Isaiah 2 is full of wonderful promises, promises of the goodness and the glory of the Lord’s reign. It tells us that during the reign of the Messiah, there will be no more war. There will still be conflicts between nations and individuals, but the Messiah and those who reign with Him will justly and decisively resolve them. We also learn that when the Messiah reigns Israel will be exalted, the people of the earth will acknowledge and submit to the Messiah, and war will be no more. The earth will be so different that men “shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks” (Isaiah 2:4).
After painting this wonderful picture of the glory of the Messiah’s reign, Isaiah then challenged the people of God to live in the Messiah’s reign right now. Instead of waiting for a coming golden age, the prophet tells us to “come and walk in the light of the Lord” (Isaiah 2:5).
To walk in the light of the Lord means to order your life after God’s truth and God’s ways. The ultimate reign of the Messiah may be years away, but Jesus can reign in our life, in our mind, and in our heart right now. We don’t have to wait for the enforced righteousness of a millennial kingdom to have the blessing of Jesus’ righteousness in our lives right now.
To walk in the light of the Lord means you enjoy the blessings of the Messiah’s reign right now. You don’t have to live a dark, depressing, discouraged life with God. You can walk in the light of the Lord!
We can make a mental list of all of the things in our life that get us down or seem to bring darkness into our life. We can think of the damaged relationships, the money problems, the unrewarded effort, and the spiritual dryness that seems to sometimes mark our life. Yet when we think of these things that get us down or seem to bring darkness in our life, what can they compare to the light of the Lord? Is the darkness of spiritual attack, of unfaithful friends, of bad circumstances, of shame, of guilt, of anything greater than the light of the Lord? It could never be.
The great English preacher of Victorian England saw in this passage a promise of a life lived with God that was full of light and blessing instead of darkness and gloom. The opportunity to walk in the light of the Lord was open to all, but sadly not all take the opportunity. Spurgeon said it like this: “You know that, if you were to go to Australia in a good sound ship, you would get there even if you were always to lie down in the hold among the luggage and the rats; but I should like to go in a first-class cabin, and I do not see why you and I, if we are going to heaven, should not go first-class.”
That is walking in the light of the Lord, and we receive the opportunity with gratitude.
