Isaiah 9:2
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. 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.
The darkness is spiritual darkness in which people do not know God or the world to come, death remains a dread mystery, and the future looks uncertain and gloomy, deepened by false teachers, lifeless religion and neglect of Scripture. The great light is Christ Himself, the promised child and Prince of life whose presence and teaching reveals God and makes the way so plain that even the inexperienced need not lose it. The promise was first given to afflicted Zebulun and Naphtali, including Galilee, under apostasy and oppression, yet joined chastisement to hope of triumph and restoration for the faithful and all who would turn to Him, and it belongs not to Israel only but to Gentiles and every nation, kindred, tongue and people. It was fulfilled when Jesus, after rejection at Nazareth and John's imprisonment, left Nazareth and dwelt in Capernaum in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, where He preached repentance and the gospel of the kingdom, taught in synagogues and healed sickness and affliction. That light reveals God's true character, restores His image in those who receive Him, gives life and eternal hope to the weary and broken-hearted, and is now to reach every person through His followers scattered as lights through towns, cities and foreign fields.
Darkness and Light Explained
The darkness is spiritual darkness covering the earth and its people before Christ's first advent. Satan kept men from knowing God and the world to come, so they lived in the shadow of death without knowledge of God and without hope beyond death. Death was a dread mystery and the future seemed uncertain and gloomy, and the people longed for the Deliverer to dispel the darkness and make the mystery of the future plain. The great light is the revelation of God through Christ, whose coming from heaven lifts that gloom and banishes the darkness, and this was the people's only hope.
That darkness includes confusion caused by false teachers, philosophy, and spiritism, as well as a form of religion without true holiness in life. At the time of Christ's coming as a human being, priests and instructors had neglected the Bible and buried Scripture under maxims and traditions and misapplication, perverting the senses of those sitting in the shadow of death. The Jews were in that condition under false teachers, yet many were waiting for the Sun of Righteousness to break forth upon them. When Christ came a flood of light was shed upon the world, and many would gladly have received Him and chosen to walk in the light if priests and rulers had been true to God and given a true interpretation of the Word instead of misleading the people with falsehoods.
The prophecy was first spoken to the afflicted lands of Zebulun and Naphtali, including Galilee, after affliction there. It was given in a time of trouble and darkness and anguish under apostasy, Assyrian oppression, and coming captivity. In that setting God joined grievous chastisement to bright hope of future triumph for His church, using chastisement by merciful Providence as a means of salvation and purging of sin. In the fullness of time Immanuel, the promised Deliverer, was to appear to dispel the darkness of centuries of apostasy in glorious deliverance of those long groping in darkness, with restoration for the faithful and for those who would turn to serve the living God.
The great light is Christ Himself, the promised Messiah and child, the Prince of life, the Sun of Righteousness, and the revelation of God through His presence and teaching. Mary recalled the prophecy with grateful joy and bright hope as she looked at Jesus held in her arms. His dawning signifies the gentle arrival of the Sun of Righteousness, whose coming brings healing and awakens people to life. The light He brought from heaven shines on the path to safety, exposing the destruction caused by sin and pointing to the only way of escape, making that path so clear that even an inexperienced or foolish traveler need not lose the way. It was fulfilled when Jesus left Nazareth and came to dwell in Capernaum by the sea in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, Galilee of the Gentiles, and His work there gives the example and methods to follow in gospel work.
The people are those in Galilee of the Gentiles and beyond, waiting for light to reach them in spiritual darkness and error. Unlike the Jewish nation, which had received great religious privilege but failed to share its light or bear fruit in goodness, righteousness, and truth, the Gentiles were waiting for the light of Christ's mission. The promised child, the Messiah, brings that light as the world's Redeemer and not merely Israel's deliverer. His saving work as the Sun of Righteousness belongs not only to Israel but to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.
Fulfilled in Galilee Ministry
The prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus, after the forty-day temptation and after John was cast into prison and after rejection at Nazareth, left Nazareth and dwelt in Capernaum by the sea in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people sitting in darkness and in the region and shadow of death were those of Galilee, especially Zebulun and Naphtali, living in spiritual darkness until divine truth and hope dawned upon them through His presence, dwelling, and teaching. His preaching there called them to repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand.
The light sprang up as He went about all Galilee teaching in synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all sickness and disease and many kinds of affliction among the people. The sick, tormented, possessed, lunatic, and palsied were healed, His fame spread through Syria, and great multitudes followed from Galilee and Decapolis and Jerusalem and Judea and beyond Jordan. His work there as the Great Missionary gives the example and methods to follow in gospel work, and His choice of this overlooked region shows that places others regard as unlikely fields can be specially suited to mission, opening doors for truth in villages, towns, and cities with no memorial for truth rather than colonizing favored places as time fast passes toward the day of reckoning.
The same promise was fulfilled in His birth as the child held in Mary's arms, recalled with grateful joy and bright hope. To Him belong the titles of the son given to rule as Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace, and the promise of the Branch from Jesse filled with the Spirit of wisdom and understanding and counsel and might and knowledge and fear of the Lord and righteousness and faithfulness. Joined to the message of the shepherds of Bethlehem and the worship of the wise men and Simeon's testimony about the child, the light presents Him as the world's Redeemer and not merely Israel's deliverer, for all peoples including the Gentiles.
The great light is also Christ rescuing the true meaning of God's law in the Sermon on the Mount. Human traditions, maxims, and false interpretations had buried its precious truths under rubbish, and He uncovered them and set them in the framework of truth to stand forever and shine in their own brightness. That shining commends itself to the mind, wakes the sleeping conscience, and turns people away from human tradition and from asking what the rabbis or the minister say to asking what the Word of the Lord says, including its binding claims of the Sabbath. So each person becomes responsible for a soul to save or a soul to lose, not to be blinded about eternal life by clinging to preconceived opinions and rebellion without evidence, refusing the cross, refusing to examine Scripture freely, listening to peace preaching and the fathers, or leaving the cool snow waters of Lebanon for the turbid streams of the valley.
At His first advent the light met the powers of darkness in pity, laying off His kingly crown and royal robe and clothing His divinity with humanity to break Satan's power and control over bodies and minds. He held the forces of evil in check as a counterworking influence coming from the highest authority. In that work He opened the door of mercy to all through faith and repentance, revealing God's true character and bringing truth to those who receive His words.
Although a flood of light was shed upon the world, prejudice and unwillingness to believe and pride and unwillingness to accept evidence kept many from comprehending Him, and His humble appearance without outward royal display did not cancel the prophetic evidence of His identity and divine claims. Many were waiting for the Sun of Righteousness to break forth and would gladly have received Him and chosen to walk in the light if priests and rulers and instructors had been true to God and given a true interpretation of the Word instead of neglecting the Bible and misleading the people with falsehoods through maxims and traditions and long misapplication of Scripture. The Pharisees' willful spiritual blindness in the midst of that moral darkness in Galilee was more deplorable than physical blindness.
What the Light Gives
The light is Christ Himself coming to those sitting in spiritual darkness and under the shadow of death, opening the door of mercy to all through faith and repentance. In the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali by the Sea of Galilee His teaching brought divine truth and hope to a people who could not see the truth. He brought a fuller revelation of God, revealing the true character of God and restoring His moral image in all who receive Him. As the Samaritans listened in their darkness and superstition, their doubts and uncertainties were relieved and many recognized Him as the Christ and accepted Him as Saviour. His work opened both physical and spiritual sight to those who received His words.
That same light still springs up wherever the truths of the Bible are clearly presented and Christ is received as Saviour, as it did when He left Nazareth and dwelt in Capernaum upon the seacoast in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. Those who receive that light gain life, even eternal life in the kingdom of glory. They should be joyful, the most happy people in the world, not hesitating over what they are giving up. Jesus is the source of spiritual strength, to whom the weary, burdened, poor, and broken-hearted are to be directed.
The same revelation that gives sight also exposes character and brings judgment. Those who recognize their need receive His help, while those who claim to see and yet reject Him remain in guilty spiritual darkness. The picture of dwelling in the region and shadow of death also describes God's pilgrim people in their long sojourn as they wait for Christ's appearing. For them the promised light is their hope in Christ, who will complete redemption and bring them home.
Sharing the Light Today
The light that dawned on those walking in darkness and dwelling under the shadow of death is to reach every person on earth through Christ's followers. Rather than gathering only among themselves or avoiding responsibility and sacrifice, church members are to be scattered through towns, villages, cities and foreign fields as lights communicating truth and the hidden mysteries of God's word. As they let Christ's light shine through them and work for the salvation of souls, the gospel of the kingdom can be carried swiftly to all the world, imparted to the church from age to age and shared with those still in darkness until those who receive it become light-bearers to others.
That commission embraces weary souls in large cities who need the gospel and the compassionate Redeemer, ignorant and unenlightened peoples, those in moral darkness without knowledge of the way of life and salvation, and all who need instruction in gospel truth even though nearly the whole world lies in wickedness. It calls for self-sacrificing missionaries to bring the light of life to nearby towns and villages and to people in foreign countries who sit in darkness, so that thousands come to knowledge of the truth. Lands darkened by religious despotism and superstition such as Italy, and by skepticism such as France, are included in this hope, for faithful witnesses will be found there and others will rejoice to carry the good tidings, and as the message is preached these nations will be enlightened and people gathered to God. This city work is to be done by strong, well-organized companies and by converted workers laboring as Christ worked.
God has entrusted great light to His people not to be enjoyed selfishly but to be shared with those in the darkness of error. That sharing includes circulating publications, for books and pamphlets carry truth to families living in the darkness of error. Near the close of earth's history light goes forth from the press to all places and into new missionary fields, with books translated into different languages so that every tongue and people may know the truth and the law of God is exalted as the gospel message for all nations, and lending and using entrusted means for this publishing work lays up in heaven a treasure that fails not, to be used in this world for salvation of souls and rewarded with both principal and interest on entering the kingdom of the Father, for the Lord is soon to come.
The light shines when consecrated teachers open the Scriptures to people in needy settlements, bringing them the light of life. It is the truth of present truth and mercy proclaimed by humble workers moved by the Holy Spirit, and even uneducated people and children may be sent to enlighten those in darkness, while God sends messengers whose work makes that light visible so that spiritually blind people receive sight and see His salvation and the truth is brought forcefully to many. Ministers' wives also help enlighten those who sit in darkness by revealing the hidden mysteries of God's word, with saving souls as their chief aim, and truth that God gives to those who seek it is to be carried by them to others who are perishing as they are taught the hidden mysteries that bring hope of salvation to those who have not known it.
That light comes through gospel ministry joined with medical missionary healing in the power of the Holy Spirit, reflecting Christ's compassionate teaching, preaching and healing of the sick and of many kinds of affliction in Galilee. It comes as the power of God unto salvation, passing by human science, capability and skill, using common people and those with the least rays of light, giving them understanding of principle that silences the self-exalted and making the weak strong. By grace it transforms thorns and thistles into fruit, separates those on the Lord's side from sin and sinners, rescues the wretched from vice and sin and puts them on the only royal road of obedience, heals the sick, and causes the Lord to be magnified by all who keep the beginning of their confidence firm to the end.
Those given greater light with its privileges and knowledge are more accountable for how they respond. Those who teach people lacking the truth should themselves live near to God and be light in the Lord, for obeying God's word gives faith and holy cheer while disobedience leaves only doubt and discouragement, and each person becomes responsible for a soul to save or lose. Those who know God's revealed word and have received the light of truth while living in spiritual darkness must not turn back toward darkness by recommending pagan or infidel teachings, for the light is from God while error mixed with truth can deceive, and the precious truths of God's word are the glory of the Light of life bringing rejoicing to those under the shadow of death.
Light from the throne of God shines upon those in darkness through human workers whose own hearts have first been shined upon by the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness and purified in life. Only as members make personal efforts to win souls to Christ is the spiritual life of the church kept alive, and no mental culture or theological training can do this work. It is done by a contrite and humble soul, imbued with the Spirit of God and holding daily intercourse with Him.