11/01/2024
Meditation for Reformation Day:
After Darkness, Light
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).
The motto of the Protestant Reformation of the early 16th century was “Post tenebras lux”—translated, “After darkness, light.” The darkness of that era is epitomized in the testimony of a young priest, Thomas Bilney (c. 1495–1531). He was ordained and was a scholar in Cambridge, but, until he came across Erasmus’ Greek New Testament, which was made available in 1516, Bilney had never before heard these words: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). He had heard of Masses and Catholic traditions but never the true message of salvation. How dark is that darkness where the gospel light of redemption in Jesus Christ is absent and closed off!
Against this real darkness which still engulfs much of our present world, the motto, “After darkness, light,” is not an expression of mere hope. Its pattern is presented throughout biblical revelation and assures us of its certainty. In the beginning, “darkness was over the surface of the deep . . . Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” (Genesis 1:2–3). In anticipating the birth of the “Prince of Peace,” the prophet Isaiah declared, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in the land of the shadow of death, the light will shine on them” (Isaiah 9:2). Entering into the New Testament era, Jesus Christ says of himself, “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12). When Jesus gave himself up for the church on the cross, the sky was shrouded in thick darkness; when he rose from the grave, it was in the morning at early dawn. Even this providential governance of time and situations recalls David’s psalm that “weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). While Jesus no longer walks bodily among us, with 2 Corinthians 4:6, Paul declares that, wherever the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is proclaimed, there the light shines forth.
Concerning the motif of light, careful readers of Genesis 1 will note that God created light (Genesis 1:3) before he created the sun, moon, and stars (Genesis 1:14–19). How is this possible? What is the source of this light? Revelation not only gives us a helpful answer but also brings the progressive revelation of the majesty of God’s light to a glorious conclusion: “And there will no longer be any night, and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them” (Revelation 22:5). What began with Genesis 1 in darkness, Revelation concludes in light. And we experience this reality in our own hearts if Christ has opened our eyes to the light of his mercy and grace, for we also were once buried in the depth of darkness, but God “called [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
Bilney died in 1531 as a martyr of the gospel. The great preacher of the English Reformation Hugh Latimer, whose own conversion was impacted significantly by Bilney, said that Bilney “suffered his body to be burned for the gospel’s sake.” In 1555, Latimer, too, along with his friend Nicholas Ridley, were bound and burned at the stake. As the flames leapt upon them, Latimer said, “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.”
As dark and disparaging as the world may be (see 2 Timothy 3), we must remember the testimony of God’s word and, like a city on a hill, stand with the Reformers in shining forth the gospel light of Jesus Christ, in word and in deed, in love and in truth. This is a wonderful privilege, for in love God had mercy on us since we once were not a people, but God has made us His people through His son Jesus. Therefore, far more than just a biblical pattern and a personal privilege, this light is a blood-bought promise of salvation for whoever repents and believes in Jesus Christ. Truly—after darkness, light.
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