Isaiah 60

Jesus can fill our lives with light.

Abinadi testified, “He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened” (Mosiah 16:9). When Jesus was born, the descendants of Lehi experienced a symbolic representation of His light. As prophesied by Samuel the Lamanite, “at the going down of the sun there was no darkness” (3 Nephi 1:15; see also Helaman 14:4). When He died, they experienced the opposite: three days of darkness so thick that they couldn’t even light a candle (3 Nephi 8:20-23; see also Helaman 14:20, 27). During those three days, they heard His voice, saying, “I am the light and the life of the world.” When He subsequently appeared to them, He said it again (3 Nephi 9:18; 3 Nephi 11:11). He subsequently instructed them, “Hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do” (3 Nephi 18:24).

Many years earlier, Isaiah prophesied of a time when Israel would be surrounded by God’s light. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come,” he wrote, “and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.” He added, “The darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee” (Isaiah 60:1-2).

Because of that contrast, people all over the world would be drawn to Israel, including Gentiles, kings, and Israel’s own children. Isaiah spoke of God’s light as superseding the light of the sun and the moon:

The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.

Isaiah 60:19-20

One fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy was the Savior’s ministry among the Nephites and the Lamanites, as described above. Another will be His Second Coming. But this process can also happen at the individual level. As Ammon reviewed with his brothers the miraculous conversion of the Lamanites, he marveled, “They were encircled about with everlasting darkness and destruction; but behold, he has brought them into his everlasting light, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love” (Alma 26:15). When we open our hearts to receive God’s light, Isaiah’s prophecy becomes active in our personal lives. His light overcomes the darkness that surrounds us, and as we shine forth, other people are drawn to that same light.

Today I will receive and share God’s light. I will remember that Jesus is the light and life of the world and that He can fill my life with “everlasting light.”