The Great Light

Isaiah wrote: "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." [Isaiah 9:2]

Who does not have to face death? This "great light" will shine upon every person!

The message of Jesus was the "great light" of Isaiah's prophecy. Matthew wrote: "Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." [Matthew 4:12-17]

Matthew identifies the "great light" of Isaiah 9:2 as the message of Jesus, the gospel.

John identified Jesus as the true light, who enlightens every man. "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world." [John 1:9]

In the creation story of Genesis 1, the sun is also called a "great light". "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night" [Genesis 1:16]. The sun was also created as a "sign" [Genesis 1:14], but what did it represent?

Since the sun is a great light, and the gospel that Jesus taught is a great light, is it not obvious that the sun represents the gospel?

It is the sun that clothes the woman in the prophecy of Revelation 12. "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun" [Rev 12:1]. She is clothed with the gospel, the "great light" that Jesus taught, the gospel of the kingdom of God.

Although Jesus brought his message to the people of Israel, those who heard it were not enlightened, as they rejected him. John said, "He came unto his own, and his own received him not" [John 1:11].

The city of Capernaum was one of those cities in which he performed his miracles, but Jesus chastised them for their response: "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day." [Matthew 11:23]

Most of the Jews reject Christ's message to this day. It is not the Jews who are "clothed with the sun" in Revelation 12:1, because the sun represents the gospel that Jesus brought. It is those who believe his gospel, and have the spirit of Christ in them, who are "clothed with the sun". But Joel's prophecy said the sun would be turned to darkness. "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come." [Joel 2:31]

What is it that has turned the sun to darkness? The smoke from the bottomless pit! "And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit." [Revelation 9:2]

A foul "smoke" of false doctrines from the "bottomless pit" obscures the message of the gospel, that clothes the heavenly woman, who represents all the saints of God. One of these false teachings is that the resurrection occurred in the first century AD! It was identified as false by the Apostle Paul [2 Timothy 2:17-19]. But the smoke lingers.

And it is the "beast" from the "bottomless pit" who makes war with God's 2 witnesses, the word of God and the spirit of God, and kills them. "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them." [Revelation 11:7]

The bottomless pit is the source of the "smoke", representing false teachings, that turns the light of the gospel to darkness, and also the sinister "beast", who makes war against the spirit of Christ, and the word of God.

The outcome of the war is described in Revelation 12:7-9 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

This is clearly a spiritual war, and it is waged over many centuries, and the question is, on which side are we? Some of the stars are cast to the earth, they follow the tail of the dragon. These stars are saints who do not remain "in Christ". The outcome of this war is that the saints will overcome "by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony". Satan is called "the accuser of our brethren" [Revelation 12:10].

Now we see all these things in place. The gospel is obscured because of false teachings, such as the pagan doctrine of unending infernal suffering of unbelievers. People are confused, because there are thousands of sects and denominations, and many claiming their way is right. Who can deny that the light of the gospel is turned to darkness because of all the confusion? While Jesus said his disciples were "the light of the world" [Matthew 5:14], he also warned that their light could be turned to darkness. He said, "The light of the body is the eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full of darkness." [Luke 11:34]

Peter says that prophecy is our light in this present age, which he compares to the night. "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." [2 Peter 1:19]

Of course, the "day star" he refers to is the sun, which represents the true light of the gospel.