Light and dark are such powerful metaphors, and they are used all throughout scripture. Jesus was transfigured – illuminated from the inside out, shining bright white – to the utter astonishment of his closest followers. Jesus calls himself the light of the world. We have the words of the psalmist, that God’s word is a light to our feet. “We see through a mirror darkly” expresses the cloudy understanding, the lack of clarity that light can bring to our vision of who we are. Night is imagined as the time when spiritual forces seek to act contrary to God’s will, imagining they can hide from his oversight. God’s view of even the darkest hole on earth is complete light. He sees, without hindrance. There is no shadow. No turning.
Another familiar metaphor is sleeping and being awake. Sleeping can be death, or it can be spiritual, emotional or mental dullness. To be awake is to be attentive, ready, watching, careful. Sleep can be a description for a life that is not lived in the abundance God offers to his children. We awaken to a changed life, experiencing forgiveness and mercy as if we are stretching and yawning, throwing off the last bits of sleep that keep us from being active. Sleep is about inactivity when it fails to be restful. Wakefulness is about alertness.
So when these two metaphors come together, we are compelled to pay careful attention:
Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead rebuke and expose them. It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. But when the light shines on them, it becomes clear how evil these things are. And where your light shines, it will expose their evil deeds. This is why it said,
“Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
Ephesians 5:10-14Ephesians 5:10-14
English: Contemporary English Version (1999) - CEV
10 as you try to please the Lord. 11 Don't take part in doing those worthless things that are done in the dark. Instead, show how wrong they are. 12 It is disgusting even to talk about what is done in the dark. 13 But the light will show what these things are really like. 14 Light shows up everything, l Light shows up everything: Or “Everything that is seen in the light becomes light itself.” just as the Scriptures say, “Wake up from your sleep and rise from death. Then Christ will shine on you.”
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This is once again about identity. When we believe on the name of Jesus, we are transformed. We are made into something new. That identity is not something private, something that can be concealed. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. This new creation is meant to expose the darkness around it. Where evil had space to grow, because it could work openly in the dark, it is being pushed back.
We are God’s new act of creation. We are those shafts of light that shine through in a darkened forest. The new work he has done in Christ, raising him from the dead, is the same power at work in us. Creation is said to groan, waiting for God to complete his work. God’s kingdom is waiting to be revealed in full glory. But it is already here in his body – in us.
In other words, the Christian life is not about just signing our name in the book of life, saying a prayer, or fulfilling a religious obligation. It is about his kingdom and the new creation, alive and active. It points to the future, when God’s kingdom and glory are in full sight of all, unavoidable and undeniable. But it calls us to be the new creation now.
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