passes, the church never forgets who she is waiting for, and never grows weary of praying, “Come, Lord Jesus.”

When I was a young boy, my dad would travel for work, and it was always so exciting to count down the days until he returned. We missed him, of course, the house felt different and emptier without him. But there was something about the waiting, the anticipation and the hope that he would soon return and he would come bringing presents and toys for me and my sister.

Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus.

Our series title comes from this ancient prayer because we want to come alongside and pray alongside our brothers and sisters in the faith. We want to learn from them, about how they can have such faith and confidence in the promises of Jesus who is no longer with them in the flesh. We want to imitate them in their longing and hungering for the future coming of Jesus.

I would say that in general, Christianity today has forgotten how to hope and hunger for the coming of Jesus. In most places, Christians are generally well to do, if not outright wealthy, and that’s true here in Singapore.

And as we became comfortable here on earth, our sense of hope for something more has lessened, diminished. We already have everything we need and more! We don’t hunger for Jesus’ coming because we’re already satisfied with what we have, or if we’re not satisfied, we have the means of getting it on our own efforts, without divine intervention. Here in this country, we have embraced the narrative of meritocracy: work hard enough and you’ll be rewarded accordingly. We are discouraged from sitting around and waiting for something to happen; we have to take action, we have to make things happen.

Over the next five weeks, we want to explore a different narrative. What if we’re all hungry for something that we cannot earn on our own effort? What if we’re hoping for something that we don’t even know we’re hoping for?

Scripture uses several key images or symbols to describe this thing that we are hoping and hungering for. And each week, we’ll look at one of these symbols in the story of Scripture and also in the story of our own lives. And our prayer is that we learn to hope and hunger just as God’s people have done for thousands of years, that we learn to pray with confidence and longing, to pray with a hopeful hunger, “Come, Lord Jesus.”

Genesis 1

Today, we’re going to look at one of the very first symbol introduced in the story of Scripture: light.

Slide: Darkness

In the beginning, there was only a chaotic darkness and emptiness.

Slide: light

But into this chaotic darkness, God Almighty declares, “Let there be light,” and it was so.

Darkness cannot even put up a fight. Darkness has no power against the Light of the World. And for a time, God’s presence and radiant light fills the whole world, and it was very good.

Slide: rebellion/hiding

But then humans decide to rebel against the light of God, and when God comes looking for them, rather than be exposed for their nakedness and sin, they try to hide in the shadows.

Of course, God finds them, and so begins the biblical story of a battle between light and darkness, between a holy God and the forces of evil. As the apostle John writes, humans loved darkness more than light (John 3:19).

Slide: worsening

Over time, human beings get worse and worse. They become violent and wicked and proud and corrupt, and on multiple occasions, they end up earning their own destruction, as we saw in the great Flood of Genesis 6.

Slide: Rescue

Each time, God rescues a remnant to start over, and light is always present in the rescued community:

During the ten plagues of Egypt, when darkness covered the land of Egypt, Exodus 10:23 says that Israel still had light.

When Israel was traveling through the wilderness, Exodus 13:21 says that God travelled with them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night to give them light, even in a barren and desolate land.

When God gave Moses instructions for the tabernacle and later the temple of Jerusalem, there are multiple references to lamps and candles that are constantly maintained and never go out, so that there is always light in the house of God.

So light becomes the symbol of God’s presence even in the midst of the darkness of the world, and isn’t that what all of us truly want?

This became especially clear to me this past week. I was watching a CNA documentary with my parents about the technology scam industry, how it is growing at an incredible rate and how it’s destroying lives around the world. People are losing their life savings that could have been used to pull them out of poverty or to to bless the next generation with a good education, all suddenly ripped away from them because some selfish individual with a laptop and an internet connection wants to get rich quick. Governments are often powerless to stop such scammers, and even when the authorities are involved, the scammers just take their laptops and move to another city to continue their lies. And sometimes these scammers aren’t even aware that what they’re doing something wrong. One individual had the gall to say, “I’m not stealing anyone’s money; I’m just very effective at persuading people to put their money into a stranger’s bank account.” And they seemed to sincerely believe it.

Who’s to blame? Everyone and no one. There is no easy fix to this. And innocent people are going to continue losing everything they have while criminals blind to their own darkness are going to continue exploiting others for their own luxury.

And this is but one symptom of a sick and dying world. This is one place where the power of darkness seems so strong that no light can break through.

Time would fail me to mention the military conflicts the engulf the world today, or the climate crises at the international stage, or the economic uncertainty that even we in sheltered Singapore feel.

It’s when we take a good long look at the darkness of the world that we begin to hunger and hope for a light—a light that we cannot produce on our own.

Isaiah 2

And so we come to Isaiah 2:1-5:

Isaiah 2:1–5 (ESV)

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2 It shall come to pass in the latter days

that the mountain of the house of the Lord

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be lifted up above the hills;

and all the nations shall flow to it,

3 and many peoples shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the law,

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 He shall judge between the nations,

and shall decide disputes for many peoples;

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore.

5 O house of Jacob,

come, let us walk

in the light of the Lord.

My mum and I were reading this passage together a few weeks ago, and one of our first reactions was, “Where got liddat one?” With everything going on in our world, this seems almost impossible. “Wishful thinking,” some might say.

Nations aren’t flowing towards God and seeking His truth; they’re running towards atheism and secularism, and trusting science and technology and psychology to solve all our problems.

Nations are not their swords into plowshares; our international conflicts now involve far more than swords and spears. Now we have automatic weapons and laser-guided missiles and intercontinental ballistic missiles. We have not forgotten how to make war; we’ve actually become so good at it that we’re destroying ourselves.

How would Isaiah respond? Would he look at his own prophecy and say, “Whoops, I didn’t expect that to happen; guess I was wrong!”

You know, I don’t think he would be surprised. Because right after Isaiah 2:1-5 and all this talk about God’s restoration, he talks about the judgment and destruction that God’s people have earned because of their sins. Isaiah is not ignorant about the darkness of human hearts.

But then why can Isaiah have such a bright hope for the future? How can there be light in such deep darkness?

Look at verse 5: “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” Isaiah speaks of God’s light as something that is already present, as though it is already shining and available for us to walk in. Humans may have plunged the world into darkness because of our own sin, but God’s abundant mercy means that He will always be shining bright with righteousness and goodness, and no darkness can ultimately conquer His light.

Okay, light and darkness, that’s all quite abstract. But wait, there’s more.

John 8:12

Because it’s not just that we walk in the light of the Lord:

Slide: switcheroo

the Lord of light came to walk among us. God’s light does not simply shine down on humanity from high up there in heaven; God became a man so that His light could shine right here on earth. Thus the apostle John writes in the first chapter of his gospel:

John 1:1–5 (ESV)

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 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 light we have been waiting for is not just shining brightly; the light became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. This is Jesus of Nazareth, who says in John 8:12:

John 8:12 (ESV)

“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Everything that God’s people have hoped and hungered for, the life that will conquer death, the justice that will defeat injustice, the healing that restores all sickness, the peace that will end all wars, the unity that will triumph over division—the light that overcomes the darkness—all that is found in Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God-With-Us.

What are you hoping and hungering for in your own life? You can find that in Jesus.

What is that hole in your heart that you desperately want to fill? Love? Joy? Peace? Approval? Security? A future for your children? You can find that in Jesus.

And that is why Christians throughout the ages have celebrated this season of the year as Advent.

Slide: Advent

It’s a word that simply means “Coming” or “Arrival”. It is a season where we lift up our eyes from the darkness this world and behold the Light who is on His way to dispel the darkness. He has come once, and He is coming back again, and we the church remind each other to keep looking, to keep hoping, to keep hungering, until He comes again. In this season of Advent, we pray with each other, “Come, Lord Jesus, Light of the World.”

Revelation 22

In the final chapter of Scripture, we catch another glimpse into the world that Isaiah foretells.

Revelation 22:1–5 (ESV)

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

In the beginning, God created the world by speaking light into darkness. In the last days, God will recreate the world by casting out darkness forever. Light is the symbol that begins and concludes the story of Scripture.

Just as Isaiah says, God will take His rightful place as the exalted centre of the universe, and all the nations will bow down and worship Him.

Just as Isaiah says, the nations will turn their weapons of war into instruments of life, and there will be a garden of life-giving fruit.

Just as Isaiah says, the nations shall not lift up sword against nations for harm and destruction, but shall partake of the leaves of the trees for their healing.

The Call

As we go forth into this week, as we continue to enter into places of darkness, I challenge us to pray, “Come, Lord Jesus, Light of the World!” with hope and hunger.

I challenge us to pray this in times of deep desperation, when all hope seems lost and the darkness of the world closes in around us, that Jesus the Messiah, the Light of the World, may come to you and shine His face upon you, and remind you that your hopes are not for nothing and will be satisfied.

I challenge us to pray this in times of great joy, when everything seems to be going your way, and you find joy and satisfaction in this world, that Jesus the Messiah, the Light of the World, may come to you and celebrate with you, and point you to a hope that is far greater than anything you know.

Isaiah 2:1–5 ESV

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.