171. Righteousness and Salvation
Isaiah 62:1 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
Zion and Jerusalem = the Church, the people of God, the group of believers in Jesus Christ. For the sake of creating a people for Himself, a people who will love God and believe Him, the Lord will not rest until He gets what He wants. The Church, people like you and me, is what God wants, and He will make it happen. When the Son of God enters human history, dies for sin, and rises for life, and when this Gospel is preached and the Spirit creates faith in those who hear it, then the Lord can rest. And what a rest that will be.
The promise is that righteousness will be brightness and salvation will be a lamp. This promise is for the church and for each individual in it. We are bright lights in a dark world. If we could see the aura surrounding Christians we would see a dazzling brightness and a shining lamp. “Let your light so shine.” We do know how bright and beautiful righteousness is, and we don’t know how salvation looks like a brilliant lighthouse beacon penetrating the darkness. But it is because we do not see it that the Lord must tell us and unveil the spiritual world for us in His Word. The promise is real, true and undeniable: the Church is the bright light reflecting God’s glory and brilliant love.
The Transfiguration has opened up the curtain a little bit so that a few witnesses were able to get a glimpse. God showed His brilliance to Moses, though it was just His backside passing by. Ezekiel and Isaiah saw the Lord. The Lord peeled back the veil in the Book of Revelation to show John the beauty and brightness of Jesus, heaven, righteousness and salvation. Through these few examples we have enough witnesses to show what is really going on behind the veil.
The Lord promises us that One day we shall enter in behind the veil and experience by sight the grand and glorious presence and love of God. By faith we enter in daily and are blinded by the light of God’s righteousness and salvation. And it is a free gift, earned and distributed by Jesus.