Light Your Lamp!

I was reading early this morning about the Feast of Tabernacles in Biblical times and I began to draw parallels for today that I wanted to speak to briefly today. We read in John 8:12, "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. I believe we see a reference here to this feast. You see, during the Feast of Tabernacles in Jesus' day, the priests would set up four great lamp stands with golden lamp holders, which they lit by climbing huge ladders in the courtyard of the temple. The lighting of these lamps marked the beginning of the celebration of the "Great Hosannah" (Hoshannah Rabbah in Hebrew). The celebration went on through the night and into the early morning hours with music and singing, dancing and rejoicing, all the while, the beautiful lamps lighting up the night. They say that during this celebration, Jerusalem was a breathtaking, illuminated city on a hill.

When morning came the people would recite the prayer for the eighth day of the feast — “Be thou praised, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who makest light and causes darkness, who makest peace and createst all: the light of the world as the treasure of life…”

This got me to thinking... some of us have been walking in darkness recently... maybe for a long time now. In the past few days I have had conversations with two different people who very frankly told me that they have been doing some soul searching and they had to admit that if they died at this time, they would go to hell. This is, by no means, God’s will. In fact, Jesus said clearly that it was his will that not one should perish. But people, by the millions, are walking in darkness. Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, is the light of the world. We, who follow Jesus should never be walking in darkness but have the light of life! We should be set apart...a city on a hill, illuminated beautifully for all the world to see and drawing others to the Christ that we love and serve.

It’s time to get our lamps lit. No more excuses! Let’s let the light and love of Christ so shine in our lives that we are as that image of Jerusalem lit up at night, a city on a hill, that all can see. Our lights should shine in the darkness of the world around us! The time is now... the hour is upon us... make sure your lamp is lit and shining. If it is not, then now is the time to once again give our hearts to Christ once again and get His victory in our lives! There’s so much work to be done, and it is up to us to do it. Light your lamps!