No More Darkness, Part 1
One of my earliest musical memories is listening to a Hank Williams tape with my grandmother. She has always been a big country music fan (real country music, some might say), and Hank was one of her favorites. I distinctly remember the first time I heard “I Saw the Light”. Though at the time I couldn’t fully grasp the concept (and in truth, cannot fully grasp it now) I could grasp the song’s revelation of pure joy. And what made it stand out even more to me was that it stood in stark contrast to what I knew of Hank’s music at that time: his deftness at constructing darker odes to loneliness and heartbreak. But with “I Saw the Light” something had changed. And as I learned later, Hank had been changed. His outlook on life had become–in a word–brighter as a result of coming into contact with the Gospel.
I’m reminded of places in Scripture, particularly in the Old Testament, where God himself is described as being shrouded in “thick clouds and darkness”. This veil of darkness was the separation of God and His holiness from his people, just as the Veil in the Temple separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. When God came near to his people this darkness prevented them from coming into contact with his holiness. This is how it used to be.
Then something changed.
In 1 John 1:5, we read that “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” Gone is the thick darkness that once accompanied the presence of God. Gone is the veil that kept the people of God at a distance. All is now light, and that light permeates every facet of creation. So what has made this difference? God has not changed, either in position or will. It is simply our ability to interact with him that has changed. Where once there was a mediator (Moses, the Levites, etc.) and a sacrificial system as the basis for interaction with God, there is now “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5), and his sacrifice, once for all, has made it so that we are in direct contact with our God who is light and love. The temple veil was torn, the darkness dispelled, and the clouds scattered as the light of God flooded into our world in one single act of restoration.
God is not distant; he has come near. Our lives are meant to be changed by this. This light should illuminate and expose every part of our lives, crushing the darkness and lifting us in joy.
Our worship should be informed and changed by the power of this truth. In light of Christ’s sacrifice, God’s holiness and majesty are illuminated, not hidden by thick clouds and darkness. God is approachable because Jesus paid for our sins, satisfied his Father’s judgment upon us, and restored us to a relationship with God. This should bring us joy! We should cease running from God and seeking cover ourselves and fall in to the light his acceptance.
So often, though, our worship still dwells in the shadow of Mount Sinai, as Deuteronomy 4:11 tells us that the mountain “was wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. We stand, still unsure if the God of our worship is a God of Light.
But if we let the Gospel have its proper place in our worship and in our hearts, there will be no room for darkness, no more thick clouds of loneliness and heartbreak keeping us at arms length. For God has come near, and his light has filled the world. That’s the aim of this project, to make way for the light.. To make way for joy. To lift high the person of Jesus Christ to be preeminent in our worship till we can sing “I’ve seen the light, and I am changed”.
jh
March 8th, 2011 | Read | No Comments