IMPACT AS LIGHT (4)

“...that you may proclaim the praises of Him who CALLED you out of darkness into HIS MARVELLOUS” – 1 Peter 2:9b

Believers in Christ are called to manifest Transformative, Distinctive IMPACT as LIGHT: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His MARVELLOUS LIGHT” (1 Pet.2:9). Peter wrote this epistle as he approached the end of his life, wanting his readers to remember what was truly vital and hold on to the truth that God had committed to them. Specifically, he addressed the need for Believers to not take for granted our eternal blessings in Christ. As God’s Special People, we are to consciously walk and live in the realms of His Marvellous Light.

Scripture uses the image of darkness to represent impurity, falsehood, and the dominion of sin and Satan. Ephesians 6:12 says that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the DARKNESS of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” When God saves us, He rescued us “from the POWER of DARKNESS and conveyed us to the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col.1:13). And as Paul was on trial before Agrippa, he declared that God had sent him to the Gentiles “to open their eyes, in order to turn them FROM DARKNESS to LIGHT, and from the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18a).

God is the Ruler of the Realm of Light, the Epitome of all Purity and Holiness, the Source of all Truth, and the Father of Blessings. Satan is the ruler of the realm of darkness, the embodiment of all vileness and wretchedness, the source of all lies, and the father of misery. There is a clear distinction between Light and Darkness; and as we walk in the Light, we realize what God has transformed us into. We were by nature sinners and enemies of God. In the rebellion of sin, we were fighting against God, and deserved our lot in hell. We were cut off and would have been separated from God forever. But He transformed us to become the complete opposite of what we were by nature.

Naturally separated from God, now we belong to Him. Rejected because of sin, now we are His chosen people. Despicable before God and polluted by sin, now we are His royal priests. At war with God, now we are His own holy nation. This divinely-orchestrated role reversal happened as we were called “out of darkness into His marvellous light” (v.9b). We didn’t make the changes, God did. He made the rejected His people, and showed Mercy to guilty (v.10). Jesus became the rejected and despised one, punished for all sin – even though He did nothing wrong. He became sin in our place and suffered the wrath of God so that we would not, but live for His Praises!