Rooted In His WordSample

In our verses for today Isaiah speaks of a coming day when the people of God will shine with the glory of the Lord. At that time Daniel says we will “shine like the brightness of the firmament” and “like the stars forever and ever” (Daniel 12:3). We will arise from the darkness, affliction, and calamity of the old order of things into the light, blessing, and happiness of the new order to come. The glory of the Lord, His beauty and magnificence, will shine upon us and we will shine by reflecting His glory. What does it mean to shine with the reflected glory of the Lord? No doubt it includes the Shekinah glory of the Lord that was a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night for the Israelites in the wilderness (Exodus 13:20-22). For the people of God, the next life will be a place of light as opposed to a place of darkness. The radiant glory of the Lord, however, includes much more than literal light. It includes everything beautiful and magnificent about the Lord. We will shine because we will be like our heavenly Father. At the present time the earth and the people of earth are covered with a shroud of darkness. In the darkness there is a struggle to find any Shekinah rays of glory that will light up the pathway forward. The beauty and magnificence of the Lord’s glory is shrouded by the ugliness and inferiority of Satan. In that future time, however, all this will change. And yet, despite the darkness, we don’t have to wait for that future time to experience the glorious light of the Lord. Already our light has come. Jesus is the brightness of the Lord’s glory (Hebrews 1:3) and He came into the world. He is the “true light which gives light to every man” (John 1:9). Those who accept Him already reflect the glory of the Lord. His light shines through us in the midst of the shroud of darkness and the darkness cannot extinguish it (John 1:5). Arise from the dust and the darkness, then, and shine with the heavenly glory of the Lord!