LIGHT OF THE GENTILES

When God made promises of blessing to Abram, the effects were not limited to his direct descendents, the Jewish nation, but reached out in order that ‘all families of the earth’ should be blessed.

Although God’s intention of bringing blessing to the Gentiles is clearly taught in the Old Testament, the Jews became fiercely nationalistic. Many of them would never allow such a possibility, and saw the Gentiles as ‘dogs’, outcasts and inferior. Simeon had no such thoughts. In Luke chapter 2, he spoke with the benefit of prophetic vision when he welcomed the babe in his arms as ‘A light to lighten the Gentiles’, v. 32. His words plainly show that the blessing of the Gentiles was no afterthought with God; it was not something to fill the void when Israel rejected their Messiah!

There is no doubt that the Gentiles were in need of light. Their position and condition is well expressed by Paul. They are seen to be Christless, stateless, friendless, hopeless and Godless, Eph. 2. 12. Their only hope of salvation was through the One who came as ‘the light of the world’, John. 8.12.

Isaiah’s writings have been well called ‘a prophetic gospel’. He speaks repeatedly of man’s need, and of God’s salvation - a salvation bound up in the promised One of chapter 7, who would become the suffering One of chapter 53, before his exaltation as the reigning One in chapter 60. Throughout the whole book he underlines God’s purposes of grace in embracing all nations. He provides the basis in our reading today for the application made by Matthew in chapter 4 verse 15, to emphasise the grace of the Lord Jesus in taking up residence in cosmopolitan ‘Galilee of the Gentiles’, to bring much needed light to those who ‘sat in darkness’ and in the ‘shadow of death’.

In this present time the church is being formed from all nations, both from them ‘which were afar off’ (Gentiles), and from’them that were nigh’ (Jews), Eph. 2.17. In a coming Millennial day the Lord Jesus will receive His rightful acclaim, as ‘Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising’, Isa. 60. 3.